(Are You A) New Leader in Non-Profit Arts?

I am not a novice with Social Media, dipping my fingers in  various pots; even so,  there are still many, many more pots waiting to be stirred. I’m also not a novice in regards to the arts and arts education.

I received the following from a FB acquaintance (thank you Susan Shatz), and knew I had to pass this on:

Barry’s Blog: The ARTS Dinner-Vention Project

There are many people who live, breathe, eat, sleep, etc. The Arts (capital letters on purpose) but don’t have the exposure or professional gravitas which would give them the recognition that they deserve. They may be young in age, or “still new” in their respective turn at this part of their career. In Barry’s words:

Regular followers of this blog know that late every August I publish a list of the Most Powerful and Influential Leaders in the Nonprofit Arts.  Most people understand that the list isn’t meritocracy based; it isn’t based on specific achievement or accomplishment per se; it doesn’t purport to necessarily identify the “best and brightest”, rather it merely identifies who has power and influence.

There has been some past comment that unfortunately the list excludes a whole cohort of serious thinkers – a group of younger (not necessarily chronologically younger) leaders omitted because their careers have not been long enough for them to develop the requisite power and influence the Most Powerful list embodies, and that there ought to be some mechanism that gives this cohort of leaders a voice and some recognition.  They are, after all, our future.

If you are interested/concerned about the state of the arts and nonprofit arts, I strongly suggest that you click HERE for the full blog entry. I know I’ll be giving this some serious thought.

Opening up dialogue with new thinkers, the ones who are doing the work, who resist hearing & living “we’ve always done it this way”…this is one way to acknowledge those who might seem behind the scenes but need to have a more national, if not international voice.

Let me know what you think.

Thanks.

About Barry: Former Director of the California Arts Council; President of the California Assembly of Local Arts Agencies; Executive Director LINES Ballet. Author (Hardball Lobbying for Nonprofits – MacMillan & Co.; Youth Involvement in the Arts – 2 phase study for the Hewlett Foundation; Local Arts Agency Funding Study for the Aspen Institute; City Arts Toolkit), consultant, public speaker. Barry’s Blog is a service of the Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF). The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of WESTAF.

Would You Like Fries With That?

Reblogged from bornstoryteller:

One of the most disturbing things that I have heard  from a student was:

"Why should I try? I'll only be working at McDonald's."

I was an Artist-in-Residence for a year for a large school district in Westchester County, NY. Still early in my profession, that statement was both a shock and a revelation of a point of view I had never considered before: low expectations given, and projected; leading this student to live  that that is all they can do.

Read more… 424 more words

While I have been slumbering, figuring out what to say/do with this blog, someone "liked it' this morning: rereading it, it gave me a renewed sense of purpose. I am job hunting, and that has taken over most of my concentration. Today I have two interviews, both for Director/Manager of Education position in arts administration. This post already has helped clear some of the cobwebs I've laid in my own way. Thanks for the like, Isurrett2.

Creative Aging and the Arts (Part 3)

National Guild for Community Arts Education

Brooklyn Conservatory of Music Awarded Creative Aging Grant

Arts for the Aging, Inc.

Lifetime Arts: Creative Aging Online

Creative Aging and the Arts (Part One)

Creative Aging and the Arts (Part Two)

Teaching Artist Tool Kit

Respect your elders.

I’ve heard that since I was a child, and a statement that was reinforced not only by my parents, but grandparents, teachers and mass media (although, in the early 60′s, mass media was nothing like it is today).  Elders used to be those we looked to to run the family, supply support and leadership, hear the history of the family, and to pass along traditions, both familial and often religious ones.

Now, we need to fight for respect for any elder, more times than not.

Vitality, purpose, health (both physical and mental), self worth, connections with others. These are only a smattering of things that can be accomplished when our older citizens are not talked down to or dismissed.

In Part Two, I wrote about the other group that presented during the Open Opera Conference: Creative Resurgence. Today, I’d like to present the work that I was honored to be part of:

Presentation: OPERA America: Music and Memories (pilot project)

Zach Redler (composer/pianist) and I (creative drama/creative writing) were brought onto a grant funded project by Laura Day Giarolo, Director of Learning and Community Engagement  for OPERA America. Working in conjunction with Project Find in NYC, Zach and I were brought together  on creating an ensemble  musical experience, stemming from the life stories of our participants.

