IN THIS ISSUE: Black Women on Navigating Arts Administration | Women’s Protest Art & the Vote Advocate for the Arts From Home | Transitioning Arts Education Online | Arts + Community Mosaic
Americans for the Arts
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SUMMER 2020
THE SOURCE FOR ARTS PROFESSIONALS IN THE KNOW
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AMERICANS FOR THE ARTS 2020 CALENDAR SEPTEMBER 13–19
Arts Link Mission Published three times a year for our Professional Members, Arts Link provides insight and expertise on the latest trends, resources, tools, and ideas in the field of local arts agencies and arts professionals. Written by Americans for the Arts staff and guest contributors, Arts Link brings together arts advocacy news, member profiles, and highlights of artists and arts organizations from across the country so that our members can continue to create a world where everyone has access to the arts and their transformative power.
National Arts in Education Week Advocate to protect arts education in your community during National Arts in Education Week! Designated by Congress in 2010, National Arts in Education Week unites arts education advocates to share the transformative impact of the arts in education with elected officials and local education decisionmakers. Learn more about how to participate in this year’s campaign on the National Arts in Education Week website.
Arts Link Managing Editor Linda Lombardi Arts Link Editorial Committee Arlene Arevalo Carolyn Bartley Kelly Fey Bolender Angela Bowen Bossut Regina Burgher Lauren Cohen Truth Murray Cole Ben Davidson Graham Dunstan Abigail Fisch Isaac Fitzsimons Morgan Furnari Nicole Goodman Peter Gordon Ruby Lopez Harper Danielle Iwata Jerelle Jenkins Nikki Kirk Pam Korza Clayton Lord Pauline Féo Pereira Heather Pollak Christina Ritchie Marissa Shadburn Ami Scherson Jessica Stern Inga Vitols Patricia Walsh Ann Marie Watson Arts Link Design Studio e2 Tell Us What You Think We value the input of our readers and are always interested in hearing your comments about what you’ve read or topics you would like us to feature. Please email your ideas, recommendations, and remarks to ArtsLink@artsusa.org. We look forward to hearing from you. Advertising Opportunities For information about rates, schedules, and discounted advertising packages, please contact us at exhibits@artsusa.org. Copyright 2020, Americans for the Arts. Printed in the United States.
OCTOBER National Arts & Humanities Month October is National Arts & Humanities Month (NAHM)—a coastto-coast collective recognition of the importance of culture in America. NAHM was launched by Americans for the Arts more than 30 years ago as National Arts Week in honor of the 20th anniversary of the National Endowment for the Arts. In 1993, it was reestablished by Americans for the Arts and national arts partners as a month-long celebration. Get involved this fall and celebrate the arts and humanitites!
QUICK LOOK
Make Your Vote Count Americans for the Arts Action Fund has launched its ArtsVote “Make Your Vote Count” pledge campaign with artwork designed by renowned contemporary artist and Americans for the Arts Artists Committee member Shepard Fairey. Customized voter fact sheets for every state and U.S. territory provide the latest details and deadlines on vote-by-mail ballots, early voting, and in-person voting, offering registered voters info on all the new election rules and deadlines created due to COVID-19. Take the pledge to make your vote count today! For more info, visit ArtsActionFund.org/ArtsVote. 4
ON THE COVER AND ABOVE: ArtsVote image by Shepard Fairey/Obey Giant exclusively for Americans for the Arts Action Fund.
SUMMER 2020
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10
04
08
contents
FEATURES
DEPARTMENTS
02 From the President
03 Working for You
Celebrating the first-ever virtual Annual Convention and Public Art & Civic Design Conference, centering BIPOC artists and thought leaders, and looking ahead to the 2020 elections
04 More Than a Seat at the Table: Black Women on Navigating Arts Administration Three Black women at various stages in their careers discuss their journeys in arts administration
10 W omen’s Protest Art & the Vote Celebrate the centennial of the 19th Amendment with women’s protest art from the suffragettes to Black Lives Matter
AmericansForTheArts.org
Americans for the Arts News
Advocate for the Arts From Home; Creating a Path Towards Equitable Access, Practice, and Policy
08 MemberCenter
You Belong Here
Arts + Community Mosaic, Members Connect in a Time of Crisis, Member Profile: Franiya Tiffany
14 Leadership in Practice
Inspiring Leadership Through Example
By and for BIPOC Communities: Equity in Practice, Transitioning Arts Education Online, Gina Rodríguez-Drix Awarded American Express Emerging Leader Award
16 The Toolbox
Information to Help You Succeed
New LAA Dashboard, Caring for Public Art Collections, New Features in COVID-19 Resource and Response Center
SUMMER 2020 | ARTS LINK | 1
From the President
A
s we carry on through 2020 and its challenges, I appreciate hearing your stories and the creative ways we are moving forward together.
