Americans for the Arts and
the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies
Second Joint Convention
July 17–20, 2004—Washington, DC

DURING AND AFTER THE CONVENTION

  1. Evaluation Forms

  2. Breakout Session Summaries

  3. Convention Report

  4. Photo Gallery

  5. Preconference Overview

  6. Animating Democracy Civic Dialogue Sessions

  7. Arts on the Hill

  8. Awards

 

 

Evaluation Forms

Back to Top

Breakout Session Summaries

Saturday, July 17

Sunday, July 18

Breakout Session Summaries for Saturday, July 17

From Apathy and Inertia to Imagination and Action: Making Democracy Work
Facilitators: Caron Atlas, Consultant, Brooklyn, NY, and Kinshasha Holman Conwill, Arts, Museum, & Management Consultant, New York, NY
Experts: Patricia Aufderheide, Professor and Co-Director, Center for Social Media, School of Communication, American University, Washington, DC; Pedro J. Avilés, Organization Development and Community Organizing Specialist, Center for Community Change, Washington, DC; Brad Lander, Director, Pratt Institute Center for Community and Environmental Development, Brooklyn, NY; Rick Lowe, Founding Director, Project Row Houses, Houston, TX; and Malika Asha Sanders, President, 21st Century Youth Leadership Movement, Selma, AL
Recorder: Marit Dewhurst, Project Coordinator, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Summary: "Art is not an add on, but rather an integral piece of civic engagement."
–Co-Facilitator Caron Atlas

Co-Facilitators Kinshasha Holman Conwill and Caron Atlas started off the session by focusing on the intersection between art and civic engagement. They invited seven experts and practitioners to share their programmatic experiences and visions for the future of the field. In small breakout groups, participants discussed the challenges and strategies in areas of community development, accessibility and inclusion, and visual media, and the various connections to arts-based democracy building. Active group discussions yielded several common challenges related to sustainability, authentic collaboration, and accessibility to information and resources. The creative strategies were shared with the larger group and included attention to genuine partnerships; honoring the identity of communities; "getting out" to meet people in collaboration; making training, case studies, and funding resources easily accessible; and keeping the idea that the arts have an inherent power to connect, move, and engage people in building more enriched communities central to our work.

Back to Breakout Session Summaries

The Art of Designing More Livable Neighborhoods
Facilitator: Thomas C. Borrup, Principal, Community & Cultural Development, Minneapolis, MN
Experts: Ta-Coumba Aiken, Artist, Saint Paul, MN; Tamara Alvarado, Executive Director, MACLA/Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana, San Jose, CA; David Fogel, Project Manager, Gateway Georgia Avenue Revitalization Corp., Silver Spring, MD; and Richard McLaughlin, Principal, rpmdesign, inc., Architecture & Town Planning, Minneapolis, MN
Recorder: Anika Selhorst, Program Coordinator, Cool Culture, Brooklyn, NY
Summary: In this session, participants used a dynamic modeling process to visually describe their ideas for rejuvenating the William Reed Corridor, a diverse neighborhood in San Jose, CA.

Tamara Alvarado, director of a local neighborhood arts organization, offered participants an introduction to the needs and aspirations of the 7,800 residents comprising this community, which include affordable home ownership opportunities, increased social services, and more opportunities for residents to get to know their neighbors.

Breaking into small groups, participants worked together to address these needs by redesigning the physical space in the neighborhood. Using a neighborhood modeling system and a "spirit mapping" exercise successfully employed during community development projects in other parts of the United States, the groups came up with several innovative, functional, and beautiful approaches to reworking William-Reed's eight city blocks to better serve the collective needs of its residents.

Back to Breakout Session Summaries

Changing the Frame: Valuing the Economic Role of the Arts in Communities
Facilitator: Steven Wolff, President, AMS Planning & Research Corp., Fairfield, CT
Experts: Eric Avner, Associate Director, Cincinnati Business Committee, Cincinnati, OH; Carol Coletta, Principal, Coletta and Company, Memphis, TN; Murray Horwitz, Director & COO, American Film Institute, Silver Spring, MD; Garrett Kimberly, Program Manager, Creative Economy Council, Boston, MA; and Jeffrey Norman, Vice President of Public Affairs, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Newark, NJ
Recorder: Amy A. Ford, Records Assistant, Smith College, Northampton, MA
Summary: This breakout session followed the pARTicipate2004 conference theme, which, at its essence, is asking those working for the advancement of the arts to alter how they approach the intersection between community and the arts as an economic development enterprise. In his introduction, Steven Wolff outlined the old economic arguments around resource allocation that, in his view, were not longer viable. He presented them as an evolutionary process in which the argument for the arts and economy marriage took the following trajectory:
  • Quality of life
  • Value
  • Place
  • Community

This was followed by four presentations that focused on the capital projects of Newark, NJ, and Silver Spring, MD; the Cincinnati, OH, master plan project; and the New England region's creative economy council.

