Creative Campus Innovations Grant

Hi everyone:

On Saturday, January 9th Bill, Susan and I had the chance to attend the APAP Professional Development session entitled, “The Arts and The Creative Campus: Making the Case” with Wolf Brown. Although the power point presentation will soon follow and will be included here for all to peruse, I thought I’d highlight a few points that I took away from this presentation.

Along with our personal efforts on campus to explore ways that the arts offer a unique advantage in the creation of a vital community, there is a larger drive to move policy towards an outcome of creating vital communities, a more democratic “expressive life” (a concept developed by Bill Ivey, author of “Arts, Inc.” and former chairman of the N.E.A.), and that arts centers as a whole need to redefine their roles and become a key player in the larger conversation.

A question put forth during the presentation and from seven of the previous  Round I grantees (who visited our tables during the “speed dating” part of the session to speak of their individual projects and to answer our questions) was this: What would or could we do if we were not funded? Would we continue along with some, if not all, of our plans?  The point being that while clearly the financial support is helpful, and is a push, it should not be the primary motivation, because it will never be enough.  Our project must be well alligned to our intitutional mission and goals, must have a good project management structure, strong key partnerships (that are based on a good match and an equality of balance) and must consider how the outcomes can be sustainable after the grant period is over.

It was suggested that the Arts Center clearly understands its role- regardless of what it is- as a curator or producer or facilitator. The entire spectrum is fine, just so long as we understand what role we are playing… and from this, develop that strong project management structure. Many of the previous grantees said that while they didn’t write it into their grants or identify what role they planned on playing, they discovered that this project is very consuming, that it was most effective to have a point person, someone outside of the Arts Center’s general operations, who could be “the creative campus person” that everyone knew and knew how to contact- a spokesperson- someone who is a definite multi-tasker. This may be the same person who is assigned responsibility for documentation (very critical) or not, but it was mentioned again and again- there needs to be good management structure. This should be kept in mind when we settle on those key partnerships.

For example, with the Stanford Art + Invention project, Stanford Lively Arts found a key partner in the Stanford Institute for Creativity in the Arts (a fledgling grassroots organization that emerged from Stanford’s committment to raise the Arts to a place of prominence on campus)- while Lively Arts has taken on the more programmatic role, SiCa has led more of the outreach efforts. Together with the Aurora Forum their Art + Invention Speaker Series is an interesting prgram that emerged from their partnership. Like our theme, Art + Invention takes inquiry as a central focus. 

Another suggestion was to be realistic about our organizational capacity and be explicit about our outcomes. Is the project intended to start a conversation, to catalyze an existing conversation or to solidify existing conversations? Any of these intentions is fine by the panel, so long as we use practical implications to define our goals and to spell them out in the grant. They asked us to be candid about our campus environment and our existing interdisciplinary exchange in the campus and community.

It’s been said before but it was echoed again that faculty- those that are willing- will be the biggest champions. A suggestion was to include faculty artists (one school primarily worked with faculty artists), and pairing artists with faculty. A consideration would be to  set aside grant money to use as smaller grant awards for faculty who submit RFPs to develop class sessions around our theme, or to invite artist involvement in their exploration of “what sustains us?” in their curricula. I think Wesleyan even used that grant money for student artists who submitted RFPs.

Wesleyan found that the stipend awards really helped in their solicitation of involvement, when they asked faculty to come up with modules of 2-4 class sessions around their theme, and in the integration of programmatic elements with campus-wide teaching. The question was asked to the faculty “who would you want to work with (on campus or off) if you could?” and ”what artist would you invite into your classroom to speak if the opprtunity were available?” This gave faculty a sense of ownership and value when trying for creative common experience programs.