We discussed our program: at a senior center in the upper west side of NYC,  for sixteen (16) weeks, we were allotted an hour and a half, once a week, to meet with our group. In May, we had a culminating “work-in-progress” performance of songs and short personal story bites as performed by the elder group we had worked with.

What was lovely were the connections the group made with each other. In sharing their stories, both in small groups and large, they found commonalities: this was not a homogenous group in regards to nationalities, only in age group. New friendships grew out of the process. Many, if not all, were asking when we would be coming back, doing this again, continuing the work we started. That, to me, is the success. They were energetic, bright eyed and happy…and in the end, that should account for a lot.

The beginning sessions were split in half between music and storytelling/writing.

Zach introduced musical concepts and structure that served our performers well: he gave them not only rehearsal material, but strove to deepen the understanding of what was being created, how it all fit together, and how it can evolve. As the process continued, many of the participants continued to contribute, offering key or tempo changes that only strengthened the songs. Zach was gracious throughout, adding what worked and then building on it. During the rehearsals, Zach modified his conducting style for the comfort of the group, finding new ways to bring them all together when they were getting nervous as the performance date got closer.

Starting off with a story game the first week, we dove into writing personal stories the following week. From there, I introduced a Japanese poetry form, a Tanka, that I felt would help them self edit their stories to the story beats. A Tanka is where Haiku’s came from: a longer piece, it has five lines instead of three. In American English syllables, a Tanka form is 5-7-5-7-7. This was a challenge for some of the elders, but the majority worked well with it. By this point, we had them working in small groups; Zach would then take these works and, with the whole group, start creating the songs for our performance.

Zach’s musical safe environment to work was continued in what I did. Seeing that some judgements were being made of others in our first session, I introduced the Liz Lerman Critical Response Process, which I’ve used with just about every age group I’ve worked with. If you click on the link above, you’ll find the full details: you start off with positive affirmations (“I liked…”; “I appreciated…”), and the only thing the presenter/performer can say is “Thank you.” Other sharing critique is asked for or garnered, creating a very different form of peer level support and notes.  Critique is to help each other grow, not to tear someone down, and for the most part the members of the group were diligent in following these rules.

Time was our enemy in that we didn’t always get the full allotted time scheduled (due to other programs going on in the center) and in the way Zach and I planned out the program. We needed more rehearsal time then we thought we would, and I know I should have better time management in getting the stories to poetry. Hopefully we will get the chance to do this again and learn from it.

**************************************

In Part Four of Creative Aging and the Arts, I’ll be discussing the responses/reactions of the attendees from the full day seminar,  reactions from these posts that I have received, and ideas of where to go from here.

**************************************

ATTENTION:

I am available for consulting on Inter-Generational Program Development

as well as Project Management/Facilitation

Please contact me at:

stuart.nager at gmail dot com

Creative Aging and the Arts (Part 2)

“There is a fountain of youth; it is your mind, your talents,
the creativity you bring to your life and the lives
of the people you love.  When you will learn to tap
this source, you will have truly defeated age.”

~Sophia Loren~

Creative Aging and the Arts (Part One)

 

The creative arts should be, to me, flexible and adaptable. Embracing new concepts, moving along with the social/economic/political spectrum, can allow new discoveries as well as keep things afloat. What good is it if you master your art, stick to that one idea, but the times have left you behind?

Arts administrations need to do the same, as the economic landscape has changed so drastically in the last five+ years. A new, or renewed, interest in Life Long Learners can be key in keeping organizations going well past the base of the school ages that many focus on.

What was inspiring to me was participating, through OPERA America, a section of the Open Opera Conference: Creative Resurgence. Opera companies are looking at involving the older adult population in more ways than just filling seats. A number of opera companies from across the US and Canada attended this day long workshop/program on Creative Aging, with many of them already utilizing interactive, participatory programs.

Storytelling is one of the primary arts disciplines that seems to  be in wide use: delving into true life testimonials, musical works have been formed, from revues to full mini-operas. Being part of the creative process, the participatory input ranged from storytelling and writing to either performing the work or having professional singers enact their life stories. The librettos ranged from true life to fictionalized non-fiction.