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Graphic Note by
THIS SUMMER, I WAS GLAD TO SEE so many of you
Honoring his journey and his legacy, we remain
Danielle Iwata for
online for the virtual version of this year’s Annual
committed to advocating for Black voices, and
2020 Americans
Convention and Public Art & Civic Design Con-
with your help we will support the field and the
for the Arts Annual
ference. While I miss the chance to be together
nation through these troubling times.
Convention and
in person and the vibrant atmospheres and
Public Art & Civic Design Conference.
sometimes chaotic schedules of those events, I understand that in 2020 everything has to be different. We, just like all of you, have had to transform our programs and events to keep us all safe, and while doing so, have found new paths towards reinvention and resilience.
The most important step towards real solutions and transformation comes in the form of the civic duty we must all exercise in November: conscious voting. The 2020 elections are a turning point for our country and should be in the minds of all artists, arts administrators, and community leaders. Americans for the Arts and the Americans for the
The COVID-19 pandemic may keep us from
Arts Action Fund has had an online presence in
meeting in person, but it cannot stop us from dis-
last week’s Democratic National Convention and
cussing the critical issues at hand. Most recently,
will have one at this week’s Republican National
and as you will see throughout this edition of Arts
Convention as well, aiming to inform candidates
Link, we have increased our focus on highlighting
and voters alike on key pro-arts policies. We count
the voices of BIPOC artists and thought leaders,
on you, our members, to join us in spreading our
standing strong with Black communities against
message about the importance of the arts when
systemic racism, police brutality, and oppression.
casting votes in November.
Amid this recent movement, we also mourn the loss of Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights hero and a true champion for the arts. We are inspired by his words in remembering that, “Without the arts, without
We are, as always, stronger together—even when we are apart. I am grateful to have your support and leadership as we march through relief and into recovery, reconstruction, and the reimagination of our field, our communities, and our ways of being together. Thank you for everything you do.
music, without dance, without drama, without photography, the civil rights movement would have been like a bird without wings.”
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The Source for Arts Professionals in the Know
AMERICANS FOR THE ARTS NEWS
WORKING FOR YOU
BE AN ARTS ADVOCATE FROM HOME! WHILE MOST IN-PERSON ADVOCACY EFFORTS are temporarily off the table due to the current health crisis, there are many ways you can advocate for the arts from home. The key to authentic and effective advocacy is pairing compelling stories and reliable data with the right ask. Reach out to lawmakers and other decisionmakers at the federal, state, and local levels to share stories about how vital the arts and arts education are to your communities and our nation. Use brand new data to show how the current health crisis has affected artists, arts organizations, and the creative economy at large.
A Path Forward THE ARTS ARE NO STRANGER to civil unrest and social justice. They are the DNA of
Using our online advocacy tool VoterVoice, advocates can contact their
expression and discourse. In this time and
members of Congress on a host of pro-arts issues with ease. Advocates
space, it has never been more important
can also take part in social media with decisionmakers, engage in virtual
for the arts and culture field to take action
town halls, or even submit an op-ed to a local newspaper. Reach out to your
towards equitable access, practice, and policy.
