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ARTS WORKFORCE INITIATIVE
Our Arts Workforce Initiative was featured in the Hartford Courant! The Arts Workforce Initiative is a pilot summer program, administered by COA, that provides young people, especially members of under-served communities, with paid internships in the arts and culture sector. Among the arts organizations working with the interns this summer are the
International Festival of Arts & Ideas in New Haven, Hartford's
Hartbeat Ensemble, the
Judy Dworin Performance Project,
Mark Twain House & Museum
,
TheaterWorks and
The Amistad Center for Arts & Culture, the
Carol Autorino Center for the Arts and Humanities in West Hartford, Bridgeport's
City Lights Gallery and
Neighborhood Studios of Fairfield County, and New London's
The Writers Block Ink and
Expressiones Culture Center.
For more information on the Arts Workforce Initiative, please contact
Adriane Jefferson.
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As reported in the news, the Governor and the General Assembly are working towards adopting a FY2018-2019 state budget. No final decisions regarding our FY18 grants can be made until the Connecticut Office of the Arts receives a confirmed allocation in the state budget. The following grant programs remain on hold: Supporting Arts in Place, Arts Projects, Regional Initiative, Arts Learning and Artist Fellowship.
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ARTISTS ARE READI SERIES
On July 10th and 11th, the Connecticut Office of the Arts (COA) hosted the first ever
Artists are READI series, designed to provide professional development for emerging artists, deepen skills for experienced artists, and establish a network through the COA lens of
READI (Relevance, Equity, Access, Diversity, and Inclusion).
The series was led by
Dexter Singleton, a director, actor, playwright, and co-founder of the
Collective Consciousness Theatre, a New Haven based multicultural theater company dedicated to creating new works that inspire social change. Attendees included many Arts Workforce Initiative interns, as well as several established and emerging artists eager to enhance their professional skills. Participants came from a range of backgrounds and art forms including theater, music, spoken word, poetry, graphic design, mixed media, and arts administration.
The first day included a lively and interactive discussion about the cultural placement and societal norms that impact artists, particularly artists in underrepresented communities (people of color, immigrants, LGBQT, disabled, etc.) Utilizing his theater background, Dexter had participants on their feet and working together to create and act out a series of vignettes that represented the five principles of the READI initiative, using it as a training exercise to help bring a deeper level of meaning and understanding to READI’s core values. The exercise gave participants an opportunity to contribute to the discussion about how to create a more level playing field in the professional arena for artists like themselves.
Day two focused on preparing artists to work in their communities, and participants left with tools to help further their artistic and professional goals. The discussion covered topics such as utilizing social media for marketing and promotion, strategically pricing your art, developing a professional network, and developing yourself as an artist. Dexter led the conversation into a strategic sharing-session, where participants discussed how they present themselves as artists and shared ideas and solutions that others could use to help build their art careers.
The series was the first of its kind, offered in tandem with COA’s Higher Order Thinking (HOT) Schools Summer Institute. It was representative of COA’s commitment to supporting and engaging diverse members of Connecticut’s artist community by developing programming that connects creative minds, generates new perspectives, and contributes to the development of arts policy, practice and decision-making in our state.
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CONNECTICUT'S ARTS AND CULTURE SECTOR GENERATED $797,249,391 IN ECONOMIC ACTIVITY IN 2015!
The Arts & Economic Prosperity 5 study, released in late June, was conducted by Americans for the Arts (AFTA) and documents the economic impact of the nonprofit arts and culture industry. Connecticut participated as a study partner and helped to fuel the largest study of its kind. Nationally, the nonprofit arts and culture industry generated $166.3 billion in economic activity in 2015, and here in Connecticut...the ARTS mean business!
In 2015, the Arts and Culture industry supported 23,114 jobs throughout Connecticut, and generated $42,528,000 in state and $29,743,000 in local government revenue.
View Connecticut's Arts & Economic Prosperity 5 study:
AEP V State of Connecticut Customized Report (FY2015)
AEP V State of Connecticut Summary Report (FY2015)
The Office of the Arts would like to thank our regional study partners who participated in the AEP V study:
The Arts Council of Greater New Haven focused on the greater New Haven region. The Cultural Alliance of Fairfield County, in partnership with the Cultural Alliance of Western Connecticut, surveyed Fairfield County. The Shoreline Arts Alliance covered ground in Middlesex County. The Northwest Connecticut Arts Council rallied the northwest corner of the state while the Southeastern Connecticut Cultural Coalition gathered data in the southeast.
View the Americans for the Arts' national Arts and Economic Prosperity 5 study and resources.
Americans for the Arts AEP V
AEP V calculator for communities who wish to calculate their own statistics
View past study results:
AEP IV State of Connecticut (FY2010)
For more information about Connecticut's AEP V study contact Tamara Dimitri.
