Thought Leadership and reach           

The Creative Vitality™ Summit Returns!
We invite you to register to join us virtually on November 30 and December 1, 2022, for a series of discussions from today’s creative economy experts, arts and culture leaders, and equity champions. Check out the Summit site to view session information, learn what to expect from the event, see the schedule, and get to know the Summit speakers. This year’s Creative Vitality™ Summit will feature four panels with community-led discussions around how the creative economy intersects with technology, digital placekeeping, and more. These discussions will also delve into creative economy development through liberatory investment models, as well as belonging and civic imagination.

WESTAF Presents on Advocacy Grantmaking at GIA Conference with Partners Californians for the Arts, Hewlett Foundation, and Kenneth Rainin Foundation
WESTAF organized and presented a session on grantmaking in support of arts advocacy titled “How Arts Funders Can Advance Systems Change: Developing Advocacy in the West & Beyond” at the Grantmakers in the Arts Conference on October 6-12. WESTAF was joined by Julie Baker of Californians for the Arts, Ted Russell of the Kenneth Rainin Foundation, and Adam Fong of the Hewlett Foundation. This session engaged participants in discussions about how funding advocacy efforts can lead to policy change, examined the limits of grantmaking, provided practical examples of how to build capacity, and invited participants to ideate on the future of funding arts advocacy.

alliances, advocacy & policy            

Western Arts Advocacy Network Holds First In-Person Meeting in Wyoming
The Western Arts Advocacy Network (WAAN) gathered for its first in-person meeting after nearly three years of organizing at the UCROSS Foundation and Artist Residency located just outside of Sheridan, Wyoming. WAAN and the Executive Committee of WESTAF came together to discuss a federal arts advocacy strategy for the West. Arts advocates from 10 out of 13 WESTAF states and 1 out of 3 Pacific Jurisdictions were represented. WAAN meetings focused on the accomplishments of the group over the last three years, how to advocate for arts and culture in rural and remote places, and visions for the future of the group. The group was joined virtually by Richard Saxton of M12 Studio and Matthew Fluharty from Art of the Rural. Ellen O’Neill graphically recorded the meeting.

WESTAF and Partners Initiate Work Group for the Development of the Washington Creative Economy Strategic Plan in Olympia, WA Hosted by s’gʷi gʷi ʔ altxʷ: House of Welcome
The 31 members of the Washington Creative Economy Strategic Plan Work Group, chaired by Martin Cohen of Cultural Planning Group and David, convened in Olympia, Washington, at the Longhouse Education and Cultural Center at Evergreen State College for a first meeting. During the two-day gathering, participants engaged in rich discussions around the WESTAF and CPG initial economic analysis and policy research and plans for consulting with stakeholders across the state. Deep exchanges were had regarding methodological approaches, definitional challenges, deep inequities in Washington’s creative industries, and the wide-ranging regional economies and cultural contexts of the state. While in Olympia, the project team organized a tour of the Armory Creative Campus project and a focus group with local artists and creative entrepreneurs, economic development professionals, business leaders, and local arts agency staff to discuss the structure, growth potential, and barriers to the growth of the creative economy in the region. Later in the week, the project team conducted individual interviews and a focus group in Yakima, meeting with individual artists and creative entrepreneurs, art collectors, and representatives from tourism, economic development, and major arts and cultural institutions in the region.

WESTAF Bay Area Arts Policy and Leadership Seminar Continues in Oakland and Santa Rosa
The Bay Area Arts Policy and Leadership cohort most recently met at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center on August 23, 2022. This fourth meeting (second in-person gathering) focused on beginning to envision the future of this emerging coalition and better defining its goals. During the session, the group discussed local issues and aspects of their draft policy framework with local arts agencies and private philanthropy leaders. Participants included: Roberto Bedoya, cultural affairs manager, City of Oakland; Kerry Adams Hapner, director, Cultural Affairs, City of San Jose; Jennifer Lovvron, chief cultural affairs officer, City of Berkeley; Ted Russell, director arts strategy and ventures, Kenneth Rainin Foundation; and Adam Fong, program officer, Performing Arts, Hewlett Foundation. The next meeting of the group will take place from October 17-18 in Santa Rosa in partnership with the California Indian Museum and Cultural Center.

