Podcasts Archives - ArtsFwd

This month Richard Evans is joined by the leaders of two different arts organizations which are both implementing projects in Hunts Point, a neighborhood in the New York City borough of the Bronx:  Aviva Davidson, Executive and Artistic Director of Dancing in the Streets, and Amy Sananman, Founder and Executive Director of Groundswell.  They offer a lively discussion which explores how to build community engagement in cultural initiatives — a question that each organization is approaching in some different — and surprising — ways. Guests: Aviva Davidson (Executive and Artistic Director of Dancing in the Streets) has over 25 years experience as an arts administrator, producer, presenter, and theatre director. She has an MFA in Arts Administration from Columbia University. From 1993-98, Davidson was the Curator of Performing Arts at the John Michael Kohler Art Center in Wisconsin.  Previously, from 1985-93, she was a Producer and Marketing Director at Symphony Space. With Dancing in the Streets since 1998, Davidson has commissioned and produced over 35 site-specific works and created three signature series of innovative public performances that celebrate and explore salient aspects of New York City public life—Breaking Ground, Hip Hop Generation Next, and—in collaboration with Casita Maria—The South Bronx Culture Trail. In the context of Trail, Davidson commissioned choreographer Joanna Haigood and musician Bobby Sanabria to create PASEO, a community-based, traveling site-specific work that featured over 80 performers in a celebration of the Latin music history of the South Bronx. She spearheaded Dancing in the Streets’ move to the South Bronx on January 31, 2011, where it became a Company in Residence at Castia Maria Center for Arts and Education in Hunts Point. Amy Sananman (Founder and Executive Director of Groundswell) was motivated by her long-standing fascination with murals to conceive of Groundswell in 1996 — its mission to bring together professional artists, grassroots organizations, and communities to create high-quality murals in under-represented neighborhoods, and to inspire youth to take active ownership of their future by equipping them with the tools necessary for social change. Over the past sixteen years Groundswell has worked with thousands of community members to complete more than 400 collaboratively-designed and painted murals across New York City. From the Bronx to Brooklyn, Groundswell’s murals have visually transformed neighborhoods through celebrating cultural diversity and unity, telling stories of community empowerment and challenges overcome, and giving youth a voice to speak to their immediate communities and the general public. Sananman holds a masters degree in Public Policy from the University of California at Berkeley. Her accolades include NYU/Wagner School’s Rudin Award for Community Service through the Arts and the prestigious 2006 Union Square Award for her leadership in developing Groundswell as a grassroots asset. In 2009 she was named one of the 21 Leaders for the 21st Century by Womens Enews. She has served on numerous panels speaking on arts as a tool for social change panels hosted by the Bronx Museum of Art, the New School for Social Research, Pratt Institute, Columbia University, Teachers College, CUNY’s Hunter School of Social Work and the Partnership for After School Education. She currently lectures at Pratt Institute on Arts and Community Development. *Featured image of Jose Garcia in Hunts Point, the Bronx by Chris Arnade

In this podcast, Richard Evans sits down with leaders from three organizations who participated in EmcArts’s New Pathways Program in New York City to explore the question: How do you incubate innovation in a local community? New Pathways brought together a cohort of 30 NYC organizations to identify the persistent adaptive challenges that they face as individual organizations and as a local community.  In the podcast, Richard and his guests discuss their experience in the program, the trends that emerged among seemingly disparate organizations, and how their new thinking has been incorporated into daily practice. Guests: Linda Shelton (Executive Director of the Joyce Theater) has served as The Joyce’s executive director since 1993.  Prior to her current position, she served as general manager of The Joffrey Ballet.  Before The Joffrey, she managed tours for the Bolshoi Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet Academy, Moscow Virtuosi, 1000 Airplanes on the Roof and Sankai Juku.  From 1982 to 1988, she held management positions at The Twyla Tharp Dance Foundation.  A Dance/USA board member for over ten years, Linda served as their chair from 2000 to 2002 and was also chair of their 1996 National Roundtable. Linda currently teaches in the graduate program of arts administration at New York University. LaRue Allen (Executive Director of the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance) came to the Martha Graham Center as head of its development department in April 2005 from the North Carolina Dance Theatre where she was Executive Director since 2003.  Previously, she served for nine years as Executive Director of the Trisha Brown Company.  Ms. Allen has been the Senior Program Specialist for Dance Companies and Dance Presenters at the National Endowment for the Arts.  Ms. Allen founded and directed the Pennsylvania Dance Theatre and taught dance technique, composition, and history at Penn State University. Mary Ceruti (Executive Director and Chief Curator of the Sculpture Center in Long Island City) oversees all aspects of program, planning, and organizational development. She has organized numerous solo and group exhibitions of contemporary art and curated specialprojects and commissions by over 50 emerging and established artists. Before joining Sculpture Center in 1999, Mary worked as an independent curator andwriter and was the Director of Programs at Capp Street Project, an acclaimed international residency program, commissioning installation projects in SanFrancisco from 1992-98.   Duration: 24 mins

