Notes From Outside the Box
October 2017    
Greetings!
Vermont Creative Network Summit 2017 Connect to Advance November 8-9_ State House_ Montpelier
Two Weeks and Counting...
 
Connect with your colleagues 
Meet the creatives at work in your creative zone. Learn more about best practice models, delve into interesting case studies, and get up to speed with the most recent creative economy research.
 
Advance key issues 
Throughout the Summit, participants will meet in small and large groups to hone language and develop plausible action steps on three broad issues facing the creative sector :
  1. Public and private investment. What can the sector do right now to encourage greater investment?
  2. Vermont's identity. What role can the sector play to heighten Vermont's livability and attractiveness?
  3. Infrastructure. What policies, spaces, or resources can the sector activate to increase the sector's capacity?
Governor Scott's three strategic priorities will serve as an important backdrop for Summit proceedings :
1) economic growth, 2) affordability, and 3) help for the most vulnerable.
 
Confirmed speakers
  • Lt. Governor David Zuckerman
  • Senator Tim Ashe, President Pro Tem
  • Ted Brady, deputy secretary, Agency of Commerce and Community Development 
  • Wendy Knight, commissioner, Department of Tourism and Marketing
  • Paul Costello, executive director, Vermont Council on Rural Development
  • Karen Mittelman, executive director, Vermont Arts Council
  • Diane Derby, field representative, Senator Leahy's office
  Confirmed breakout workshops
  • Creative Placemaking Happens in Vermont with Michelle Bailey
  • Cultivating "Collective Awesome" for Collective Impact with Jodi Clark
  • Northeast Kingdom Collaborative: A Model for Planning with Sarah Waring
  • Toward a Common Language: Results-Based Accountability with Hillary Orsini
  • Vermont Clean Water Network - Creating a Culture of Clean Water with Barry Lampke
  • Vermont's Creative Sector at Work: Latest Data with Dee Schneidman
  • Work-Based Learning: An Arts Education Update with the Agency of Education 
 
The Summit webpage is updated regularly. Check back.

Colered vertical bars superimposed by the word Walden.
The home screen for a new virtual game created by Game Innovation Lab at the University of Southern California_ partially funded with a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
But is it Art?

New forms of technology are making us revisit that age-old question.  Joanna Chin, a user experience designer at Gallagher & Associates, considers the issue in the context of podcasts and mobile games, in a blog for Americans for the Arts. She doesn't answer this question, however, and she doesn't answer the one posed in her title: "Do we want to foster the arts or do we want to foster creativity?"Instead of arguing about whether or not emerging media deserves this qualification, Joanna asserts, arts organizations should encourage people to use these technologies. Without a doubt, they require a different thought process than traditional book learning. And, it is creative thinking that leads to innovative art.

Read the full article, and add your thoughts at americansforthearts.org.
 
Two people selecitng green peppers from a box.
Planting the Root of Vermont Food

The Rooted in Vermont grassroots movement celebrates the ways in which all Vermonters acquire and enjoy local food. It also intends to increase consumer demand so more Vermont food can be available and accessible where most Vermonters shop.

Vermonters farmed, gardened, fished, and hunted long before craft beers and gourmet burgers entered the scene. These traditions are as core to Vermont's local food movement as purchasing food from Vermont's farmers, restaurants, schools, and stores. Rooted in Vermont celebrates and empowers all of the ways that Vermonters are part of the local food movement.

As more Vermonters engage with Rooted in Vermont and the movement spreads, grassroots outreach efforts will encourage events, social media posts, and other creative expressions that demonstrate increased demand for local food. Increased consumer demand sends a signal to the marketplace for more local food to be produced, distributed, and available to Vermonters. Purchasing local products keeps more money here in Vermont. This in turn creates jobs, supports the in-state supply chain, protects our family farms, and makes local food accessible to more Vermonters.

Rooted in Vermont has followers from all over the state on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and can be experienced by following or using the hashtag #RootedinVermont. The phrase "Rooted in Vermont" can also be used in any outreach or promotion connected to local food.

- contributed by Shane Rogers, Rooted in Vermont project manager. Rooted in Vermont is a project of Vermont Farm to Plate Network at the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund."
Vermont Creative Network
Vermont Arts Council


The Vermont Arts Council is funded, in part, by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, which requires a 1:1 match from the Vermont State Legislature. Council grants, programs, and statewide arts promotion would not be possible without the critical funding provided by these government agencies.

null