All National Guild Member are invited to vote on the slate of candidates nominated for 2019 election to the Guild board of trustees.

Four individuals have been nominated for their first three-year term of service. Three current board members are seeking re-election.

Learn all about the nominees here.

Each Full Member Organization may cast one vote. You should have recieved an email last week with information and a link on voting. Didn't receive it? email membership@nationalguild.org. Voting closes October 11, 2019.

About the 2019 Annual Meeting
The National Guild for Community Arts Education's 2019 Annual Meeting is scheduled for 9:00 AM on Friday, November 1 as part of the 82nd annual Conference for Community Arts Education in Austin, TX. We encourage all of our members to send a representative to the meeting to hear about current news and priorities at the Guild and to confirm the results of the Board Election.

On October 31st and November 1st, 2019, seven community arts education  leaders will be honored with the National Guild for Community Arts Education’s Milestone Award for their long-standing, exceptional service to the field. The Milestone program recognizes leaders who have demonstrated a commitment to supporting and advancing community arts education for more than 20 years. 

Awards will be presented during the Thursday and Friday plenaries at the Conference for Community Arts Education (Austin, TX). This year’s recipients are: 

• Dava Cansler, Founder & Executive Director, Foluké Cultural Arts Center, OH
• Joyce Drayton, Founder & Executive Director, The Georgia E. Gregory Interdenominational School of Music (GEGISOM), PA
• Jon Hinojosa, Artistic & Executive Director, SAY Sí, TX
• Matthew Hinsley, Executive Director, Austin Classical Guitar, TX
• SoYoung Lee, Executive Director, Rocky Ridge Music Center, CO
• Davin Pierson Torre, Director, Flint School of Performing Arts, MI
• Sonja Zeithamel, Director, Preucil School of Music, IA  

Click here for bios.

“The Guild is proud to honor this year’s Milestone Awardees,” said Jonathan Herman, CEO of the National Guild for Community Arts Education. “They have demonstrated dedication to ensuring their communities reach their creative potential, and their contributions have helped to advance the field of arts education substantially. We are proud to count them and their organizations among the Guild’s members.”

Nominations for the Milestone Certificate of Appreciation are accepted year-round. Nominees must be executive directors or divisional directors of Guild member organizations to be eligible. Click here for more information on National Guild awards.

The National Guild for Community Arts Education and Lifetime Arts are pleased to announce that 10 nonprofit arts education organizations from 9 states have been selected to receive seed grants of $7,000 each to support the launch of new, innovative arts education programming for older adults in their communities.
 
The population of older adults in the U.S. is projected to double by 2060, making up a larger percentage of the total population than today. Our current generation of elders is living longer lives and looking for meaningful ways to stay active and engaged. Research shows that participation in activities that foster creative engagement and skills mastery in a social environment has positive psychological, physical and emotional health benefits for older adults. The National Guild and Lifetime Arts are committed to preparing organizations to support healthy aging in adults of diverse backgrounds through the arts.
 
The recipients of the seed grants are listed below, along with the artistic focus of each creative aging program.
 
Art League Houston, Houston, TX (Visual Art)
Art Works Now, Hyattsville, MD (Painting)
Bloomingdale School of Music, New York, NY (Guitar)
Flynn Center for the Performing Arts, Burlington, VT (Social Dance)
Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL (Collage)
Jacob Burns Film Center, Pleasantville, NY (Digital Storytelling)
Newark School of the Arts, Newark, NJ (Singing & African Drumming)
Powers Music School, Belmont, MA (Chorus)
Studio Arts Boulder, Boulder, CO (Pottery)
Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, Beverly Hills, CA (Theater/Writing)

Read the full descriptions of funded programs.
 
The new programs will provide their communities with much-needed opportunities and services for older adults that honor their wisdom, life experience, and creativity. The programs will also serve as case studies for the wider field, demonstrating that high-quality participatory arts programs for older adults can be developed with little more than effective professional development, organizational commitment, and a monetary investment that is achievable for many community arts education organizations.
 
