ARTSblog

Apparently, the Washington Post article I profiled in April (Would you stop and listen? ) is still getting a lot of downstream play. Staff at Polysemy  captured two interviews with Joshua Bell and his recent experiment as a street musician in a busy Washington, DC subway entrance. World-class musicians aren’t supposed to be  street performers – or should they? Who was impacted the most?

PODCAST: The Joshua Bell Experiment, part I [Running time: 21:52]
Questions explored: What exactly is this an experiment in? Is the audience response a sign of widespread cultural decline? Is Joshua Bell no better than the  average rock band just starting out? What is a “venue”, anyway?

PODCAST: The Joshua Bell Experiment, part II [Running time: 15:17]

Questions explored: Why didn’t more people in the station slow down and listen? Do we have sensory overload, and no mental space for music like Bell’s? Why did every child in the subway want to stop to listen?

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From left to right, top to bottom:Participants of the 2006 National Arts Policy Roundtable at the Sundance Preserve; Americans for the Arts President & CEO Robert L. Lynch with Eric Rogers, the 2007 Selina Roberts Ottum Award Winner, at the 2007 Americans for the Arts Annual Convention in Las Vegas; Jenny Holzer’s FOR LAS VEGAS commissioned by Americans for the Arts for the 2007 Annual Convention in Las Vegas; Wynton Marsalis testifying on Capitol Hill as part of the 2007 Arts Advocacy Day festivities; Americans for the Arts President and CEO Robert L. Lynch with Robert Redford at the 2006 National Arts Policy Roundtable event at the Sundance Preserve; Haluk Akakce’s Skys the Limit presented by Fremont Street Experience for the 2007 Americans for the Arts Convention

Photographers: Jill Orschel (NAPR photos), Sylvain Gaboury (Annual Convention Photos), Jim Saah (Arts Advocacy Day photos).

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American Evolution: Arts in the New Civic Life

2008 Americans for the Arts Annual Convention
Philadelphia, PA
June 20-22, 2008

Call for Session Proposals – Deadline: August 3, 2007

Philadelphia is the birthplace of American democracy, and today it is a leader in the evolution of civic life. From history to hip, the city is alive with creativity. Cultures abound in Philadelphia, an open and engaged metropolis that welcomes a diverse community of artists, innovators, and creators. 

At this convention, Americans for the Arts will come together to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first percent for art ordinance in the city that created it. We’ll visit traditions in arts education that date back to the founding of the country and continue on the cutting edge. We’ll also fast-forward to a new vision of civic leadership being crafted daily by the collaborative spirit of Philadelphia’s artists, arts administrators, business innovators, and elected leaders. 

Civic life is evolving in all of our communities and the arts are at the center.  In this year of democratic decision-making, more than 1,000 of your colleagues will gather together to laugh, listen, learn, and lead in the place where it all began, and is happening again.  Proposing a session is your opportunity to share your strategies and secrets for the future of creative communities.

The proposal deadline is August 3, 2007.  More information and the electronic proposal form is available at http://www.AmericansForTheArts.org/Convention/Proposals/

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I am writing from Minneapolis where I am attending the Theatre Communications Group National Conference.  This evening I had the pleasure of listening to keynote speaker, Molly Smith, Artistic Director of Washington, DC’s Arena Stage.  I wholly expected Molly to discuss artistic issues in the theater since she is a director–issues such as copyright, unions, visas, co-productions, etc.  So when she started off by asking the audience how many people have heard of Second Life, I was shocked. Read the rest of this entry »

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With the convention over, it’s nice to part with the chaos that is Las Vegas and apply some of the advice and models offered during the leadership track sessions. During convention there were many conversations, but now it’s time for the action. I think this is most important considering the arts is a sector that is criticized for commissioning many reports, but not leveraging more action beyond the thick reams of paper. Furthermore, many think that these reports only remind of what what we already know.

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With a title theme like RISK AND REWARD, I can tell that the convention has really challenged administrators to move out of their comfort levels and challenge the “norm.”  Rha Goddess‘ inspirational speech on identifying and sustaining emerging leadership was no exception.   I’ve been pretty faithful to the Leadership Track but in  my interest in attending some other non-Leadership sessions on the program schedule, I almost missed Rha Goddess.  I’m so glad I didn’t. Her ideas really resonated with my post on cultural leadership.  She stated that “If your art is not your center, leadership IS NOT happening” and challenged us to handle ourselves and “hold space.”

