Sunday, December 11, 2011

Nonprofit Arts Sustainability Today

The more connected I become to the creative economy, the more questions I ask myself about the future of the nonprofit arts. Having spent over 25 years in nonprofit arts administration, I moved into this creative economy work filled with optimism that it represented a new portal for demonstrating the value and contribution of our nonprofit arts throughout our communities. And then, in January 2011, when we rolled out our Creativity Works: Milwaukee Regional Creative Industries Project , I realized I wasn't really surprised that many in the nonprofit arts community were hesitant to accept the research protocol, believed that we were selling out to business once again, and demonstrated the entitlement that they believed they deserved support just because of their contribution to community life.

Now, almost a year later, this myopic attitude is still prevalent notwithstanding the increasing difficulty of balancing budgets, continually reducing contributed income monies, and shrinking subscriptions. Much of the nonprofit arts community is living in a world that doesn't exist anymore. They are an endangered species - the bigger they are, the more potential for extinction. At least smaller groups can be more nimble and collaborative if they want to.

And so, I was thrilled to come across Wolf Brown's newest Sounding Board posting Is Sustainability Sustainable? I encourage you to read Joanna Woronkowicz's article. It is extremely well written, with some terrific reflections. She suggests that sustainability has to include Community Relevance, Artistic Vibrancy, and Capitalization.

I particularly like her point about community relevance. So many organizations are looking in their rear view mirror when it comes to their interaction with the community. They are looking at THEIR needs first, rather than the COMMUNITY's needs first. I love how Joanna concludes this section of her article: Arts organizations that embed themselves in a larger dialogue about the challenges, hopes and aspirations of their community will be seen as indispensable. Those who do not will grow increasingly irrelevant and unsustainable.

If you care about the future of nonprofit arts, I urge you to read this article from beginning to end. It provides an excellent lens with which to see what is really happening and what needs to happen for the survival of our nonprofit arts community.

Monday, December 5, 2011

Why Arts (Creative) Education is Critical for Talent Development

A 2010 IBM study of their 1500 global CEO’s on Capitalizing on Complexity showed that Creativity is the most important leadership quality, according to these CEOs. Standouts practice and encourage experimentation and innovation throughout their organizations. Creative leaders expect to make deeper business model changes to realize their strategies. To succeed, they take more calculated risks, find new ideas, and keep innovation in how they lead and communicate. Read the full report .

You see more and more reports indicating that creativity is a critical issue facing our world – and that there is a serious lack of it throughout the business environment. Check out the current issues of Fast Company magazine on How to Lead a Creative Life and Entrepreneur magazine's State of the Creative Nation.  No wonder we celebrate and even venerate the life of Steve Jobs, because he demonstrated a heart and soul connection to his personal creativity that we don’t see too many other places, and many of us feel is missing within our own lives. So – you would think with all of this concern about our ‘creative capital’ we would be increasing our commitment to arts education, not pulling further away from it, right? What is wrong with this picture?

I think we have both a communication issue as well as an outcomes issue. First, the  communication issue is that despite decades of research showing the positive personal and academic impact of arts education, we haven’t moved the needle in terms of school curriculum strategy, educational budgets or civic and corporate commitment. So, let’s stop using the same language because no one has been seriously listening for years. Second, the arts at their core are about expressing and experiencing creativity. Creativity is something the business community is crying out for, but instead of talking about the arts building creativity skills we focus on not eliminating the arts curriculum specialists. We need to start talking about developing the creative skill set of students as a workforce development outcome of these arts experiences and stop isolating the study of the arts, no matter how intrinsically valuable we believe they are. The conversation has moved on and now so must we.

As part of a local grant exploring reframing arts education as creative education, I am talking with senior HR professionals on how and where they include looking for creativity skills in their talent entry and talent development. To a person, they do look for it upon entry and they do proactively develop it in their leadership programs. Now, having said that, they have NOT connected experience in the arts as an indicator of a creative skill set – it’s not on their radar screen. Here is the opportunity - connecting artistic experiences with the development and assessment of creativity skills will provide a pathway to the arts making a serious contribution to enhancing the creativity of tomorrow’s talent.