In Creative Aging and the Arts (Part 1), I spoke about our morning session with Ms. Susan Perlstein, an advocate for the creative aging movement, and is the Founder Emeritus for the National Center for Creative Aging (NCCA).  In the afternoon two groups shared with the assemblage two recent projects that had just been completed: the pilot project I did with my musical collaborator Zach Redler for OPERA America, and Opera North’s latest operatic collaboration with an elder population.

Presentation: Transitions: Sung Stories

Opera North, Inc. worked with NewCourtland (a service for older adults) to produce Transitions: Sung Stories. Gathering oral history from Philadelphia, PA elders, Jules Tasca (Librettist) and Leslie Savoy Burrs (Composer and Executive Director of Opera North, Inc.) created a moving story that stemmed from the real life interviews.

Relating the details of the process to the group, both Mr. Burrs and Mr. Tasca laid out a professional program that produces positive results. In a video that showcases Mr. Burrs, we got to obverse how he interacted with a group of physically challenged elders. Working with a variety of percussive instruments, the participants helped lead Mr. Burrs, wielding a flute, to compose one of the pieces that became part of their opera.

What was apparent, watching the video, was how involved and engaged everyone was. No one just sat on the side, a spectator. This was a vibrant community coming together for a project that celebrates their lives, and also celebrates the worth they still have in the greater society.

***********************

In Part Three of Creative Aging and the Arts, I’ll be discussing the work that I had the pleasure to experience with our group as well as responses/reactions of the attendees from the full day seminar.

**************************************

ATTENTION:

I am available for consulting on Inter-Generational Program Development

as well as Project Management/Facilitation

I am willing to travel or work over Skype with your organization

Please contact me at:

stuart.nager at gmail dot com

Creative Aging and the Arts (Part 1)

National Center for Creative Aging

Lifetime Arts

OPERA America

Project FIND

Arts For Humanity

What is your first thought when someone mentions a Senior/Elder Center or Nursing Home?

Did you envision the elderly sitting around, doing little, just passing time until…? Did you see them as audience members at a performance, or just sitting around large round tables eating? Were they napping, or just gazing off into the distance,  seemingly not connected to their surroundings?

Hopefully those days will be behind us as a new awareness is sinking in. Actively engaging the growing elder community is key to the growing number of organizations that work with this population. Inter-generational programming (from the 50′s and up, as the baby boomers join the elder sector) is being spoken of across the United States in all areas of the arts.

I was invited to be a Guest Speaker for OPERA America‘s Creative Resurgence conference, speaking to those opera companies (from Canada and the US) whose education departments reach out now to the centers, nursing homes, group homes and special organizations that cater to the older adult. A number of them make partnerships with libraries as well, helping build connections in their communities.

I was asked to attend this conference due to my recently completed pilot project with a senior center in NYC. We had worked on creating a musical experience crafted from the personal stories of our participants. I will talk more about this in the next part of this series.

Ms. Susan Perlstein, an advocate for the creative aging movement, led the day with the credo “Embrace This Moment!” Ms. Perlstein is the Founder Emeritus for the National Center for Creative Aging (NCCA). By the year 2030, it is anticipated that there will be over 70 million people over the age of 65, and that the number of those over 85 will double. There is also the chance that many will have to work, if possible, past what we normally determine as retirement age due to the economic realities we face.

There is evidence based research, as first conducted by The Research Center for Arts and Culture (RCAC) that has shown that interactive, participatory arts programs with the older person promotes a vitality in the aging process, helps to build vibrant communities, and has positive results in both the  physical and emotional states of the participants. Dr. Gene D. Cohen, the primary investigator of the research, stated that “Art is like chocolate to the brain.”

Entering into fairly new territory in the arts is exciting in the different challenges it gives to professional teaching artists and arts organizations. The methodology we’ve used for youth programs has to be modified, and in many cases whole new approaches have to be discovered for successful programs for those participating.  Understanding the various cognitive and physical changes that go on, and embracing the life history and stories that the elders bring with them are only the tip of what needs to be explored.

In Part 2, I will discuss more of my work in the field, and some observations from the conference attendees.

**************************************

ATTENTION:

I am available for consulting on Inter-Generational Program Development

as well as Project Management/Facilitation

I am willing to travel or work over Skype with your organization

Please contact me at:

stuart.nager at gmail dot com

Longer School Days/Year: Is This AN Answer?