In this podcast, Richard Evans sits down with leaders from three organizations who participated in EmcArts’s New Pathways Program in New York City to explore the question: How do you incubate innovation in a local community? New Pathways brought together a cohort of 30 NYC organizations to identify the persistent adaptive challenges that they face as individual organizations and as a local community.  In the podcast, Richard and his guests discuss their experience in the program, the trends that emerged among seemingly disparate organizations, and how their new thinking has been incorporated into daily practice. Guests: Linda Shelton (Executive Director of the Joyce Theater) has served as The Joyce’s executive director since 1993.  Prior to her current position, she served as general manager of The Joffrey Ballet.  Before The Joffrey, she managed tours for the Bolshoi Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet Academy, Moscow Virtuosi, 1000 Airplanes on the Roof and Sankai Juku.  From 1982 to 1988, she held management positions at The Twyla Tharp Dance Foundation.  A Dance/USA board member for over ten years, Linda served as their chair from 2000 to 2002 and was also chair of their 1996 National Roundtable. Linda currently teaches in the graduate program of arts administration at New York University. LaRue Allen (Executive Director of the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance) came to the Martha Graham Center as head of its development department in April 2005 from the North Carolina Dance Theatre where she was Executive Director since 2003.  Previously, she served for nine years as Executive Director of the Trisha Brown Company.  Ms. Allen has been the Senior Program Specialist for Dance Companies and Dance Presenters at the National Endowment for the Arts.  Ms. Allen founded and directed the Pennsylvania Dance Theatre and taught dance technique, composition, and history at Penn State University. Mary Ceruti (Executive Director and Chief Curator of the Sculpture Center in Long Island City) oversees all aspects of program, planning, and organizational development. She has organized numerous solo and group exhibitions of contemporary art and curated specialprojects and commissions by over 50 emerging and established artists. Before joining Sculpture Center in 1999, Mary worked as an independent curator andwriter and was the Director of Programs at Capp Street Project, an acclaimed international residency program, commissioning installation projects in SanFrancisco from 1992-98.   Duration: 24 mins

What Makes a Project a Good Fit for the Lab? The Innovation Lab is a non-traditional program with a non-traditional application, so we thought it would be useful to talk through some of the underlying ideas of the program and give a few examples to help guide your thinking. Last week, I sat down with Richard Evans, President of EmcArts, and prompted him with a few questions. The podcast of that conversation is available in a couple other forms: a video presentation or the full transcript below. As always, as you prepare your application, don’t hesitate to ask for help. You can write me at LDreyer@emcarts.org with questions and to schedule a consultation. LD: Hi, I’m Liz Dreyer, the Manager of National Programs here at EmcArts and I’m talking with Richard Evans this afternoon about our Innovation Labs.  It’s a non-traditional program with a non-traditional application.  We thought it would be useful to talk through some of the underlying ideas of the program and give a few examples to help guide your thinking as you move through the application process. So, Richard — can we start with the EmcArts definition and approach to innovation? RE: When we started the Innovation Labs, there was no useful definition of organizational innovation so we created one and the program is really based on that.  We did a lot of research.  We came up with three parts to this.  We see organizational innovations as examples of organizational change that are based upon some shift in the underlying assumptions that organizations hold which have been in the past reliable predictors of success. We find that innovation really is built upon a shift in those assumptions.  Finding a assumption that you’re questioning where there’s evidence that contradicts the assumption and then finding a new hypothesis or proposition that you can test that might be more predictive of success in the future. So innovation derives from this shift in underlying assumptions.  It’s therefore discontinuous from previous practice. In other words, it’s not just an extension of what you’ve done before, it’s a new direction that you’re taking with your organization. And finally, we believe that those new pathways must be ones which show a pretty good sign that they will create public impact and value. We firmly believe that innovation is, in fact, an organizational discipline; something every organization can learn and in the Innovation Lab we aim to try to build the adaptive muscles, if you like, of organizations that are participants. LD: We talk a lot a lot about the difference between technical and adaptive challenges.  I was hoping that you might spend a little time about why we differentiate, what we mean, and why focus on adaptive challenges. RE:  Yes, we find this a really useful distinction.  Technical challenges are those kinds of problems or challenges we can solve by incremental change. We don’t need a breakthrough here; we just need to improve the way we do things. so, we see technical challenges as extensions of business-as usual.  And we’re all used to those.  We do them every day in our work. The changes that are going on in our environment, however, mean that the other kind of challenge — adaptive challenges — are becoming more and more important. An adaptive challenge, then, is one where there is no established solution. There’s no consultant you could bring in to direct you towards contemporary best practices and help you select one. It has to be the group of people who are the organization who come to grips with new ways of working, new ways of doing business. And it’s our experience that the muscles we use to respond to adaptive challenges are less developed in our organizations and the Lab is a way to try to strengthen those.

