102549
Teaching the Arts in a State Prison Classroom
During this past school year, Dr. Lauren Neefe with Common Good Atlanta reached out to the High Museum to do a guest lecture experience at Metro Reentry Facility, a state prison reentry program in Atlanta. We came to one class during a series of art and art history lectures at the facility. This blog post features Dr. Neefe’s experience with incorporating art from the High Museum and music in her curriculum.
Last fall, as the volunteer site director for Common Good Atlanta’s education program at Metro Reentry Facility, the newly reopened and “re-missioned” state prison in southeast Atlanta, I was given the opportunity to give a series of lectures on art and art history to the 28 incarcerated students in our college course. My doctoral training is in English literature and poetry, not art history; but I knew I was up to the task of introducing art as a contested category of culture and knowledge. Maybe I could reframe the obligations of punitive discipline as the pleasures of an aesthetic one. Maybe the students and I could write over the indignities of one kind of suffering with the dignity of another, the kind artists and scholars know as passion.
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102548
But What Does Arts Entrepreneurship Even Mean?
Arts Entrepreneurship is nothing new. It is fair to assume that artists have always been entrepreneurial. Educators in higher education have been earnestly addressing this topic as early as the 1970s, first at the Eastman School of Music. However, what is new is a formalized system of education that teaches artists how to, specifically, act entrepreneurially. Today, there are over one hundred colleges and universities addressing the topic, and at least 33 Master’s programs around the world focused on arts, creative, or cultural entrepreneurship. In academic literature, there is absolutely no consensus as to what “entrepreneurship” means, much less “arts entrepreneurship.” In this post, I will address the key components found in one definition, and speak to the importance of arts entrepreneurship and its potential to help artists make a living from their creativity, artistry, skills, and talents. I will speak to increasing chances of success while decreasing risks associated with a career in the arts.
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102525
2018 PAN Year in Review Trends and Themes: Public Art Projects Framing Social Justice and Inclusion
Annually, the Public Art Network (PAN) Year in Review recognizes outstanding public art projects that represent the most compelling work for the year from across the country and beyond. The projects are selected and presented by a jury of three professionals who represent different aspects of the public art field, including artists, administrators, and other public art allies. New this year, the PAN Advisory Council curated the selected 49 selected projects for 2018 under five unique themes to broaden the exposure of the selected works on ARTSblog and social media, and to provide context to the works through national trends and themes that are impacting the field today.
Due to increased public discourse over social issues that include marginalized communities, and the current state of our welfare infrastructure, artists are creating works for public space that demand closer examination of our society and our treatment of one another. Indicative of the evolution of public art practice, these works suggest the expanding role of public art in framing and directing public thought and activism. Of the 2018 selected PAN Year in Review projects, three projects represented the intentionality of artists in centering marginalized identities and geographies. These works help frame social justice and inclusion within their communities in a number of ways.
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102535
A Message to Young Women Leaders in the Arts
My Feminist mom learned in the working world of the 1970s what it was like to move through patriarchal spaces. Women leaders: those times, they have not fully “a-changed”. You will be belittled, left out. Your appearance is foremost in their minds. Worst of all, other women will cut you down. Confident women: you will be called loud. You are told to moderate your confidence level, called strident. You are not the problem. It’s their expectations that are the problem. In art, we must all be activists. We “fight” not just for funding and support, but also to be included at all planning tables. We should fight to speak for those whose voices may not be in the room—or who are never invited in the first place.
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102523
The Arts in America
In America, I have the opportunity of expressing myself through the arts, and now my work as an arts leader is rooted in helping students achieve by learning through the arts. As an arts advocate and educator, I have the privilege of contributing to the education of diverse students, many of whom represent a wide array of languages, learning modalities, and backgrounds. I play a part in helping them express themselves through the arts. All of us have an identity, but the arts help students find the special and unique qualities that make them who they are. The arts are essential to education in America. Music, dance, visual arts, theatre, and creative writing courses broaden the educational experiences of students. Such experiences offer opportunities for students to create innovative solutions, to build community, and to foster their sense of self. The arts have a place in the balanced educational experiences of students all across the county.
