My neighbor from down I-85 (or I-40/I-77, I get to choose) has made a big splash recently with a great project for bringing the arts industry into the social media/networking age with respect to fundraising. The Arts and Science Council of Charlotte has introduced a new program, Power2Give. In his October 17 post (The Power to Give) on the NEA's blog, Art Works, Scott Provancher, President of the ASC, introduced this new online … [Read more...]
El Sistema: The Phenomenon
By now, there are probably few in the arts world that do not know about Venezuela's El Sistema, its U.S. (and other) franchises, or its principal ambassador, LA Philharmonic Music Director Gustavo Dudamel. The results of that national system of community youth orchestras has taken the breath away from thousands of music lovers around the world. José Antonio Abreu's vision of every Venezuelan child playing in an orchestra has yielded stunning … [Read more...]
What Is Engagement?
I am teaching a course this fall called Arts in the Community. One of the course requirements is for students to assist in a community arts project. For the purpose of the course we use the definition "arts-based project intentionally designed to address a community issue." A difficulty I (and they) run into in talking with arts organizations about this is a lack of understanding of what engagement really means. One of the most common first … [Read more...]