Today is Arts Advocacy Day, but for working artists it can feel like every day is arts advocacy day as we continually make the case in each of our communities to support the arts. I consider myself fortunate that I inhabit two worlds - local government as a Planning Director and the performing arts as a choreographer. It surprises me that I spend a large amount of time in both worlds simply trying to engage the community to participate. Whether a transportation planning project or a dance concert I’m often jumping up and down saying, “Hey! Stop … [Read more...]
An Arts Advocacy Conversation in Salt Lake City, UT
The Utah Museum of Fine Arts represents an arts institution that sits within and reports to an institution run by folks outside the field - The University of Utah. A staff member of the Utah Museum of Fine Arts speaks with University President, David Pershing on he views and values the arts. When I say “the arts,” what does that mean to you? The term, “the arts,” symbolizes to me all that is stimulating to the sense in a profound way in the performing arts – from beautiful music (a single voice or a choir, or a single instrument or an … [Read more...]
An Arts Advocacy Day Conversation in Hartford, CT
Kristina Newman-Scott, Director of Marketing, Events and Cultural Affairs for the City of Hartford, Connecticut asks her colleagues Brian Matthews, Director of Housing for the City of Hartford and Khara Dodds, Director of Planning for the City of Hartford how they see, value and advocate for the arts. Listen to their conversations below and share what you heard from colleagues outside of the arts. [soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/playlists/90218204" … [Read more...]
An Arts Advocacy Conversation in Thayer, MO
Founder of the Oregon County Food Producers and Artisans Co-Op, Rachel Reynolds Luster poses the three simple questions to a member of her Thayer, MO community. Elizabeth, 16 years old: When I say “the arts,” what does that mean to you? "music, dancing, acting" Where do you see arts in your community? "I don't." Tell me about a moment you connected with arts personally. “Learning to clog dance at Marilynn's Clogging Studio and play guitar.” Advocate for the Arts! Click on the Twitter logo to … [Read more...]
An Arts Advocacy Conversation in Lynchburg, VA
I spoke with Anna Bentson, the Assistant Director of the City of Lynchburg's Office of Economic Development, about how she views and values art. What most struck me is that her early childhood contact with art and artists was through her family and in turn that has influenced how she values and views art in her life today. Her relationship to art is personal and I think this gets to the core of a very valuable lesson. Anna's family was filled with musicians. She said, "My grandparents were musicians (actually from a long line of professional … [Read more...]
Keep Talking About What Art Means
When I say, "the arts" what does that mean to you? Where do you see arts in your community? Tell me about a moment you connected with the arts. Last week I challenged you to go out and ask folks in your community these three questions. We've already gotten a handful of responses. I even saw some folks sharing what their responses on social media. My manicurist April told me she has no time 4 art because she's busy creating costumes for an angel themed hair show #thatsart #NASadvocacy — Sunny Widmann (@sunnywidmann) March 21, 2015 (Thanks, … [Read more...]
Stop Talking About Art as an Abstract Concept
Whether we're talking to friends or strangers, how do we talk about the value we create? Mary Lou Aleskie, Executive Director of the International Festival for Arts & Ideas, shares why she believes we should stop talking about "the value of the arts" and start talking about the experience of arts and culture as a gateway to civic engagement and participation. http://youtu.be/b_S6kgrofto Advocate for the Arts! Click on the Twitter logo to share this with someone outside the arts. Start a … [Read more...]
Arguing for the Arts in Contemporary Society
Think about the folks in your community. Think about what they will do tonight. There are countless options for how they can spend their time, their money, their loyalty. Arts may be in that mix. It might not be. This is the context in which our community makes decisions and we need to be aware of that. In this video, Patrick McIntyre, Executive Director of the Sydney Theatre Company conveys the need to discuss the benefits of the experience we provide. Patrick highlights that this task is tricky when arguing the value to allies such as … [Read more...]
Everyone’s a Potential Partner: Building Value Together
Welcome back. We’re continuing our look at arts advocacy, particularly how do we broaden our base of support if we rarely hear from anyone who isn't already a fan. What if we shifted our mindset to see everyone as a potential partner or participant? The world and our communities would be teaming with opportunity. That's Springboard for the Arts' Executive Director, Laura Zabel's, view and it's working quite well. In this video Laura shares how she is energized by what's possible and how looking at opportunities through this frame has opened up … [Read more...]
Research, Reports & Real People Talking About the Arts (Oh My!)
There've been many great responses to today's posts and there are so many smart people already looking and thinking about how we might rethink advocacy. I wanted to list a few of the resources/examples that folks have shared with me over the course of the day. Please continue to share with me... and with others outside the arts. Createquity Earlier this month, Createquity featured a post "A New Way to Think About Intrinsic vs. Instrumental Benefits of the Arts" in which they talk about a new report “Cultural Ecology, Neighborhood … [Read more...]
Extreme Users: Look Outside the Everyday Audience Member
We’re talking about advocacy for the arts over the next few days. Specifically, what's our value... not only to our loyal patrons but also to those with whom we may not have engaged yet. In the human centered design world, that's called sampling extreme users. It's an incredibly valuable practice that helps us better understand our community and our customers. Professor of Management at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, Jeffrey Sanchez-Burks discusses how looking at both extremes – those who participate every day and … [Read more...]
Comments We Can’t Ignore
This week, a guest column by Robert Reich entitled “What ‘charity’ should really mean” appeared on the Christian Science Monitor's website. In his column, Reich challenges the idea of tax-deductible donations to arts organizations, arguing that these deductions primarily support the lifestyles of the wealthy. Reich’s article highlights that we have serious a public perception problem. Either we are not doing enough work to share the arguments we use to demonstrate our value to those outside the bubble of our field, or we need to develop a … [Read more...]
Saying What We Mean
Last January, at NAS’ Chief Executive Program convening The New Nature of Relevance, I listened as participants discussed the language we use to communicate about the nonprofit cultural field. Some felt that our current language can intimidate and confuse those who are not familiar with the sector. “Charity” can make us sound needy and helpless, and “nonprofit” makes us sound frivolous and trivial. When I tell people I work in the nonprofit sector, I have often been asked if I earn a salary. These experiences have me thinking about whether we … [Read more...]
How do we communicate the instrumental and intrinsic values of the arts?
Watch the following video featuring Gary Vikan, Director of the Walters Museum of Art and a faculty member of the Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Leaders, talking about the dangers of using economic impact as argument for the arts, the importance of articulating the intrinsic nature of the art experience and how neuroscience might unlock the mystery of that experience. Add your voice to the discussion. Use the comments below to weigh in with your thoughts on how we in the arts create and articulate … [Read more...]
Public Service, Advocacy and Institutional Transformation
A provocative post by Nina Simon on Musuem 2.0 discussing the role of museums (or any nonprofits, cultural or otherwise) in their community. True public service, she suggests, requires more than mere expansion of outreach services. I want our museum to be the host for dialogue--not just through panel discussions, but through exhibitions and events and commissions and community experiences that both invite and challenge people to engage with each other around the issues that matter most. And I think that requires us to be an advocacy … [Read more...]