The breakout groups identified the following themes:

  • Collaboration: building relationships that are authentic, intrinsic, and knowing. Collaboration also acknowledges the existing assets in a community and works to build on them. The language associated with this theme included "knowing," "multiple goals," and "crossing borders."
  • Connection: working with the keepers of economic vitality in any community, especially city councils or other public decision-making bodies.
  • Challenge: do not exist solely in the comfortable realm of conventional wisdom, and learn to leverage your economic research arguments.
  • Commitment: the importance of dedicating oneself fully to whatever process or vision identified. Patience and flexibility are the hallmarks of this theme.

Finally, the breakout groups identified actions they could take when they return to their communities.

  • Develop new economic arts measurements that speak the language of business and government and that take into account the importance of redefining the investment argument.
  • Gather and share information gleaned from pARTicipate2004 with nonprofit boards, advisory councils, and other interested stakeholders.
  • Realistically assess one's community by engaging in conversations with diverse members and asking "What can we do for you?"
  • Cultivate and engage new partners by focusing on external constituencies as well as internal ones.

Back to Breakout Session Summaries

Community Involvement in Education
Facilitator: Christine Goodheart, Executive Director, University-Community Partnerships, Educational Partnerships and Learning Technologies, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Experts: Lupe Casillas-Lowenberg, Gallery Curator, Art Education, YISD Fine Arts Department, El Paso, TX; Lisa Fitzhugh, Director, ARTS Corp, Seattle, WA; Priscilla Hancock Cooper, Birmingham Cultural Alliance Partnership Program Coordinator, Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, Birmingham, AL; and Greg McCaslin, Director of Programs, Center for Arts Education, New York, NY
Recorder: Alyson M. Ekblom, Program Assistant, Arts Extension Service, Amherst, MA
Summary: This session broadly defined success as improved participation, additional community involvement, and the incorporation of community cultural roots and heritage. Also mentioned as important were identification and use of community resources and personal investment by community members, staff and students. Participants further noted that many successful programs were built on the vision of one person, and expanded upon with community and constituency involvement.

Barriers addressed in the course of the session included funding and staff turnover, the challenge of providing professional development training that faculty can use and attend, and changing political climates that may adversely affect programming and funding availability to various educational programs.

Participants were challenged to identify common themes surrounding strategies for success. Their answers included identifying and using community resources and community needs and focusing on broadening innovative partnerships with politicians, arts councils, schools, and community organizations for the benefit of all. They agreed that common factors for success include the inherent belief in every child's worth and ability, belief in the power of the arts, respect for all stakeholders, and a strong belief in the community's capacity to succeed.

Back to Breakout Session Summaries

Connecting the Dots: Values, Resources, and Community Action
Facilitator: Shelley Cohn, Executive Director, Arizona Commission on the Arts, Phoenix, AZ
Experts: Dudley Cocke, Director, Roadside Theatre, Norton, VA; E'Vonne Coleman, Assistant Director, Office of Continuing Studies, Duke University, Durham, NC; Judy Erwin, Corporate Vice President, Res Publica Group, Chicago, IL; Marian A. Godfrey, Director, Civic Life Initiatives, The Pew Charitable Trusts, Philadelphia, PA; Jon Pounds, Public Artist, Chicago, IL; and Sarah Solotaroff, President, Chicago Community Trust, Chicago, IL
Recorder: Robin Iten Porter, Executive Director, Arts Council of the Valley, Harrisonburg, VA
Summary: Session facilitator Shelley Cohn related the example of "crime" becoming "public safety," and its implication on the arts. Crime narrowly affects the perpetrator and the victim-a small segment of the population-while public safety reframes the issue to become something that everyone is invested in. This session addressed how state and local arts agencies could do the same for the arts, in particular through the resources of grants. Rather than subtly tweaking grants programs through the years, as many SAAs and LAAs do, can they frame a dramatic shift that would result in a wholesale public investment in the arts, similar to the shift with public safety? Small- and large-group discussion revealed some disconnects between agencies' reasons for grantmaking and those of the "authorizers"-legislators, city council, corporate donors, constituents, etc.-who provide the resources and authority for what arts organizations do. Specific strategies for bridging this disconnect were discussed.

