End of Year NCAN Arts and Economic Summit Take Aways

I spent a good part of this year arranging for a North County Arts Network Arts and Economic Summit. It was held in October while I was away in London. So it has taken me some time to review all the presentations, watch the videos and digest the information. I think this is a fitting time to summarize what I learned even though I was a long distance away. These following three take aways, I think, touch the heart of this event.

·       Arts and Culture is Not Just Food for the Soul. It is Food for the Table

·       Arts and Culture is Small Investment for a Large Return

·       Arts and Culture is no longer a charity: It is an economic industry generating approx. $1.1 billion in revenues for San Diego County.

These three succinct statements can be the cornerstone of convincing the community at large, particularly the business section, that supporting the arts is a vital part of the health of the our society, economically and luckily for us all, emotionally as well as many of us know.  

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Industry
Recognize that if you want a creative workforce, you need to support arts education.
Help create a cultural community to attract the best talent.
Support the arts with sponsorships, grants and discounts 

Indulge in the arts by attending art events and encouraging your work force to do the same.

Civic Organization
Make sure you have a staff arts employee
Campaign for % for the arts programs
Facilitate connection between the business community and the arts community

Support the arts with funding which encourage collaborations

Arts Organization and Artist
Stop thinking of yourselves as victims and looking for hand outs. 
Realize you are part of the economic fabric of the community.
Join together to promote the arts and for advocacy issues. You are always stronger together than apart.
Vote and campaign for government candidate that support the arts

As an artist, I am especially concerned with making sure that art products contribute well to certain criteria set out by Americans for the Arts. By thinking about these sets of issues of Aesthetic Perspecitve, you have a better chance of getting grants and creating work that will be seen and appreciated. Here are the Attributes for Excellence in Art for Change.

Communal meaning -  The creative work facilitates collective meaning that transcends individual perspective and experience.

Commitment -  Creative processes and products embody conviction to the cause espoused through the work.

Disruption - Art challenges what is by exposing what has been hidden, posing new ways of being, and modeling new forms of action

Cultural integrity - The creative work demonstrates integrity and ethical use of material with specific cultural origins and context.

Emotional experience -  Arts for Change facilitates a productive movement between “heart space”—the emotional experience that art evokes— and the “head space” of civic or social issues.

Sensory Experience - Vivid sensations deepen the experience of the creative work and heighten the power of its messages and the potential for change.

Risk taking - Creative work assumes risk by subverting dominant norms, values, narratives, standards, or aesthetics.

Openness - The creative work deepens impact by remaining open, fluid, transparent, subject to influence, and able to hold contradiction

Coherence - Strong ideas expressed with clarity advance both artistic and social purposes.

Resourcefulness - Imaginative use of available resources drives artistic innovation and demonstrates responsible social and environmental practice

Stickiness - The creative work achieves sustained resonance, impact, or value.

Finally, we don’t create art to hid it under the bed or in the closet. We are no where unless we have a audience and so to our dear public:

Give generously to non-profit arts organizations,  like San Diego Visual Arts Network,  which promotes the visual arts region wide.
Attend receptions, drink copiously and BUY MORE ART