Arts Advocacy 101: Learn the Language

by Ethan Clark

Welcome to Washington, DC the center of policy, politics, and protesters. Learn how to make your case for the arts at Emerging Arts Leaders Symposium (EALS) on April 15, 2012. Organized by American University Arts Management students, EALS provides you with professional collaboration and leading discussion on today’s arts management trends including arts advocacy.

EALS Panel discussion, Arts Advocacy 101: Learn the Language, features DC’s leading experts in research, policy, and communication.  Learn the potential effects of research and policy on arts organizations. Know your role as an arts advocate to build and maintain successful civic and government relationships.  Apply your knowledge and experience to current and available data to distinguish your organization’s public message.

Anne L’Ecuyer

Anne L’Ecuyer

Professor of Arts Management at American University

Moderator Anne L’Ecuyer is a writer and a consultant who stays closely connected to an international network of city leaders, cultural professionals, and working artists. She is an expert in creative industries and cultural tourism in the United States, as well as the contributions of the arts toward educational, social, and environmental goals. L’Ecuyer’s experience producing seven national conferences and leadership events for cultural professionals and their allies in government, business, and education guides this panel with a perspective from across the board.

Today, Anne owns and operates the Washington Writer’s Retreat, a private writing and research residency in the nation’s capital. She is an essayist currently at work on a book-length collection that profiles cultural leaders in ten American cities. Anne also consults independently with businesses, nonprofits, and public institutions. She holds a Bachelors degree from Northern Arizona University, studied public policy at the University of Maryland at College Park, and now teaches at American University in the Arts Management program.

Jonathan Katz

Jonathan Katz

CEO of National Assembly of State Arts Agencies

Jonathan Katz, Ph.D., is CEO of the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA), which was created by the 50 state and six jurisdictional arts agencies of the United States as their primary vehicle for arts policy development, advocacy, leadership development, research, information and communication. Dr. Katz consults globally on cultural policy, leadership development, strategic planning and effective advocacy. A former member of the U.S. Commission on UNESCO, he has advised the International Federation of Arts Councils and Cultural Agencies on its corporate development and facilitated its CEO Seminar for heads of national arts and cultural agencies at World Summits in England, South Africa and Australia.

Most recently, he has advised the governments of Korea and Canada and led a session on problem solving for Grantmakers in the Arts in Chicago. He is a founder of the Arts Education Partnership, the nation’s coalition of more than 100 organizations for the advancement of learning in the arts, and of the Cultural Advocacy Group, which is the forum through which the national cultural service organizations of the U.S. develop their united federal agenda. For the U.S. Department of State, he has conducted planning and professional development sessions with culturalagencies in five cities in Mexico. 

Robert Bettmann

Robert Bettmann

Advocacy Director for DC Advocates for the Arts

Robert Bettmann is a choreographer, community organizer, writer and administrator. He is the Advocacy Director for the DC Advocates for the Arts, Managing Editor of the arts magazine Bourgeon, and the author of the book Somatic Ecology. The Washington Post called his recent choreography, Quis Custodiet, “A powerful performance” (August, 2011). Later this spring the Arts Club of Washington will host the book launch and award event for the 2nd annual DC Student Arts Journalism competition.

Andrea Kreuzer

Andrea Kreuzer

Program Associate of Arts Education Partnership

Panelist Andrea Kreuzer is a Program Associate for Research and Policy at the Arts Education Partnership (AEP), based in Washington, DC. At AEP she has a substantial role in developing and authoring a new user-friendly database of outcomes-based arts education research and policy implications, called ArtsEdSearch. She’s also working with the U.S. Department of Education’s Professional Development for Arts Educators Program to develop and implement a rubric to assess the quality and effectiveness of grantee Annual Progress Reports. Andrea also co-wrote the AEP Research Bulletin, Music Matters: How music education helps students learn, achieve, and succeed which compiles and digests recent research on the benefits of music education.

Andrea received her Master of Arts degree in Museum Studies from The George Washington University and her Bachelor of Sciences degree in Photography and Art History from Ithaca College. Before coming to AEP Andrea worked in museum research and evaluation, and in exhibition development and design at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History and the National Geographic Society.
 

Jeffrey Herrmann

Jeffrey Herrmann

Managing Director of Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

Panelist Jeffrey Herrmann became Managing Director of Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in 2007 after eight seasons as Producing Director of Alaska’s Perseverance Theatre.  A NY native of Schenectady, NY, Jeffrey grew up in West Hartford, CT, and received his BA in English at Vassar College and his MFA in Theater Management at the Yale School of Drama.  Prior to his enrollment at Yale, he was Managing Director of the Albany Berkshire Ballet in Pittsfield, MA.  During his time at Yale, he worked at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles and as Associate Managing Director of the Yale Repertory Theatre.

Curious about trends and issues in arts policy and advocacy? Do you have questions for our panelists? Got anything in particular you want to hear from these panelists?