What Makes a Project a Good Fit for the Lab? The Innovation Lab is a non-traditional program with a non-traditional application, so we thought it would be useful to talk through some of the underlying ideas of the program and give a few examples to help guide your thinking. Last week, I sat down with Richard Evans, President of EmcArts, and prompted him with a few questions. The podcast of that conversation is available in a couple other forms: a video presentation or the full transcript below. As always, as you prepare your application, don’t hesitate to ask for help. You can write me at LDreyer@emcarts.org with questions and to schedule a consultation. LD: Hi, I’m Liz Dreyer, the Manager of National Programs here at EmcArts and I’m talking with Richard Evans this afternoon about our Innovation Labs.  It’s a non-traditional program with a non-traditional application.  We thought it would be useful to talk through some of the underlying ideas of the program and give a few examples to help guide your thinking as you move through the application process. So, Richard — can we start with the EmcArts definition and approach to innovation? RE: When we started the Innovation Labs, there was no useful definition of organizational innovation so we created one and the program is really based on that.  We did a lot of research.  We came up with three parts to this.  We see organizational innovations as examples of organizational change that are based upon some shift in the underlying assumptions that organizations hold which have been in the past reliable predictors of success. We find that innovation really is built upon a shift in those assumptions.  Finding a assumption that you’re questioning where there’s evidence that contradicts the assumption and then finding a new hypothesis or proposition that you can test that might be more predictive of success in the future. So innovation derives from this shift in underlying assumptions.  It’s therefore discontinuous from previous practice. In other words, it’s not just an extension of what you’ve done before, it’s a new direction that you’re taking with your organization. And finally, we believe that those new pathways must be ones which show a pretty good sign that they will create public impact and value. We firmly believe that innovation is, in fact, an organizational discipline; something every organization can learn and in the Innovation Lab we aim to try to build the adaptive muscles, if you like, of organizations that are participants. LD: We talk a lot a lot about the difference between technical and adaptive challenges.  I was hoping that you might spend a little time about why we differentiate, what we mean, and why focus on adaptive challenges. RE:  Yes, we find this a really useful distinction.  Technical challenges are those kinds of problems or challenges we can solve by incremental change. We don’t need a breakthrough here; we just need to improve the way we do things. so, we see technical challenges as extensions of business-as usual.  And we’re all used to those.  We do them every day in our work. The changes that are going on in our environment, however, mean that the other kind of challenge — adaptive challenges — are becoming more and more important. An adaptive challenge, then, is one where there is no established solution. There’s no consultant you could bring in to direct you towards contemporary best practices and help you select one. It has to be the group of people who are the organization who come to grips with new ways of working, new ways of doing business. And it’s our experience that the muscles we use to respond to adaptive challenges are less developed in our organizations and the Lab is a way to try to strengthen those.

In our third podcast, Richard Evans speaks about ways in which audience development strategies relate to artistic work with David Shimotakahara, Artistic Director of GroundWorks DanceTheater, and Charles Fee, Producing Artistic Director of Great Lakes Theater. Both are leaders of Cleveland organizations participating in Engaging the Future, a program developed with the Cleveland Foundation. David Shimotakahara has been a member of the Atlanta Ballet, Boston Repertory Ballet, Kathryn Posin Dance Company, and the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater. He performed with Ohio Ballet under the direction of Heinz Poll from 1983-1999. He also served as Rehearsal Assistant for Ohio Ballet from 1989-1999. From 1989-1997, Mr. Shimotakahara founded and was Director of New Steps. This acclaimed dance project offered a variety of programs that stimulated the creation and growth of new choreography in Northeast Ohio. Mr. Shimotakahara has choreographed for opera and theater with the Cleveland Opera, Great Lakes Theater Festival and the Dallas Theater Center. He served on the Carlisle Project advisory panel in 1996, and dance panels for the Ohio Arts Council, Illinois Arts Council, the Mid Atlantic Arts Alliance and the National Endowment for the Arts. He has received 6 consecutive Individual Artist Fellowships for Choreography from the Ohio Arts Council from 1996 to 2007. In 1998, he received a McKnight Foundation Fellowship from the Minnesota Dance Alliance to create new work in the Minneapolis, St. Paul communities. Mr. Shimotakahara was awarded the 2000 Cleveland Arts Prize for Dance. In 2002 his work with GroundWorks Dancetheater was recently voted "One of 25 to Watch" by Dance Magazine. In 2007, he received the OhioDance award for Outstanding Contributions to the Advancement of the Dance Artform. Mr. Shimotakahara was a 2008 recipient of the first COSE Arts and Business Innovation awards as the founder of GroundWorks DanceTheater. Charles Fee holds a unique position in the American theater as producing artistic director of three independently operated, professional theater companies: Great Lakes Theater in Cleveland, Ohio (since 2002), Idaho Shakespeare Festival in Boise, Idaho (since 1991) and Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival in Lake Tahoe, Nevada (since 2010). His appointments have resulted in a dynamic and groundbreaking producing model for the companies, in which 37 productions have been shared since 2002. In addition to his work with the companies in Ohio, Idaho and Nevada, Charles is active within the community. He has served as a member of the strategic planning committee for the Morrison Center, as producer of the FUNDSY Award Gala (’96, ’98 and 2000), and as producer of the 1996 Idaho Governor’s Awards in the Arts. Charles has served on the board of the Boise Metro Chamber of Commerce and as a member of the Downtown Rotary Club. He received his B.A. from the University of the Pacific and master of fine arts from the University of California, San Diego. Duration: 24:15