State Arts Advocacy Captain to learn about coordinated efforts to effect
We are committed to creating conditions in
change and advance the arts in your state. We all have the power to educate
which Black, Indigenous, People of Color are
decisionmakers about the profound importance of the arts and its vital place
valued and honored, heard and respected. As
in our economy, our schools, and our lives. Take action from home now!
we move on our journey towards advancing field-wide equitable policies and practice, we are organizing listening sessions with the field that focus on BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and communities with disabilities using our Community Conversations framework. We are also bringing racial equity conversations to our advisory councils and partners through joint and individual conversations; and examining ways to be more explicit in our goals, strategies, and programming through our own strategic planning process, to inform a thoughtful, measurable, and actionable plan forward. This is underpinned by our internal work that includes honoring Juneteenth as a company holiday, matching staff donations to anti-racism causes, initiating affinity spaces for our colleagues of color, and building a library of resources for staff. We look forward to sharing more and hearing from you in the
Arts advocates record a message to send to lawmakers on social media. Photo by Jerry Frishman, courtesy of Americans for the Arts.
AmericansForTheArts.org
near future. For more information, contact Senior Director of Local Arts Advancement Ruby Lopez Harper, at rharper@artsusa.org.
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MORE THAN A SEAT AT THE TABLE:
BLACK WOMEN ON NAVIGATING ARTS ADMINISTRATION
By Truth Murray Cole, Americans for the Arts. Interviews with Kristina Newman-Scott, Nikki Kirk, and Nailah Williams.
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Interviewees (top to bottom): Kristina Newman-Scott, Nikki Kirk, and Nailah Williams.
D
uring June, a month filled with urgent solidarity messages following the murder of George Floyd, three Black women discussed their journeys in arts administration. Kristina Newman-Scott (President, BRIC), Nikki Kirk (Equity in Arts Leadership Program Manager, Americans for the Arts), and Nailah Williams (DIAL intern and recent graduate, Brown University) stand in different stages of their careers. While Williams and Kirk are in their early- and mid-careers respectively, Newman-Scott heads BRIC’s executive leadership. Despite their varying levels of experience, the women shared stories in their interviews that echoed and resonated with one another. Their narratives, unique and distinct, are like threads of the same tapestry. Weaving their interviews together evokes some of the nuances, complexities, and joys that characterize their experiences as Black women in arts administration. ON NAVIGATING DISCRETE AND OVERT RACISM
When asked how systems of oppression impacted her ability to navigate arts administration spaces, Newman-Scott described how racism subliminally structures one’s relationship to oneself: “What was interesting for me when I moved to America [from Jamaica] was that discrete racism that builds up over time. Even though it might not be said out loud, the climate, the energy, the culture starts to shift how you see yourself and the power that you hold. One can start to feel almost guilty for being proud because ‘you should know your place.’” For Newman-Scott, this discrete racism also manifests as society telling Black women, “‘you are not showing up in the way we want you to show up,’ rather than ‘this is how you come to us.’”
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MORE THAN A SEAT AT THE TABLE
This discrete racism ultimately creates institutional cultures that explicitly and implicitly teach Black women to 4 In her article, “Enough Already question their own power. with the Statements of “Solidarity,” For some, especially Arts World,” Kaisha S. Johnson writes “racism and white supremacy are younger Black women, embedded into the very fabric of these lessons may become this industrial complex we call internalized as self-doubt. the non-profit arts sector.” Click Williams, a long-time here to read Johnson’s full article. participant of art enrichAdditionally, to read the executive summary of the Center for Talent ment programs, spoke Innovation’s “Black Women Ready about her struggles with to Lead” study, click here. imposter syndrome: “As I enter the arts administration field, I am having a little bit of imposter syndrome. I have all these QUICK LOOK
Resources
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artistic experiences. I’m capable of learning and having a positive impact on any organization I would be a part of. But I’m still feeling like, “If I did get an opportunity, would it be an instance of tokenism or because of my own ability?” Williams’ anxieties are emblematic of the challenges faced by Black women in nonprofit arts. Kirk, throughout her career in equity-driven nonprofit work, has experienced overtly racist practices. She has been “cast aside and cast aside” for opportunities that ultimately went to white colleagues. One organization even underpaid her. “Within three months, I learned that there was a white male coworker who had the same job title, the same job responsibilities, and had started
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Opposite: Nailah Williams performs at Irvington Theater. Photo by Leslie Kahan, courtesy of Broadway Training Center.