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RECAP: 24th ANNUAL HIGHER ORDER OF THINKING SUMMER INSTITUTE
Over 160 K-12 arts and non-arts teachers (from a broad scope of disciplines including technology, science, math, environmental studies, library media, and more), principals, parents, teaching artists, and arts organization educators from Connecticut, North Carolina, Georgia, Massachusetts, New York, California, New Hampshire, and… participated in the COA's 24th Annual
Higher Order Thinking (HOT) Schools Summer Institute - STEAM, The Hot Approach Makes STEM Sizzle!
The week-long conference was held at the Hartford Hilton July 10-14, 2017 and featured renowned speakers and presenters such as
Dr. Bettina Love,
Dr. Alan November,
Dr. Paul Sproll as well as Connecticut teachers, teaching artists, and many others. While across the nation and beyond, the STEM to STEAM discussion heats up and becomes part of the vernacular for many educators, scientists, artists, policy makers, industry creatives and business leaders, but for others both STEM and STEAM may be a foreign language. Arguments to emphasize points in the debate sometimes end up in a ‘chicken-or-the-egg’ type discussion, begging the question - This creation, innovation, or prototype - Is it art or is it science? In HOT Schools we ask – isn’t it both?
Bob Root-Bernstein, Ph. D., MacArthur Fellow and Professor of Physiology, published a study showing that almost all Nobel laureates in the sciences are actively engaged in arts as adults. They are twenty-five times as likely as average scientists to sing, dance, or act; seventeen times as likely to be an artist; twelve times more likely to write poetry and literature; and four times as likely to be a musician.
Participants explored the many ways in which the
HOT Approach, with a strong footing in arts integration, and an equally strong footing in strong arts and democratic practice emphasizes the distinct language, principles, symbol system, and skills set of each discipline as we explore the connections and integration between and among various disciplines through processes of research, close observation, critical analysis and creation – which both artists and scientists share.
Each year educators leave the conference equipped with new ideas and instructional strategies to engage and empower their students and to fill their classrooms with joyful learning.
HOT Schools'
Professional Development opportunities are offered from September through May and are open to arts and non-arts classroom teachers, teaching artists administrators and interested parents statewide.
Save the date and Join us for the 25th Annual HOT Schools Summer Institute - July 9-13, 2018!
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Creating Your Own Orchestra: Design Thinking, Invention, and the Arts
with Heather Wolpert Gawron; Attendees used the Arts Exploration supplies to create their own working orchestra - a STEAM project that recorded the process through collaboration (Google), design (Tinkercad) and presenting (Screencasting).
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CONGRATULATIONS TO INTAKE!
INTAKE Music in Stamford was one of 6 new organizations and the only one from Connecticut to be selected to receive a PlayUSA grant from Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute. In addition to providing INTAKE with $30,000 of financial support, this highly competitive grant allows them to join a nationwide network of 13 innovative organizations committed to providing transformative music education opportunities for youth across the country.
“Receiving a grant from Carnegie Hall means so much to us,” says Angelica Durrell, INTAKE Founder and Executive Director.
“Carnegie Hall is investing in Connecticut and is validating the important work our organization is doing in music education, youth development, and cross-cultural exchanges.”
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Connecticut's Lt. Governor Nancy Wyman and Jay Dick of the Americans for the Arts
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NATIONAL LT. GOVERNORS ASSOCIATION AND AMERICANS FOR THE ARTS SIGN STATE MILITARY AND VETERANS ARTS
INITIATIVE
On July 28, the
National Lieutenant Governors Association (NLGA) and
Americans for the Arts (AFTA) signed a first-of-its-kind collaboration supporting the military and their families.
The
State Military and Veterans Arts Initiative seeks to increase visibility, understanding, and support for the care of persons across the military continuum (to include active duty and reserve service members, veterans, their families, and caregivers) and the role the arts can play in their health and wellness.
NLGA and AFTA share a general mutual goal to make the arts, in its various forms, available to the military continuum as a tool for wellness and complete healing. NLGA and Americans for the Arts work together to advance the policy, practice, and quality use of arts and creativity as tools for health in the military and for veterans.
Sixteen NLGA members, including Connecticut's
Lt. Governor Nancy Wyman, signed the agreement as founding partners and witnesses to the goal to promote the use of arts and arts therapy with the nation’s military continuum.
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THE ARTS PAPER
The Arts Paper, the voice of
The Arts Council of Greater New Haven, has a vibrant new home online at
ArtsPaper.org!
The Arts Paper
features articles about artists, arts organizations, and community engagement. It includes a comprehensive calendar of events, a community bulletin board of services and a current listing of employment opportunities.
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