If we want to optimize our innovation potential, we need to maximize our community’s creative capital and ignite all of our imaginations. The arts are incredibly well positioned to make a significant contribution to bringing more creativity into the workforce if we are willing to reframe our conversation. Let’s start that new dialogue now.

Monday, November 28, 2011

The Creative Economy: A New 'Voice' for the Arts


What voice do the arts have in today's economy? For much of our recent history, the arts have been considered a ‘nice to have’, a quality of life amenity that certainly helps make a difference in the community, but expendable when there are tough budget or resource choices. We are painfully aware of being excluded as serious priority from the public funding and the arts education conversations. But, there is a new table that we can join with a strong and purposeful voice – and that is the ‘economic development’ table. 

I’m not just talking about economic impact (which many economic development specialists dismiss), or community/quality of life, but measured, quantifiable economic development in the same manner as biotech, healthcare, or construction industries. While many in the arts community believe that anything connecting us with the same tools to business somehow ‘taints’ our value or impact or role, the truth is – if you are not at the economic development table these days, you are just not part of the conversation – period – like it or not. But the reality today is that we can demonstrate the value of being seated at that table, perhaps for the very first time.

Measuring our ‘creative economy/industries’ is a relatively new endeavor in our country (since about 1999) but it has been around much longer in Europe and Australasia. Even the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development has put out two reports on the value and impact of our ‘creative economy’, with the latest being Creative Economy Report 2010: A Feasible Development Option. Creative economy connects the nonprofit arts, for profit creative businesses (such as advertising, web digital design, printing, media, etc) and independent creatives (musicians, graphic artists) under one umbrella  - because they all produce products or services which originate with aesthetic, creative or cultural content. Once the net is cast around these industries, we can measure them the same way any other industry sector is measured. Generally, this is done with NAICS (industry codes) and SOC (occupation codes) to count and determine wage value of industry sector jobs. And measuring the growth of jobs in a sector is a critical component of community development policy. For an example of how this is compiled and analyzed, check out Creative Alliance Milwaukee’s recent creative industries profile.

While you might not like being in the same sandbox as manufacturing, biotech, healthcare, etc, the ability to speak about the arts as a measurable industry cluster that is making a serious economic contribution to the success of our communities gives you an important voice at the table. Now, here’s the real opportunity – once you are seated at the table, you can help shape the conversation. It’s up to you to speak to the arts’ intrinsic value, its contribution to education, why quality of life and creative placemaking are crticial to the health of your community.

The relatively new profiling of our ‘creative industries’ is one of the best opportunities we have right now for a voice at the table. The NEA’s investment in developing and measuring ‘creative placemaking’ has equal potential at the community table. How we speak at the table will determine our future. So, what will you say when you have the opportunity to speak?

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Arts and the Private Sector Blog Salon

This pas week, Americans for the Arts hosted an Arts and Business blog salon. You can see all of the postings  here.  There is an amazing array of writers and reflections. Some of my favorites are:

"Arts and Culture Can Help Solve the Creativity Crisis in Business" by Neil McKenzie  He references the IBM study of its global CEO's identifying creativity as the critical ingredient for navigating a complex world, and offers ideas on harnessing creativity in the workplace.

"The Arts for Arts Sake Conundrum" by John Eger. John talks about the relationship between bringing the arts into the corporate world and the intrinsic value of the arts.

As someone who has spent my career in arts administration, a great deal of which meant asking for corporate contributions, I really liked "Ask Not What the Company Can Do For You...." by Krista Lang Blackwood. She gives a very clear assessment on what makes the most sense when arts organizations approach corporate donors - a must read for arts organizations.

The link between business school training and the arts is an intriguing one, explored by Tom Tresser in "Time for New Thinking and Being in Our Business Schools".

And, I was fortunate to have two postings on the site as well. "The Creative Economy: A New Opportunity for the Arts" and  "Linking Creative Education and Talent Development".

I encourage you to explore the range of blogs in this arts and private sector blog salon. There are many fascinating tidbits of research and information, as well as a host of insightful and thought-provoking perceptions.