two weeks before me. He got paid significantly more than me. When I brought this up to executive leadership, it was explained away with ‘I don’t see color’ and ‘I always err on the side of women.’” ON THRIVING
Before entering arts administration, all three women were practicing artists. Newman-Scott was a painter, Kirk was a dancer, and Williams was the musical director of her college a capella group and remains a singer. Transitioning to arts administration was another way to express and explore their love for the arts. Their experiences as Black women in the arts have profoundly guided their work, most of which has been and continues to be centered on promoting equity. Williams’ desire to “be involved in work that increases access, diversity, and inclusion” was motivated by her own experiences in art enrichment programs: “I was the only Black counselor. I know that the reason [this Black camper] latched onto me was because she saw herself in me...But I also saw myself in her because I had that same experience of being the only Black person in these art enrichment programs. Being able to see the small, positive impact that my very existence in that space had on her showed me the potential of representation.” Kirk understands both the potential and necessity for representation. She describes her work as the implementation of “programs that help individuals from marginalized communities enter, advance in, and lead within the arts field.” A substantial
AmericansForTheArts.org
portion of her work focuses on transitioning mid-career professionals from marginalized communities to senior leadership roles. Kirk asserts, “Bringing people of color up through these pathways and pipelines is so important because they can be conduits of change.” As the first woman of color and first immigrant to lead BRIC as president, Newman-Scott is that conduit of change. Her experiences with discrete racism throughout her career have led her to focus on creating safe spaces at BRIC. “If the space isn’t safe, how do you push back against that? I think a lot about how I can ensure that I don’t [create unsafe spaces]. It’s important that I be called out by my community and my team.” Newman-Scott acknowledged that “just being a Black woman in a position of leadership is not enough.” And it is not. But for young Black women like Williams and myself, witnessing Newman-Scott and Kirk not only existing, but also thriving, in these arts spaces is special for us. It allows future leaders to consider the possibility that we too, as Williams put it, “could be on the other side, making decisions and influencing how organizations move.”
QUICK LOOK
Full Interviews 4
Listen to the full interviews at
AmericansForTheArts.org/Interviews.
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YOU BELONG HERE
MEMBERCENTER
Arts + Community Mosaic IN JUNE, AMERICANS FOR THE ARTS asked our member organizations to share how they are using the arts to connect with their communities in response to COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter. Submissions came in from across the country, featuring everything from chalk drawings to mask making to protest signs. To view participating organizations and larger photos, click here.
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The Source for Arts Professionals in the Know
Franiya Tiffany. Photo by CreativeSoul Photography.
MEMBERS CONNECT IN A TIME OF CRISIS AS THE PANDEMIC GRIPS THE NATION, Americans for the Arts members have needed to talk and hear how others are coping with these unprecedented times. We launched our COVID EX(change) initiative—intimate virtual convenings for members to share COVID-19 concerns, tap a peer network for solutions, and hear about practical ideas and actions. To date, 10 groups and 243 registrants have participated, including municipal-based Local Arts Agencies (LAAs) in New England; LAAs representing rural communities, small, mid-sized, and large cities; community-based arts centers; and organizations serving the creative economy. We will continue to convene more groups to deepen and expand dialogue among our members’ efforts to support communities and address challenges. Members’ stories are clarifying the crucial role of arts leadership, art, and artists in relief, reopening, and recovery. One example, the Worcester Cultural Coalition (WCC), is working on all cultural and civic fronts. In response to
stay at home orders, WCC created Arts at Home, a website which centralizes content from Worcester cultural organizations and creatives. Executive Director Erin Williams shared how WCC pooled $95,000 from the City, the Greater Worcester Community Foundation, and its own coffers for individual
Member Profile: Franiya Tiffany
artist relief and has spearheaded other efforts to provide support to larger institutions. WCC is leading the arts working group within the cross-sector
FRANIYA TIFFANY is an actress, entertainer,
Worcester Together initiative; a group of arts, health, and business leaders,
and innovator from Florida. At only
clergy, and activists addressing acute COVID-19 needs. “We’re embedding arts
10 years old, she is one of Americans for the
in all areas of need,” Williams said, “such as food insecurity in communities that
Arts’ youngest members. A musician and
were disproportionately affected by the coronavirus public health crisis.”
performer, Tiffany is launching a nonprofit,
WCC’s big challenge is advancing policies and actions that support the City’s recently completed cultural plan. With education and equity as key foci for the upcoming year, Williams reported, “We need to identify other resources to activate the work discussed and ensure that community voices are at the table making decisions.” Learn more about the Worcester Cultural Coalition’s COVID-19 actions at WorcesterCulture.org/Worcester-Culture-During-COVID-19.
