Ashé Cultural Arts Center in partnership with South Arts and Artists Thrive is hosting a special one day Artists Thrive Summit Hub; where we will live-stream two sessions from the Summit. We are coming together to collaborate across disciplines, gain inspiration, engage and align.
Can't make it in-person on July 19th or want to attend all the virtual sessions as part of the Summit? Register using codeSouthArts23 to receive free virtual registration!
*Light breakfast and lunch provided*
Time: 9AM - 2PM
Lunch: 12:30PM - 2PM
Strategic Community Engagement
9:30AM - 11:00AM
How we see the world guides us. It is our vision that defines our mission. It is our perception that shapes our reality. Influencing how people see the world is an important factor in impacting change. Art can affect how people see the world.
The challenge is how to integrate their artistic and creative talents (vision, innovation, analysis, etc.) into a strategy for community engagement and awareness. There are already people and organizations doing amazing work on the ground. They need partners in outreach, framing, and messaging. Artists can do that. How do you create space for the kind of creative expression and development intended to spark works that shift thinking and challenge perceptions?
This session operates from the understanding that artists can provide counter-narratives to dominant rhetoric. They can help spread the word about the work that is happening. They can tell stories of those at the center (targeted) and in the margins (devalued, overlooked, or ostracized). They can be a living archive of radical thought. Every major social movement in recent history has been chronicled in art & culture. What would it mean to hold space for artists to have discussions, share thoughts and ideas, deepen theory, and connect? These artists are often creating from within the circumstances and obstacles that organizations are hoping to address. How can that insight and brilliance be used for transformation?
This session seeks to guide participants in exploring and answering these questions. It will be an interactive session that will be educational and generative.
Lead by Dasan Ahanu
Opportunities for Artists in the Social Change Marketplace
11:30AM - 12:30PM
Making a living while making change
Nonprofit businesses, NGOs and governmental agencies spend $2 trillion a year - driving economic development, amplifying the arts and investing in the health and well being of their diverse constituencies. The resulting ‘marketplace’ presents an opportunity for heart-driven, enterprising artists to develop the innovative, progressive and relevant programming these businesses need. But tapping this marketplace is not the same as securing a commercial gig. Artists must develop a tool kit of community-driven entrepreneurial skills to connect with the issues they care about, identify collaborative partners and secure the resources to make it happen.
This fast-paced, interactive session introduces new and more seasoned artists and arts professionals to the opportunities in today's social change marketplace and field tested models for building a sustainable arts-based social change practice. Case studies and group discovery exercises will help you apply what you’ve learned and meet like-minded, creative allies. In addition to taking home insights and new approaches to engaging the social change marketplace, you’ll leave with practical tips and tools to guide your next steps - whether it’s stepping into this marketplace as an artist OR better enabling this marketplace for artist changemakers as allies.
Lead by Liz Stookey Sunde, Co-Founder & Executive Director - Music to Life and Zakiyyah Sutton, Artist-Activist, Coach for Musician Changemaker Academy
About Artists Thrive
Artists Thrive helps us see where we are in our work, where we want to go, what is important to measure, and how we can improve in ways that benefit everyone involved.
Artists Thrive is meant to be customized, adapted, and applied to many situations to support your work. These tools can also be used again and again as a reference point for measuring how you, your organization, agency, department, community collaboration, partnership, or artist collective is advancing toward your goals over time.