For the most part, the professional development session, and the consulation period that followed, was a reiteration of topics that have been covered in the webinars. But it was helpful and inspiring to hear about the personal experiences of other grantees. I especially enjoyed hearing more about the University of Iowa’s Eye Piece- a collaboration between playwright Rinde Eckert, UI’s Center for Macular Degeneration, the Theatre and Music departments, Writing Center, etc., based on interviews that examined the issue of vision loss for patients, their families, and how doctors can better experience what a world of darkness is like when faced with giving a diagnosis. This school faced significant setbacks and challenges while in the middle of their project and yet they’ve said that they are all the stronger for it. This too was mentioned by other grantees who had to deal with major issues- loss of personnel or major changes in administration, floods, deaths, etc… reiterating that having a good strucure to the project will help when (inevitably) you hit some kind of wall.

So, I’ve now rambled long enough… this was just some food for thought while it was still fresh in my mind.

I’ll start us off.

As I think about our question, “What sustains us?”, for me it then becomes:

What sustains us as individuals?

What sustains us as professionals in our chosen field?

What sustains us as citizens of a town? A country? The world?

And then circles back on itself as I ask:

What responsibility do I have to help sustain that which sustains me?

What role can I play in fulfilling that responsibility?

I think we are talking about a web of support for our existence that integrates sustenance and responsibility.

I am reminded of this week’s Time magazine article on celebrity chefs loosing weight. It was a typical sort of “soft” piece until Alton Brown was quoted as saying that celebrity chefs share some responsibility for the national obesity problem. He saw his weight as a message to his audience and will adjust his life style and his show accordingly. Is this a moral issue? A vanity issue? A marketing ploy? A great conversation for college students involved with Early Sprouts?

On another note:

I am working on my TAD Integrative Studies class for the Spring, All The World’s a Stage. We will be looking at ways that theatre design techniques are used in events that are not usually thought of as theatre. We will look at political campaigns, religious ceremonies, the Olympic Opening Ceremonies, college graduation, the planning of the student center, as well as the Keene Central Square. We will see how our perceptions of these events and spaces have been manipulated by their designers so that we as audience members experience an emotional connection to them.

These are ways I see theatre performance operating outside the traditional performance spaces and I wonder how that ties into our theme. I would argue that these places and events are all designed to sustain us in one form of the original question or another.

The final project for the course will be to create our own event in an attempt to communicate our feelings and concerns around “water”. I’m hoping for a fashion show with garments created out of recycled items showing the beauty of water and the dangers in our use of it–sustenance and responsibility.

Lizz

Letter from Provost Mel Netzhammer to the Campus Community inviting the campus into the discussion of “What Sustains Us?”:

Colleagues,

I am writing to share exciting news, and to invite you into a campus wide discussion on a question very much in line with our public liberal arts mission:  What sustains us?

The question of what sustains us as human beings, both in good times and challenging times, is an enduring question without a single answer.  However, its contemplation is essential if individuals are to make life-sustaining personal choices, and for the creation of healthy, thriving communities-however those communities might be defined (e.g., college campuses, towns, workplaces, etc.).    With the motto “Enter to Learn, Go forth to Serve” Keene State College wants our students to graduate with a strong sense of what sustains them personally and their role in sustaining their chosen communities:  basic human needs (food , shelter, healthcare), meaningful work, work/family balance, connection to the environment/natural world, art, spirituality, and connectedness and service to others.

This past summer Keene State College, under the leadership of Redfern Arts Center, put forward a preliminary grant application to receive funding to engage in a campus-wide dialogue on this topic from the Doris Duke Foundation (via a grant program from the Association of Performing Arts Presenters).  The exciting news is that Keene State College’s application was recently tapped as one of the top 31 applications submitted from institutions around the country.  The attached press release lists the other institutions with which we share this honor, including institutions such as The Ohio State University, Penn State University, University of Michigan, and UCLA.

With this honor, we have been awarded a $7,000 grant to plan and submit a full grant application due in March, with the potential to receive $200,000 if our full application is deemed to be one of the top 10.  This presents an amazing opportunity to engage all corners of our campus (faculty, staff, students and alumni) and our partners in the Keene community in a 2-year dialogue around the theme  ”What Sustains Us.” The purpose of this grant is to help us think creatively as a campus about this question through activities of our choosing in a variety of formats, such as the visual and performing arts, lectures, classroom activities, shared campus experiences, and community outreach. This project has the potential to enhance and be enhanced by many of our existing academic and co-curricular programs, such as our Biennial Symposium 2011, the Keene is Reading program, Founder’s Day, and the many lectures held on an annual basis across campus.