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I’m Anne Katz, Director of Arts Wisconsin, Wisconsin’s arts service, advocacy and development organization, and your official blogger for the “Public Advocacy” track at the 2007 Americans for the Arts conference, and I have a confession to make: I didn’t actually attend any of the “Public Advocacy” sessions at the conference today.

I particfipated in the Putting Cultural Assets to Work: Strategies for Communities session in the morning, then had a private meeting about advocacy issues (so, ok, I did focus on advocacy, at least) with another conference attendee, and spent the final session of the afternoon participating in the “Arts Environmental Scan” discussion about AFTA’s planning process. I know that the final session of the day, The State Fiscal Landscape in Transition, was led by Stan Rosenberg, a great arts advocate and political leader from Massachusetts, so I’m sorry to have missed that. I know that tomorrow I will get to at least one of the sessions I am officially supposed to cover, so will be able to report on what I learn from that.

My feeling, though, is that all of the sessions at the conference are concerned with advocacy in some way, since it’s all about speaking up for and leading in the arts arena. No matter what session you attend, throughout the conference you, and all of us, are learning more about moving our local agendas, and the national agenda, forward.

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“You can’t solve a problem with the same consciousness that created it”

~ Albert Einstein

During Jerry Yositomi‘s (Meaning Matters, LLC) Leading with Limited Authority session on Friday afternoon, over 60 people reflected upon a time when we independently made an intentional change in ourselves or a project. In our positions, how do we maneuver leading those with authority that supersedes are own?

When people don’t know what to do, those charged to make changes in leadership are often resistant to innovation. We question our competency (is designing such a program financially feasible or are we educated enough about the decision at hand to make an informed decision?), capacity (is it realistic for us to challenge our leadership or is it even worth it?), values (both personal and professional/organizational), and confidence (although we want or need something to change, do we have the assurance that we’ll be willing to take responsibility for the outcome, whatever the case?).

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It’s the first day of the 2007 Americans for the Arts Convention! It’s hot in Las Vegas and although the Flamingo Hotel can be a little confusing, we’ve all managed to navigate our ways through the casinos, crowds, and mirrored hallways (they all look the same and seem to take you back to where you started!) to our respective sessions. Speaking of navigating through challenges and obstacles, I’ll be checking-in frequently to report back on my musings and reflections from Leadership Track sessions over the course of convention weekend. I’d like to share some thoughts on today’s Cultural Leadership session… Read the rest of this entry »

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So I decided to return to my hotel room to blog from bed.  Vegas is nothing if not exhausting, and I’ve already seen more fake bodies and drunken frat boys than one San Franciscan can handle. I suppose it’s fitting since rumor has it Vegas IS the new Hollywood.  This rumor might also explain the trash items found by one of my colleagues underneath her bed at the Flamingo.  Fortunately for me, the Flamingo and Harrah’s were booked by the time I got my act together to make a reservation so I’m reaping the benefits of a great Hotels.com deal at the Signature at MGM Grand.  Just a tip for your next trip to Vegas…

Anyhow, Risk and Reward is definitely the right theme for this conference.  It’s risky enough just negotiating the Flamingo casino floor to get to your workshop of choice.  But all and all, it’s the best kind of environment for an arts conference – chaotic, loud, unruly, fast, wildly varied in temperature, and challenging to navigate.  It makes you pay attention to where you are going (or staying) which is a fitting metaphor for the state of arts education (in case you haven’t had the opportunity to hear Eric Booth so eloquently speak to this yet).

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The MacArthur Fellowship can be seen as America’s equivilent to the Nobel Prize. Now in its 27th year, the Harvard Business Review profiled the work of its Program Director and asked him questions about the distinction between creatve individuals and business innovators. Excepts from his reponses are below. The full article can be found in the May 2007 issue, p 121-126 (subscription required) at www.hbr.org

“There’s no question that people of extraordinary creativity and originality are in business. The founders of Google are incredible. So are Steve Jobs and so many others. Our reasoning is that the market is a very effective support system for the best ideas in business. We serve those who do not fall under the influence of the market. That’s not to say that artists don’t live in the market economy, but we think that their driving motivations and rewards are different. And that’s precisely why the money is an important part of the fellowship. Look at the freedom and time this relatively modest five-year fellowship-with absolutely no obligations-can confer on an artist or scientist whose ability to experiment is often constrained by the need to satisfy the requirements of outside funders.”