Back to Breakout Session Summaries

Breakout Session Summaries for Sunday, July 18

From Apathy and Inertia to Imagination and Action: Making Democracy Work
Facilitators: Caron Atlas, Consultant, Brooklyn, NY, and Kinshasha Holman Conwill, Arts, Museum, & Management Consultant, New York, NY
Experts: Pedro J. Avilés, Organization Development and Community Organizing Specialist, Center for Community Change, Washington, DC; Brad Lander, Director, Pratt Institute Center for Community and Environmental Development, Brooklyn, NY; Rick Lowe, Founding Director, Project Row Houses, Houston, TX; Malika Asha Sanders, President, 21st Century Youth Leadership Movement, Selma, AL; and Suzanne Stenson O'Brien, National Media Director, National Voice, Minneapolis, MN
Recorder: Marit Dewhurst, Project Coordinator, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Summary: The second session of this workshop followed a similar format to the first day, including the presentation of panelists' experiences, small breakout groups, and a larger debriefing discussion. In focusing on the relationship between art and civic engagement, participants in the session generated many of the same challenges and strategies as did the previous day's group. Conversations touched on issues of inclusion, cultural relevancy, global and local engagement, accessibility, and bridging polarized viewpoints through the arts. Passionate advocates for the arts, the participants and facilitators brainstormed a series of strategies that were rooted in both best practices throughout the country and an imaginative vision for the future of the field.

Back to Breakout Session Summaries

Bridging Differences, Building Tolerance, and Creating Connections Among Communities
Facilitator: Kim Chan, Vice President, Programs, Association of Performing Arts Presenters, Washington, DC
Experts: Ricardo Barretto, Director, UrbanArts Institute, Boston, MA; Mario Garcia Durham, Director, Presenting and Multidisciplinary, National Endowment for the Arts, Washington, DC; and Abel Lopez, Associate Producing Director, GALA Hispanic Theatre, Washington, DC
Recorder: Greta Willis, Grants Specialist I, Broward County Cultural Division, Plantation, FL
Summary: Overall Themes
  • Stimulate ideas to bring diverse groups and cultures together.
  • Link people of various backgrounds so they can experience art individually and collectively.

When asked how this leads to awareness of other cultures, participants acknowledged that various cultures' positive impacts can transcend all aspects of life in a community, whether civic life, politics, housing, transportation, urban design, etc. Participants also raised the issue of generational differences. The spoken word artist was asked, "Are you sometimes asked to be the unofficial spokesperson for a generation?"

After the performance, one panelists commented that it is a wonderful thing to see that reason we are here is because of the work of the individual artist.

Any cultural activity done in the public domain creates opportunity for questions about where it belongs.

Art, whether temporary or permanent, can create an excitement or a buzz within a community. Does it take risks? Does it make people think about things that they may not ordinarily want to think about?

Art can be a catalyst for interaction and dialogue. Think about the "appropriateness" of what you do in a community and the reasons why you came here.

Forced connections cannot produce or build the relationship. Have an awareness that a culture can bring something unique and different to a community as a whole. To break down the barriers of uncomfortableness, sustained exposure to a culture's art form needs to be maintained.

Is bridging communities mainstreaming (loss of identity) or is it democracy? Are we creating unwanted connections?

In the planning process, figure out what each entity wants. Your role may be to give technical support, but let the community curate the art form.

In dealing with communities and bridging differences, there is no magic formula. It takes an investment of time and money, and enough time to build trust with the community.

Participants explored common reasons why certain groups might choose not to participate in cultural activities:

  • Sometimes presenters jump into the role of curator to an art form they do not know. Let the community create its own program. Let it be genuine, springing from the community, and provide assistance only in your area of expertise (i.e., lighting, sound, technical assistance, funding, etc.).
  • Trust was not established with the community.
  • Resistance to coming together as equal partners.
  • Accessibility (cost, location, etc.).

Disability and aging were brought up as issues that cut across all cultures and need to be addressed in any community.

Identity was also touched upon, as was the value that each culture brings to another. Participants explored the notion that mainstreaming means walking away from democracy, and that some cultures stay in a defensive strategy. This defensive strategy inhibits the bridging of communities.

In building community bridges, try to be proactive rather then reactive. Prepare for the next influx by staying in constant communication with the community. Extend personal invitations to community leaders and stakeholders. We cannot afford to ignore groups that have been marginalized in the past.