Chicago Wants Longer School Days; Foes Want Details

Longer School Days That Work

Obama Calls For A Longer School Year

Iowa Considers Longer School year

Speak Your Piece: Longer School Year, and Better

 

 

I was just on an interview for a job I would love to have. One of the questions I was asked was about the working hours: would I mind working the longer hours this new school would schedule. What struck me is that it needed to be asked at all: there are many, many reasons why extended school time is needed today.

Before I continue, these are MY opinions from what I’ve observed in the field (I have taught as a Teacher, Teaching Artist and as a Substitute Teacher); I’ve left you five links above for others on the subject. Object if you must, but do so with justifications and always keep it civil.

I have heard from too many educators that there is just not enough time in the school day to accomplish all that must be done. I’ve experienced it myself: you just get things going, and they have to rush to another class instead of investing the time needed t o really explore. I’m not talking about busy work, which I have seen in an abundance. Actual student engaging moments get cut short many times.

We have a  shrinking teacher base, due to budget cuts in places there should not be budget cuts. Classrooms are overcrowded. Tests and evaluations and  rote “learning”  practices shove aside a real chance for connections and actual learning.

Yes, we should have more teachers, more classrooms, and less students per class.

With the changing economic realities, parents are not always home until later in the day. The idea of Mom always being home after school is antiquated in many parts of the US; that has changed, but the schools have not changed with the times. There are after school clubs and such already in place; but again, the idea for a longer day is not just social activities (which they do need to foster as well, since much of home life gets truncated that way).

Double blocks of teaching (80 to 90 mins) during the day gives the teacher and the class to work on projects. The time constraints we have now means that there are only three classes per day that way. A longer day would allow more constructive work.

Advisory meetings, portfolio work, special projects that have a true impact and are not busy work (again, seen too much of that), planning sessions; individualized work (NOT study halls: I saw, in one location, 12 students on computers playing Halo in study hall; not making that up, and it was not my place to stop them)…there is so much that can be accomplished with proper time use.

The long summer breaks were originally set up by agricultural needs: farmer kids needed to work on the farm. School came second.

Education should not come second in anything we do.

 

One Lovely Blog Award…Yes It Is

It was the 2012 Memorial Day Weekend, and I get a pleasant surprise: I have been honored TWICE with the One Lovely Blog Award, as passed on to me by Allan Douglas of Simple Life Prattle and The Write Stuff (and fellow Triberr buddy).

How could he bestow this upon  me twice? One is for here, Born Storyteller; the other is for my creative fiction blog, Tale Spinning.

The “rules” are simple:

1. Thank the person who awarded the award (Thank you Allan) and link back to their blogs: Click HERE and HERE
2. Tell SEVEN things about yourself that no one knows (but two blogs… 14.. but…14? TMI)
3. Pass on the award to (15) blogs you follow and like/admire/wish they were yours.
   1. I’ll do as many as I can.

So…

Seven Things :

1. I’ve lived on the East Coast of the USA all my life, but have visited more than half of the states now.
2. I read SciFi, Fantasy, Thrillers, Mysteries, and then the occasional other book. Existentialism, anyone?
3. I wish  the lyrics to John Lennon’s song  Imagine were achievable.
4. People find me unfocused in my field of interest (the arts); I find myself versatile.
5. I believe in ghosts, but not vampires and werewolves. Especially not shimmery vampires.
6. I like both cats and dogs; I do NOT like fish, as pets or otherwise.
7. I have never gone to a demolition derby or a monster truck thingy; I’d like to, at least once.

In no particular order, blogs I pass this along to, and you should give them a look/leave a comment (tell ‘em I said Hi):

Woman Wielding Words

The Eagle’s Aerial Perspective

Ghost Cities

My Rivendell

ZenCherry

The View Outside

David Powers King

Cherie Reich-Author

No Wasted Ink

Sweepy Jean Explores the (Webby) World

Daily (W)Rite

Raising Amelie

Sonia Rumzi

A French Yummy Mummy in London

Rock the Kasbah

Civil Rights/Religion Rights…the (Un)United States

What Is Important?

Washington Post: NC Passes Gay Marriage Ban

Supporters and Critics Wait for What’s Next

Here’s how I see all this:

You can believe in what you want. As long as it’s not hateful or harmful to others, I’ll even listen to your POV if you promise not to try to ram it down my throat, or try to convince me that your belief is the only right way.

Democrats and Republicans do many wrong things, for the wrong reasons: there are lobbies/big money that have no concerns for the people of this country, only profits.