Share with us and bring the questions to the Emerging Arts Leaders Symposium on Sunday, April 15, 2012. See you there!

A Significant Increase in D.C. Arts Commission Funding? Not Exactly.

by Jonathan Fischer

Mayor Vince Gray‘s proposed budget for fiscal year 2013 dropped today, and on first glance, arts boosters might be pleased with what they see: an increase to the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities to $7,635,142 from $4,798,246. Unfortunately for them, the boost is not what it seems.

For the current fiscal year, the arts commission divvied up a piddly $3.7 million in arts grants, splitting the money between more than 200 organizations and individual artists. Compare this to nearly $14 million, the amount the commission handed out in fiscal year 2009, before the first of several slashes to its budget.

Alas, the bulk, $2.5 million, of the fiscal year 2013 increase represents a transfer of a federal program, the National Capital Arts and Cultural Affairs grants, that already funds a number of medium and large D.C. arts organizations, like Dance Place, Arena Stage, and the Kennedy Center. NCACA has shrunk in recent years—to the point that Arena postponed a production in its season in anticipation of more cuts. President Barack Obama‘s proposed federal budget suggests moving the diminished program, currently administered by the federal Commission on Fine Arts,  to D.C. control.

If the transfer happens—and amid Congress’ testy budget deliberations, it may not—the additional $2,500,000 could conceivably aid more D.C.  groups. Right now, only off-the-National-Mall D.C. arts groups that raise at least $1 million a year for three years qualify for the grants. The funds are distributed according to a formula, not based on merit. But Lionell Thomas, the executive director of the arts commission, says that if the transfer goes through, his organization might ditch the current funding model in favor of a panel-review process similar to how commission grants are currently administered. The NCACA dollars would remain within a separate funding category, he says, although the qualifying criteria could change.

Take away the anticipated federal transfer, and that leaves $5,135,142 in city funds and other federal dollars—a smidgen more than last year’s approved budget. The increase to the D.C. arts commission includes funding for two new full-time employees—an arts program specialist within the arts commission and an executive director for the Lincoln Theatre. Late last year, the commission took over the troubled U Street NW venue. The executive director position is part of $350,000 within the commission’s budget that will cover the Lincoln’s operational costs. (The mayor’s budget also includes $1 million for capital improvements to the theater.)

There will probably be no increase in grant funding, Thomas said, adding that he supports the mayor’s budget—and that he was pleased the arts commission didn’t see any cuts this year.

Still, level funding is disappointing news to the local arts groups that lobbied over the past several months for an increase in the arts commission’s grant pool. “The D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities cannot maintain arts service in all eight wards with one quarter of the funding it had three years ago,” writes Rob Bettmann, a local dancer and the advocacy chair of D.C. Advocates for the Arts, a group that helped lead a recent day of lobbying for increased arts funding. “I’m very disappointed by what we’re seeing today.”

Elsewhere, the Office of Motion Picture and Television Development got an increase of about $143,000, to $869,450 and the Office of Cable Television got an increase of $67,000, to $8,591,720.

Original Publication URL: http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/general/2012/03/23/a-significant-increase-in-d-c-arts-commission-funding-not-exactly/

THE 3-MINUTE INTERVIEW: Robert Bettmann

by Emily Babay, Washington Examiner

Bettmann is the choreographer for “Quis Custodiet,” a security-themed dance his company produced to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

What is “Quis Custodiet”? “Quis Custodiet” is the title of the dance my company, Bettmann Dances, will premiere Sept. 2. The title was drawn from an old Greek phrase, Quis Custodet ipsus custodiet, which means “who shall watch the watchers themselves.”

How can you explore security through dance? As a choreographer I’ve made a number of choices picking the stories and relationships that highlight what I think are the most interesting aspects of security since 9/11. In one section, for instance, we retell Bible stories. In the Adam and Eve story, the video projections help place that story in the context of Julian Assange and “information is dangerous.” In another section of the dance, we physically explore limitation based on the preparation to strike. With my arm raised prepared to hit you, my body is limited, and I’ve created some dance developed from that pretty simple physical exploration.

How did you get the idea for this performance? I’ve been thinking about security a lot over the last decade. Are we making the right choices in pursuing security? Is the government making the right choices for us? … Security is not an infinite good. It’s inherently limited. I think we make decisions in emergencies that might not be the best long-term decisions, and I think now, on the 10-year anniversary of 9/11, it’s an opportunity to remember. Security is critically important, and balance is important, too.

What challenges did you face in choreographing “Quis Custodiet”? The biggest challenge is finding the time. I started dancing in college and even though I danced professionally, that’s not how I earn my living now.

Where will it be performed? We’ll be at Woolly Mammoth Theatre, 641 D St. NW, at 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 2.

– Emily Babay

Original Publication URL: http://washingtonexaminer.com/article/117898#.UGWx-hg1YiU