WESTAF Expands Engagement with Western States
Each year, WESTAF tracks the value of our engagement with the states in the West and provides metrics to illustrate this value with our participating state arts agencies in our region. Based on the most recent reporting, aggregate return on investment for the states in the region continues to rise. WESTAF’s direct funding through grantmaking within the 13 states increased by 333% since 2019. These results were made possible through increased investment from the National Endowment for the Arts and private foundations. WESTAF also increased our engagement with our state arts agencies partners. Last year, we conducted 33 individual meetings with SAAs. This year, meetings with SAAs alone increased to 58; when including meetings with the Pacific jurisdictional arts agencies that became partners of WESTAF earlier this year, 74 total meetings were held. In addition, we conducted 52 meetings with citizen advocacy groups and lobbyists in our region. Prior to the end of our fiscal year, we conducted over 125 meetings with state partners (SAAs, advocacy groups, and lobbyists). We also conducted 18 technical assistance and consulting engagements of various types with state and jurisdictional arts agencies and other state government partners, which include undertaking the Washington Creative Economy Strategic Plan project for the Washington Department of Commerce; Cultural Industry Visioning Facilitation for the Utah Division of Arts and Museums, Utah Department of Cultural and Community Engagement, and Utah Cultural Alliance; and the Bay Area Arts Policy and Leadership Seminar in partnership with the Hewlett Foundation and Kenneth Rainin Foundation.

WESTAF to Deliver Advocacy Session for Colleague Regional Arts Organization South Arts
South Arts has invited WESTAF to collaborate with Arts North Carolina to produce a virtual arts advocacy workshop, Vote SmART ‘22 for the Southeast region on October 21, 2022.

social responsibility & inclusion      

Social Responsibility and Inclusion (SRI) Team to attend the 134th Annual Meeting of the American Folklore Society
Grant and Access Manager Ashanti McGee of the Social Responsibility and Inclusion (SRI) Team, will attend the 134th Annual Meeting of the American Folklore Society in Tulsa, Oklahoma from October 13-15, 2022. This year the meeting’s theme is “Re-Centering the Periphery,” examining the “connections, tensions, and fluctuations of marginalized and centralized entities within the folklore discipline and within the larger environments”. Artists, administrators, historians, and Living Traditions personnel in the field of Living Traditions, will gather for workshops, presentations, and local tours to connect and discuss current and emerging practices.

SRI Team Attends the Arts Northwest Conference
Anika Tené and Ashanti McGee will attend the 41st Annual Arts Northwest Conference from October 10-13, 2022, in Tacoma, Washington, where WESTAF has been invited to share information about its regional touring grant program, TourWest. The Arts Northwest Conference is a gathering for performing artists, stakeholders, and connect and learn through workshops, mentorships, meetings, and live performance.

WESTAF Holds Equity, Recovery, and Relief Virtual Gathering for Grantees
On Wednesday, September 28, the Social Responsibility and Inclusion (SRI) Team gathered with 85 grantees representing our American Rescue Plan, CARES Act, and Mellon Foundation grant funding in 2020 and 2021, sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic. With a plenary session led by Dr. Michelle Ramos, grantees also had the opportunity to share in a peer-to-peer environment in facilitated breakout sessions led by five grantee organizations on topics including survivance, partnerships, liberatory leadership and programming practices, and support for small cultural organizations. In a post-gathering survey, more than 90% of respondents said that the sessions met or exceeded their expectations. At the request of the attendees, WESTAF has set up a listserv to support their continued interaction through resource and information sharing.

WESTAF Attends NASAA Pre-Conference and Conference
Grants and Access Manager Ashanti McGee attended the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies Living Traditions (formally Folk and Traditional Arts) and Accessibility pre-conferences. States Arts Agency living traditions coordinators from our region met with Ashanti to discuss further collaboration and potential projects. Workshops included Team Dynamics, which examined power dynamics within the Living Traditions field. The importance of living traditions workers assisting communities on how to address the impacts of climate change and climate migrants, how to empower local organizations to incorporate accessibility training, and a discussion about “burning issues” in the accessibility field.

LEADERS OF COLOR NETWORK UPDATES   

WESTAF and the U.S. Regional Arts Organizations (USRAOs) Move Toward Final Selections for the National Leaders of Color Program (LoCF)
On September 7, Social Responsibility and Inclusion Director Anika Tené led the USRAO panelists in an orientation for reviewing LoCF applications. Twenty-three panelists representing the various regional organizations have completed a review of all applications. The program will start with the orientation on October 14. WESTAF has set up a listserv for Fellows and the LoCF faculty and team and are meeting with website consultant Alexandria Jimenez (ELC 2015) to set up virtual program resources. WESTAF has also invited the more than 300+ applicants who could not be selected to a special information and group mentoring session with the USRAO Collective and members of the LoCF faculty and team that will take place on November 7. WESTAF will seek to include all applicants from our region on our mailing list to continue to engage with them and share activities, including upcoming grant programs and paneling opportunities.

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