Love Your Art Project, to help reduce poverty and empower her generation. We were excited to have a conversation with her about how she got her start in the arts, her experience as a guest on NBC’s Today Show, and her perspective on how we can all make a difference in our communities. To read our profile, visit Blog.AmericansForTheArts.org/ FraniyaTiffany.
‘‘
When young people use our voices and stand tall, we can fix and unite the world in ways that will bring lasting love and change.
“ Better Days” sign by Jason Naylor. Photo by Nikki Erskine, courtesy of the City of Worcester Cultural Development Division. AmericansForTheArts.org
—FRANIYA TIFFANY
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WOMEN’S PROTEST ART &
THE VOTE
By Americans for the Arts staff: Arlene Arevalo, Abigail Fisch, Nikki Kirk, and Linda Lombardi
T
he arts have always captured the spirit of evolution and revolution, and women have pioneered those movements. From suffragettes to the Black Arts Movement to the Women’s March to Black Lives Matter, women have used art to win the vote, speak their minds, protest, and change the world. SUFFRAGETTES
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Opposite, clockwise from top left: “Speak Up, Stand Up, Show Up, Vote” by Sarah Carolan; “Hear Our Voice” by Cristyn Hypnar; “For the Many” by Ashley Lukashevsky; “Let Equality Bloom” by Brooke Fischer; “My Voice Will Be Heard, I Will Not Be Silenced” by Raychelle Duazo; “Vote” by Tracie Ching. All artwork courtesy Amplifier.org. Right: Liberty and her Attendants— (Suffragette's Tableau) in Front of Treasury Bldg. March 3, 1913— Washington, D.C. Records of the National Woman's Party, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
AmericansForTheArts.org
The Seneca Falls Convention of 1848 launched the women’s suffrage movement in the United States, but American women had been fighting for the right to vote as far back as the 1600s. On August 18, 1920—after protests, pickets, and prison—Tennessee became the final state needed to ratify the 19th Amendment. On August 26, 1920, it finally became law. For 100 years, women have exercised their right to vote. This year, we celebrate the centennial, the struggles along the way, and the evolution of art by women in the movement. The events prior to the summer of 1920 are eerily familiar. The pandemic of 1918 decimated the global population. The Red Summer of 1919—white mob violence against Black people across the country—laid the groundwork for confronting issues such as police reform, racism, and voting rights. Nationwide, Americans debated equality and democracy. And a presidential election was just months away.
The National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) used art in their campaign to win the vote, as did the more aggressive National Woman’s Party (NWP). Parades included artistic floats and performances. Banners were political statements, artfully sewn and embroidered. Pins symbolized allegiance to the cause and served as badges of honor. Political cartoons, literary arts, and cinema provided satire. Artist Nina Allender, the official cartoonist for the NWP, drew almost 300 cartoons for their publication, The Suffragist, reshaping the image of a suffragette from shrew to girl next door.
