Advocacy, Advancement and a Dose of Inspiration | Sign Up

Posted on March 10, 2012 by lvartscouncil

In the next few months, the Arts Council will host multiple public events designed to strengthen arts advocacy and professional advancement, plus provide inspiration to help meet the challenges ahead. These events include professional development workshops in e-marketing and grant writing, and two public forums featuring national presenters who will address the region’s business, government, education, and cultural sectors. Through presentations and interactive break-out sessions, the forums will enable participants to explore the value of our cultural community in terms of its impact on the local economy, the state of education, the mutual benefits for arts and business, the promotion of the region, and the enhancement of our overall quality of life.

April 17, 2012: Breaking the Fifth Wall—Rethinking Arts Marketing for the 21st Century

Join Patron Technology’s Greg O’ Neill for a discussion on how to transform your organization’s audience development efforts by using e-mail marketing, website design, social media, and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems. The session will be held from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m. in the conference room across the hall from the Arts Council office. Refreshments provided. Fees: $25/members; $45/nonmembers.

May 10, 2012: Growing Up Artfully Arts-in-Education Forum

While financial constraints have cut many arts programs, test scores in art-centered schools are on the rise. Current research and press attention focus on the need for project-based learning, a collaborative approach that is fostered by arts integration in our schools and valued in the workplace. Newsweek’s 2010 creativity study reports that when students use the process of fact-finding, problem-finding, and solution-finding, they generate original, practical ideas and meet curriculum goals. Eric Booth, internationally known researcher, author, and teaching artist will discuss these issues in his keynote remarks at this annual event, to be held from 2:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Penn State Lehigh Valley. Guest speakers Traci Buckner and Julienne Hogarth of Akron’s National Inventors Hall of Fame School will present best practices in creative, project-based learning and their positive impact on students’ test scores and attendance. Refreshments provided. Fees: $25/members; $45/nonmembers.

May 2012: PA Partners in the Arts (PPA) Project Stream Grants Workshops

Individual artists, arts organizations, and community groups are invited to apply for PPA grant funding in support of arts projects and activities that benefit local communities and under-served audiences in Lehigh, Carbon, and Northampton counties. All projects must occur between September 1, 2012, and August 31, 2013; and the deadline for submission of the grant application is June 29, 2012. Grant workshops will be held from 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. on May 15 at the Lehigh Valley Arts Council, 840 Hamilton St., Allentown, and on May 17 at the Sigal Museum, 342 Northampton St., Easton. These workshops are free. RSVP to ppa@lvartscouncil.org.

June 7, 2012: “Whose Business is the Arts?” Forum 

Stimulating a dialogue to promote entrepreneurship and sustainability in the nonprofit arts sector is the goal of this unique forum for the Lehigh Valley. Todd Watkins, Executive Director of the Baker Institute for Entrepreneurship, Creativity, and Innovation at Lehigh University, will facilitate a break-out session. The forum will also release the findings of “Arts & Economic Prosperity IV,” the recent economic impact study of the region’s nonprofit arts industry. Ben Cameron, Program Director for the Arts at the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation where he supervises a $13.125 million grants program for arts organizations and artists, will deliver the keynote address. The forum will take place at Cedar Crest College’s Tompkins Center in Allentown. Fees: $30/members; $50/nonmembers.