So when I was asked to write the opening post to “set the tone” for this year’s Emerging Leaders Blog Salon—I did what any self-respecting, confident, and capable individual would do—I PANICKED!!
What would I write about? What would I say? Why would people care? What if I said something wrong?
Then I took a deep breath…and another…and then I started:
This year’s Emerging Leaders Blog Salon extended invitations to submit posts responding to “What would make where you live a better place or bring it to the next level?”
We received more than 30 submissions. The depth and breadth of the responses will make you laugh, cry, but most importantly, they will make you THINK, WONDER and they will INSPIRE!
Hopefully—at least, that’s what the Emerging Leaders Council intends.
This year, for me, has been about taking action—I was standing in a line at the BMV (or DMV, depending on where you live) and I turned towards one of the TV screens playing and a message —clear as day, white letters on a black screen—ominous in their intent and direct in their purpose: INACTION IS NOT AN OPTION.
Who knew I would find such profound wisdom while standing in line at the BMV. But it inspired me—so I think that if one thing could happen to make where I live a better place or to bring where I live to the next level, it would be—ACTION! Taking action. We are THE most studied sector in Columbus—we have a lot of information about what we do, who we are and what we do well—what we need to change, what we are missing—what makes us different from everyone else and what makes us the same.
I recently attended a workshop that was presenting the preliminary findings of another study and found that in the last 10 years there have been 34 studies on the arts and culture sector. The one difference of this study to all its predecessors is that it was intended to synthesize all the findings and work with the sector to define ACTIONABLE items for implementation. Exciting stuff, right? Assuming that we follow through. So, now I’m a sub-committee lead charged with honing the recommendations and preparing a bullet list for the full committee to consider and then prioritize and then put into ACTION!
So, in a nutshell—ACTION will be the thing that will take us to the next level—ACTION will be the thing that makes where I live a better place—and I couldn’t be more ready, my organization couldn’t be more ready and the community couldn’t be more ready—it’s our time, Columbus arts and culture!
With that, on behalf of the Emerging Leaders Council and Americans for the Arts, we invite you to read the posts this week and respond with your thoughts and questions—this is how we create dialogue and share ideas and inspire one another. This is how we take action!