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WOMEN’S PROTEST ART & THE VOTE The 1914 film, Your Girl and Mine, produced by suffrage lobbyist and future congresswoman Ruth Hanna McCormick, used entertainment to 4 28 Words That Changed History advocate for women’s The right of citizens of the United rights. Alice Duer Miller’s States to vote shall not be denied or poetry rebutted antiabridged by the United States or by suffrage sentiment, as any state on account of sex. in “Our Idea of Nothing at All” (1914). Art advanced the QUICK LOOK suffragette’s cause and helped America embrace the idea of women voting. Although the text of the 19th 4 Excerpt Amendment gave every I am a citizen woman the right to I must be able to vote. vote, segregation and Folks were lynched Folks were shot. racism kept BIPOC Folks communities were gerrymander women from the polls. Folks who believed in the Constitution Intimidation and Jim were lied to Crow laws, including Burned out, bought and sold because They agreed that all men and women literacy tests, poll taxes, were created equal. and violence prevented Folks vote to make us free women of color from exercising the rights now allotted to white women. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s— particularly the Voting Rights Act of 1965—would change that. QUICK LOOK
The 19th Amendment
Nikki Giovanni’s “Vote” Poem
VOTING RIGHTS ACT & CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
For decades after the 19th Amendment became law, Black women remained unrepresented in positions of power within the United States. Spurred by the assassination of Malcolm X in 1965, many activists integrated art into their platforms as a way of contextualizing
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and commenting on the successes, struggles, and needs of Black people. This intersection of arts and activism inspired the Black Arts Movement (BAM), an organized group that worked to create cultural institutions and artworks reflecting on civil rights and Black pride, including Black women artists such as Betye Saar, Audre Lorde, and Nikki Giovanni. Black women artists under BAM centered their work on their experiences with sexism, motherhood, racism, and sexuality both in and out of the Black community. After being previously barred from voting, Black female artists amplified Black voices in their work, encouraging Black individuals to speak out against the systems of oppression working against them. Their work often resisted representations of Black people, specifically women, in white-centered media. For example, Betye Saar challenged the stereotyped Black “Mammy” dolls in some of her work by weaponizing them to represent self-liberation. Audre Lorde and Nikki Giovanni shed light on the brutality enacted on Black individuals by law enforcement officials, a generational trauma that carries to today. Moreover, these artists fought battles on two fronts—systemic racism and toxic masculinity—using their craft to ascertain their rights and amplify their voices as Black women. The women of BAM entered white mainstream media and incited political activism, emphasizing Black existence and expression. However, as Alia E. Dastagir points out in her USA Today article, “Even when history does remember women, it tends to treat them as
The Source for Arts Professionals in the Know
fables rather than human beings. Take Rosa Parks, who has been stripped of dimension, immortalized as an accidental hero.” It is up to us to combat that denigration and remember the women of the Civil Rights and Black Arts Movements as the fighters, strategic thinkers, mothers, sisters, and activists they were and are—and the future artistactivists they inspired.
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Photo of “Leader, Betye Saar” by larry&flo, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
AmericansForTheArts.org
PROTEST ART & CIVIC ENGAGEMENT IN THE 21ST CENTURY
The Women’s March and Black Lives Matter—two modern movements founded by women—demonstrate how the popularity of social media has given protest art new life, leveraging the work of artists to highlight issues of social justice. In response to the 2016 presidential election, the 2017 Women’s March became the largest, single-day protest in U.S. history, and art enhanced the movement. Nina Donovan’s poem, “Nasty Woman,” and artist Aja Monet’s poem, “My Mother Was a Freedom Fighter,” rallied the crowd at the D.C. march. The organizers also partnered with design lab, Amplifier, and invited female-identifying and gender non-conforming artists to submit artwork for the march. Art like “My Voice Will Be Heard, I Will Not Be Silent” by Raychelle Duazoc and “Vote” by Tracie Ching channeled the energy of the march into civic participation. Black Lives Matter (BLM) has also seen an abundance of art as activism. Through its Arts+Culture program, BLM
educates communities on the role of art in politics and highlights emerging Black artists who “create within a politically radical framework.” Following the murders of George Floyd and many other Black people, artists have been quick to respond. Murals in cities across the country honor the lives of those lost to police brutality and racial injustice. Illustrations and anti-racism resources shared on social media captivate attention and motivate action. The accessibility and visibility of this artwork imparts a sense of urgency, elicits empathy, and reaches a wider base of potential voters. For generations, the arts have been an effective medium used by grassroots movements and campaigns. Through artistic imagery, literary arts, and performance, art—and the artists who create it—stimulates dialogue and widespread action to promote racial justice, women's rights, and civic engagement.
QUICK LOOK
Challenges to Intersectional Coalition Building 4
The 2017 Women’s March set out to
“harness the political power of diverse women and their communities to create transformative social change.” However, much like the suffrage movement, the March did not uphold its goal of intersectionality, instead centering white, cisgender, heteronormative, able-bodied women. Many BIPOC and trans women reported that their voices were being muted to make the event more palatable.
