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For Immediate Release

Call Issued for Arts-Based Civic Dialogue Project Profiles

Washington, DC - The Animating Democracy Initiative (ADI), a four-year programmatic initiative of Americans for the Arts’ Institute for Community Development and the Arts, has issued a call for profiles of arts-based civic dialogue projects. Online Profiles are descriptive summaries of arts-based civic dialogue projects and will be featured in a searchable database on ADI’s website, www.AmericansForTheArts.org/AnimatingDemocracy .

ADI’s Online Profiles will summarize a wide range of projects that demonstrate the capacity of the arts and humanities to stimulate public dialogue about contemporary civic issues. Organized as a searchable database, visitors to the website can locate projects related to their interests in a particular civic issue, artistic discipline, approach to dialogue, geographic location, or other variables.

“As the collection of profiles expands over the course of the Initiative, we hope it will become a vital information source and networking tool for those interested and active in this arena of arts-based civic dialogue work,” said Barbara Schaffer Bacon, Project Director of the Animating Democracy Initiative.

ADI welcomes profiles of completed projects initiated by artists and cultural organizations, as well as organizations in other fields whose efforts significantly incorporate the arts or humanities toward achieving civic dialogue goals.

The Online Profiles will encompass a wide range of projects and approaches to arts-based civic dialogue. To ensure that the projects meet ADI’s interests, they should satisfy three basic criteria: arts and/or humanities are a central focus; there is a clear civic issue being addressed through the project; and, civic dialogue is a planned and intentional aspect of the artistic experience.

Online Profile submissions are accepted on an ongoing basis. Interested organizations should submit a summary paragraph about their project, encapsulating the civic issue addressed by the project, the arts/humanities goals and activities, civic dialogue goals and activities, and the publics engaged through the project . Organizations can submit a Preliminary Summary using the easy online form found at www.AmericansForTheArts.org/AnimatingDemocracy. Or, they may send an existing press release, report, or other document that responds to the above by e-mail to adi@artsusa.org, or by U.S. mail to Melissa Palaréa, Americans for the Arts, 1000 Vermont Ave, NW, 12th floor, Washington, DC 20005. If the project satisfies the basic criteria, ADI staff will ask the organization to write a full profile.

If you have any questions or would like to talk with ADI staff before submitting a profile, please feel free to contact Pam Korza, ADI Associate Project Director: 413-256-1260, pkorza@artsusa.org .

About the Animating Democracy Initiative: ADI is a four-year programmatic initiative of Americans for the Arts made possible with support from The Ford Foundation. Its purpose is to foster artistic activity that encourages civic dialogue on important contemporary issues. The initiative is comprised of four components: the Lab, which aims to identify and select a total of 30 arts-based civic dialogue projects and strengthen them through financial support and connections to other resources; publications that document and disseminate current program models and methodologies and scholarly research and writing; an interactive website and searchable database; and, national convenings that disseminate knowledge growing out of the Animating Democracy Initiative. For more information, please visit www.AmericansForTheArts.org/AnimatingDemocracy.

About Americans for the Arts: Americans for the Arts is the nation’s leading arts information clearinghouse, with a 40-year record of objective arts industry research. As the preeminent arts advocacy organization, it is dedicated to representing and serving local communities and creating opportunities for every American to participate in and appreciate all forms of the arts. For more information, please visit www.AmericansForTheArts.org.