Barbara Schaffer Bacon co-directs Animating Democracy, a program of Americans for the Arts that inspires, informs, promotes, and connects arts and culture as potent contributors to community, civic, and social change. Additionally, she contributes to Local Arts Advancement work at Americans for the Arts. Barbara has written, edited, and contributed to many publications including Trend or Tipping Point: Arts & Social Change Grantmaking; Civic Dialogue, Arts & Culture: Findings from Animating Democracy; Case Studies from Animating Democracy; Animating Democracy: The Artistic Imagination as a Force for Civic Dialogue; Fundamentals of Local Arts Management; and The Cultural Planning Work Kit.  A consultant in program design and evaluation, Barbara has served as an adviser for state and national arts agencies and private foundations. Barbara previously served as executive director of the Arts Extension Service at the University of Massachusetts. She is president of the Arts Extension Institute, Inc. and a board member for WomenArts. Barbara served for 14 years on the Belchertown, MA School Committee.  In 2018, Barbara received the Robert E. Gard Foundation Leadership Award. She currently serves as a member of the Massachusetts Cultural Council.      

www.animatingdemocracy.org 

Cristyn Johnson is the Local Arts Advancement Program Manager at Americans for the Arts. In this capacity, she develops Americans for the Arts’ comprehensive full-career-spectrum field education offerings to advance competent and informed local, regional and national arts professionals.  She also develops a suite of programs and resources centered around the full leadership pipeline and organizational needs of a diverse workforce. She manages, grows, and cultivates an Emerging Leaders Network, a Mid-Career Leaders Network, and an Executive Leaders Network by building a connected network of arts professionals in the field of practices, who can share their knowledge with the field at large.