Keep up-to-date on Animating Democracy activities, arts-based civic dialogue programs around the country, and related news. Also check out and register for the monthly Animating Democracy E-News.
Joyce Foundation Renews Support for Americans for the Arts' Professional Development Fund for Emerging Arts Leaders of Color from the Great Lakes Region June 16, 2009— Applications are now available. The deadline for submission is August 14, 2009. Click here forapplication materials and eligibility information.For more information, contact Stephanie Evans via e-mail at leadership@artsusa.orgor by phone at 202-371-2830 ext 2036.
Writings from the Arts and Civic Engagement Impact Initiative The Arts & Civic Engagement Impact Initiative is supported by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Watch in the coming months for additional writings and Arts Impact Online, a new online resource center.
“Shifting Expectations: An Urban Planner’s Reflections on Evaluating Community-based Arts” by Maria Rosario Jackson, senior researcher, Urban Institute Based on 13 years of national research on integrating arts and culture into concepts of healthy communities, Jackson observes how sound and worthy community arts programs with social and civic intention are often saddled with unrealistic expectations about the impacts that they might have on a community and the ways in which such impacts might be proved. In this paper, Jackson argues for a shift toward more realistic expectations of social impact and evaluation of arts-based civic engagement both on the part of practitioners and funders. The paper also provides recommendations for practical ways of moving towards and operationalizing that paradigmatic shift.
“Civic Engagement and the Arts: Issues of Conceptualization and Measurement” by Mark J. Stern and Susan C. Seifert, Social Impact of the Arts Project, University of Pennsylvania Based on a literature review drawing from the social sciences, humanities, and public policy, Stern and Seifert suggests documentation and evaluation strategies that artists, cultural and community organizations, philanthropists, and public agencies could take to improve the quality of knowledge about the social impact of arts-based civic engagement work. Their paper offers practical considerations for evaluation in areas of methodological issues and data collection strategies. Stern and Seifert offer recommendations for evaluating effects of arts-based civic engagement at the program, regional, and initiative scales.
“Arts and Civic Engagement: Briefing Paper for the Working Group of the Arts & Civic Engagement Impact Initiative” by M. Christine Dwyer, RMC Research The Arts & Civic Engagement Impact Initiative is informed and guided by a Working Group of arts practitioners, researchers, evaluators, and funders with keen interest in understanding the social and civic impact of arts-based civic engagement work. This briefing paper, prepared by Chris Dwyer, offered the Working Group a “springboard” for discussion at the outset of the initiative. The conceptual framework depicts a systematic way to examine how arts-based civic engagement endeavors actually influence or produce important effects and impacts—a working theory of social efficacy. The model guided examination of the “lived” experiences of Working Group members. For the purposes of the Initiative, the paper helped establish common terminology; surface core questions and interests in areas of social impact evaluation and case making for arts-based civic engagement work; fine tune purpose and focus; and prioritize the research agenda.
In addition two new essays from the Ford Foundation supported Exemplar Program have been posted for review.
“Community-based Arts Organizations: A New Center of Gravity” by Ron Chew, principal, Chew Communications Amid changing demographics, a new political climate, technological advances, and globalization, small and mid-sized community-based arts organizations offer artistic excellence and innovation, astute leadership connected to community needs, and important institutional and engagement models for the arts field. This essay by Ron Chew, former long-time director of the Wing Luke Asian Museum, makes the case for greater support of this important segment of cultural organizations. Chew underscores their crucial contributions to the cultural ecosystem, to civic culture, and toward achieving healthy communities and a healthy democracy. This essay was developed for and supported by the Exemplar Program, a program of Animating Democracy in collaboration with the LarsonAllen LLC, with funding from The Ford Foundation.
“A Time of Crisis, A Moment for Art: Sojourn Theatre and the Lima Senior High Dialogue Project” by Judith E. Gilbert, Martha S. MacDonell, and Mary F. Weis This case study documents Sojourn Theatre Company’s intervention at Lima (OH) Senior High School following a tragic shooting in 2008 that resurfaced racial tensions in the community. Lima City Schools enlisted Allen County Common Threads, a locally based volunteer group promoting arts-based civic dialogue and Sojourn Theatre Company to implement an immediate arts-based project to help students process the tragedy. Sojourn interviewed students, and wrote, performed, and recorded theatrical monologues expressing student perspectives on the incident and the racial tensions exposed by it. The recorded monologues became the centerpoint for school-wide dialogue facilitated by Common Threads volunteers. The case study describes the role artists can play in a crisis as well as the challenges of the fast pace dictated by crisis. It also underscores the continued value of arts-based civic engagement in this one community over time, and the importance of artistic and financial resource for immediate crisis response.
Renewable Resources: Arts in Sustainable Communities will convene arts and cultural professionals from across the country in Seattle to network and participate in over 75 field-crafted sessions—including the Civic Engagement track, curated by Animating Democracy.
