WESTAF Update Notes #95 | December 2017
From Anthony Radich, Executive Director
 
This is the 95th in a continuing series of updates about the work of WESTAF.

Successful Symposium on Public Art in Honolulu
WESTAF partnered with the Hawai’i State Foundation on Culture and the Arts and Forecast Public Art to organize WESTAF’s 17th cultural policy symposium, The Future History of Public Art, in Honolulu. The event brought together public art administrators, artists, critics, curators, academics, preservationists, and researchers from six countries, including New Zealand, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, Canada, and the U.S. The focus of the symposium was to consider the future of the public art field. Symposium sessions focused on five major themes: democracy of public art, the future of technological advancements in public art, public art stewardship, the resurgence of impermanence in public art, and rethinking public art policy and funding mechanisms. The symposium was led by Cameron Cartiere, associate professor of Culture + Community at the Emily Carr University of Art + Design, which is located in Vancouver, British Columbia. Cartiere is an inaugural member of the Public Art Archive’s Senior Advisory Committee. The list of core presenters and their bios can be found here. In the forthcoming issue of Public Art Review, which is published by Forecast Public Art, there will be an article featuring symposium participants.
If you would like to receive a copy of the proceedings when they are available, please contact Lori Goldstein, Public Art Archive Manager, at Lori.Goldstein@westaf.org.

Emerging Leaders of Color Program Wraps in Denver
This November, WESTAF hosted 13 arts administrators for its sixth annual professional development program for emerging leaders of color. Facilitated by long-time faculty members Salvador Acevedo, Margie Johnson Reese, and Tamara Alvarado, the 2017 cohort joins a 70- plus-member alumni network of professionals of color across the region. The 2017 participants included: • Andrew Akufo, Executive Director, Lea County Commission for the Arts, Hobbs, New Mexico; • Katherin Canton, Co-Director, Emerging Arts Professionals San Francisco/Bay Area, Oakland, California; • Eric Chang, Arts Program Coordinator, East-West Center, Honolulu, Hawai’i; • Cynthia Chen, Development Associate, Spy Hop Productions, Salt Lake City, Utah; • Julz Ignacio, Program Operations Manager, Arts Corps, Seattle, Washington; • D’Ante McNeal, Production Assistant, Colorado Springs Philharmonic, Colorado Springs, Colorado; • Kai Monet, Education Program Coordinator, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California; • Reyna Montoya, Founder/Executive Director, Aliento, Phoenix, Arizona; • Mariana Moscoso; Program Analyst, Arts in Corrections; California Arts Council, Sacramento, California: • Hunter Old Elk, Curatorial Assistant, Plains Indian Museum at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, Cody, Wyoming; • Leah Shlachter, Adult Program Coordinator, Teton County Library, Jackson, Wyoming; • Ashley Stull Meyers, Director and Curator, Art Gym and Belluschi Pavilion, Marylhurst University, Marylhurst, Oregon; and • Sandra Margarita Ward, Senior Cultural Specialist, City of Las Vegas, Office of Cultural Affairs, Las Vegas, Nevada.
Additional information about WESTAF’s Multicultural Initiatives and Emerging Leaders of Color program, including program alumni, can be found here.

Meeting of WESTAF-Region State Arts Agency Directors
The state arts agency executive directors in the WESTAF region will meet in Denver December 11 and 12. Joining them will be Tom Simplot, the new Senior Advisor to the Senior Deputy Chairman at the NEA. A key agenda item at the meeting is a discussion of the nearly completed draft of WESTAF’s new long-range plan. The plan restructures personnel and financial resources at WESTAF to better recognize WESTAF’s dual interests. The organization will continue to focus on cultural policy, especially as it pertains to state arts agencies. The new plan, however, recognizes that WESTAF now manages a successful portfolio of seven online-technology projects that serve artists and arts organization across the country. The revenues flowing from those projects fund much of WESTAF’s cultural policy work.

Notes from the WESTAF History Archives
WESTAF researcher Dinah Zeiger is organizing the WESTAF archives. In that process, she has come across documents related to programs that were perhaps once successful—or not—but are now lost to history. In these notes, we will present some of them for your amusement. The first one is a 1-900 number that artists could call for career advice. The fee-for service (by the minute) project was well stocked with high-quality consultants. Unfortunately, demand did not meet expectations, and the 1997-initiated program was retired in 2001.
The WESTAF office is moving! Beginning December 18th, our address will be: 1888 Sherman Street, Suite 375, Denver, CO 80203. Please update your records.