“We are excited to see another cohort of creative aging organizations equipped to begin their new programs,” said National Guild executive director Jonathan Herman. “The recipients will become part of a growing movement that is reimagining what aging looks and feels like in our communities.”
 
The 10 seed grant recipients were chosen from a larger group of 20 organizations who were selected to participate in the multi-phase Catalyzing Creative Aging program, provided in partnership with Lifetime Arts. Between November 2018 and June 2019, staff and faculty from these organizations received training and coaching via a series of workshops, webinars, and consultations (online and in person) designed to increase each organization’s capacity to serve older adults through skill-based, participatory arts programs. The final phase of the program includes ongoing coaching for seed grantees as they launch their programs.
 
The goals of the Catalyzing Creative Aging Program are to:

• Increase organizational capacity to serve older adults through skill-based, participatory programs
• Provide models of high-quality creative aging programs to the field
• Raise public awareness about the benefits of creative aging programs

“Our long-term partnership with the Guild is making its mark across the country as more and more arts education organizations join creative aging stakeholders like museums, libraries and senior service organizations,” said Lifetime Arts CEO Maura O’Malley. “We’re thrilled to see the positive results of our training and coaching as each Guild cohort successfully designs innovative, responsive and effective programs for older adults.”
 
The 2018-2019 Catalyzing Creative Aging Program, led by the National Guild for Community Arts Education in partnership with Lifetime Arts, is made possible with support from Aroha Philanthropies and the Moca Foundation. The training phase of Catalyzing Creative Aging was supported by the NAMM Foundation. For more information, visit www.nationalguild.org.
 
The National Guild for Community Arts Education ensures all people have opportunities to maximize their creative potential by developing leaders, strengthening organizations, and advocating for community arts education. Through these strategies, the Guild aims to address our country’s widening opportunity gap which leaves millions of individuals with little or no access to the creative resources they need to reach their full potential. Together, the Guild’s national network of 400+ members serves 2.5 million students annually, employs 16,000 teaching artists, and reaches 8 million people through performances and exhibits. www.nationalguild.org
 
Lifetime Arts, Inc. was founded in 2008 as a service organization with a singular goal: to enrich the lives of older adults through arts education. Lifetime Arts works nationally to build the capacity of organizations, agencies, and individuals to initiate, develop, implement, and sustain professionally conducted Creative Aging programs for the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. population. www.lifetimearts.org

Aroha Philanthropies Announces National Initiative in Collaboration with the National Guild for Community Arts Education

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – Participatory arts education programs for older adults have been shown to improve participants’ health and strengthen social engagement. Aroha Philanthropies and the National Guild for Community Arts Education (the Guild) announced today the launch of Building a Creative Aging Movement, a multi-pronged effort to advance the emerging field of creative aging, which seeks to promote well-being and advance equity and inclusion through engaging the creativity of adults ages 55+. This visionary effort includes a philanthropic investment of nearly $500,000 over two years, and aims to foster well-funded, comprehensive creative aging programs through training and networking opportunities, leadership development, and advocacy. Special attention will be paid to amplifying the work of small-budget and culturally-specific organizations.

Building a Creative Aging Movement exemplifies a combined commitment—on behalf of Aroha Philanthropies, the National Guild, and lead programmatic partner, Lifetime Arts—to lifelong learning in the arts.

Aroha Philanthropies Executive Director Teresa Bonner said, “Aroha is thrilled to develop this partnership with the Guild and our long-time partner Lifetime Arts. This initiative proudly supports national creative aging programs and the teaching artists who lead them, bringing the gift of creativity to older adults.” 

The goals of the Building a Creative Aging Movement initiative are:

• To build organizational capacity to develop and sustain arts learning programs for older adults and foster a dynamic learning community for the ongoing exchange of advice, information sharing, and support.
• To create a pipeline of arts education leaders who understand the importance and impact of creative aging; have increased awareness of how ageism impacts their leadership and organization’s ability to serve older adults; and bring people together across their team, organization, and community to advance creative aging.
• To equip the field with the knowledge, readiness, and tools necessary to advocate for creative aging programming within organizations.

