Did you ever dream of being in a certain profession when you were little? Of traveling to a distant land, or gaining the skills of heroes who you admired? Kia Moore dreamed of wowing the crowd with her turntable skills as a DJ. Read her photo essay and follow her dreams as they turned into reality. This is where she felt a part of a community. … [Read more...]
What is Creative Placemaking?
This whole conversation began as a means to talk about creative placemaking. What is it? What is its role and why should we care? We’ve spent the last few weeks hearing from our Creative Community Fellows and you. Today we want to wrap up the discussion by tackling the biggest question: what is creative placemaking? Amanda Thompson notes that the term creative placemaking acts as an inclusive phrase for a range of arts and culture activities that benefit communities: “Creative placemaking is a nice catch-all phrase that allows artists, … [Read more...]
Rachel Hamilton & Katy Moonan: A Conversation
This week we will be featuring conversations with leaders working in communities. Rachel Hamilton is a theatre educator and arts access advocate who enjoys creating performing arts opportunities in and with communities. She has developed drama programs with young people in schools, museums, community centers and healthcare settings. She currently works as the Associate Director of Education at Nashville Children's Theatre. Katy Moonan works in Massachusetts directing Family Literacy programs for a literacy nonprofit called Reader to Reader … [Read more...]
Monica Montgomery & Kristina Newman-Scott: A Conversation
This week we will be featuring conversations with leaders working in communities. Monica Montgomery is a cultural entrepreneur launching the Museum of Impact, a social change museum that will explore activism, altruism and advocacy through a creative lens. Kristina Newman-Scott currently works as the Director of Marketing, Events and Cultural Affairs for the City of Hartford. She is working on developing a systematic approach to integrate artistic practice into strategic municipal planning and project development via the artist in residence … [Read more...]
Nicolle Bennett & Sifiso Maposa: A Conversation
This week we will be featuring conversations with leaders working in communities. Nicolle Bennett, is currently working with an arts education and advocacy organization called Feel the Music! She is developing a technology platform for artists, community-based organizations and policymakers to connect in a more meaningful way. Sifiso Maposa is a social entrepreneur working in the culture and creative industries. Based in South Africa, she is creating a digital platform that connects the creative industries of Africa to each other and to global … [Read more...]
Business has much to learn from the arts
A wry, brief paean to the arts and what the world of business has to learn from them. Many businesspeople, for their part, assume that artists are a bunch of pretentious wastrels. Bosses may stick a few modernist daubs on their boardroom walls. They may go on corporate jollies to the opera. They may even write the odd cheque to support their wives’ bearded friends. But they seldom take the arts seriously as a source of inspiration. Studying the arts can...help companies learn how to manage bright people. Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones of the … [Read more...]
Disrupting College
Clay Christensen and his team at Innosight Institute apply Christensen's model of disruptive innovation to higher education. It is a compelling presentation of the systematic barriers that keep the higher education sector from meeting its mission, the role that online learning technology and new providers are playing in changing the sector, and the way the business models of established institutions stop them from responding effectively. So why do we care in the arts and culture sector? I see powerful similarities between the structural issues … [Read more...]
The Lowdown on Arts Downloading
Further adventures in the arts - online and in HD. Not the digital arts, but the performing arts. Is your organization making its performances available outside your 'regular' venues? Do you think this will bring new audiences into your venue...or just let them see your work from afar? The Lowdown on Arts Downloading - WSJ.com. … [Read more...]
Time to lose control
An interesting piece in The Art Newspaper on art museums' recalcitrance - as a field - in embracing all things digital. This reluctance is ascribed in part to museums' inherent conservatism and object-oriented practice. Not a Cassandra, the author's tone is hopeful and catalogs progress made by several museums and commercial galleries. Museums have a long history of exercising total command over their content. That’s over. “Museums in the future will still be reliable sources of information, and a curator will continue to be the authority on a … [Read more...]
Mission Unaccomplished – Sara Robinson + Teo Greenstreet (2007)
This is not a new article, but Alan Brown reminded me of its value recently. Worth a read as we think about the purpose of the arts in society. Mission Unaccomplished - Sara Robinson + Teo Greenstreet (2007). … [Read more...]