Sessions in the Civic Engagement Track will present innovative practices, new research, and evolving models to help position artists and arts organizations as leaders and partners in advancing civic participation and a culture of engagement. Featured Innovator Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, founder and artistic director of Urban Bush Women, will offer an inside look on this ground-breaking dance company’s investment in fostering civic and community engagement in its own community of Brooklyn through programs and its summer institute. Check out the Convention website for more details on sessions to be presented and registration deadlines!
New from Animating Democracy: The Arts & Civic Engagement Tool Kit Order Your Copy Today! November 21, 2008—Developed for and from the Arts & Civic Engagement workshops offered by Animating Democracy, this new resource includes customizable worksheets and tools to help users plan, design, and partner to create meaningful engagement activities.
Animating Democracy is pleased to announce the release of a new field resource: The Arts and Civic Engagement Tool Kit: Planning Tools and Resources for Animating Democracy in Your Community. The CD features customizable worksheets containing thoughtful questions, clarifying sidebars, and examples to help users plan, design, and partner to create meaningful engagement activities. Resources on the CD include:
A context for understanding the possibilities at the intersection of art and civic life;
Definitions of common terms and diagrams to situate arts-based civic engagement work in a broader context of arts and community engagement;
Imagine, Define, Design—a series of worksheets designed to help users define a project’s core artistic elements and civic or social concern;
Worksheets on forging effective partnerships;
A framework to create meaningful dialogue at arts events; and
A compilation of civic engagement resources including organizations, websites, and publications.
Through December 31, 2008, order a copy of the Arts and Civic Engagement Tool Kit and a copy of Civic Dialogue, Arts and Culture: Findings from Animating Democracy together, and receive 15 percent off your complete order. To order a copy of this extraordinary resource, contact the Americans for the Arts store at 800.321.4510.
Arts and Civic Engagement Audio Blogs Posted Online Arts and Civic Engagement Track Audio Blogs May 27, 2008—As part of the Civic Engagement Track at the 2008 Americans for the Arts Convention, Animating Democracy is offering a series of audio conversations with practitioners and professionals who will convene sessions at the event. Posted audio blogs include:
an exchange with Nora Berger Green, theater programs producer at the National Constitution Center and David Bradley, living news director exploring their innovative use of theater to engage local youth around questions of citizenship and civic participation through the lens of the Constitution; and
a discussion with Amy Skillman, Institute for Cultural Partnership’s vice president and director of arts and heritage programs, and Laura Marcus, independent consultant and folklorist, which addresses ways in which arts and cultural professionals can partner with social service agencies to assist recent immigrants in the resettlement process towards building local community, while maintaining connections to their countries of origin.
More information about the Civic Engagement track, as well as other tracks and sessions at the 2008 Convention can be found online at www.AmericansForTheArts.org/Convention.
Report from the Joint Convening of the Exemplar and Artography Programs Posted Online Artography / Exemplar Programs Joint Convening Report October 17, 2007—From May 14–16, 2007, grantees from the Artography and Animating Democracy/Working Capital Fund Exemplar programs, both supported by The Ford Foundation, met together in Chicago to share their experiences and consider ways they might draw on the collective power of their work.
The resulting report, Shaping a Critical Discourse, written by Caron Atlas, explores the topics of aesthetics, new ways of working, and leadership taken up at the cohort-designed gathering. The convening revealed and embraced the creative tensions and contradictions of working in the context of changing demographics, engaging generational shifts and new approaches to collaborative community practices, having diverse value-based structures, and being a cultural agent of change. Session-by-session summaries and resources from the meetings are posted along with the report.
Animating Democracy Seeks Examples of Evaluation Measuring Social Impact August 15, 2007—Animating Democracy is seeking examples of completed or in-progress evaluation efforts focused on measuring and understanding the social or civic impact of arts projects or programs.
Arts-based civic engagement projects or programs that engage people through the arts in dialogue, participation, and/or action related to clearly defined social or civic issues in the community are of particular interest. Further, we would like to know about organizations whose past arts-based programs or projects have useful documentation and/or evaluation that allow examination of single project impact and/or the cumulative impact of an organization’s project efforts over time. Animating Democracy is especially looking to identify evaluation approaches that apply metrics in order to quantify evidence of social change.
This effort relates to a two-year Animating Democracy initiative supported by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, designed to advance understanding of the social and civic impact of arts-based civic engagement work. The initiative responds to the expressed need for quantifiable, as well as anecdotal, evidence that the arts can have potent social change effects. The ultimate goal is to enable arts practitioners, funders, and public- and private-sector cultural policy makers to better make the case for the arts’ value and contribution in civic engagement.