Partnering with us in this effort is Cheshire Medical Center’s Vision 2020, which aims to make Keene the healthiest community in the nation by 2020, and the New Hampshire Dance Institute.

I, along with the core team working on the grant proposal, invite all members of our campus community into this dialogue and challenge you to think about what sustains YOU and your community.  Please watch in the coming weeks for opportunities to add your voice to the discussion, including a blog and other forums that will be forthcoming.  We hope this is just the beginning of what will become an enduring dialogue on our campus, lasting well beyond the period of any grant.

Mel

Notes from Creative Campus Webinar- December 3, 2009

Goals

- To develop a set of indicators that show how we investigate the question of “what sustains us?” and how we continue to encourage an integrated sustaining community after the project is complete

- To foster a deeper integration of the arts and an understanding of the artistic process within the KSC curriculum, community partnerships and service learning opportunities.

- To examine issues in a profound and inspired way- using a full range of expression- to promote significant connections for all partners and participants (result: outside the box teaching methods/ projects and inspiring artist involvement- fusing of art forms, performance/ public art outside the theatre, co-taught classes across disciplines with artists)

- To develop best practices of case studies and models to be used as learning tools (result: website, papers for conferences, educational tool kit)

- To strengthen current sustainable practices with the PCSF, downtown/ smart growth, Vision 2020, rural/ regional preservation (results: mixed income/ use housing, green housing, food council, active civic engagement)

Random Ideas

- Smart growth exploration as it relates to healthy/ vibrant communities, preservation of valuable resources that are particular to our region, alternative models

o Critical Mass bike rides or communal movement events (ex. Wesleyan “Feet to the Fire” First Year Common Experience Program)

- Grassroots & student integration efforts:

o Open brainstorming sessions in main buildings. Ask “what sustains us?” to the campus using a large paper or blackboard in the Student Center and other buildings to invite responses

o Bread and Puppet workshop or parade- community engagement, social themes

o Movable/ “pop up”/ guerrilla-style feasts as temporary art instillation and communal meal combined. Explore issues of food/ economics/ art/ sustainability by creating feasts in temporary or unusual spaces- feast as performance art or to include performance- or choice of space used to highlight an examination of that environment, or tickets/ proceeds can go to a certain charity
 http://springwise.com/food_beverage/roaming_restaurant/
 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/27/dining/27boar.html
 http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Suppers-Underground-Restaurants-Warehouses/dp/1570615462

- Individual documentaries (Cheryl & Jeremy)- IT tech grant for camera funds. As an alternative to having a class film a documentary from one perspective, the idea would be to purchase a number of simple video cameras and  involve a variety of people in filming elements of the project from through their particluar lens

- Hire Student Activist to work with all interns and to mobilize students in general- to connect the various threads of activity on and around campus

- Embed CC grant focus into Orientation activities, Alumni/ Parent weekend, Academic Excellence Conference, Talk Backs

Partners/ Resources

- Local food banks
- Land Trust organizations
- Institute for Sustainable Communities (ex. Burlington Legacy Project and New England Futures project)
- UNH: UNH- Eco-Gastronomy major; Office of Sustainability; Culture & Sustainability Initiative (Read the CAS statement on what Culture has to do with Sustainability here); Center for New England Culture at UNH
- Community Arts Network
- Antioch
- Boys & Girls Clubs
- Head Start (Cheryl)

For Immediate Release
Contact: Bill Menezes, 603-358-2171 and bmenezes@keene.edu

Arts Presenters Announces Keene State’s Redfern Arts Center as a Semifinalist in the 2010 Creative Campus Innovations Grants to Colleges and Universities

November 19, 2009; Washington, D.C. - The Association of Performing Arts Presenters (Arts Presenters) announces that Keene State College’s Redfern Arts Center is one of 31 semifinalists in the 2010 Creative Campus Innovations Grant Program.