In this podcast, Richard Evans talks with Eric Sanderson, a Senior Conservation Ecologist at the Wildlife Conservation Society, and artist Mary Miss, about their boundary breaking projects that make environmental issues personal, visceral, and tangible for New York City residents.  Their projects are grantees of the Rockefeller Foundation's 2011 Cultural Innovation Fund award and part of a cohort of 16 organizations being documented by EmcArts/ArtsFwd over the next two years. In this 23-minute podcast, Sanderson talks about his project Mannahatta 2409, a new interactive website that allows every citizen to create their own vision of a sustainable New York City at a block by block level and share it with others.  The goal of the project is to engage the public’s imagination in one of the greatest challenges of our generation: designing the sustainable city. Mary Miss talks about 1000 Steps of Broadway, her project that brings artists and scientists together to create a series of physical interventions at key points along the 225 block corridor of Broadway. The goal of the project is to redefine the role of artists in creating a more environmentally sustainable New York City, a task typically left to government agencies. Guests: Eric W. Sanderson is a Senior Conservation Ecologist at the Wildlife Conservation Society. Sanderson is the author of “Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City,” and curated an exhibition based on the Mannahatta Project on display at the Museum of the City of New York. Sanderson also guided creation of this website that allows users to explore Mannahatta in comparison to Manhattan today (see Explore page). Mary Miss has reshaped the boundaries between sculpture, architecture, landscape design, and installation art by articulating a vision of the public sphere where it is possible for an artist to address the issues of our time.  She has developed the "City as Living Lab", a framework for making issues of sustainability tangible through collaboration and the arts, with Marda Kirn of EcoArts Connections.

In our second podcast, Richard Evans talks with Ryan Fleur, CEO of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra and Kelly Pollock, Executive Director of the Center of Creative Arts about innovative projects that turn risk capital into new revenue. The new directions outlined by each organization engage working with artists in new ways and unlock the door between artists and the rest of the community. Ryan Fleur is president and CEO of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra. As chief executive for the largest performing arts organization in the Mid-South since 2003, Fleur is responsible for all aspects of the $4.5M operation. During his first five years, he has transformed the organization into one committed to "creating meaningful experiences through music", in which all of its artistic and educational initiatives are implemented through a lens of community engagement. He developed the Orchestra's current strategic plan through a comprehensive, inclusive planning process, balanced the Orchestra's books for the first time in 10 seasons, and has taken significant steps to transform the Orchestra into a sustainable musical institution. Kelly Pollock is Executive Director of the Center of Creative Arts in St. Louis. Pollock served as COCA’s general manager since 2006, overseeing all business operations and programming.  She joined COCA in 1997 and served as its director of development for eight formative years as the organizational budget grew from $1.7 million to its current size of $5 million.  She successfully managed COCA’s $10 million Access to Excellence capital and endowment campaign.  She was also responsible for securing millions of dollars in grants over the years from National Endowment for the Arts, Wallace Foundation, Kresge Foundation, MetLife Foundation, among others.  As COCA’s general manager, Pollock secured one of four national Innovation Lab grant awards from the Doris Duke Foundation and EmcArts to develop COCAbiz, a program designed to integrate arts practice and concepts into talent and leadership development in business.   Duration: 27:40 minutes

Richard Evans discusses innovations that start small and find their way to the very heart of an organization with leaders from Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and the deYoung Museum.