Monday, November 14, 2011

Why Creativity and Innovation are Not Interchangeable

It has been interesting to me how interchangeable the words 'creativity' and 'innovation' have become - particularly in the business community. The truth is that while they are clearly connected and intertwined, they are not interchangeable. The National Creativity Network and the Lincoln Center Institute have both adopted the ICI Framework: Imagination is the capacity to conceive of what is not (spark); Creativity is imagination applied (process); and Innovation is unique or novel creativity (product). I think this framework is critically important to those of us dedicated to advancing the creativity of our communities and anyone interested in widening the capacity to be innovative.

I have been interviewing human resource executives to understand if they look for and develop creativity skills in their talent - and what skills gaps they may be finding linked to their school preparation. The executives in manufacturing say "we don't talk about creativity because it is too squishy, too artsy; we have to talk about innovation because that is about product development and ROI". So, where does he think the capacity to innovate comes from - breathing the air in his business environment? The business community is generally interested in what drives to the bottom line and they want to get there as quickly and cost-effectively as possible. Understandable, and yet, I fear they are missing a huge opportunity for an authentic competitive edge by looking for and fostering the creative skill set of their talent. They are missing the key differentiator - the capacity of their talent to be creative so that they contribute to innovation.

Everyone can be creative and the creative process is open to be nurtured by anyone. And yet, by the time we are adults we rarely describe ourselves as 'creative' - it is just not on our radar screen. And so, when our career track is calling on us to think more creatively about our options, and our workplace is screaming for more innovation, why is it we don't look at how we are developing our own and the collective creative capacity - our ability to express our best potential and resonate with the potential of everyone around us.

Innovation will absolutely not happen without a strongly developed creative skill set. If we are serious about optimizing our innovative abilities then we need to maximize our creative capital. And we need to recognize that creativity and innovation are two parts of the Imagination/Creativity/Innovation framework.

Monday, November 7, 2011

2011 Creativity Forum in Oklahoma

Oklahoma has followed on from its wildly successful 2010 World Creativity Forum with a one-day creativity forum this past November 1, 2011 in Norman, Oklahoma. Over 1200 participants attended, dominantly from Oklahoma (great turnout from lots of students) but good representation from around North America. Thank Creative Oklahoma for their membership in the International Districts of Creativity, uniting 14 creative and innovative regions around the world, and their dedication to fostering creativity in education, commerce and culture.

This forum was very well designed by Creative Oklahoma, committed to cutting edge discussions, very diverse in its offerings and attendees, and unashamed to just keep putting 'creativity' front and center.

Plenary speakers included Gregg Fraley on Driving 21st Century Innovation; John Mackey, CEO and Founder of Whole Foods on creativity and conscious capitalism; Kevin Carroll of The Red Rubber Ball fame. All of these men (okay, the Governor of Oklahoma, Mary Fallin, gave some brilliant welcoming remarks, including announcing the new Innovative Challenge Index for the state, which is akin to Massachusetts' Creativity Challenge Index) were both inspirational and motivational. An opportunity to reflect and walk away thinking carpe diem.

Panel sessions that I enjoyed included:
Tamara Christensen and Cynthia Rolfe on Big Ideas.Focused Action. Problem Solved. My takeaway was understanding that the divergent/convergent creative thinking process can be very deliberate and lead quite quickly from problem exploration to identifying the big idea to focusing on criteria-based action.

Robert Sternberg's Creativity is a Decision was truly inspirational, and he is a funny guy. My takeaway was how much creativity is a decision to 'defy the crowd'; and how much it can be developed and nurtured in anyone. I also liked his phrase that 'creative people are value investors in the realm of ideas'.

My colleague, John Cimino, did a breakout session, The Creative Mind:Self-Knowledge and Directions of Growth. I liked his comment, "the interplay of perception and inspiration guides discovery and creativity, not logic"; and that we will in the spaces to make meaning in our lives.

Great kudos to Creative Oklahoma (and check out their website for session tapes) for continuing to advance the conversation on the role of creativity in commerce, education and culture in such a professional, inclusive manner.

Monday, October 17, 2011

Is There Value in a National Definition of Creative Economy/Industries?

Over the past several years, more and more communities have begun to research, profile and develop their 'creative economy/industries'. This impetus is coming from a couple of stimuli. First, the arts community is struggling with having sustainable business models and so it is no surprise that they might resonate with a rationale that positions them under the umbrella of all of the community's creative assets, particularly linking the nonprofit arts world to the forprofit creative businesses. (That said, there is serious resistance from many in the arts community to truly connecting with the forprofit creative world, but that is another conversation!).