“This partnership will allow the National Guild for Community Arts Education to infuse the values of anti-ageism across all of our work, and more fully deliver on our commitment to creative programming for older adults,” said National Guild CEO Jonathan Herman.

This effort will support two more cohorts of the Guild’s Catalyzing Creative Aging program. A total of 40 organizations will participate, 20 of which will receive seed grants to implement their new creative aging programs. Additionally, the grant will support leadership development activities including training and network development, regional professional development events led by the Guild’s newly launched Creative Aging Member Network, a Creative Aging track at the Conference for Community Arts Education, and revisions to the Community Arts Education Leadership Institute (CAELI) curriculum to include an emphasis on anti-ageism and the piloting of a creative aging “speakers bureau”. The initiative will also support advocacy efforts including anti-ageism training for the Guild’s staff and board and the development of an advocacy toolkit and a culminating report to be published in Spring 2021.

About National Guild for Community Arts Education

Founded in 1937, the National Guild for Community Arts Education ensures all people have opportunities to maximize their creative potential by developing leaders, strengthening organizations, and advocating for community arts education. Through these strategies, the Guild aims to address our country’s widening opportunity gap which leaves millions of individuals with little or no access to the creative resources they need to reach their full potential. Together, the Guild’s national network of 400+ members serves 2.5 million students annually, employs 16,000 teaching artists, and reaches 8 million people through performances and exhibits. More information is available at nationalguild.org.

About Aroha Philanthropies
Awakening Creative Expression
 
Within all of us, creativity lies waiting to be awakened and expressed, bringing new chances for confidence, connection, purpose and joy. Aroha Philanthropies supports the development of artistic and creative opportunities – and the personal discoveries that go with them – for everyone.
 
Aroha fulfills its mission to awaken creative expression and build communities through its three program branches, each with a different area of focus:
Discovery Arts: Sparking wonder through creativity for children and youth
Vitality Arts®: Inspiring creativity for ages 55 and better
Humanity Arts:  Enhancing homes and empowering creativity for adults with mental illness
 
Aroha Philanthropies is a private foundation based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. For more information, visit arohaphilanthropies.org.

Vitality Arts® is a registered mark of Aroha Philanthropies.

The National Guild for Community Arts Education is pleased to announce the 2019 class of the Community Arts Education Leadership Institute (CAELI). Twenty-six individuals representing community arts education organizations across the nation were selected to participate in CAELI, a leadership program designed for individuals in the nonprofit arts education sector.
 
Over the course of eight months, the program provides participants the opportunity to hone and advance leadership skills and effectiveness through a sequential curriculum that includes virtual workshops, one-on-one coaching with top trainers and practitioners, and an introspective dive into how being a leader impacts the personal and the professional. Participants attend a five-day, in-person seminar held at Bryn Mawr College in Philadelphia, PA in July.
 
The CAELI class of 2019 will join an alumni network, more than 200 members strong, offering peer mentorship and a trove of resources for continued development long after the conclusion of the program. Together, these leaders represent our best opportunity to ensure all people have access to opportunities to maximize their creative potential.

CAELI is now in its tenth year and is led in collaboration with Partners in Performance, Inc.
 
Support for CAELI comes from The American Express Foundation, The Angell Foundation, The Cleveland Foundation, The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, our CAELI Alumni Network, and other generous individuals.
 
Through a competitive process, this year’s class includes:

Click here for photos and full bios.