Back to Breakout Session Summaries

The Art of Designing More Livable Neighborhoods
Facilitator: Thomas C. Borrup, Principal, Community & Cultural Development, Minneapolis, MN
Experts: Ta-Coumba Aiken, Artist, Saint Paul, MN; Tamara Alvarado, Executive Director, MACLA/Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana, San Jose, CA; David Fogel, Project Manager, Gateway Georgia Avenue Revitalization Corp., Silver Spring, MD; and Richard McLaughlin, Principal, rpmdesign, inc., Architecture & Town Planning, Minneapolis, MN
Recorder: Anika Selhorst, Program Coordinator, Cool Culture, Brooklyn, NY
Summary: In Sunday's session, a new group of participants tried their hand at creating a neighborhood design that would address the diverse needs of the William-Reed community in San Jose, CA. Participants successfully met this challenge, offering the William-Reed resident in attendance several interesting proposals to share with the neighborhood upon her return. The session ended with a thoughtful and provocative discussion about the ways that artists can effectively become involved in, and even improve, the neighborhood design process.
Handouts:

Back to Breakout Session Summaries

Changing the Frame: Valuing the Economic Role of the Arts in Communities
Facilitator: Steven Wolff, President, AMS Planning & Research Corp., Fairfield, CT
Experts: Eric Avner, Associate Director, Cincinnati Business Committee, Cincinnati, OH; Carol Coletta, Principal, Coletta and Company, Memphis, TN; Murray Horwitz, Director & COO, American Film Institute, Silver Spring, MD; Garrett Kimberly, Program Manager, Creative Economy Council, Boston, MA; and Jeffrey Norman, Vice President of Public Affairs, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Newark, NJ
Recorder: Amy A. Ford, Records Assistant, Smith College, Northampton, MA
Summary: Today's session of Changing the Frame: Valuing the Economic Role of the Arts in Communities took on a new title reflective of the evolving understanding of its focus and purpose. It is:

Changing the Frame: Moving from Beneficiary to Contributor

This breakout session followed the pARTicipate2004 conference theme, which, at its essence, is asking those working for the advancement of the arts to alter how they approach the intersection between community and the arts. Steven Wolff's introduction outlined the prevailing economic arguments around resource allocation that, in his view, are no longer viable. He presented them as an evolutionary process in which the argument for the arts and economy marriage took the following trajectory:

  • Quality of life
  • Value
  • Place
  • Community

Wolff framed the economic argument model around the question, "Is a thriving arts economy a consequence of a healthy macro economy or is it viewed as having a parasitic relationship to a healthy macro economy?" He argued that traditional economic development strategies work for businesses but not for individuals.

This was followed by four presentations that focused on the capital projects of Newark, NJ, and Silver Spring, MD; the Cincinnati, OH, master plan project; and the New England region's creative economy council.

The breakout groups identified the following themes:

  1. Why? It is extremely important that, regardless of what arts and economic initiative is chosen by a community, the purpose for all its stakeholders is clear and well defined.
  2. What? The importance of authenticity in all areas of this work from the content to the growth of relationships with various constituencies, the intention of the effort, and the quality of the art. And, most importantly, honoring the authenticity of what makes each community unique.
  3. How? Collaborate, Connect, Challenge, and Commit.
    • Collaboration: building relationships that are authentic, intrinsic, and knowing. Collaboration also acknowledges the existing assets in a community and works to build on them. The language associated with this theme included "knowing," "multiple goals," and "crossing borders."
    • Connection: working with the keepers of economic vitality in any community, especially city councils or other public decision-making bodies.
    • Challenge: do not exist solely in the comfortable realm of conventional wisdom, and learn to leverage your economic research arguments.
    • Commitment: the importance of dedicating oneself fully to whatever process or vision identified. Patience and flexibility are the hallmarks of this theme.

Finally, the breakout groups identified action items they would take back to their respective communities (listed in no particular order).

  • Identify, in list form, the local stakeholders and authorizers for the arts/culture and community/economic development sectors in your community.
  • Join local, regional, and state business associations and/or committees.
  • Create a local arts and the economy taskforce for stakeholders
  • Use legitimate and well-analyzed research to advance the economic argument.
  • Create global positioning system mapping of the arts/culture in a given community that will lead to the creation of an arts/culture atlas (see Portland, OR, example).
  • Educate artists, arts administrators, arts advocates, etc., in citizenship efforts. Get involved in your community.
  • Visit presenter websites and use the information to inform your board, arts councils, arts organizations, and other stakeholders on the innovative work that is already being done in communities. Give your board homework.
  • Take immediate steps to change the role of the arts in your community by evaluating existing relationships, crafting a message, and dedicating resources to the work.
  • Be inclusive by finding stakeholders where you may not expect to. Fr example, include for-profit arts organizations in your community.

