ARTSblog

Americans for the Arts Convention Blog Stats (pdf, 288KB)

We know that not everyone can attend our Annual Convention. We asked several participants to blog their convention experience through the ARTSblog. Each track was covered. Some sessions or events were profiled more than once. The posts started flowing in before Convention began.

Here are some stats about American Evolution as it happened online. Our Google Analytics looks like an earthquake hit or something.

• 8,537 page views over the course of convention
• 1,122 unique visitors
• 2:42 average time on site

What was the experience like on your end?

For reasons I’m too embarrassed, exhausted or simply unwilling to discuss, I’m seated at the Phoenix Airport at 7:00 a.m. on my way home to LA. I’m not a fan of overnight flights, and I’m extremely un-fond of three hour airline delays – especially when I could have stayed at the airport hotel and swam in the pool or worked out. Oh well. Time for a recap.

This conference rocked. For those that have been reading my posts, I can be a bit of a tough love kind-of-guy. Read the rest of this entry »

Time flies! It feels like the first session just started, but now its time to wrap-up. Unfortunately, I had to leave a bit early on Saturday afternoon. So sorry to have missed the Emerging Leaders Reception at World Cafe Live – such a cool space! In honor of my absence, I loaded my iPod with cool new music to listen to on the flight back to LA.

As I reflect upon the last couple of days, I can’t help but feel honored to be a part of such a great community of committed and creative individuals. Read the rest of this entry »

I can’t help but view this whole conference experience through the lens of its arrival in my hometown next year. What will we do differently? What worked and what didn’t? What does ‘Metro Natural’ mean? I really want to be able to show off the ‘Authentic Seattle’ character, but also be realistic about what we will be able to do…I didn’t even make all of the sessions I wanted to this year, and I had far less responsibility than I will next time around.

I really enjoyed the presentation I just saw about uwishunu, and am totally blown away by how smart, savvy, and authentic that project seems to be. I hope they come to Seattle next year. I also really enjoyed the panel that Ra and Lisa from Illinois Arts Alliance hosted on succession planning; I did manage to step on a small land mine during that discussion when I suggested that hiring young, capable staff and training them up through the organization was a way to protect yourself from succession crisis…apparently it sounded like I was saying don’t hire people over 35 (I wasn’t). It made me think about a few things for next year:

-Multigenerational Leadership dialogue: It gets a little too ‘us vs. them’ for me…I think we would all be served by being able to hear and learn from each others stories, regardless of age or institution.

-Combined panels with Economic Development and Leadership: In both tracks it was sometimes hard to tell which was which. I think these two areas are closely linked (uwishunu is a good example).

-I have 3 staff under the age of 25, all running different aspects of our program…I’d like to put them on a panel next year and explore what works/doesn’t work about distributed leadership, and what their view of organizational structure is. A lot of people wonder aloud what young people think/want; I suggest we ask them.

-Youth Voice: There is so much dialogue about arts education, but I haven’t seen any youth as presenters. I think that would be really informative

-Sustainability: It appears that this is out theme, and I hope we can explore a wholistic view of the idea of sustainablility…Organizational, environmental, career, operating structure. I have some great ArtVenture ideas for the conference that adress this idea. I also think that susatainability naturally lends itself to crossover between tracks.

I’m just sayin’

I love the people from Tuscon!!!

See you next time…

Randy

Yesterday’s highlight: Joyce Fellow Adam Thurman challenging the Americans for the Arts Board of Directors to give “us”—a new generation of emerging leaders of color—a voice on that board.

The board’s response? A direct invitation to work with their strategic planning and diversity committees in providing feedback on their strategic plan draft.

Adam, I think that’s a yes.

This marks my first ever foray into the world of BLOG…Please pardon any typos, as I am still a practitioner of the ‘Raptor’ typing technique, utilizing 3 fingers on each hand…ironic I know being a Seattlite, but I digress.

Yesterday I facilitated my first panel, and it was a great experience.  Perhaps the best part was being able to spend most of the day with my collegue Anne Corbett from Cultural Development Corporation in DC.  She’s such an inspiration, and I’m glad the conference gave us so much time to connect personally and professionally.  We were sad that 2 of our original panelists needed to cancel due to tragic circustances, but our stand in, Matthew Kwatinetz, stepped in admirably.  As is turns out, having to ‘wing’ the panel more than expected worked in our favor, as we had WAY more people show up that the room was capable of holding.  I arrived early and started setting up chairs in a circle; our vision was to host an ‘UNpanel’, where we went without Power Point and instead tried to facilitate a conversation amongst all the people in the room… Read the rest of this entry »

Terence McFarland.

Where would the arts be without him? Blogger extraordinaire, icon of style, NAMP affiliate through LA Stage Alliance (National Arts Marketing Project—not the National Association of Mortgage Professionals, National Association of Meat Processors, or the National Association of Mold Professionals), convener of MetLife Forums, theater patron, arts advocate, artist, board member, and all around “someone to watch” guy. Did I mention he’s also the executive director for Los Angeles Stage Alliance? He’s a great example of the great people who work in the arts, 1,400 of which at at Convention right now Read the rest of this entry »

Victoria Saunders and Lisa May Simpon’s session on mentorship programs delivered!

Even better, the project’s website gives you everything you need to replicate their program.

Best practices, template contracts, and much, much more.

If you’re thinking about setting up a mentor project—check it out. You won’t be disappointed.

They’ve done a lot of the heavy lifting for you!

Lively hoots and hollers accompanied the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) panel introduction when Lynn Tuttle, Director of Arts Education with the Arizona Department of Education, led 120+ national arts education professionals in a 20-minute overview of everything you ever wanted to know about NCLB and the arts.