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“Another thing we’ve learned over the years is that exceptionally creative people aren’t always the obvious suspects. It is a common trap in all areas”I’m sure in business, too-to give the limelight to people whose success isn’t the result of any special creativity on their part. They are just very good at promoting themselves. We have found that many of our winners are people whom others might never have thought of, at first, as MacArthur candidates. Many were unknown and ignored. So don’t assume that you can figure out who your creative people are all by yourself. Listen to others and look in the least likely places. As a business, you will probably start your search inside the organization. But to get a really good fix on somebody on the inside, you might want to ask those on the outside. Extend your networks and try to get information from as many people as possible, just as we do with the many evaluation letters we seek.”

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Americans for the Arts is proud to announce the release of Arts & Economic Prosperity III, our third study of the nonprofit arts and culture industry’s impact on the nation’s economy. These studies are the most potent and oft-cited advocacy tool used to justify public and private sector support to nonprofit arts organizations. This new study is our largest ever, featuring findings from 156 study regions (116 cities and counties, 35 multicounty regions, and 5 states). Data were collected from a remarkable 6,080 nonprofit arts and culture organizations and 94,478 of their attendees across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Read the rest of this entry »

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It seems that every couple of months I run into an article somewhere with the above title.  This time it was in the San Diego Business Journal.  It has long been rumored that the MFA degree would be the “new” MBA degree as our industrial economy shifts to a creative economy.  This always makes me chuckle, mostly because as having an MFA degree, I wish that I were paid anywhere near what most MBA alums are currently making.  If the MFA degree is the deus ex machina of the new economy, one would think the value of having one would increase tremendously.  I can only hope. Read the rest of this entry »

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The flip side of work/life debate begs the question: What is the relationship between fulfillment and workload?  Personally, I readily confess that I am an uber-achiever. Always have been; wired that way. There have been times when I have been at my happiest when working really hard, which is why I really enjoy the work on “flow” by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (pronounced, as I understand it, chic-sent-mee-highly). He contructs the “Creative Personality” along 10 dimensions of complexity.  Each statement embodies a contradiction. Taken as a whole, they are a great for seeing how we can reconcile the paradoxes within ourselves. Which ones resonate most with you?

[Adapted from Csikszentmihalyi (1996). "Creativity: Flow and the psychology of discovery and invention." Harper: New York. p. 51-76.]

1. Creative individuals have a great deal of physical energy, but they are also often quiet and at rest.
2. Creative individuals tend to be smart, yet also naive at the same time.
3. Creative individuals operate with playfulness and discipline; responsibility and irresponsibility.
4. Creative individuals alternate between imagination and fantasy at one end, and a rooted sense of reality on the other.
5. Creative people seem to harbor opposite tendencies on the continuum between extroversion and introversion.
6. Creative individuals are remarkably humble and proud at the same time.
7. Creative individuals, to a certain extent, escape rigid gender stereotyping.
8. Creative people are thought to be rebellious and independent, yet grounded in cultural traditions.
9. Most creative people are very passionate about their work, yet they can be extremely objective about it as well.
10. The openness and sensitivity of creative individuals often exposes them to suffering and pain yet also a great deal of enjoyment.

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In today’s working culture, there is a lot of pressure to be accessible all the time, to deliver on your action items, to prove your value to your organization. Multi-tasking and working cross-departmentally is the norm. Then, there are those workers who brag about the hours they pull (I used to be a high school teacher and every job I have had since has a light workload compared to that job). The culture of complaint can be the norm around the water cooler. How can we structure policies so that people are working smart, as opposed to just working hard? If the bottom line and productivity are the foundation of any performance evaluation, where does efficiency factor in? A recent article from Fast Company profiles a consulting company that “red flags” employees who pull long and late hours.
Joe Robinson (May 2007) The Red Zone. Fast Company.
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/115/next-worklife.html

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