Back to Breakout Session Summaries

Community Involvement in Education
Facilitator: Christine Goodheart, Executive Director, University-Community Partnerships, Educational Partnerships and Learning Technologies, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Experts: Lupe Casillas-Lowenberg, Gallery Curator, Art Education, YISD Fine Arts Department, El Paso, TX; Lisa Fitzhugh, Director, ARTS Corp, Seattle, WA; Priscilla Hancock Cooper, Birmingham Cultural Alliance Partnership Program Coordinator, Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, Birmingham, AL; and Greg McCaslin, Director of Programs, Center for Arts Education, New York, NY
Recorder: Alyson M. Ekblom, Program Assistant, Arts Extension Service, Amherst, MA
Summary: In this session, participants identified equal voice among participants/stakeholders, collaboration among persons and institutions with and without a background or emphasis on the arts, programming with a receptive mind, and interest in giving as some of the key components to success in involving the community in education.

Barriers to success were found to be a lack of vision and intention by leadership, the insular nature of cultural facilities, an economic and cultural divide within the constituency, a lack of interest in other cultures, and individual ideas versus the institutional conceptualization of community building. Suggested strategies for overcoming these barriers included making it comfortable for everyone to be there (universal accessibility), which includes adult/community participation and the involvement of possibly unrelated groups; setting a mandate for bridging cultures; and facilitating a paradigm shift away from art focus and toward community building.

Back to Breakout Session Summaries

Connecting the Dots: Values, Resources, and Community Action
Facilitator: Wayne Lawson, Executive Director, Ohio Arts Council, Columbus, OH
Experts: Dudley Cocke, Director, Roadside Theatre, Norton, VA; E'Vonne Coleman, Assistant Director, Office of Continuing Studies, Duke University, Durham, NC; Judy Erwin, Corporate Vice President, Res Publica Group, Chicago, IL; Marian A. Godfrey, Director, Civic Life Initiatives, The Pew Charitable Trusts, Philadelphia, PA; and Jon Pounds, Public Artist, Chicago, IL
Recorder: Robin Iten Porter, Executive Director, Arts Council of the Valley, Harrisonburg, VA
Summary: Sunday's session stressed how the conversation regarding our reasons for grantmaking continued to focus on artists and arts organizations, rather than the public. It was noted that participants did not tend to mention that their purpose for grantmaking was to fulfill their mission. A consistent conclusion was to shift the focus of our grantmaking to serving the general public, not only because they are our main constituency, but also to help "grow the pot"-because we all think that more money for the arts is a good thing. We should examine our missions to see if they are current and relevant, and consider grantmaking as a means to that end, not an end in itself. Another consistent comment was the need to look at the negative space-who is not there just as much as who is there.

Back to Breakout Session Summaries

Convention Report (DRAFT)

Please send comments via email to either Mara Walker or Johanna Misey Boyer.

Download a PDF version of this report.

  1. The Art of Designing More Livable Neighborhoods

    Curator: Tom Borrup
    Listener: Juan Carrillo
    Recorder: Anika Selhorst

    Strategies

    • Discover and inventory what is present and valued in a neighborhood (architectural, historical, spiritual social, commercial) and build on that. Engage everyone in questions of what is valued.
    • Include artists from the beginning, along with others including longtime residents, who will keep the spirit of the place central in planning.
    • Expect and allow time and respect for contentiousness in the process.
    • Design buildings, transportation, public art, landscaping, signage to give expression to the identity of the place. Consider designing entry points to the neighborhood that give identity.
    • Consider the experiential life of the residents, include projects that build community and break down social barriers—festivals, shared spaces, community gardens, memorial spaces, flea markets, etc.
    • Consider the support institutions, government services, financial institutions—and create such institutions if need be. Establish tax credits to keep old businesses and attract new.
    • Consider the role of the school as a way to engage parental activity in the community.

