featured members
2012
Americans for the Arts members are truly diverse – from large arts organizations to small ones; from funders to presenters; from urban centers to rural outposts. Despite their differences, they share the common goal of advancing and promoting the arts in their communities. Featured Member Projects highlights some of the many interesting and innovative means our members are using to strengthen their communities through the arts.Are you an Americans for the Arts member who would like to see your organization and project featured on this page? If so, email your story to membership@artsusa.org.
Inocente is an intensely personal and vibrant coming of age documentary about a young artist’s fierce determination to never surrender to the bleakness of her surroundings. At 15, Inocente refuses to let her dream of becoming an artist be caged by her life as an undocumented immigrant forced to live homeless for the last nine years. Color is her personal revolution and its extraordinary sweep on her canvases creates a world that looks nothing like her own dark past—a past punctuated by a father deported for domestic abuse, an alcoholic and defeated mother of four who once took her daughter by the hand to jump off a bridge together, an endless shuffle year after year through the city’s overcrowded homeless shelters and the constant threat of deportation.
Read more »Carnegie Mellon University, Master of Arts Program
On October 6, Carnegie Mellon University’s Master of Arts Management Program hosted a daylong Symposium on Arts Management and Innovation to kick off the celebrations of their 25th Anniversary. Kathryn Heidemann, CMU’s Director of the Master of Arts Management (MAM) program, wanted to create a professional development opportunity for alumni as well as the local community.
The symposium welcomed over 150 attendees comprised of CMU alumni and Pittsburgh area arts administrators, and featured Doug McLennan, Founder and Editor of ArtsJournal, as a keynote. Two professional development sessions took place each hour, with sessions led by CMU MAM alumni who are currently working in the field. The sessions focused on community and audience engagement, social media, and fundraising, with each conversation centered on the theme of change and innovation in the field. The day ended with an evening boat celebration highlighting performances by alumni. CMU celebrates the fact that their graduates have both stayed in the arts administration field and found success in other sectors as well.
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Long Island Winterfest: Jazz on the Vine Wins Arts Destination Marketing Award
Since 1973, Long Island has been notorious for its stunning vineyards and fine wine. Yet while the summer and autumn seasons have always attracted a steady number of tourists to the region, the winter tended to move at a slower tempo. But times have changed. Five years ago, Patricia Snyder, Executive Director of East End Arts (EEA) launched the Long Island Winterfest: Jazz on the Vine festival, a six-weekend event that introduces tourists to top-flight jazz musicians at local wineries spread throughout the East End. The festival offers 80 musical acts at more than two dozen wineries, coupled with more than 100 special deals from 100 local businesses. Merging the arts and the local businesses of Long Island has successfully lengthened the tourism season through the winter months while making Winterfest: Jazz on the Vine a nationally recognized jazz festival.
The Worcester Cultural Coalition's WOO Card is a program designed to open the door to Worcester County's vibrant creative community! Card holders receive discounts and special offers for cool concerts, thought provoking theater, unique museums, great music, street festivals, outdoor adventures and more - throughout Worcester County, throughout the year!
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In response to the rapid changes due to the economy, technology and younger employees' interests in supporting their communities in different ways, the United Arts Fund (UAF) program of COMPAS has designed a bold new strategy for their allocations which will no longer provide General Operations Support or Programming/Projects Support grants. UAF is one of many community-based arts funds across the country seizing opportunities for new and strategic collaborations that will build the resiliency of their grantees and also increase the impact of donor contributions. At the same time, COMPAS recognized the need for its work to align more strongly with shifting community priorities while holding true to their mission, values, and programming interests.
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Milwaukee Public Schools Data Map for Comprehensive Arts Education
Arts @ Large, an innovative program that provides multidisciplinary arts experiences for Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) K-12 students, has been a tireless advocate for providing equitable arts education for all students in Milwaukee. When most districts are further cutting arts education, MPS is working to provide a licensed art, music, or physical education specialist in all schools for the 2012/13 school year. In fact, this advocacy effort is one of the many reasons that Arts @ Large was named the winner of the 2012 Leadership Award for Arts Education at Americans for the Arts Annual Convention.
Read more »City of Atlanta, Office of Cultural Affairs
The City of Atlanta Office of Cultural Affairs' recent public art project, Harriet Rising, was selected as part of the 2012 Americans for the Art Public Art Network Year in Review, presented at the 2012 Americans for the Arts Public Art Network Preconference, June 7-8, in San Antonio, TX. This outstanding temporary project was selected from more than 400 project submissions by the 2012 Year in Review curators Jean Greer, Daniel Mihalyo, and Celia Munoz. Read more »
The Arts Incubator of the Rockies (AIR) is a revolutionary partnership between Beet Street, the City of Fort Collins Cultural Services Department, and the Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Advocacy, and Performance Institute for the Arts (LEAP) at Colorado State University (CSU). There are thousands of extraordinary artists, arts organizations, and creative business people in the Intermountain West region (Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota). AIR serves these 10 states and more than 280,000 creatives who want to shift the paradigms about art, money, value, and community. Read more »
Arts & Business Council of Greater Boston
The Arts & Business Council of Greater Boston presents their Teen Art Law program, a five-year old initiative in collaboration with the Brown Rudnick Center for the Public Interest, which sponsors this inspiring program. The Teen Art Law program seeks to provide inner-city high school students with an understanding of copyright, trademark, and patent law, through interactive workshops facilitated by Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts (VLA) faculty.Read more »
Creative Economy Advocacy Reaps RewardsThe state of Michigan has been at the epicenter of domestic economic policy since the Great Recession. Long a symbol of American exceptionalism in industry and manufacturing, the state is still working to regain its footing as a leader in American production and economic stimulation. ArtServe Michigan is leading the charge to prove that the Great Lakes State still has what it takes to create jobs, bolster the economy, and provide an unparalleled quality of life for its residents.
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Allied Arts of Greater Chattanooga
What is the project?What can arts and culture do for our community? That’s the question that Imagine Chattanooga 20/20 mobilized the community to answer. Imagine Chattanooga 20/20, Chattanooga’s cultural plan reflects the work of more than 400 members of the community. Through a nine-month process coordinated by Allied Arts of Greater Chattanooga, a diverse array of elected officials, community leaders, citizens, artists, students, and arts organizations' staff and board members contributed input resulting in a powerful plan that addresses how arts and culture can impact virtually all aspects of community life.
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American Art Therapy Association
Art therapy, a growing allied health profession, is a mental health service that uses the creative process of art making to improve and enhance the physical, mental, and emotional health of individuals of all ages. The American Art Therapy Association has developed great online toolkits free to the public to explore the many beneficial outcomes of an effective art therapy program. Each tool kit includes information on outstanding model programs as well as research and outcome studies, articles and videos, and potential funding streams. Here is a glance at some of the tool kits available to you:
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