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...]
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...]
Failure or Success: What are we more afraid of? A Leading Innovation in Arts & Culture Conversation
We’ve just wrapped our first Massively Open Online Course (MOOC) Leading Innovation in Arts and Culture. This unique course was created by Dave Owens at Vanderbilt University and customized for the arts and culture sector by National Arts Strategies. This eight-week course, offered on the Coursera platform, brought more than 9,000 artists, arts administrators and cultural entrepreneurs from around the world together to discuss the specific constraints to creating good ideas in our field and to build strategies for successful innovation. This … [Read more...]
The Myth of the Lone Genius: A Leading Innovation in Arts and Culture Conversation
We’ve just wrapped our first Massively Open Online Course (MOOC) Leading Innovation in Arts and Culture. This unique course was created by Dave Owens at Vanderbilt University and customized for the arts and culture sector by National Arts Strategies. This eight-week course, offered on the Coursera platform, brought more than 9,000 artists, arts administrators and cultural entrepreneurs from around the world together to discuss the specific constraints to creating good ideas in our field and to build strategies for successful innovation. This … [Read more...]
The Leader and The Manager: A Leading Innovation in Arts & Culture Conversation
We’ve just wrapped our first Massively Open Online Course (MOOC) Leading Innovation in Arts and Culture. This unique course was created by Dave Owens at Vanderbilt University and customized for the arts and culture sector by National Arts Strategies. This eight-week course, offered on the Coursera platform, brought more than 9,000 artists, arts administrators and cultural entrepreneurs from around the world together to discuss the specific constraints to creating good ideas in our field and to build strategies for successful innovation. This … [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...]
Scott Burkholder & Ali Fadlallah: A Conversation
This week we will be featuring conversations with leaders working in communities. Scott Burkholder is an entrepreneurial minded, art promoting engineer based in Baltimore. He oversaw the business side of the Baltimore Love Project, the largest self initiated public art project in Baltimore and is currently working on utilizing art as a tool to teach empathy. Inspired by his teaching experience as an eleventh grade English teacher with Teach for America, Ali Fadlallah merged his passions for music and arts education by founding Personality … [Read more...]
Creative Placemaking: A Reader’s Response
We asked all of you to join in on this conversation as well. Mary Means works as a consultant for her firm Mary Means + Associates and has extensive experience in community-based strategic planning. Prior to entering consulting, Mary was Vice President of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, where she is best known for having created the National Main Street program. The following are her answers to our questions posed on creative placemaking. How do you define “community?” It depends on where and what I am working on. I’m a … [Read more...]
Abdul Karim Hakib: On Creative Placemaking
This week we will be featuring conversations with leaders working in communities. Abdul Karim Hakib is the Executive Director of Global Arts and Development Centre (GADEC), an art and development NGO based in Accra, Ghana. He is a Theatre for Development practitioner, writer and performer with a particular interest in popular theatre, indigenous performance techniques, performance studies and blending different genres of the arts. He is also a Creative Community Fellow. The following are his answers to our questions posed on creative … [Read more...]
Kate Balug & Tanya Daud: A Conversation
This week we will be featuring conversations with leaders working in communities. Kate Balug is an artist, urbanist and educator using play to facilitate engagement, foment curiosity and build collective identity in Boston. Tanya Daud is a freelance journalist, filmmaker, curator and the founder of Aleph Collective, a multi-disciplinary initiative to present more nuanced narratives of differing cultures. Her work is closely focused on South Asia and the Muslim world. She is currently working in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. They recorded their … [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...]
Placemaking: It’s About Addressing the Disconnect
This week continues our conversation on creative placemaking where we asked our Creative Community Fellows to talk about creative placemaking and what their role is as community-engaged artists. We discovered that for many of our Fellows, the work they do is about addressing the disconnect that exists not only within the communities in which they are currently working but across sectors and social boundaries. We found that many Fellows see their work as a means to bridge these divides. In their conversation, Rachel Reynolds Luster and Laurelin … [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...]