  2. Connecting the Dots: Values, Resources and Community Action

    Curator Team: Jeanne Butler, Shelley Cohn, Sara Solotaroff, Anne Focke, Brenda Biernet
    Listener: Jim Clark
    Recorder: Robin Iten Porter

    Strategies

    Grantmakers must:

    • Remember the importance of "speculative" grants, by supporting risk taking and cutting edge work.
    • "Seek out the soft voices" in communities. Find those with 'soft voices' and give them the microphone... We speak about fairness and equity; don’t forget equality
    • Go beyond the rules and past patterns to support what is really of importance, like giving a grant to a for-profit organization because it proposed to fulfill a community need.
    • Remember that building public value begins from where your audience is listening.

    Grantees must:

    • Maintain communications regularly, not just at times of need; engage elected officials in ways which reflect the politicians concerns.
    • Develop innovative and/or alternative ways of reporting program results…one local arts agency asks grantees to appear at County Commission meetings (3 to 5 minute reports) which are also broadcast on local cable TV.
    • Seek out partnerships with non-arts agencies to expand outreach and funding: with Convention and Visitors Bureaus, Community Development Agencies and other non-arts organizations that might be interested in forging partnerships with artists and arts organizations.
    • Include "nay-sayers" in your planning process. Ask everyone, "who aren’t we listening to?"
    • Examine the composition of, and responsibilities of your Board of Directors – are they active agents for aligning the goals of the grantmakers, grantees and the communities they serve?
    • Allow time. A new culture for grantmaking is evolving, with new priorities and concerns, and this takes time.
    • Consider that there may be a shift from focus on the supply side (artists, arts organizations) to the demand side (the general public).

  3. From Apathy and Inertia to Imagination and Action: Making Democracy Work

    Curator: Caron Atlas and Kinshasha Holman Conwill
    Listener: Julie Numbers Smith
    Recorder: Marit Dewhurst

    Strategies

    • Create and use art space as civic space: use theaters as public forums, use museums as a forum to educate and register voters, use festivals as a place to dialogue about relevant issues.
    • Art is not about Art, it is about something that is meaningful and moving – use it as a language to express the issues around matters such as poverty, affordable housing, gentrification, youth crime, neighborhood vitality, racial discrimination
      • Create reflective street theater pieces around local dialogue and interviews and perform the pieces outside the traditional theater setting – make it 30 minutes and include an interactive session
      • Paint murals that express a relevant and current issue or about a historical issue that still informs the present
    • Do a call-to-artists to create images that are relevant to a political message or statement
    • Arts organizations can build relationships and collaborative efforts with activist groups or non-arts social agencies or groups
    • Circulate petitions about cultural policy
    • Arts gatherings should integrate dialogue about political issues that lead to the understanding of the language and culture
    • Train current and future artists to use their art form as a community catalyst, e.g. how to build community, how to engage community, how to leverage their energy into activist agendas. Community engagement is a skill, develop training and curriculum especially for artists
    • Use the media and technology as a vehicle to express messages and reach diverse audiences – action is just a click away
    • Don’t forget that you, as an arts administrator, are in a powerful position to be the bridge, convener and translator among artists, the creative process and the more political, commercial, linear worlds
    • Form cross-pollinated partnerships – between profit and nonprofit, arts and non-arts, professional and non-professional, ethnic and non-ethnic, social focused and arts focused, etc.
    • Effective advocacy is rooted in real, human, very personal stories – by capturing the emotion and pure humanity in how effective the arts have been in someone’s life THEN the other justifications such as economic development, education and whole child/whole citizen, cultural tourism can follow
    • Create a database of case studies and make available to practitioners
    • Seek broader community benefit from private development projects; work with architects and community planners and join in on the charrettes already happening. Include artists, educators and architects in community building projects

    Principles and Considerations

    • Create a proactive “invitation” for engagement: apathy does not really exist – everyone cares about something: find that something, find that language
    • Images and storytelling are some of the most effective forms of teaching/learning
    • Imagine the future and fight FOR something not against
    • Engaging in political and community change is a commitment for the long-haul and requires constant vigilance
    • Arts, as a level playing ground for communication, can convey the messages of personal empowerment (that your vote counts, that you can make a difference, that change can happen through the political process)
    • Artist Fear issue: community engagement does not compromise art-making, in fact, it may enhance it
    • Artist Fear issue: How can I eat if I take a stand?
    • Organization Fear issue: 501c3 status does not mean advocacy and education should not be a part of your work
    • How can divergent forms of the arts (commercial, Christian, youth-oriented) integrate to the advantage of everyone
    • Objective: transform your audience from spectator to observer to protagonist