Second, the creative economy, at its heart, is about economic development - and believing that this economic development leads to healthy community development. And, what community is not prioritizing economic development - jobs and new businesses - these days? So, the creative organizations within the community have seen the profiling of 'creative industries' as an avenue to the economic development table - and they are right. Likely, that is the only way they will get to that table these days.

All of this to say that with more and more communities defining and profiling their creative economies, should we be looking at what the common threads are linking us all together? Is there value in finding in all of this a common verbal definition of 'creative industries/economy', as well as a common dataset protocol for these industries? Right now, every community looks at it with a slightly different perspective, which means that we can't do economic comparisons, nor benchmark our findings and growth, nor speak with a unified voice at any national economic development conversation. It also means that the NEA and Americans for the Arts are not congruent in their view of our creative economy, and whatever research is available is not really comparable nor compatible. Hardly a recipe for the development of a successful creative economic cluster.

On behalf of a consortium of community creative alliances around the country - Center for Creative Economy, North Carolina; Creative Albuquerque, NM ; Maine Center for Creativity; Creative Oklahoma; Creative Alliance Milwaukee; Berkshire Creative; Creative Ohio - we are putting together an application for an NEA research grant to inventory how our communities are defining and measuring their creative economies, reviewing and comparing the approaches, looking for common threads, and making a recommendation as to the viability and credibility of a national creative industries definition.

We'd like your thoughts and input on this work. If you would like to chat or request a copy of the research proposal we are working on, please contact me at christine@charrisconnect.com.

Our thinking is if we don't develop a national definition and perspective, we will perhaps lose a terrific opportunity to have a nationally unified voice in support of our creative communities at the tables where national conversations about investment in our future are taking place. I am worried that if we don't get our feet in the door to drive the future of our society's priorities now, I am afraid much of the creative underpinning and expression of our communities today (much less our history) will be lost forever.

Friday, September 16, 2011

Creative Placemaking: ArtPlace America

As I have reported here before, the NEA is the leading national light when it comes to socio-economic development of our communities through developing our creative economy. And, they have hit the leading edge again.

It was announced in the New York Times on September 15 that a consortium of stellar national foundations (like Rockefeller, Mellon, Ford - those kind of guys) and the NEA has been formed to accelerate the revitalization of the cities and towns America through an $11 million investment in 34 projects around the nation in creative placemaking projects. Check out the NEA white paper on creative placemaking.

This is an awesome program, and great kudos goes to the NEA and the private foundations that have jumped on board. Further, they recruited dynamo Carol Colletta (formerly of CEO's for Cities) to lead the charge. This is going to be a very successful program, and gives all of us an opportunity to increase the awareness of our creative assets to transform the vibrancy and economic growth of our locales.

You can read all about it and see the projects selected at ArtPlaceAmerica. Also, take note that they are now accepting letters of intent until November 15 for their next round of projects.

I am proud to say that there are two projects in my home state of Wisconsin. The first one I am involved in as Executive Advisor to the Creative Alliance Milwaukee. It is called MiKE, putting innovation in Milwaukee. The Alliance is providing project management, along with other support.

The other project is being spearheaded by WormFarm Institute in rural central Wisconsin. These people are incredibly inventive - an evolving laboratory of arts and ecology. Check out their project, Farm/Art Dtour.

It will be great fun to watch the progress of ArtPlace America!

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Arts and Their Future in Our Cities

In these challenging times where rancor and divisiveness seems to rule most of our human interaction, it is sometimes not easy to see where there is human connection just for the sake of connecting and expressing. And, in cities it can sometimes feel impossible to find those touch-points of humane and spiritual nourishment.

And that is what made the Future of the City: Arts Symposium at the University of Chicago on June 7 so refreshing. I was unable to personally attend, but have enjoyed watching the excellent video production of their one-day event. You can check out the short and long versions of all of the videos of the day here. I particularly recommend the panel with Carol Colletta, Valuing Culture in the Global City. Carol knows from which she speaks - as the former President of CEO's for Cities and former executive director of Mayors Institute on City Design - she is passionate about cities and the place of creativity within them. I understand she has moved into a new role - leading the charge of ArtPlace, a new national initiative to accelerate creative placemaking across the US. This initiative is a collaboration of some top name national foundations and the NEA. My guess is we will see some exciting news soon.

