The Anchorage Concert Association: Developing a Civic Practice

Recognizing the limitations of its traditional business model, the Anchorage Concert Association (ACA) undertook a radical shift in direction. It moved from presenting art to facilitating community transformation through art. After undergoing training in “civic arts practice”, ACA staff, board and artists experimented with new and unexpected community partnerships. Focused on its long-term resilience, ACA also made several key internal changes to embed this new experimental mindset into the “DNA” of the organization.

Site-specific Storytelling: La Jolla Playhouse’s Theatre Without Walls

La Jolla Playhouse offers an annual subscription series of six new plays, re-imagined classics, and musicals to over 100,000 patrons in San Diego County and Southern California. In their Arts Innovation Fund project, they created Theatre Without Walls (WoW), a site-specific initiative designed to remove the physical limits of typical performance venues by immersing audiences in theatrical work in a variety of community settings.

Lessons from the Field: Case Study on Latino New South

An in-depth case study documenting the successes of Latino New South, a collaborative innovation between Levine Museum of New South, the Atlanta History Center, and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. These three organizations entered EmcArts Innovation Lab for Museums with the intention of making their programs and institutions more resonant with, and responsive to, the fast-growing Latino communities in their respective cities.

Artist-Partners: New Directions in Artist-Driven Institutional Models

With the goal of redefining roles and division of labor in arts organizations, ICE created a new organizational structure in which ensemble members act as “Artist Partners” who lead and manage the organization. This new structure eliminates traditional silos between artistic and management functions, strengthens curatorial capacity, gives ensemble members more decision-making power, and supports creativity.

To Go or Not to Go: Connecting with Satellite Communities at the Beck Center

Beck Center for the Arts, located in the western Cleveland, OH suburb of Lakewood, presents a variety of plays and musicals on two stages and offers more than 200 classes, lessons and programs in the arts. They entered the Innovation Lab process with the goal of finding inventive ways to broaden and deepen their community connections.

Teatro Publico de Cleveland

Cleveland Public Theatre and members of the Latino community formed Teatro Publico de Cleveland, an amateur ensemble theater company that created space for meaningful dialogue and new, powerful performances.

Community of Music Makers

In order to invigorate their renewed vision of service and community partnerships, San Francisco Symphony developed Community of Music Makers, a platform of activities designed to support, encourage and sustain amateur music-making by adults in the Bay Area.

Finding Your Itch and Scratching It

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company’s recent “Connectivity” strategy is an example of how an organization’s founding motivations and culture can evolve over time to encourage innovation.

Off-Center @ The Jones

An underutilized theater, The Jones, becomes the testing ground for new nontraditional ways of using technology and engaging audiences for Denver’s largest professional theatre company.

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