  4. Bridging Differences, Building Tolerance, and Creating Connections Among Communities

    Curator: Abel Lopez
    Listener: Maryo Ewell
    Recorder: Greta Willis

    Strategies

    • Be up front with partners in your cross-cultural exchanges about the philosophical frameworks behind your work.
    • Make outreach integral to the core mission and not a special conversation or special program.
    • Determine whether your arts event is designed to help build a stronger identity (ie, something primarily internal for a cultural group) or to help someone from one culture understand another culture. The answer to this question will inform everything from venue to mode of presentation to prospective collaborating co-sponsors
    • Remember that presenting the art of another culture is not enough…work toward ongoing dialogue and programmatic long-term plans with partners who can continue the cultural dialogue. Institutionalize this effort of ongoing dialogue within your organization and work toward getting the investment of your staff and board.
    • A process of building cultural exchange collaboration must engage other community groups such as churches, fraternal organizations, social service and housing groups, and local government.
    • Celebrate the differences among collaborators and remember that this is an ongoing dialogue about meanings.
    • "A forced marriage does not lead to dialogue!"
    • Understanding requires a series of steps: exposure, deeper experience (context, values, vocabulary), questioning and deep listening, dialogue, and ultimately living together well with deep trust and appreciation. Does your event lead to the next step?
    • To genuinely enter into dialogue you have to be willing to be uncomfortable, challenged, perhaps ultimately changed. How can you/your organization prepare yourselves for this?
    • Incorporate a folklorist in planning for a cultural event – they are specialists in building community connections
    • Consider taking an art form and sharing that form in different cultural ways. For instance, take the same type of drum and share it with different cultures to see how it is used differently or how people from different cultures can perceive the same "thing" differently

  5. Community Involvement in Education: How can we help arts education enhance community involvement?

    Curator: Christine Goodheart
    Listener: Dawn Ellis
    Recorder: Alyson Ekblom

    Strategies

    • Honor the voice of the young person
      • Ask and Listen to young people and their parents
      • Empower the leaders of tomorrow by putting youth on your boards and planning commissions and including them as advocates when talking with legislators
      • Articulate a path for students to move up through the ranks: students teaching students and adults and students becoming teaching artists
    • Provide youth with ways to answer: "What’s next for me?"
      • Arts education organizations should connect with other arts learning organizations, to provide easy access for students for other arts opportunities and entry into the professional world
      • In an ever-changing world, instill in students the permanence of your arts program or institution and other learning opportunities
      • Provide scholarships to continue learning
    • Make parents central to arts learning priorities.
      • Engage in Constant Vigilance to get in touch with and involve them
      • Build long-term commitment by giving parents a sense of ownership
      • Invite parents into learning and performance opportunities as participants
      • Provide food, free transportation, free parking, and flexibility
      • Empower them to engage in the political system
    • Locate your arts organization strategically.
      • Locate your organization in the center of the community being served
      • Artistically enhance your external work environment for example paint the park benches near your office
      • Be permeable – bring the community in, go into the community – till boundaries are seamless
    • Create a strong and diverse network of advocates for youth
      • Cultivate mutual respect
      • Nurture ongoing relationships with individuals and organizations that are or could be committed to youth issues
      • Organize these networks to become political about school quality, inclusion of arts, community life.
      • Politically support the reinstitution of arts specialists in the schools
    • Communicate strategically about the importance of your arts education program
      • Synthesize your story skillfully, ground it in data and emotion.
      • Use multi-media such as a video by a teaching artist highlighting young voices or a PSA, press, etc.
      • Know your message; prepare the "elevator" speech:
      • who you are,
      • what you do with others,
      • quote evaluation numbers,
      • tell anecdote,
      • link to research,
      • invite to action
    • Refine organizational structures to serve the mission.
      • Vertically integrate professionals, amateurs, youth, adults
      • Ensure every staff member feels s/he can be an ambassador to other organizations
      • Select partnerships based on what’s best for youth and mission
    • Make evaluation an institutional habit of mind. Evaluate:
      • Self-esteem
      • Community participation
      • Civic pride
      • Positive engagement
    • Expand the definition of and commitment to professional development beyond professionals to include parents, students, aides, support staff, volunteers, activists, political leaders, facilities staff, as well as teachers, administrators, artists, arts organization managers.