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102515
Audience Engagement is NOT Community Engagement
Why is it important that we get these terms right? As we work to communicate the value of the work that we do, it’s important to paint an accurate and authentic picture. It is only once we acknowledge the work we are currently doing that we are able to grow.
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102512
From Mayors to the PTA, Americans for the Arts Strategically Partners
Americans for the Arts, like any national nonprofit advocacy and research organization, is a complex, multifaceted smorgasbord of programs, activities, and goals. Our modest number of employees not only work to make fundamental changes to society using the arts and culture, but we also work to change how people view the arts and culture by getting them to recognize its value to the economy, education, and to the health and wellbeing of our nation and its communities. For a nonprofit of our size, we often do the work or see successes similar to much larger nonprofits or even for-profit companies. We owe this success to our members and the thousands of arts organizations across the country who work with us to accomplish our goals. But, there is another group of organizations that Americans for the Arts partners with who also help us accomplish our goals. These organizations are not arts-centric groups, but they do see the value of the arts and culture in accomplishing their goals. We call this group of organizations our Strategic Partners.
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102509
Why It’s Crucial to Center Equity in LAA Investment Strategies
What does it mean to center equity in your investment strategy? And why is that important? Cultural equity is critical to the arts and culture sector’s long-term viability, as well as to the ability of the arts to contribute to healthy, vibrant, equitable communities for all. If the field is not investing in the artistic and cultural traditions of every aspect of their community, then we are not fulfilling our purpose. Each year the United States’ 4,500 local arts agencies collectively invest an estimated $2.8 billion in their local arts and culture ecosystems, including an estimated $600 million in direct investment in artists and arts and culture organizations through grants, contracts, and loans. This makes LAAs, collectively, the largest distributor of publicly-derived funds to arts and culture in the United States. It is therefore crucial that LAAs employ a strong lens of equity to consider the full scope of their investments—including both direct financial investments like grants, and indirect financial investments like staff salaries and rent.
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102500
Create, Collaborate, Cultivate: Why Legal Issues are Important to Artists
No matter where you are in your career as an artist, you’re probably used to wearing a lot of different hats. You likely do your own bookkeeping, maybe your own accounting, definitely your own marketing and promotion. As your creative pursuits grow and expand, you may even find yourself staring face to face with some sort of legal issue. Now, you might be saying to yourself, “I’m an artist, but I don’t have any legal issues to worry about.” Well, I have some bad news for you. Every artist has legal issues to worry about (they aren’t all bad legal issues, though!). Every artist is a small business, and every small business has legal issues and needs. Just as small business has accounting, banking, and insurance needs, so do artists. While it may be difficult to know exactly what your legal needs might be, there are three categories of activities that artists participate in that are directly related to legal issues relevant to your artistic livelihood.
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102494
A Moral Imperative
We’ve had the great fortune of working with multiple programs that have helped shaped the lives of young people through arts education. It’s incredibly fulfilling to see impact happening at that moment ... but what about after? Those of us who work with underserved communities know how critical our work is in leveling the playing field, and are so proud when we see our students finishing school and utilizing those skills to move on to the next phase of their lives. But what about those who can’t make that leap quite as easily? They have all the lessons and skills from what we’ve taught them through the magic of an arts education; they should be able to figure it out, right? Not always. This is an experience any young person could struggle with, regardless of what resources are available to them. What would happen when arts education programs considered it a moral imperative to support our alumni in the transition from childhood to adulthood?
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102478
Dancing4Defenders: How Dancing Can Benefit Military Populations
Since my enlistment in the US Air Force, I have conducted group classes on military installations since 2013. As part of my DC-area dance company, Moving Rhythms, I began Dance4Defenders, which aims to provide dance-related programming to military members and veterans wherever I am stationed. Most recently, in February 2019, I hosted a dance class at the Coast Guard Yard in Baltimore. But, let’s talk about the benefits of dance! In the last few years, dance and health professionals alike have touted the numerous benefits of dancing, from both physical and mental standpoints. These include every aspect from improved heart and lung function to increased confidence and psychological wellbeing. However, dancing can have even more positive implications for military service members and veterans.
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