If you haven't checked out what the NEA is doing for our cities, check out their new Our Town grants. There are some fascinating projects and this will give you great insight into the philosophical and practical direction of the NEA. I think it is the most exciting work focused on creativity coming out of Washington today.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

The NEA and the Creative Economy

It is interesting to me how active the National Endowment for the Arts is on furthering our exploration and development of the creative economy in this country. They have truly embraced the concept of 'creative placemaking', and are deeply engaged in, and driving, the dialogue and actualization of true community creative economic development. This bodes well for those in the arts community who need the support of the NEA to change our approach, re-design business models, and take risks. And, it is a great opportunity to connect with the forprofit creative community to share the same community growth purpose.

And so, here is some new information from the NEA.

1) New Our Town Website:  A new part of the NEA website which features the Our Town grants with a map, full description and pictures and videos about the projects. Well worth the read to understand what is happening around the country and what the NEA is funding. They had over 400 applications and gave 51 grants.

 2) Check out the new NEA Arts magazine, which celebrates creative placemaking in rural America. We visit a health clinic turned art gallery on a reservation in Minnesota, heading into the Arizona desert to find an arts oasis, talking crafts with Handmade in America, an interview with Wormfarm co-founder Jay Salinas, a visit to two YourTown communities, and a stunning photo essay on Marfa, Texas.

3) New Grant Opportunity: RESEARCH - Last fall, when the NEA put forward a new strategic plan, the agency identified research as a mission-critical goal. Reflecting that new emphasis, the NEA’s Office of Research & Analysis is announcing the availability of grants to conduct research into the value and impact of the U.S. arts and design sector on the nation, whether on individuals or communities.

·         Grant Guidelines

·         Deadline: November 8, 2011.

·         Eligibility: Eligible applicants are nonprofit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3), U.S. organizations; units of state or local government; or federally recognized tribal communities or tribes. This may include, but is not limited to, colleges and universities.

·         Amounts: Grants generally range from $10,000 to $30,000

·         Questions? Patricia Shaffer, 202-682-5743, shafferp@arts.gov

I hope your summer creative season is going very well!

Sunday, July 24, 2011

America’s Imagination Summit, New York City, July 21-22

Presented by the Lincoln Center Institute, this summit gathered over 150 invited participants to advance embedding the study and implementation of ‘imaginative learning’ throughout our communities. The Lincoln Center Institute (LCI) is committed to the ICI continuum – Imagination (capacity to conceive what is not), Creativity (imagination applied), and Innovation (unique or novel creativity). An excellent reference for this work is the book Imagination First.

This summit was the culmination of 50 ‘imagination conversations’ around the USA during the course of the LCI’s 50th anniversary. People in the room (which was the very first venue Wynton Marsalis performed in as a professional in New York) included those who participated in these conversations and others who are working in the field of imagination and creativity. The introductory panel included Sir Ken Robinson (see his excellent TED talk); Deepak Chopra; Bruce Vaughn, Chief Creative Executive, Walt Disney Imagineering . Thoughts I took away from this include: 1) if we associate creativity with just the arts we will be missing a lot, 2) imagination is more about the soul than the mind because it takes us beyond the internal dialogue/noise, 3) the field of creativity is really the field of potential, 4) the impact and import of storytelling cannot be overstated, 4) people want to be ‘embedded’ in their own imaginative life, and people need to be given the freedom to tell their own story.

The next panel – Imagination, Creativity and Innovation Across Fields: How it Works, Why It’s Needed – included Matthew Bishop, US Business Editor The Economist; Sandra Chapman, Founder of Center for Brain Health; John Deasy, Superintendent Los Angeles Unified School District; Bill Moggridge, Director Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum and founder of IDEO; Deborah Wince-Smith, CEO Council on Competitiveness. This was a lively discussion – particularly between the ‘good for business’ approach of Deborah's and John’s commitment to diversity, equity and access for all kids in LA – which led to dialogue on how we connect the disparate elements of imagination and creativity. As one of the panelists said – “we have to turn the prizm until it catches light”. We were encouraged not to separate imagination from creativity and I loved the observation that the future of work will be ‘managed serendipity’. There was much discussion on how ‘design thinking’ was linked to imagination, creativity and innovation – that in the important aspect of being consumer-centered it was a through-thread.

