December 2023 Member to Member Dialogue:

Cultural Power of the Arts

 Join us for a Member-to-Member Dialogue about the Cultural Power of the Arts. This virtual forum offers an opportunity for members across the country to work and share in a collaborative space. This conversation about the Cultural Power of the Arts will be moderated by Americans for the Arts staff but will be driven by the members. Come ready to meet new people, ask questions, share ideas, and learn! This is a live event that will not be recorded, so make sure to save the date!

November 2023 Member Office Hour

Nina Ozlu Tunceli

Join us for a brief presentation from Nina Ozlu Tunceli,  AFTA Chief Counsel, Gov't and Public Affairs and Executive Director of the Americans for the Arts Action Fund, about the Arts Action Fund and federal advocacy, followed by a Q&A. Bring your questions for an exciting conversation! Learn more about the Arts Action Fund HERE!

October 2023 Member to Member Dialogue:

Educational Power of the Arts

Join us for a Member-to-Member Dialogue about the Educational Power of the Arts. This virtual forum offers an opportunity for members across the country to work and share in a collaborative space. This conversation about the Educational Power of the Arts will be moderated by Americans for the Arts staff but will be driven by the members. Come ready to meet new people, ask questions, share ideas, and learn! This is a live event that will not be recorded, so make sure to save the date!

September 2023 Member Office Hour

Dr. Genna Styles-Lyas

Join us for a brief presentation from Dr. Genna Styles-Lyas,  AEP6 Director, Community Engagement & Equity, about the Arts & Economic Prosperity 6 study (AEP6), followed by a Q&A. Bring your questions for an exciting conversation! Learn more about AEP6 HERE!

July 2023 Member Office Hour

Nora Halpern

 Join us for a brief presentation about relationship development from Nora Halpern, VP Leadership Alliances, followed by a Q&A. Bring your questions for an exciting conversation! Learn more about ways to support Americans for the Arts HERE!

May 2023 Member Office Hour

Nolen Bivens

Join us for a brief presentation from our CEO, Nolen Bivens, followed by a Q&A. Bring your questions for an exciting conversation! Learn more about Nolen HERE!

March 2023 Member Office Hours

Jay Dick & Tooshar Swain

Join us for a brief presentation from Jay Dick, Sr. Dir, State & Local Gov't Affairs, and Tooshar Swain, Director of Public Policy, about federal, state and local advocacy for the arts, followed by a Q&A. Bring your questions for an exciting conversation! Learn more about Americans for the Arts’ advocacy efforts HERE!

About Member Office Hours 2023

Office Hours are bi-monthly Zoom calls where members can meet Americans for the Arts staff members and learn about how their work supports that of our members. Each session will feature a brief presentation from the staff member followed by a Q&A. Bring your questions! This is a live event that will not be recorded.

If you would like to register for all Member Office Hours please click the red register button in the top right hand corner, if you would like to register for specific sessions please click to the activity from the content page.

About Member to Member Dialogues

2023

Member-to-Member Dialogues are bi-monthly open Zoom calls where members across the country can work and share in a collaborative virtual space. While this discussion will be moderated and by Americans for the Arts staff, these sessions are designed to promote networking and conversations between members. Come ready to meet new people, ask questions, share ideas, and learn! We hope you will keep these conversations going both in your own communities and with the new connections you make during the session. These are live events that will not be recorded.

If you would like to register for all Member to Member Dialogues please click the red register button in the top right hand corner, if you would like to register for specific sessions please click to the activity from the content page.

 About Part 3

Further building on Parts 1 and 2 of the How to Partner with Your Chamber of Commerce Series, participants will look to rural communities and consider how innovative partnerships can be used as inspiration or scaled to suburban and urban areas for long-lasting, mutually beneficial relationships. This module will explore practical ways of orienting local economies around "Quality of Place" and of rethinking the individual roles of arts and business in a local economy. It will demonstrate how navigating public/private partnerships can strengthen the relationship between the business and arts sectors. This module will explore, in varying depth, case studies in multiple rural communities, and highlight how these arts and chamber entities have worked together to build community wealth, deepen alliances, and expand opportunity for artists and businesses alike. This Part will ask the questions: When the LAA is seen as a respected and equal partner to their chamber and economic development entities, what are you advocating for together? What can you do together that you can’t do alone?

Participants are encouraged to use the toolkit as complimentary learning, and participate in a live discussion with presenters once completing the 3-part on-demand webinar series.

Session 1: Policy, Politics and Resource Distribution

What can you do when you’ve built trust with key players throughout the community? When elected leaders come and go, how do you create consistency with your partners? How do you navigate local politics alongside your chamber and strive to adopt forward-thinking economic and civic ideals in your community? How can you best integrate arts & culture into conversations in which they've traditionally been left out? This session will present a moderated conversation to get to the bottom of some of these key questions in order to build strong alliances meant to last.

Learning Objectives

• Participants will learn how to take on the role of arts advocate in their respective communities and will explore concrete strategies for effective advocacy.
• Participants will explore how to navigate policy and civic norms within their chamber partnerships in pursuit of shared goals.
• Participants will hear examples of productive arts, local government, and chamber conversations, as well as the process by which these conversations have led to partnerships and ensuing action.

Session 2 – Reimagining Your Assets to Create Alignment with Your Chamber

After working to build trust and relationship with your chamber(s) of commerce, how can LAAs see themselves beyond running in their lane; beyond managing a facility; or providing grants? How can you creatively leverage these private sector partners whether through recognition, collaboration, sharing networks, or developing community-driven development goals? This session will explore examples of how local arts agencies can recognize their own organizational and community assets to multiply community impact.

Learning Objectives

• Participants will hear examples of how local arts leaders have creatively leveraged chamber partnerships to achieve goals or exchange assets.
• Participants will explore ways to generate revenue via complex chamber and municipal partnerships that engage the business community.
• Participants will hear of visionary examples for community, business, and economic development that coordinate arts and chamber activities.

Session 3 – Moving as Equals: Accomplishing Long-Term Development Goals

This session explores complex partnerships and projects that center equity and push both the chamber and arts entities to move outside their normal comfort zones. It focuses on how local communities have challenged traditional arts-business relationships, orienting them instead around a shared "Quality of Place" ideal, and implementing programs to allow for deeper integration and collaboration between the sectors and their respective communities.

Learning Objectives

• What steps would it take for your community to shift traditional economic values towards more community-focused, inclusive practices?
• As an equal and respected partner alongside your chamber, how are you working together to identify mutual goals and needs, and aligning them within the programs, services, and resources you offer? If you haven't formed this partnership yet, what are some initial steps you could take to establish it?

What groundwork would need to be laid in order for these partnerships and programs to be sustainable beyond the initial excitement? What about even beyond the tenures of the individuals responsible for starting these partnerships?

ARTSU SUPPORT PROGRAM

We are pleased to be able to offer registration support for those with limited resources who wish to register for this ArtsU Intensive. Sign up for the ArtsU Support program here.