CONNECTING CREATIVE COMMUNITIES

A summit to ignite New England’s creative potential

New England is at the forefront of the creative community building movement. Leaders from across New England will meet in Providence to share strategies for engaging the creative sector and to begin to develop a regional network of creative communities. Participants will discuss a regional approach for collectively promoting our creative communities through policy, research, programming, and resource development.

Come participate in this shared conversation about how cities, towns, and regions are leveraging creative community development to enhance their prosperity and quality of life.

March 9-11, 2010
Biltmore Hotel, Providence, RI
Registration fee: $60

Complete info here
Register here

Contact:
Adrienne Petrillo
Program Manager, Presenting & Touring
apetrillo@nefa.org
617.951.0010 x527

SCHEDULE:

Tuesday, March 9, 2010 (optional)

• 5:30 p.m.   Networking reception for summit participants
• 7:00 p.m.   Second Annual Senator Claiborne Pell Lecture on Arts & Humanities hosted by
  Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline
• Tickets are available at no cost to summit participants but must be reserved in advance by calling 401.421.2489 x456 or emailing Stephanie Fortunato.
• Mayor David N. Cicilline will co-host the second Annual Senator Claiborne Pell Lecture on Arts and Humanities on March 9, 2010. Mayor Cicilline initiated the series in memory of recently deceased United States Senator Claiborne Pell (1918-2009), who represented Rhode Island in the United States Senate from 1961-1997. Senator Pell is best remembered for being a champion of education, the arts, and humanities. He was the main sponsor of the Pell Grant, a financial aid program for U.S. college students, and he played a major role in the establishment of the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment of the Humanities. Jeremy Nowak, President and CEO of The Reinvestment Fund, presented the inaugural lecture about the role of art and culture in neighborhood regeneration.
• Mayor Cicilline will announce details about the 2010 Pell Lecture in early February.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

8:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.   Walking Tours of Providence (optional)

9:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.   Registration & Networking

10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

• Beyond Our Borders: Planning, Policy, and Prosperity in New England
  What if New Englanders took the same “borderless” approach creative industries do to help develop regional prosperity? Panelists will examine key details from several recent successful creative economic development plans to identify strategies New Englanders might use to tap into this momentum.
  Session Leaders:
  • Lynne McCormack, Moderator
    Director, Department of Art Culture + Tourism, City of Providence (Providence, RI)
  • Jason Schupbach
    Creative Economy Industry Director, Massachusetts Office of Business Development (Boston, MA)
  • Jack Templin
    RI Nexus/Providence Geeks (Providence, RI)

12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.   Lunch & Networking

1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

• A) New Conduits for Creativity
  Learn more about the innovative pathways New England communities are taking to foster collaborative community building. How does more effectively marketing your community with new technologies help support shared goals? What are the best working models for organizational hybrids? How can regional collaborations support your local creative sector? Panelists in this workshop will share examples of what is working for their regions. Afterwards, we will break into small groups to brainstorm.
  Session Leaders:
  • Erin Williams
    Cultural Development Coordinator, Worcester Cultural Coalition (Worcester, MA)
  • Frumie Selchen
    Executive Director, Arts Alliance of Northern New Hampshire (Littleton, NH)
  • Catherine Peterson
    Executive Director, ArtsBoston (Boston, MA)
• B) Artist-Driven Solutions for Community Change
  Artist-led initiatives in many communities are stimulating creative responses to complex social and economic issues. In the name of the public, artists are working to break down traditional silos and facilitate increased cooperation among government, nonprofit, and commercial entities.  Learn from other problem-solving projects about how art, culture, and creativity can bridge sectors to bring about community-wide change
  Session Leaders:
  • Mary Pottenger
    Director, Arts & Equity Initiative, City of Portland (Portland, ME)

3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

• A) Finding and Engaging Unexpected Partners
  Are you trying to initiate a creative sector partnership in your community? Would you like an existing alliance to generate greater impact? Presumably working together can lift all boats – but getting there is too often becomes a process of decision-making by committee rather than one of helping to identify and support shared goals. This dialogue will focus on strategies for fostering collaboration across different communities in an effort to deepen partners’ engagement and deliver an array of meaningful community benefits.
  Session Leaders: TBA
• B) Facing Facts: Getting Results with Data
  Counting heads is an obvious first step in data collection, but figuring out what else you need to know in a data-saturated landscape can be a mind bending business. How does collecting information help develop your community, institution, or enterprise and boost its profile? If you can’t answer these questions, why spend the money? At this session, you’ll hear from people who’ve been deeply involved with these questions, and who will share stories about the sometimes surprising political and financial consequences of their work.
  Session Leaders:
  • Dee Schneidman
    Research Manager, New England Foundation for the Arts (Boston, MA)
  • Chris Dwyer
    Senior Vice President, RMC Research (Portsmouth, NH)
• C) Creative Incubators
  Creativity often inspires more creativity.  Giving artists time and space to create work is critical to the creative process and is the foundation of creative incubator programs.  Join us at AS220 to hear how a few successful programs got their start and transitioned from grassroots efforts to established organizations.   Our group will discuss some of the unique opportunities and challenges that creative incubators face as their leaders try to introduce new ideas in the context of the existing arts ecosystem.
  Session Leaders:
  • Caitlin Strokosch, Moderator
    Executive Director, Alliance of Artist Communities (Providence, RI)
  • Sara Coffey
    Co-Founder, Vermont Performance Lab (Guilford, VT)
  • Carrie Fitzsimmons
    International Director for Strategy, Laboratoire Management International
    Acting Director of the Cloud Foundation
    ArtScience Labs (Boston, MA)

6:00 p.m.   Dine Arounds

Thursday, March 11, 2010

9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

• Building Your Capacity: Creative Leadership in the Creative Sector
  The creative sector plays an important leadership role in developing a community’s potential – creatively, economically, and socially.  What tools are New England’s leaders using to advance this work in their organizations and communities?  This hands-on, peer-to-peer workshop will focus on methods and current practices available to address the sector’s day-to-day needs – space, healthcare, funding and capacity building – as well as more complex matters such as navigating cross-sector relationships, promoting workforce development, and regionalism, and stoking the creativity at the heart of it all.
  Session Leaders:
  • Meri Jenkins
    Program Manager Adams Arts Program, Massachusetts Cultural Council (Boston, MA)
  • John Cusano
    Community Development Coordinator, Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism (Hartford, CT)
  • Steven Dahlberg
    Director, International Centre for Creativity and Imagination (New Milford, CT)
• Summit Summary & Closing Remarks