• Rheanna Marie Abbott, Manager, Arts in the Middle Program, Lincoln Center Education, New York, NY
• Pachy Banks-Cabral, Advancement Officer, Main Line Art Center, Haverford, PA
• Scott Bartelson, Management Associate, Hartford Stage, Hartford, CT
• Alaina Calloway Bolton, Music Education Director, Apple Tree Arts, Grafton, MA
• Josiah Micha Bruny, CEO, Music Changing Lives, Moreno Valley, CA
• Alberto Careaga, Director of Education, Art League Houston, Houston, TX
• Alorie Clark, Senior Manager, Arts Education and Community Programs, Step Afrika!, Washington, DC
• Kerry Davis, Development Coordinator and Community Liaison, Cleveland Print Room, Cleveland, OH
• Teresa Drews, Director of Education, Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, Milwaukee, WI
• Sarah E.R. Grosman, Programs Manager, Turtle Bay Music School, New York, NY
• Eric Hung, Grant Writer and Conference Chair, Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival, Burlington, NJ
• Daylynn Allis Lambi, Executive Director & Founder, Marrow PDX, Portland, OR
• Mika Claire Lemoine, Teaching Artist Mentor, Destiny Arts Center, Oakland, CA
• Vita Litvak, Manager of Adult Programs, Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadelphia, PA
• Colleen Longshaw, Associate Director, CARE, Cleveland Play House, Cleveland, OH
• Nathan Majoros, Deputy Director, Lifetime Arts, New Rochelle, NY
• Linsey McDaniel, Managing Director, Balafon West African Dance Ensemble, Pittsburgh, PA
• Patricia Morales, Director of Young Artist Programs, Southwest School of Art, San Antonio, TX
• Elena Marie Muslar, Assistant Director, Entertainment and Fine Arts Professions, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA
• Sarah Jane Pietlicki, Program Manager, Chicago Jazz Philharmonic, Chicago, IL
• Cathleen Marie Plazas, Senior Director, Curriculum & Program Evaluation, NJPAC, Newark, NJ
• Carmen Myriam Santos-Robson, Assistant Director and Development, Newark School of the Arts, Newark, NJ
• LeBrandon Stephen Smith, Associate, NeON Arts, Carnegie Hall, New York, NY
• Margaret Wyporek Spear, Assistant Director, Strategic Growth and Programming, The Hartt School Community Division, West Hartford, CT
• Veronica Stein, Program Director, Snow City Arts, Chicago, IL
• Molly Terbovich-Ridenhour, President & CEO, San Diego Civic Youth Ballet, San Diego, CA

The National Young Artist Summit 2019 Planning Committee plans, coordinates and co-facilitates the 2019 National Young Artists Summit which takes place Saturday, Nov. 2. Working with a group of youth from across the country committee members design a full-day summit, providing opportunities for youth leaders, ages 13-24, from a range of artistic disciplines, to connect, create and celebrate.

The National Young Artist Summit is hosted in concert with the National Guild's Conference for Community Arts Education, a national convening which aims to ensure all people have opportunities to maximize their creative potential.

The NYAS Planning Committee consists of a combined maximum total of 10 youth members for a minimum of a 6-month term. Youth leaders currently in 9-12 grade are encouraged to apply for the 2019 committee. Members of the NYAS 2019 Planning Committee meet via conference call once a week June – October, usually Wednesdays from 5:00-6:00pm EST.

NYAS Planning Committee members are expected to attend all meetings, actively participate in all planning, coordination and facilitation activities and be present for the 2019 National Young Artist Summit in Austin, TX Saturday, Nov. 2. All members of the youth planning team will be provided with a $500 stipend following the Youth Summit.Team members will also be reimbursed for round-trip airfare and/or ground transportation and hotel accommodations for Youth Summit attendance on Saturday, November 2, in Austin, TX

Learn more and apply by June 10th.

By Lissette Martinez, Program Coordinator

 

This past week, I attended both the Face to Face Conference in New York City, and the Kennedy Center Arts Summit in Washington DC. Both bringing together artists, teaching artists, arts educators, arts administrators, cultural workers in the arts, and those who consider themselves art supporters. A clear theme that flowed between both events was the ownership of narrative, in other words, the stories we bring. As Toya Lillard from viBe Theater Experience said, “You can’t give a human being a voice. They already have one.” Or rather, everyone is born with a story worth honoring.

