This is the 103rd in a continuing series of updates about the work of WESTAF.
 
Multicultural Advisory Committee Meeting in Seattle
WESTAF’s Multicultural Advisory Committee (MAC) had a productive meeting in Seattle April 16-17. The Committee was joined by Washington-based WESTAF trustees as well as cultural leaders from various Seattle-based organizations, including LANGSTON, the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture, and the
Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience. The conversation focused on the importance and impact of a sustained investment in racial and social justice work and the need for cultural organizations rooted in community to inform responses to displacement, economic opportunity, and organizational capacity and longevity. WESTAF Board Chair Erin Graham also facilitated a workshop with the MAC members to devise strategies for realizing specific goals in the strategic plan related to leadership, equity, and collaboration with state arts agencies. The Committee’s next meeting will take place in November or December and will focus on rural communities.
 
WESTAF at Americans for the Arts Convention in the Twin Cities
WESTAF staff will be attending the Americans for the Arts Convention June 13-16 in Minneapolis. We invite you to stop by our table and say hello! Staff will be available to answer questions about current WESTAF projects, provide updates on our latest work, and share news about what we’re planning for 2019. If you or someone you know would like to schedule a time in advance to talk individually with a staff member about any WESTAF project while at the Convention, please email Leah.Horn@westaf.org.
 
WESTAF at Rural Generations Summit
WESTAF has received travel support from the National Endowment for the Arts to invite regional arts leaders to the Rural Generation Summit in Jackson, Mississippi May 22 – 24. Tey Marianna Nunn, former WESTAF trustee, current Multicultural Advisory Committee member, and director and chief curator of the Art Museum and Visual Arts Program at the National Hispanic Cultural Center; and Hunter Old Elk, Emerging Leaders of Color alumni and curatorial assistant at the Plains Indian Museum at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, will join Chrissy Deal and Christian Gaines at this important convening. WESTAF looks forward to learning more about how to support and participate in the work happening in rural communities across the region.
 
Celebrating TourWest’s 25th Season!
The 2019-2020 operating year marks the 25th season for TourWest, a touring and arts presenting program of WESTAF. This year, 298 applications were submitted for panel review. The panel is composed of seven performing arts leaders from the West who are familiar with nonprofit presenting as well as the goals of the TourWest program to build audiences, strengthen community engagement, and tour high quality performing arts throughout the 13 western states. This year, the panel is chaired by Arts Northwest Executive Director Sam Calhoun. The in-person panel will convene in Denver May 13-15, 2019.
 
Public Art Archive: New Front End and Faceted Search 
PAA recently completed a new front-end interface and more streamlined search and explore functionality. The team is also busy onboarding the public art collections of early adopters of its new Collection Management System. The system was developed in partnership with CollectionSpace specifically for the management of public art collections.
 
Creative Vitality™ Suite Curriculum in Development
CVSuite™ is halfway through the development of a curriculum around creative economy data. The 14-module course will cover topics on the history of the creative economy, best practices in data analysis, data providers in the arts, and how to use CVSuite to measure creative industries, the nonprofit sector, and workforce demographics. By offering an educational course about the creative economy in which the tool is presented as the primary data provider in the field, WESTAF hopes to establish the CVSuite as a thought leader and further distinguish it from its competitors. The CVSuite team also plans to explore various educational channels to maximize its reach within the field and provide a new income stream for the product.