Hellp, my brain (and stomach) is full!

Tools, Terms, and Thought:  Empowering Community Schools of the Arts

“Help, my brain (and stomach) is full!” This was my overwhelming thought last Sunday as I boarded the plane on the way home from Philadelphia, PA, where Adrienne, Rachel and I attended the Conference for Community Arts Education hosted by the mid-Atlantic chapter of the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts.

This conference brought hundreds of representatives of community arts schools from across the country together to share, explore, learn, and reflect on ideas that can help improve and increase arts learning in our country. As a young participant with only a year and a half of experience as a professional in the community arts arena, I was wide-eyed and hungry for new knowledge. It was striking to see so many other professionals—executive directors, board members, teaching artists, coordinators and researchers—also ravenous for new tools and thoughts to fuel and energize their own organizations. Not surprisingly, our collective appetite for ideas and yummy food (e.g. Philly cheese steaks) was satisfied at this conference.

On a practical level, this conference has helped me add to my “essentials toolbox” of professional knowledge:

1. Adrienne, Rachel and I learned about “The Art of the Ask,” why people give, and how to cultivate relationships with donors in a wildly entertaining and informative session with Brian Moore, Professor at Drexel University, nonprofit management consultant, and improv actor.
2. Jan Norman, Ph.D. led an engaging presentation on effective strategies to carry out student assessment not only to respond to our current “Age of Accountability,” but also to continually seek improvement in our organizations on all levels. 
3. In “Strategic Planning/Strategic Thinking,” Michael Kumer, Executive Director of Duquesne University’s Nonprofit Leadership Institute, led board members, executive directors (and me) in a thought-provoking workshop where together we created an exceptional virtual organization, its own vision, mission statement, and strategies—all in under thirty minutes. 
4. In a session with the National Endowment for the Arts, I was able to jot down notes on some key realities and helpful information about the grant application review process.

I also learned some really cool terms that are new to me and shed some additional light on everything that we do as community arts organizations:

1. Creative Learning: a more descriptive synonym for “arts education”
2. Community Benefit Organization: a more descriptive synonym for “non-profit organization”
3. Creative Capital: “A person’s, family’s, or community’s capacity to express, imagine and invent in their personal lives and with others.” (Dennie Palmer Wolf)

Dennie Palmer Wolf and CMW Fellows also had the opportunity to speak about Community MusicWorks in the session “Building Creative Capital: A New Way of Looking at Effectiveness.” Rachel spoke beautifully and at length about the ways Community MusicWorks cultivates sustained creative capital pathways. Adrienne offered keen insight on the intricate and symbiotic “learning layers” within our organization, and I gave a brief testimonial on “How the Fellowship has Changed my Life” and opened my eyes to endless possibilities and variations of making a meaningful musical career. 

When I attend any discussion, training, seminar, or an extensive conference such as this one, I always try to extract one or two key “zingers”—simple and significant thoughts or ideas that I can carry near and dear to my heart as I go forward in my work.

From the keynote address, to “The Art of the Ask,” to strategic planning/thinking, to assessment, to higher education partnerships, one command was clear—we need to listen. Before knowing and asserting what we can do as community arts organizations, we must work to listen to and ascertain the needs and values of the community we serve and the individuals within that community.

Zing and hooray! 

-Arlyn Valencia, Fellow 07-09