WESTAF Update Notes #78 | January 2014
From Anthony Radich, Executive Director
This is the 78th in a continuing series of updates about the work of WESTAF
Initial Participants in WESTAF’s 15th Cultural Policy Symposium Announced
In collaboration with the California Arts Council, WESTAF will sponsor its 2014 symposium, Creativity and Innovation in Public Education. This 15th gathering of arts and policy experts will convene March 3-5 at architect Frank Gehry’s studio in Santa Monica. Gehry will also present the opening symposium address. Confirmed symposium participants include: James S. Catterall, Director, Centers for Research on Creativity, Professor Emeritus, University of California Los Angeles; Robert Bilder, Director, Tennenbaum Center for the Biology of Creativity, University of California Los Angeles; Robert and Michele Root-Bernstein, authors of Sparks of Genius, Michigan State University; Edward P. Clapp, Research Specialist, Project Zero, Harvard; Harvey Seifter, Founder and Director, Art of Science Learning; Margaret Brommelsiek, Director, Interprofessional Education Health Sciences Schools, University of Missouri–Kansas City; Gerald Richards, CEO, 826 International; Mark A. Runco, E. Paul Torrance Professor of Creativity Studies, University of Georgia; James Haywood Rolling, Jr., Dual Associate Professor, Art Education and Teaching and Leadership, Syracuse University; and Joel Slayton, Executive Director, Zero1 Art and Technology Network. To register as an observer for WESTAF’s 2014 symposium, please contact Leah Horn.
The symposium will conclude a special convening of CREATE CA. CREATE CA is a collaborative project of the California Alliance for Arts Education, the California Arts Council, the California County Superintendents Educational Services Association, and the the California Department of Education. CREATE CA teams innovative thinkers from multiple sectors of California’s creative economy–public and private. The purpose of this teaming is to create an educational environment for all California students that features arts education as a central element in K-12 education.
WESTAF’s Third Arts Leadership and Advocacy Meeting Announced
WESTAF will bring 50 arts leaders from the West to Washington, DC February 3-5 for an Advocacy and Leadership Seminar. The group will receive briefings regarding the status and future of federal arts funding, hear reports on programmatic developments at the NEA, and meet with non-arts experts who work with federal-level issues. The meeting will open with a presentation by Huffington Post reporter Sam Stein and conclude with arranged visits to the offices of members of Congress from the WESTAF-region.
WESTAF Convenes Young Arts Leaders of Color from Across the Region
WESTAF hosted its third annual Young Leaders of Color Professional Development Seminar November 14-15, in Denver. The two-day session brought together 12 diverse cultural leaders recognized by state arts agencies and other senior state arts leaders for their professional achievements and strong commitment to advancing the arts in the region. The session was led by long-time arts administrator Margie Reese. She was assisted by Salvador Acevedo, President of the San Francisco-based consulting firm Contemporánea, and WESTAF Trustee Tamara Alvarado, Director of Community Access and Engagement for the School of Arts and Culture at the Mexican Heritage Plaza in San Jose.
Invited participants for the 2013 seminar included: Claudia Borjas, Arts Representative, Utah Division of Arts and Museums, Salt Lake City, Utah; Danielle Brooks, Poet, Owner, RhapsoDee Entertainment Group, Aurora, Colorado; SuJ’n Chon, Arts Consultant, Novum Lux, Seattle, Washington; Anastacio Del Real, Cultural Specialist/Co-Founder and CEO, City of Las Vegas Office of Cultural Affairs/Fiesta Las Vegas Latino Parade and Festival, Las Vegas, Nevada; Abe Flores, Field Education and Leadership Programs Manager, Americans for the Arts, Washington, DC; Jadira Gurule, Graduate Student, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico; Myrlin Hepworth, Poet, Teacher and Co-Founder, Phonetic Spit, Phoenix, Arizona; Cindy Im, Development Manager and Actor, Theatre Bay Area, San Francisco, California; Estria Miyashiro, Artist/Creative Director, Estria Foundation, Honolulu, Hawai’i; Robin Mullins, Managing Director, Portland Taiko, Portland, Oregon; Madalena Salazar, Latino Cultural Programs Coordinator, Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado; and Rico Worl, Arts Director and Jinéit Store Manager, Sealaska Heritage Institute, Juneau, Alaska.
For more information about WESTAF’s Young Leaders of Color Seminar or other multicultural initiatives, please contact Chrissy Deal.

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