There was observation that we have enough data about the value and role of imagination and creativity, but we need to concentrate on the ‘how’ of embedding imaginative learning and building creative capital in our communities. Bill Moggridge was really inspiring and provocative, and said  you need to ‘fail frequently in order to succeed sooner’. He was one of the several presenters who talked about needing to take more risks.

Another wonderful observation from this panel was that we need to find the ways to ‘ turn the inspirational moments into institutional opportunities’.

Three Innovators at Work: Narratives were awe-inspiring. Real people from across the globe with innovations making a difference to our humanity. Check out what Kiran Bir Sethi is doing at Riverside School in India  and with their Design for Change Challenge. This program is changing how children can be participate in providing design solutions for our world, and it is spreading around the world – it is about to be introduced to all of the schools in Mexico. It is incredibly awesome!

Tony DeRose from Pixar Animation Studios, has started a nationwide connection to ‘maker fairs’ and created a Young Maker Club,  – bringing kids into the opportunity of making things. Their focus is imagine/make/grow/repeat. Cameron Sinclair is changing the world through Architecture for Humanity . This guy and this work is unbelieveably amazing. They are working around the globe to build a more sustainable future through the power of professional design. There are many chapters throughout the world.

There were other discussions and breakouts, and lots of opportunity for networking with a very wide range of folks. For me, this event was provocative, stimulating and inspirational. What are my takeaways?

-          There are lots of really smart, dedicated people working around the globe to foster imagination, build our community’s creative capital, and inspire innovation. That gives me both confidence and a sense of belonging.
-          I like digging into the core essence of ‘imagination’ because it is foundational to our process as human beings and it has no ‘charge’ like the words ‘creativity’ and ‘innovation’ have begun to have.
-          We just HAVE to keep working as hard as we can to change how we teach, how we learn and what we value in order to foster lifelong imaginative beings and a fully creative community.

Thank you, Lincoln Center Institute for the tremendous work you are doing to foster our imaginative learning and ‘creating’ our communities.

Friday, July 15, 2011

New OUR TOWN Grants Awared by National Endowment for the Arts

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) just now announced the recipients of grants under their new "Our Town" arts and placemaking initiative. $6.575 million in grants will go to 51 communities in 34 states that have created public-private partnerships to strengthen the arts while shaping the social, physical, and economic characters of their neighborhoods, towns, cities, and regions. NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman made the announcement during a press conference July 12. The full NEA press release and descriptions of all the grantee projects is available here.

Proudly, there was one recipient in Wisconsin:
Wormfarm Institute, Inc.
Reedsburg, WI
$50,000
To support the planning, piloting, and evaluation of Farm/Art D-Tour. Guided and self-led tours will take place primarily along rural roads in northern Sauk County, Wisconsin, featuring farm-based, ephemeral art installations and performances; artist designed and built mobile farm stands; and interpretative signage about rural culture and the local arts, food, and farming communities. 

The Creative Alliance Milwaukee received $50,000 in the the precursor to this grant program, MICD 25,  to help fund its Creativity Works! Milwaukee Regional Creative Industries Project. This project defined, measured and mapped the creative industries throughout Southeast Wisconsin's seven counties - showing over 67,000 workers with $2 billion in wages represented by over 4,000 businesses.

The just announced NEA Our Town grants range from $25,000 to $250,000 and represent a range of rural, suburban, and urban communities with populations ranging from just over 2,000 people to more than 8.2 million people. More than half of the Our Town grants were awarded to communities with a population of less than 200,000, and seven to communities with fewer than 25,000 people. Grants were awarded for planning, design, and arts engagement projects that strengthen arts organizations while increasing the livability of communities across America. By requiring a partnership between local government and an arts or design organization, Our Town encourages creative, cross sector solutions to the challenges facing towns, cities, and the arts community.

There were 447 applicants to this program and only 51 grantees. We congratulate all the other grantees. This is another example of the transformative work the NEA is doing now under Rocco Landesman's leadership. Bravo, NEA!