Responsive & Community Engaged Forecasting for the Appell Center for the Performing Arts: A Report of Findings

In the summer of 2022, the Appell Center for the Performing Arts (ACPA) worked with Creative Generation to to convene residents throughout York County, Pennsylvania — virtually and in-person — to learn about the ways they engage civically, creatively, and interpersonally with the arts, arts education, and the Appell Center and its theatres. This publication is a final report that combines the findings of each study conducted to support these efforts — one-on-one empathy interviews, group discovery sessions, and an online survey tool — as well as an executive summary.

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Adaptive Impact Plan: Education & Community Engagement at the Appell Center for the Performing Arts

This publication is the Adaptive Impact Plan and Community Understanding that the Appell Center published after the summer of 2022. During this time, ACPA worked with Creative Generation to to convene residents throughout York County, Pennsylvania to learn about the ways they engage civically, creatively, and interpersonally with the arts, arts education, and the Appell Center and its theatres. Using the resulting research and ACPA’s foundational documents, staff + community members worked with Creative Generation to build an Adaptive Impact Plan to aid the organization in fulfilling its aims.

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Centering Creative Youth In Community Development: A Creative Placemaking Field Scan

As adults, we must support the creative work of youth, cede power where possible, and uplift their visions for the future. To do this, we must understand the immense and expansive impact of creative youth on communities. Through this research initiative, young creative people, their adult allies, and a team of researchers have reviewed literature, data sets, and case studies – comprised of interviews, narratives, and artistic works – to examine the challenges and opportunities that exist at the intersection of arts & culture, community development, and youth development.

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How Funders Can Support Arts & Cultural Education Despite COVID-19: A Report of Considerations and Recommendations

The following report aggregates and synthesizes the findings from a Fast Response Survey deployed by Creative Generation on Wednesday, March 18, 2020 in response to a field-wide call for funders of arts education, primarily in the United states but also abroad, to respond to the rapidly changing needs of the field in the wake of the COVID-19 epidemic.

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International Arts Education Week: Final Report and Evaluation

From 25-31 May 2020, the World Alliance for Arts Education (WAAE) partnered with Creative Generation, and worked alongside UNESCO to produce International Arts Education Week (IAEW): a week-long celebration aimed at increasing the international community’s awareness on the importance of arts education and at reinforcing its co-operation by promoting cultural diversity, intercultural dialogue and social cohesion. The 2020 celebration encouraged the global arts education community to participate in the week through a number of activities, including a social media campaign, digital learning opportunities, and more.

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YMCA Lighthouse Project and The Heinz Endowments: A Case Story

The Lighthouse Project began organically, working with teenage students in media arts and music, originally in a local high school. Eventually, the program found its way to the YMCA and began to grow. As part of the YMCA, the program was eligible for funding through the Heinz Endowments, a large, regional funder – in fact, they were the only request to the arts/culture portfolio of the foundation from the Y. Not only that, but this was a very rare request focused on the intersection of the arts and youth development.

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San Diego Creative Youth Development Network and The Clare Rose Foundation: A Case Story

Across San Diego County, as the network formalized and expanded, the once-unprogrammed group now had an infrastructure to support specific collective needs like self care, thematic shared learning, advocacy to local officials, and engagement across the state and nation. With a new name – the San Diego Creative Youth Development Network– members now feel a legitimacy and a broad, far-reaching impact of their work together. The ecosystem of CYD in San Diego Country feels united, connected, and supported.

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Memphis Music Initiative and ELMA Philanthropies: A Case Story

When two colleagues met years before working together, they knew they had a penchant for collaboration. When it came time for that collaboration, the ELMA Philanthropies program officer and founding executive director worked together to answer the question, “How do we best support leaders of color to transform their communities through music in the most underinvested communities in the country?”

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BAYCAT and The Golden State Warriors: A Case Story

BAYCAT is a hybrid, social enterprise organization. They believe that, by placing more storytellers into the community from under-represented backgrounds in the field, the stories will more accurately reflect the community. “Change the storytellers, change the world,” says BAYCAT founder, Villy Wang. Over years, they built a long-standing relationship with the Golden State Warriors to support emerging storytellers.

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Building Pathways to Funding: A Strategy Towards Expanding Funding for the CYD Field

The following brief is intended to provide CYD practitioners with actionable tools in order to effectively partner with CYD funders. Using this model to examine the four categories of funder behavior (Field Builders, Potential Stars, Reluctant Allies, Potential Funders) provides insight into funders and organizations experiences and attitudes about funding CYD.

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Mapping Skill to Will: Approaches to Funding Creative Youth Development in the United States

The research that has been conducted involves an analysis of current and potential CYD funders, the experience and attitudes of those funders through a developed Skill/Will Map, and a deep-dive set of case stories illuminating partnerships between funders and CYD programs. The following brief is intended to provide funders with actionable tools in order to effectively partner with CYD programs.

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