Characteristics Breakout Sessions

Characteristic #9
Guiding Characteristic of a Livable Community: The contributions of individual artists are valued and supported.

Guiding questions: Do artists need communities? Do communities need artists? If there is mutual need, how can reciprocal relationships be structured so both communities and artists prosper? What values, beliefs and behaviors are present when artists are fully valued and supported by their communities? What barriers make it difficult for communities to value and support creative individuals? What specific things can people do to enhance communities' connection to and support for artists?

Session Leaders:
Facilitator: Daniel Windham, President and CEO, Kansas City Young Audiences
Resources:
 Theodore Berger, Executive Director, New York Foundation for the Arts
 Maria-Rosario Jackson, Senior Research Associate, The Urban Institute and Principal Investigator, Investing in Creativity: A Study of Support Structures for U.S. Artists
 Bill Rausch, Artistic Director, Cornerstone Theater Company
 Reggie Wilson, Artistic Director, Fist and Heal Performance Group
Curator: Holly Sidford, Director, Ilex Initiatives

Session Flow:
PART 1:
Introduction and Set Up: Daniel Windham
Session Facilitator Daniel Windham will review the purpose and structure of the workshop.

Performance and Discussion: Reggie Wilson
Choreographer Reggie Wilson will perform his one-man piece, "INTRODUCTION." This will engage participants in an artistic experience, and stimulate discussion about artists' process of inquiry and discovery, and their "right relation" with community.

Discussion with Panelists and Workshop Participants: Ted Berger, Maria-Rosario Jackson, Bill Rausch, Reggie Wilson
What goes in to making a community value and support artists? How does a community find the political, social and spiritual will to support artistic creativity? What must artists contribute to community life in order to be understood, embraced and supported? Where is it working well, and why? Where is it not working well, and why? What roles do different community members-including artists-play in creating a supportive environment for creative work? Panelists will reflect on their experiences as artists, arts administrators, community members and researchers to address these and other questions, and spark participants' discussion of promising opportunities.

PART 2:
Break-out Sessions: All
Participants will break into small groups to discuss their own experiences in strengthening support for artists and perceived obstacles to success. Each group will outline proven or new strategies for enhancing the value communities give artists.

Report Back and Summary: All
In various creative formats, the break-out groups will share their insights and key suggestions for how communities can better value and support individual artists.

pARTicipation 2001
Valuing and Supporting Individual Artists

Selected Bibliography

Alliance of Artists' Communities, American Creativity at Risk-Restoring a Creativity as a Priority in Public Policy, Cultural Philanthropy and Education, 1996
American Assembly, The Arts and the Public Purpose, 1997
Americans for the Arts, Animating Democracy, 1999
Barber, Benjamin, "Serving Democracy by Serving the Arts and Humanities," an essay prepared for Creative America, 1997
Brenson, Michael, Visionaries and Outcasts: The NEA, Congress and the Place of the Visual Artist in America, 2001
Burnham, Linda Frye and Steven Durland, The Citizen Artist, 1998
Ellison, Ralph, "The Little Man at Chehaw Station," in Collected Essays of Ralph Ellison, John F. Callahan, editor, 1996
Galligan, Ann, "Characteristics of Performing Artists," in The Journal of Arts Management, Law and Society, 1998
Jeffri, Joan, Information on Artists (published monographs, 1988-1997)
Kreidler, John, "Leverage Lost: The Nonprofit Arts in the Post-Ford Era," in The Journal of Arts Management, Law and Society, 1996
National Alliance of Artists Organizations, Report on the Co-Generate Project, 1998
President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities, Creative America: A Report to the President, 1997
Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Independence: Sustaining America's Artists, 1997

Brief Description of Artists Session
Some assert that a livable community is a place where people value and support the contributions of artists. But do artists really need communities? And do communities need artists? This session will explore participants' experiences in building bridges between communities and artists, share early findings from a new national study on support structures for artists, and generate new ideas for enhancing mutually supportive connections between artists and communities.