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INSPIRING LEADERSHIP THROUGH EXAMPLE
LEADERSHIP IN PRACTICE One of their programs, the Waniyetu Wowapi Lakota Youth Arts and Culture Institute, allows for just that. The Institute offers
instruction in fine art, graffiti and street art, and traditional Lakota arts; teen internships and a Lakota Art Fellowship for youth considering careers in the arts; a public art park that allows both community members and visitors to express their voices and work in a safe, affirming space; and the annual, award-winning RedCan invitational graffiti jam. Art, to the Lakota people, provides a strong connection between culture and community, and CRYP creates a space where these connections can be fostered and reinforced.
THE LAUNDROMAT PROJECT Based in New York City, the Laundromat Project (The LP) is a nonprofit arts organization that advances both artists and residents in becoming agents of change in their own communities, specifically communities and artists of color in New York’s five boroughs. Through a variety of programs that Courtesy of the Cheyenne River Youth Project.
focus on supporting artists’ work, community fostering, and leadership development, The LP aims to support artists and neighbors in transforming their communities and collaborating to integrate art into communal spaces. One of their programs,
BY AND FOR BIPOC COMMUNITIES: Equity in Practice
Create Change, aims to build a coalition of artists committed
to impacting the communities they live in, offering both a fellowship and an Artist-in-Residence program. The LP recognizes the value and positive impact artists of color can have on their communities, making it their mission to encourage and support BIPOC artists who use their work to engage, support, and unite.
WHEN DISCUSSING ART ACCESSIBILITY, we need to think less about diversity and more about equity. Arts organizations led by people of color need to have not just a seat at the table, but a stake in it as well. Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC)-led organizations that directly support their BIPOC communities are laying the groundwork in making the arts more equitable. Here are two such organizations.
CHEYENNE RIVER YOUTH PROJECT Located on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation in South Dakota, the Cheyenne River Youth Project (CRYP) is a community grassroots nonprofit organization designed to support their reservation’s youth. Through a wide range of culturally enriching programs and projects, CRYP aims to strengthen the youth’s connection to their Lakota culture, enabling them to become community leaders and culture bearers for the Lakota Nation.
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Installation of A Living Room on Roosevelt/Una Sala en la Roosevelt (2015), a collaborative project between Ro Garrido (The LP Commissions Artist, 2015) and Queens Neighborhoods United. Photo by Neha Gautam, courtesy of The Laundromat Project.
The Source for Arts Professionals in the Know
Story Story with Aishe Keita— Character Building. Image and video provided by the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture.
Gina Rodríguez-Drix Awarded American Express Emerging Leader Award for Community Impact GINA RODRÍGUEZ-DRIX, cultural affairs manager for the City of Providence Department of Art, Culture + Tourism was awarded the 2020 American Express Emerging Leader Award in June. The award recognizes visionary leadership by a new and/or young
Transitioning Arts Education Online
arts professional who demonstrates deep engagement with community and strong commitment to advancing the arts.
COVID-19 UPENDED THE ARTS EDUCATION FIELD and the young people it reaches,
Rodríguez-Drix’s professional and creative
pushing arts educators and administrators to innovate and adapt curriculum
practices are rooted in her passion for social,
and programs virtually. In Marin City, California, Dominican University
environmental, and reproductive justice, and a
students are partnering and collaborating with Performing Stars’ social justice
commitment to her hometown. She managed
youth group and residents in Marin City’s public housing to create public art
the planning process for Art in City Life Plan,
pieces that promote awareness of and involvement in the 2020 Census.
Providence’s first master plan for public art,
Educators from K–12 institutions, community-based organizations, and higher education quickly organized Facebook groups and public Google docs to crowdsource ideas for adapting arts-based curriculum, technology advice, and resources on digital student engagement. These early forums served as a lifeline for educators scrambling to reimagine their pedagogy through a teaching medium that few used in their arts classrooms and programs. Organizations and independent teaching artists flooded digital platforms with videos and livestreams to connect with young people looking for enrichment and engagement at home. The Creative Advantage, a partnership between Seattle Public Schools (SPS) and the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture, established an ongoing series of online arts lessons taught by local teaching artists for SPS students and families. This program supported a roster of over 30 teaching artists that lost income when the city shut down. The initiative offered a variety of free, culturally responsive educational programming for Seattle families. The transition to digital learning deepened existing inequities and challenges in the systems that support arts learners. The digital divide, or lack of access to digital technology and reliable broadband internet, disconnected many students and educators in low-income and rural communities from reaching the educational spaces created online during the shutdown. With digital learning expected to be the norm for the upcoming school year, arts educators will continue to contend with loss of participation due to this disparity in access. Even with the uncertainty around school re-openings and budget cuts, the arts education field will continue to innovate and transform online.