  6. Changing the Frame: Valuing the Economic Role of the Arts in Communities

    Curator: Steven Wolff
    Listener: Marialaura Leslie
    Recorder: Amy A. Ford

    Strategies

    • Develop new economic arts measurements that speak the language of business and government and that take into account the importance of redefining the investment argument.
    • Realistically assess one's community by engaging in conversations with diverse members and asking "What can we do for you?"
    • Cultivate and engage new partners by focusing on external constituencies as well as internal ones.
    • Inventory the local stakeholders and authorizers for the arts/culture and community/economic development sectors in your community.
    • Join local, regional, and state business associations and/or committees.
    • Create a local arts and the economy taskforce for stakeholders
    • Create global positioning system mapping of the arts/culture in a given community that will lead to the creation of an arts/culture atlas (for example, Portland, OR).
    • Educate artists, arts administrators, arts advocates, etc., in citizenship efforts. Get involved in your community.
    • Visit presenter websites and use the information to inform your board, arts councils, arts organizations, and other stakeholders on the innovative work that is already being done in communities. Give your board homework.
    • Take immediate steps to change the role of the arts in your community by evaluating existing relationships, crafting a message, and dedicating resources to the work.
    • Be inclusive by finding stakeholders where you may not expect to. Fr example, include for-profit arts organizations in your community.
    • Be prepared to answer why? It is extremely important that, regardless of what arts and economic initiative is chosen by a community, the purpose for all its stakeholders is clear and well defined.
    • Honor the authenticity of what makes each community unique.
    • How? Collaborate, Connect, Challenge, and Commit.
      • Collaboration: building relationships that are authentic, intrinsic, and knowing. Collaboration also acknowledges the existing assets in a community and works to build on them. The language associated with this theme included "knowing," "multiple goals," and "crossing borders."
      • Connect: working with the keepers of economic vitality in any community, especially city councils or other public decision-making bodies.
      • Challenge: do not exist solely in the comfortable realm of conventional wisdom, and learn to leverage your economic research arguments.
      • Commitment: the importance of dedicating oneself fully to whatever process or vision identified. Patience and flexibility are the hallmarks of this theme.

Back to Top

Photo Gallery

  1. Public Art Preconference Photo Slideshow
  2. Arts Education Preconference Photo Slideshow
  3. United Arts Funds Preconference Photo Slideshow
  4. Saturday Slideshow
  5. Sunday Slideshow
  6. Monday Slideshow
  7. Tuesday Slideshow

Back to Top

Animating Democracy Civic Dialogue Sessions

On Monday, July 19, pARTicipate2004 attendees had the opportunity to experience and examine several projects that are using arts-based civic engagement to encourage social change in communities. Michael Rohd and members of Sojourn Theatre described "Witness Our Schools" through civic dialogue around education, excerpts from the performance, and specific challenges and methods used to implement their project. Marty Pottenger and Terry Dame facilitated "A People’s Dialogue," a civic dialogue focusing on the meaning of citizenship in America in which participants experienced civic dialogue first hand by sharing personal stories and experiences. At their presentation of "The Human Genome Project," members from the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange led attendees through movement exercises and discussion around the concept and consequences of genetic manipulation. The Blackout Arts Collective, a hip-hop and spoken-word performance group, led an investigation into the condition of the criminal justice system in America through a mind-mapping exercise and construction of collaborative poems. And members of the Danville Transportation Enhancement Project informed attendees about their work and led a discussion that explored the process of working with artists to redevelop portions of cities and towns.

Please visit the Animating Democracy website for more information.

Back to Top

Arts on the Hill

Arts advocates from across the country joined Americans for the Arts and the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies as part of Arts on the Hill Day, a day of lobbying by pARTicipate2004 attendees. Advocates started the day at a breakfast in the historic Russell Caucus Room, where they were entertained by the Washington National Opera Institute Young Singers and treated to remarks by numerous Representatives and Senators. Following the breakfast, advocates fanned out across Capitol Hill to fight for increased funding for the National Endowment for the Arts and the Department of Education’s Arts in Education programs, as well as to ask their Senators to join the forthcoming Senate Arts Caucus.

For more information on arts advocacy, including how to tell your lawmakers you support the arts, visit Capwiz.

Back to Top

Awards

Public Art Network Luncheon and Award Presentation
Public Art Preconference, Friday, July 16, 2004 pARTicipate2004 Awards Luncheon
Sunday, July 18, 2004

With a special presentation by DC Poet Laureate Dolores Kendrick and National Endowment for the Arts Chair Dana Gioia

Back to Top
For more information about this program, please email us.
CONTACT US 

    July 17-20, 2004
    Americans for the Arts and
     the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies
     Second Joint Convention
     Washington, DC
    Photos courtesy Washington, DC Convention and Tourism Corporation (WCTC)