Arts organizations, consultants, and funders are invited to share reports or a brief note indicating relevant resources or interest in being contacted by September 28. To contribute to this scan, contact Pam Korza, Animating Democracy project director at pkorza@artsusa.org or 413.256.1260.
Exemplar Program Announces Nine Field Advancement Grants Exemplar Program Field Advancement Grants September 08, 2006—The Animating Democracy/Working Capital Fund Exemplar Program has announced nine field advancement activity grants defined by and made to Exemplar Cohort Members. Through a competitive proposal process, grantees were invited to describe activities or projects that would serve their learning interests and that may also inform and engage the field. Learning activities focus on areas such as organizational health and stability, curriculum models, and programming models at the intersection of art and civic concerns.
Report from Animating Democracy/Working Capital Fund Exemplar Program Santa Fe Convening Posted Report from 2005 Exemplar Santa Fe Convening March 09, 2006—Representatives participating in the Americans for the Arts Exemplar Program convened in early December 2005 in Santa Fe, NM. From the convening, a report was compiled summarizing key topics in relation to challenges and opportunities among cohort members. Recognized for outstanding cultural work in their communities and in the field based on their participation in Animating Democracy and the Working Capital Fund, the groups explored topic areas related to aesthetic investigation, institutional health and capacity, and civic engagement. The Exemplar Program is funded by The Ford Foundation.
Animating Democracy Announces Performances & Book Party! Animating Democracy Performances & Book Party Invite January 22, 2006—Come to the Bowery Poetry Club February 27, 2006, for a lively program of poetry, spoken word, and theater and refreshments to celebrate the release of seven new books from Animating Democracy.
Animating Democracy artists and authors will perform creative work.Regie Cabico (artist in residence, Asian/Pacific/American Institute, NYU) will host as well as perform. Also on the program: John Kuo Wei Tchen (Asian/Pacific/American Studies) and Renato Rosaldo, “anthropoeta” (Latino Studies, NYU), contributors to the anthology Critical Perspectives: Writings on Art and Civic Dialogue, an experiment to explore a multivoiced framework for critical writing about arts-based civic dialogue; Andrea Assaf, artistic director of New WORLD Theater (NYU performance studies and theater graduate); and Bob Holman, poet and participant in City Lore’s Poetry Dialogues project.
Other Animating Democracy artists will also appear!
Co-sponsored by Americans for the Arts and New York University's Asian/Pacific/American Institute, Latino Studies, and Asian/Pacific/American Studies in the Department of Social & Cultural Analysis, Drama Department, and Department of Art and Public Policy at the Tisch School of the Arts, Department of History, Center for Religion & Media, and the Center for Media, Culture and History.
Americans for the Arts Announces Exemplar Program Awards Exemplar Program Press Release August 12, 2005—Americans for the Arts has announced a new initiative called the Exemplar Program, which will provide $2.1 million in awards to 12 small to midsized arts and cultural organizations nationwide. With support from The Ford Foundation, the Exemplar Program will provide two-year support totaling $150,000 to be used for operations and programs that sustain and advance outstanding work; build organizational knowledge and/or capacity; or enhance approaches to creative, civic engagement, or organizational work in the long term. It will enable the selected organizations to sustain and advance the kinds of exemplary work for which they were originally recognized, as well as extend the learning from the grantees in a way that is mutually beneficial to them and the field. Americans for the Arts is collaborating with LarsonAllen Public Service Group of Minneapolis—who managed the Working Capital Fund—to implement the Exemplar Program.
New Series from Americans for the Arts Reveals Findings from Innovative Animating Democracy Initiative Full Press Release for New Animating Democracy Publications September 07, 2005—Americans for the Arts, the nation’s leading arts advocacy organization, has published a set of books that explores the power of the arts and humanities to foster civic engagement and dialogue, based on the findings from its Animating Democracy initiative.
The program, funded by the Ford Foundation from 2000 to 2004, supported a wide range of cultural organizations across the country to develop arts and humanities activity that encouraged civic dialogue on important contemporary issues such as race relations, gentrification, school violence, the role of same sex couples in society, and the influx of immigrants and refugees in communities. The seven titles examine the role of these cultural institutions, highlight best practices and outcomes from their endeavors, and identify the challenges and complexities in arts-based public dialogue work.
The series is timely, as more and more artists and cultural organizations are using their creative capacities to encourage and facilitate greater civic participation and as interest grows among civic leaders and community developers in using the arts and humanities as civic agents. Titles include Civic Dialogue, Arts & Culture, which synthesizes the findings of the Animating Democracy initiative; Critical Perspectives, a collection of essays about three Animating Democracy projects that seeks to expand who has voice and authority in critical writing about civically engaged art through an experimental multi-perspective writing approach; and the Art & Civic Engagement series, five thematically framed books that offer in-depth case study analyses on some of the most illuminating projects in Animating Democracy.