She offered “NCLB BINGO” as the framework for sharing the plain-language facts about this legislation and the controversies that surround it. The dubious prizes included tomes on navigating titled programs, and other stimulating education legislation. Read the rest of this entry »

• Plus 1 for getting early check-in at the hotel after arriving in on the red eye at o’ dark thirty.
• Minus 1 for somebody else’s dirty sheets in my bed.
• Plus 1 for the extra blanket in the closet that led to the fully clothed nap.
• Minus 1 for sleeping a little longer than expected…oops.
• Plus 1 for the grand entrance to the morning session just as my colleague was describing all the incredible work we do at LA Stage Alliance.
• Minus 1 for us not actually being an arts and business council, or a bva, or a uaf. What is it exactly that we’re doing here again?
• Plus 2 for a lady of a certain age getting really excited about their organization having a “myface, or whatever it is that we have, but we’ve got it now and it’s cool. It’s great to have interns.”
• Plus 1 for ganking ideas from other regions as we consider what our model of an arts and business council might look like in a market as ginormous as ours. Read the rest of this entry »

I always look forward to Convention, but this is especially interesting because of the host city—Philadelphia. Last year I applied to a several graduate programs in urban planning, urban design, and historic preservation. Among my primary criteria was the opportunity to live in a city that could serve as an interesting urban lab, one that was experiencing a great cultural renaissance and recognized the value of art and culture within their urban infrastructure. It’s no surprise that I spent a good portion of the year highly considering life in Philadelphia. Read the rest of this entry »

Tuesday, June 16: I leave on Thursday for the conference and I am so excited.

Lots of interesting and exciting activites going on and I’m volunteering at the conference so my schedule is NUTS!

I’ve been checking and double checking my schedule to make sure everything is accounted for. One thing we have done is to tag team the conference (my co-workers are also attending, Alicia Oddi and Bryan Knicely) so we get to bring back the most we can from the presentations.

I’m super excited about the Career 360 session I’ll be hosting with Jennifer Wijangco on Saturday—Resume Review/Interview tips from the for-profit perspective. Having spent some time in corporate community relations and human resources, then migrating to the nonprofit arts sector has given me a unique perspective on the dynamics between the two. It’s been culture shock to say the least.

Has anyone else come to the arts by way of the for-profit world? How have you coped with the differences?

Would love to have folks say HI, so make sure to sign up for the dine-around on Friday night—I’ll be hosting Nodding Head Brew Pub. The Eemerging Leaders Council are a friendly and dynamic bunch, so make sure to introduce yourself. Mitch Menchaca and I are hosting a dialogue on Creative Conversations and networking at the local level on Saturday morning for you early birds.

See you at conference!! Safe Travels!!

Ruby Classen

Arts professionals are using survey software to traverse distances and harvest data to validate the work of art in our left-brain society. As a result, we are now able to make a few claims about what the arts provide, what the arts need, and what the arts can do next.

I am looking for answers and connections when I come to a conference, and this year I am heading into the Americans for the Arts Arts Education sessions with some very specific questions based on a bundle of surveys that have been completed this past year about teaching artistry.

A comprehensive table of these surveys will be shared in the next few days, so we will circulate it after the conference. But, a sneak preview of the questions that are bubbling up is offered here. I reference ideas from Judith Tannenbaum in 2007 when she left the Anericans for the Arts conference and wrote “What Have We Got to Lose? Preserving the Important Qualities of the Teaching Artist Profession, While Still Moving Ahead with Its Professionalism.”

Podcast: Download (14.7MB)

Lex Leifheit is the Vice Chair of the Emerging Leader Council and she runs a weekly radio show on 88.1FM, WESU Radio in Middletown, CT, called “The Art Agenda.” Since Lex is going to be in Philadelphia, she pre-recorded her show to air this weekend. In this podcast, Lex sits down with Rebecca Borden, manager of professional development, to talk about this week’s convention activities as well as theme for next year’s convention in Seattle, June 18-20, 2009.  If you want a behind the scenes peak into why program leads at Americans for the Arts design the Annual Convention the way they do, this  approximately 30 minute interview will give you some new insights into how one staff member prepares for one of our biggest art gatherings of the year and how she tries to find that elusive work-life balance along the way (and, yes workouts were skipped to get this post up!).

The following interview is an excerpt from “The Art Agenda” with Lex Leifhiet, broadcast weekly on 88.1FM, WESU Radio in Middletown, CT. For other Art Agenda podcasts, visit http://www.lexleifheit.com.

I’ve just spent a few minutes recalling the NALAA/Americans for the Arts conferences I have attended, and I think the grand total is—good heavens—15! I’m having a bit of trouble with putting together the correct places and dates, though—I’ll have to check around the website and see if there’s a list so I can refresh my memory.

You’d think that after all these conferences, I might be less than enthusiastic about attending yet another one, but that’s not at all true. The convention is one of the highlights of my professional year. I reconnect with the friends I have made over my 20+ year career in community arts, I absorb great information and ideas from other places, and I get to be right in the thick of the national “conversation” about the essential importance of the arts in our society. Those contacts, that information, and that participation are invaluable tools for me to use every day in my work. I look forward to the annual convention with great anticipation and gusto, and always want to stay just a little longer so I can soak it all in.

I recently talked with a colleague here in Madison who is new to the community arts world and about to attend her first convention. She wanted to get some idea about how to get the most out of the convention—who the leaders were, what aspects of the conference were most important, what kinds of sessions to attend. Talking with her, I remembered my excitement and nervousness when I arrived at my first NALAA conference (Washington, 1986), and the thrill I felt as I began to realize that here were people I could talk to and learn from.

I still feel that thrill, and it’s why I’m so looking forward to Philadelphia. See you there!