Community Arts Activated Part III: Effective Arts Ed Leadership During Advocacy Day and Beyond

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In this grand finale to our webinar program, we will discuss ways to effectively advocate on the Hill. The webinar is also an opportunity to discover how you can implement effective arts education leadership in your community outside of the Guild's conference.

Specific topics covered in this webinar include (but are not limited to) the following:

  • Rules of Engagement: how to schedule meetings with a Congressional office, what to bring during the meeting and appropriate follow up.
  • Legislation of Interest: webinar participants will learn about the exact legislation we will discuss with Congressional Members and their offices. 
  • Bringing it all together: Participants will gain insight on ways to continue engaging with their elected officials (federal, state and local) throughout the year, past the Advocacy Day.

Speakers include: 

  • Leon Kuehner, Executive Director, Iowa Alliance for Arts Education
  • Rachel McGrain, Executive Director, Arts Education in Maryland Schools 
  • Kara Armstrong, Midwest Trust Center Arts Education Program Director, Johnson County Community College. 

Preparing Your Community Arts Organizations for Economic Uncertainty (PDF)

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PDF of Powerpoint from online webinar "Preparing Your Community Arts Organization from Economic Uncertainty"

The global pandemic has created an unprecedented economic downturn that has affected every sector, including the arts. As community arts organizations continue to face financial challenges, it is crucial to prepare for economic uncertainty and develop strategies to support their organizations. This webinar provides community arts organizations with the tools and resources needed to prepare for a potential recession.

Presenter C. Lorenzo Evans III, Founder & Chief Consultant, CLE Business Services

Panelists Karen LaShelle, Executive Director, Austin Together

Harold Steward, Executive Director, Theatre Offensive

Erica Bondarev Rapach, individu.art Founder, .ART Ambassador, & Professor, American University

Sanai Sanaullah, Financial Analyst & Researcher, Goldman Sachs & CLE Business Services

ASL Interpretation provided by Pro Bono ASL.

Preparing Your Community Arts Organizations for Economic Uncertainty (Video)

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The global pandemic has created an unprecedented economic downturn that has affected every sector, including the arts. As community arts organizations continue to face financial challenges, it is crucial to prepare for economic uncertainty and develop strategies to support their organizations. This webinar provides community arts organizations with the tools and resources needed to prepare for a potential recession.

You can find a PDF of the Powerpoint used within this online webinar here

Presenter C. Lorenzo Evans III, Founder & Chief Consultant, CLE Business Services

Panelists

Karen LaShelle, Executive Director, Austin Together

Harold Steward, Executive Director, Theatre Offensive

Erica Bondarev Rapach, individu.art Founder, .ART Ambassador, & Professor, American University

Sanai Sanaullah, Financial Analyst & Researcher, Goldman Sachs & CLE Business Services

ASL Interpretation provided by Pro Bono ASL.

 

Tips on Getting American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Funding

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On March 11, 2021, President Biden signed into law the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), releasing funding throughout all levels of government to tackle a wide range of needs arising from the pandemic. A large portion of ARPA funding is directed specifically to schools across the country to respond to students’ academic, social, and emotional needs, and to specifically address the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on underrepresented student subgroups.

Indigenous Resource List (Curated from Groundwork Participants)

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In the fall of 2021, the Guild hosted a 3-week virtual gathering entitled  Groundwork: Healing within Community Arts Education (“Groundwork”) that centered healing in the context of community arts education, as a pathway towards personal, interpersonal, and systemic change, informed by the idea that we must get right with ourselves before we can work with each other to reimagine and create a more just future.

As a part of the opening land acknowledgement practice in each Groundwork session, participants were asked to contribute to the chat with the resources they access to learn about their local indigenous communities. Here's a cumulative list of all the gathered resources that Groundwork participants provided throughout the 3-week program.

 

For more information about Groundwork sessions, please visit the program details, here.

This program was made possible through generous support from Aroha PhilanthropiesThe Music Man Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

 

Anti-Racism as Organizational Compass Series: Sins Invalid (Text-Only Article)

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The following is a condensed, text-only, transcription of an hour-long recorded interview with Nomy Lamm and Lettie Robles- Tovar of Sins Invalid, a disability justice-based performance project in the San Francisco Bay Area that incubates and celebrates artists with disabilities, centralizing artists of color and LGBTQ/gender-variant artists as communities who have been historically marginalized. They were interviewed by Masharika Prejean Maddison, founder and principal collaborator of Lightwell. The full interview was recorded as part of the National Guild’s 2020-2021 Anti-Racism as Organizational Compass series.

If you are using a screen reader to access this article, please note that punctuation has been added to indicate areas where text has been extracted for this condensed version.

ASL English Interpretation for the recorded video was provided by Rorri Burton and Selena Flowers of Pro Bono ASL. 

Bridging Justice: A Tool Linking Anti-Racist and Anti-Ableist Practices in Community Arts Education (Text-Only Article)

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This article introduces a new tool that emerged from Inclusive Arts Vermont’s participation in the National Guild’s 2020-2021 Rootwork Learning Cohort. The Cohort supported community arts educators in studying, developing, and documenting practices that are grounded in, and supportive of, the many varied lived experiences of our communities and responsive to the movements of our time. The tool provides concrete ways for community arts educators to make their practice more accessible for disabled people in ways that align with antidotes to white supremacy culture.

Bridging Justice: A Tool Linking Anti-Racist and Anti-Ableist Practices in Community Arts Education (Article)

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This article introduces a new tool that emerged from Inclusive Arts Vermont’s participation in the National Guild’s 2020-2021 Rootwork Learning Cohort. The Cohort supported community arts educators in studying, developing, and documenting practices that are grounded in, and supportive of, the many varied lived experiences of our communities and responsive to the movements of our time. The tool provides concrete ways for community arts educators to make their practice more accessible for disabled people in ways that align with antidotes to white supremacy culture.

Adultism and Its Impact on Youth and Adult Spaces

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This article shares excerpts from a youth panel discussion on Adultism, led by youth members of the National Youth Network and Creative Youth Development National Partnership.

Community arts educators cannot authentically amplify youth voice and leadership without intentionally working to dismantle adultism in their programs, organizations, and collective action efforts. Adultism is the systematic mistreatment and disrespect of young people which in turn disregards their power and rights as full human-beings.

 

My Dearest Arts Organization, Are You Listening?

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Since the beginning of the pandemic, teaching artists have gathered in support of each other in closed calls, where they felt safe. In this environment, they shared: grief and painful experiences, worries and concerns, and dreams of returning to their artmaking in a just and equitable nation and world. What follows is a representational collage expressing an uncensored perspective in a letter to you. This letter is an invitation to widen your perspective about the teaching artist experience. We follow-up with a step-by-step checklist derived from the perspective of teaching artists as a guide to realize our shared goal to create a vibrant arts ecosystem that is equitable for all.