NCDD Organizes New Arts-Based Civic Dialogue Networking Tool National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation April 26, 2005—The National Coalition of Dialogue and Deliberation (NCDD) is developing a web feature that will help members of the Dialogue and Deliberation community strengthen their work by including the arts. The feature will include descriptions of successful arts-based civic dialogue projects, as well as links to artists who can work with practitioners to bring the arts into their projects. For information on how artists and organizations can participate in this project, please contact Leah Lamb, Dialogue & Arts Project Manager, at leahlamb@gmail.com.
Animating Democracy Announces Sessions at the Americans for the Arts 2005 Annual Convention Americans for the Arts Leading the Charge Convention March 22, 2005—Animating Democracy’s sessions at the Americans for the Arts 2005 Annual Convention (June 11–13 in Austin, TX) will feature case studies, artistic work, and interactive experiences designed to illuminate opportunities and best practices for linking the arts and civic engagement. Sessions include Light/The Holocaust and Humanity Project: How Ballet Austin and its Partners Shined a LIGHT on Bigotry and Tolerance; Traces of the Trade: The Legacy of Northern Slavery and Film-based Dialogue on Race and Privilege; and Civic Engagement through Art: How LAAs can Animate Democracy.
Cultural Democracy: The Arts, Community, and the Public Purpose Available in Americans for the Arts Bookstore Americans for the Arts Bookstore February 10, 2005—Cultural Democracy: The Arts, Community, and The Public Purpose, a new book by Animating Democracy alum Bau Graves, is now available in the Americans for the Arts Bookstore. Cultural Democracy explores the crisis of our national cultural vitality. Drawing upon a range of scholarship and illustrative anecdotes from his own experiences with cultural programs in ethnically diverse communities, Graves explains in detail the dynamics of how traditional and grassroots cultures may survive and thrive—or not—and what we can do to provide them opportunities equal to those of mainstream culture.
Sojourn Theatre Announces Summer Theatre Institute Sojourn Theatre Summer Theatre Institute February 10, 2005—“Making Theatre/Facilitating Dialogue: Physical Theatre in Educational, Professional, and Community Settings,” a six-day workshop/training opportunity—from July 11 to 16, 2005—will offer participants an opportunity to explore the techniques and strategies that Sojourn Theatre Artistic Director Michael Rohd uses in collaborative work. These include devising performance, exploring metaphor through a physical theater of action and architecture, building community, and investigating contemporary issues through arts-based dialogue. The week will include a variety of approaches to performance and facilitation, including physical/gestural theater, improvisation, documentary theater, inquiry and dialogue activities, and movement and group composition work. Register early, space is limited. For registration or further information about either session, call 971.544.0464 or e-mail sojourntheatre@aol.com.
Cornerstone Theater Company Announces 2005 Summer Institute Residency Program Cornerstone Theater Company Summer Institute February 10, 2005—Cornerstone Theater Company has announced its second Institute, July 10–August 8, 2005. For four weeks, students, faculty, and guest artists will take up residency in Grayson and Westley, CA, (combined population of 1,800) to produce a play with, about, and for the residents of this small, mostly agricultural community.
Individuals seeking to study and collaborate with professionals who are well-versed in ensemble, community-based theater are encouraged to apply. Students must be 18 or older, can be at any stage of their education or career, and may include theater artists of any discipline (performers, writers, directors, designers, administrators, etc.), as well as educators, community organizers, activists, or anyone else interested in the intersection of theater and community. Theater experience is helpful but not required; Spanish speakers are especially welcome. Applications are due by March 14, 2005.
Center for Cultural Exchange to Develop Homeland Security in Collaboration with Marty Pottenger Center for Cultural Exchange February 10, 2005—Working with artist Marty Pottenger, the Center for Cultural Exchange has begun a new civic engagement project that will explore recent raids on immigrants’ communities in Portland, ME—specifically the Somali, Sudanese, Afghani, and Mexican communities, by Canadian border patrol agents. Through story circles and interviews with border officials and community members, Homeland Security will culminate in autumn 2005 with a performance piece featuring community members. Both the Center for Cultural Exchange and artist Marty Pottenger participated in projects supported by Animating Democracy.
Cornerstone Theater Company Announces Bridge Performance in Faith-Based Theater Cycle Cornerstone Theater Company February 10, 2005—Written by James Still and based on Schnitzler’s classic play, La Ronde, the final show in Cornerstone Theater Company’s Faith-Based Theater Cycle, A Long Bridge Over Deep Water, will weave together multiple stories exploring the religious diversity of Los Angeles through the eyes of a series of outsiders to each tradition. This epic project will bring together representatives of every community of faith that the company has worked with during the five-year cycle in order to explore the question “How does faith unite and divide us?” The Faith-Based Theater Cycle was supported in part by Animating Democracy.