From speakers like Uptown Boyz, Earlonne Woods and Nigel Poor from Ear Hustle, to Ryan O’Connel from the Netflix series Special, to all the young people at these events, like Vanessa Ramona-Ibarra from 826DC and the students from viBe, each artist deliberately using narrative and storytelling in service of their vision (To use the words of Audre Lorde). While art can be both liberating and terrifying, it is always powerful when used as a vehicle for disrupting oppressive narratives.

The arts finds itself simultaneously as a tool of oppression and liberation. Arts organizations need to collectively develop the courage to ask its communities what they need and have equal amount of courage to act- with funders brave enough to fund a revolutionary way forward (or develop a self-funding/collective funding model which leaves the power within the community).

The questions raised from Face to Face and the Arts Summit ask:

“Who are truly the gatekeepers of voice and how does art contribute to or dismantle barriers?” “What are the consequences of reclaiming yourself as a gatekeeper of your own story?”

“Whose voices are being spoken for without an invitation to the room?”

“What does a self-sustaining collective funding model look like so that culturally specific institutions are not competing for the same 3% of private funding?”

 

The Guild is pleased to invite members to apply to showcase their students’ artwork during the 2019 Conference for Community Arts Education held in Austin from October 30 to November 2. Accepted works will be used as cover art for the conference program book, on the conference mobile app, projected on screens during plenary sessions, and/or printed and hung on display throughout the conference (if the space permits).

If selected, the work of your student(s) will be seen by over 700 conference delegates representing over 350 arts organizations, foundations, and other community arts education stakeholders. Submitted artwork will continue to be used for future conference materials where deemed fit.

Deadline: Friday, May 31st, 2019, 11:59PM EST.

Please click here to apply and for instructions on how to submit your hi-res photos of student art. 

Submission Criteria:

• Diversity: Our aim is to exemplify the diversity of disciplines, age levels, cultures and program purposes within the Guild's network.
• Image quality: Images must have adequate resolution to reproduce well for print/projection. Please refer to image requirements below. We can do some image correction on our end, but images should be sharp and evenly lit.
• Applicability: We love getting images of your students hard at work, but in this case, we are looking for images of the artwork itself. For sculptures or murals, photos of the art are also acceptable.

The National Guild celebrates commitment and service to the community arts education field, and each year at the conference we present the annual Milestone Awards to recognize executive directors or divisional directors at Guild member organizations for their long-standing, exceptional service to the community arts education field.

We invite you as a member of the Guild to submit a nomination to recognize community arts education leaders in your community, and around the country who have been doing exceptional and inspiring work!

Nominations close Friday, May 10, 2019 at 11:59 P.M. ET. Nominees must be affiliated as a member of the Guild, who have served a long-term (20+ years) leadership role within the field and their commitment to supporting and advancing community arts education, highlighting relevant activities throughout the nominee's career. Resumes and headshots are encouraged. Current Guild trustees are not eligible for nomination.

For more information on the Milestone Award, including past honorees, click here.

Submit your nominee here.

To prepare for the 2019 Conference for Community Arts Education in Austin (Oct. 30 – Nov.2), this February and March, the Guild held town hall-style meetings of arts education leaders and stakeholders in four Texas cities: Austin, Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio. These regional meetings were co-hosted with the Texas Commission on the Arts, Texans for the Arts, and Texas Cultural Trust at community sites including the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center (Austin), the Latino Cultural Center (Dallas), SAY Sí (San Antonio), and Art League Houston. The planning and production of these meetings was also supported by members of this year’s state-wide host committee. More than 100 leaders representing nonprofit organizations, government agencies and foundations, as well as independent teaching artists, participated in dialogue that identified a host of issues affecting the field.

The document shares the combined notes on central themes that surfaced during the four planning meetings. For notes specific to each city, contact Drew Malmuth, Assistant Director of Learning, at drewmalmuth@nationalguild.org

Read the full notes from our time in Texas.