AmericansForTheArts.org
and currently stewards the planning process for Creative Providence 2020. As a multi-genre writer, Rodríguez-Drix writes performance pieces to include poems, plays, and fiction meant for all types of communities.
INFORMATION TO HELP YOU SUCCEED
THE TOOLBOX
Caring for Public Art Collections IN THIS TIME OF THE COVID-19 pandemic and uprisings around racial injustice, it can be a challenge to ensure a public art collection is maintained and artworks that are damaged or no longer considered appropriate for a community are successfully removed. To help address these issues, check out two of our ArtsU webinars, free for members. Designed initially for natural disasters, these webinars provide information and resources that can be used to develop public art collection policies and address current issues. In Basics in Addressing Damaged Public Artworks, public
art conservator Rosa Lowinger provides advice on how to maintain a damaged artwork until help arrives from an artist or conservator. In Demystifying the Public Art Deaccession Process, Americans for the Arts
member and public art expert Sherri Brueggemann— who has created and tested a decommission policy for her public art program—shares how she developed the policy, why it is a decommission policy vs. a deaccession policy, examples of her process in practice, and lessons learned. To find more online
“ Pathways to Freedom” panorama from the ground, artist Julia Vogl. Photo by Nir Landau.
professional development resources related to public art, visit ArtsU.AmericansForTheArts.org/PublicArt.
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The Source for Arts Professionals in the Know
Expanded COVID-19 Resource and Response Center SINCE OUR LAST ISSUE, we’ve redesigned the online COVID-19 Resource and Response Center to make navigation and searching easier for tools relating to organizations or individuals. And with new resources on reopening communities, updated research and data, and additional funding opportunities, the Resource and Response Center offers crucial information you can use during the pandemic. The online portal now features a weekly research update on the impacts of COVID-19
on the arts community. As of early August,
DATA LOVERS, REJOICE!
financial losses to nonprofit arts and cultural organizations are an estimated $10.2 billion with a loss of 339 million admissions and $10.7 billion in event-related spending by arts audiences at local businesses.
AMERICANS FOR THE ARTS recently relaunched the Profile of Local Arts
Another new feature is the Arts Agency
Agencies Dashboard, an interactive visual web tool that allows users to
Action Toolkit, which provides a collection
compare their Local Arts Agency with the field. The Dashboard features
of shareable tools for local arts agencies to
brand new data from the 2019 Profile of Local Arts Agencies, including two
advocate for their budgets, including the
supplemental modules that provide a deeper dive into partnerships with
one-pager, “10 Reasons to Invest in Your
non-arts organizations and option taxes used to support the arts.
Local Arts Agency During a Crisis.”
We have redesigned the Dashboard to be even more user friendly, ensuring
You’ll also find information on the new
that the data you need is just a few clicks away. Embedded links connect you
#ArtsCreateHope visibility campaign that
to relevant Americans for the Arts resources that will help you deepen the
helps remind the general public and arts
impact of your work.
supporters how much the arts mean to us
Using the Dashboard is simple:
in times like these.
1
Search for a question for which you want an answer.
2
U se the interactive filters to see how different groups (or specific LAAs) compare to each other.
3
E xport the graphs as an image, PDF, or PowerPoint for use in your own presentations and reports.
The Profile of Local Arts Agencies Dashboard is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts and is available at AmericansForTheArts.org/ LAAdashboard.
AmericansForTheArts.org
SUMMER 2020 | ARTS LINK | 17
1000 Vermont Avenue NW 6th Floor Washington, D.C. 20005 T 202.371.2830 F 202.371.0424 ArtsLink@artsusa.org AmericansForTheArts.org
2019 Annual Convention. Photo by Sylvain Gaboury, courtesy of Americans for the Arts.