Taking Collective Action

Stories of partnering, collaboration, and merging to achieve greater impact together.

Featuring six dynamic leaders in the field, these 12-minute talks explored the outputs and impacts of innovative projects across the country. An in-depth discussion followed and discussion among Virtual Summit participants took place simultaneously via #ArtsFwd on Twitter. These Talks stream in the following order.

Museum as Platform
JS May, Chief Advancement Officer, Portland Art Museum

Using a major exhibition, Cyclepedia – Iconic Bicycle Design, the Portland Art Museum will demonstrate how a museum can activate the community to provide a collective platform for: dialogue, diverse interpretation, and wide-ranging authentic arts experiences with broader audiences.

Shhh!
Janeen Bryant, Vice President, Education, Levine Museum of the New South

Do you want to tackle tough issues? Do you want to develop sustainable relationships with new audiences? Do you want to build community? Shhh! Be quiet and listen.

Dance, Paintball, and Casinos: What’s DAT Got to Do With It?
Pamela Young, Executive Director, DANCECleveland

In this talk, DANCECleveland describes the role that innovation and taking collective action has played in its efforts to reach, communicate, and develop new audiences for dance. By mobilizing community stakeholders, exploring and implementing innovative practices, DANCECleveland’s Dance Advance Team (DAT) works toward creating an affinity for dance.

So You Think You Can Dance?
Carlton Turner, Executive Director, Alternate ROOTS

In dancing the dance of collaboration there are a few ground rules to being a good partner. This talk will look at some of the core issues that affect quality, impact, and longevity of collaborative endeavors through stories of success and failures from the perspective of an artist, organizer, and leader in the field of arts and social justice.

Beyond Scarcity: Abundance for Cultural Production in the Networked Age
Caroline Woolard and Jen Abrams, Co-Founders and Co-Directors, OurGoods.org

This talk focuses on resource sharing as the paradigm of cultural production in the twenty-first century. OurGoods.org Co-Founders Jen Abrams and Caroline Woolard ask: what happens when we shift the focus from “How can artists get more money?” to the deeper question of, “How can artists get more resources?”

Unlikely Pairing, Lasting Implications
Cayenne Harris, Director of Lyric Unlimited, Lyric Opera of Chicago

Sparked by a famous diva’s chance encounter at Chicago’s famed Second City comedy club, Lyric Opera of Chicago went way out on a limb to collaboratively develop a groundbreaking new performance piece – The Second City Guide to the Opera. What seemed like a mismatched pairing turned out to be the surprise hit of the season with traditional and new audiences alike. As unlikely as this partnership initially seemed, its success has emboldened Lyric Opera to continue to seek new and interesting creative partnerships and collaborations.

Fishbowl Discussion

After the three Talks concluded, on-site Summit participants in Denver — as well as online participants, who contributed questions and comments via the #ArtsFwd tag on Twitter — joined together for an informal, organically flowing fishbowl discussion about the theme of Taking Collective Action and other topics. The online participants’ voices were represented by the Talks moderator, Richard Demato.

All of these talks were livestreamed as part of the free Virtual Summit on Sunday, October 20.