How are you balancing divergent or converging influences on your work and honoring differences and similarities between people and experiences in the arts & cultural education space? We want to know what’s happening in your sphere, whether that’s direct in- or out-of- school arts and cultural education, administration, advocacy, field-wide services, or your personal artistic or cultural practice. This could mean, “How do I collaborate with people that have different priorities than I do?” or “How do I elevate the needs and lived experiences of different groups of advocates?” or "What commonalities was I surprised to discover between two groups of people?” or some other option we haven’t even considered!
Read moreUncovering a Missing Narrative: Black* Teaching Artists
In the Spring of 2020, Black Teaching Artist Lab (BTAL) and Creative Generation collaborated in order to examine the prevalence of Black voices in the dialogues about teaching artists and collect ethnographic data - specifically the demographics, attitudes, and perceptions of Black identity in teaching artistry - with the goal of gaining a deeper understanding of the role of Black teaching artists in the field..
Read moreCollective Impact and Coalition-Building: A Dynamic Relationship
In this sixth article in the series Case-making and Systems Change in Arts and Cultural Education, we explore elements that are foundational to change-making coalitions. The article describes some shared characteristics of collective impact projects and coalition building as well as how they differ. It describes the strategic and structural elements that enable effective coalitions. Coalition building requires advocates to work continuously to align a vision of the ideal with the reality of the everyday. The iterative work of coalitions means continuous improvising, evolving, and a commitment to authentic collaboration.
Read moreFinding “Home” in Changing Times
The Wholistic Homecomings Essay Series asked each of the Accelerator Awardees to reflect on the variety of ways their organizations have recreated the concept of home over the past two years. In response, Colangelo, Miranda, Strawder, and Thornton illustrated how the definition and meaning of “home” has evolved for their organizations through the sharing of essays, poems, songs, and stories. “Come Home” by Susan Colangelo is the first essay in the series. Colangelo begins by establishing the Saint Louis Story Stitchers Artists Collective as an organization: who it serves and what it does.
Read moreEmbedding Arts Practices In Our Everyday Lives
As people around the world move towards a more holistic mindset or “one that involves the mind, body, and spirit,” the arts are being utilized more and more to enhance our view on public healthcare and how we can individually support our own well-being. To gain a clearer understanding of the employment of the “the arts” and “arts therapy” within the everyday lives of students, practicing artists, and the general public, I began an exploration into this topic, which I have outlined below.
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