The Creative Campus initiative began in March 2004, following the 104th American Assembly at Columbia University, where more than 60 arts and higher education leaders gathered to examine the factors that characterize effective partnerships in education and the arts - the projects, proposals, curricula, and creative forces that make such partnerships work.

In 2006, Arts Presenters initiated The Creative Campus Innovations Grant program with funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. This program was designed to support a set of innovative performance-based projects on American campuses that exhibit the importance of the arts to the educational, service, and scholarly missions of the academy and that fully integrate the performing arts into the life of the academy and the community. In 2007, eight campus-based presenters were awarded one- or two-year grants to implement projects that had the potential to increase value and expand support for integrating the performing arts into the academy and the campus community.

In March 2009, Arts Presenters announced a new round of the Creative Campus Innovations Grant Program with the intent to identify, support, and document exemplary campus-based performing arts presenters who develop and implement programs and strategies that go beyond conventional practice and who integrate their work into the academy. In September 2009, 31 semifinalists were chosen from a pool of nearly 150 applicants, and each will be given $7,000 to help develop a project concept for full consideration as part of the final selection process of this grant program. Up to 10 one- to two-year project grants, ranging from $100,000 to $200,000 each, will be awarded in August 2010 to college- and university-based presenters from among these semifinalists.

The following semifinalists have been invited to submit full proposals: Arizona State University, ASU Public Events / Gammage; Bard College, Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts; Baruch College, Baruch Performing Arts Center; Berklee College of Music, Berklee Office of Special Programs; California State University-Long Beach, Carpenter Performing Arts Center; College of Saint Benedict/Saint John’s University, Fine Arts Programming; Colorado College, I.D.E.A. at Colorado College; Columbia College Chicago, The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago; Cuyahoga Community College, Division of Creative Arts; Hiram College, Center for Literature Medicine and Biomedical Humanities; Howard University, Cramton Auditorium; Keene State College, Redfern Arts Center on Brickyard Pond; Lafayette College, Williams Center for the Arts; Lehigh University, Zoellner Arts Center; Montclair State University, Arts and Cultural Programming; Pennsylvania State University, Center for the Performing Arts at Penn State; Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center; Skidmore College, Office of the Dean of Special Programs; State University of New York-Oswego, ARTSwego; Syracuse University, University Arts Presenter; The Ohio State University, Wexner Center for the Arts; University of British Columbia, Chan Centre for the Performing Arts; University of California-Irvine, Irvine Barclay Theatre; University of California-Los Angeles, UCLA Live; University of Dayton, University of Dayton Arts Series; University of Florida, University of Florida Performing Arts; University of Kentucky, Singletary Center for the Arts; University of Michigan, University Musical Society; University of Minnesota, Northrop Concerts and Lectures; University of Washington, UW World Series; Western Michigan University, Miller Auditorium.

Arts Presenters

Founded in 1957, the Association of Performing Arts Presenters (Arts Presenters or APAP) is the national service organization for the field of arts presenting. The organization is dedicated to developing and supporting a robust performing arts presenting field and the professionals who work in it. Arts Presenters has 2,000 organizational members worldwide and brings more than 3,800 performing arts professionals together from around the world at the annual APAP Conference NYC. Members range from the nation’s leading performing arts centers, to civic and university performance facilities and festivals, to the full spectrum of artist agencies, managers, national consulting practices and collaborators, and a growing roster of self-presenting artists who engage communities through live performances. Arts Presenters, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, based in Washington, D.C., is led by CEO and President Sandra L. Gibson.

Doris Duke Charitable Foundation

The mission of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (www.ddcf.org) is to improve the quality of people’s lives through grants supporting the performing arts, environmental conservation, medical research, and the prevention of child maltreatment, and through preservation of the cultural and environmental legacy of Doris Duke’s properties.

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