The blame game is what is hurting this country. I read a series of posts on FB, an anti-President Obama thread, that were  volatile and negative spewing. The main thrust was, from the person who started the thread, that he feels all Republicans should say NO to anything coming from an opposing POV.

No listening and judge on individual merits; no attempt to compromise; no attempt to work for the betterment of all the people in the country. Just Say NO was his mantra…and then he and others complained that “the liberals” only spout and don’t listen and run away from a fight.

[Side Bar: As to arguments about Bush Bashing...one thing to disagree with the  man, which I do. I have my reasons: my two biggest complaints are: his getting the news of the 9/11 attacks and just sitting dumbfounded in a Kindergarten classroom, not making a move, not directing the country, not showing any action; the second is, when asked about his greatest achievement in office, he talks about a fish he caught. Joke or not, to me, it's not funny. I'm not even going to go into the economic state of the union he left for whoever won the election to pick up after him. Nope. Not going there.]

Before any civil rights acts, inter-racial marriages were forbidden, as were inter-religious ones. They were, for those days, their own “war on marriage” which, yes, I have seen slogans for.

The President spoke his mind and made a stand: he believes in same sex marriage. He did not say any other state of marriage should be nullified, nor did he exclude anyone. He did not say, in any way, that this was a war on marriage.  He did not say we all must believe as he did. Many won’t, and that is their prerogative. He is, if anything, advocating the civil rights of the “rest” of the country for consenting adults in love to get married.

If you don’t want to be married to someone of the same sex, or a different religion, or a different skin color, or a different nationality, then: JUST DON’T. But, don’t impose your own POV on someone else.

Why then, as a straight man, am I so behind repealing an amendment based on hatred and bigotry?

I’m also a JEWISH male, and if anyone wants to talk about history of abuse and hatred against a people, then let’s talk. We got ya beat by thousands of years.

It’s time to let things that are NOT important to the running of a country go, and focus on what we can do POSITIVELY and for the GOOD OF THE PEOPLE.  The civil rights of American Citizens are being crushed under foot by those who say they love this country.

You love this country, then show it. Stop forcing your negative religious beliefs on others and do something positive with all that energy.

Fight poverty

Fight human trafficking

Fight hunger

Fight injustice (and you better believe this is injustice)

Fight for a stronger economy

Fight to bring our schools back to a place of prominence

Fight for a way to bring this country together, instead of continuously tearing it apart

What Is Important?

Homelessness

Hunger

Violence Against Women and Children

Violence, period

Education (providing the best; promoting and supporting a healthy structure)

Unemployment

Health Care for all

…the list can go on, and please feel free to add on to the list of “Important Things.”

Yet, we as a nation focus on something that is NOT Important in how the country is run, how the lives of the people are improved on, how we can help to strive for a better future. We seem to be fixated on something that obfuscates real issues:

Who Can Marry Whom.

Used to be interracial marriages were illegal. Inter-religious ones were kinda verboten. Segregation issues (against Blacks, Jews, etc) were the standards. All along these lines, those barriers came down, and…unless it is hit with personal prejudices and bias, had not affected your life in any real way. You may not like it, still, but really: beyond sensibilities…?

If marriage is so sanctified (there again: marriage is NOT only a religious ceremony, and hasn’t been for a long time: civil court marriages anyone?) then why do so many heterosexual couplings end in divorce? Why do so many wind up cheating on their spouse (Yeah, looking at you, Newt)? Why do so many in POWER (talking money power too) think it gives them the right to abandon that sanctity for the trophy wife, the mistress, the pursuit of affairs outside of wedded bliss? How many heterosexual wives were jettisoned for younger models, straying outside of “under God”, etc?

So, about me…

I’m not gay

I’m not Black

I’m not a woman (which also brings up: why can OLD men in the Senate tell a woman what she can do with her body?)

I’m not overly political, but I lean more towards the Democrats than Republicans; I feel Libertarians have more to add to the discussion, but are too extreme for what we are now.

I AM for HUMAN rights and freedoms, ones that have nothing to do with a political agenda but one that should strive for the betterment of humankind. Except for committing violence against myself or others, I have no right to say to another: “hey, I don’t like you doing that, it offends me, so I will stop you from doing it.” I just don’t have that right.

Thomas Jefferson wrote the phrase about “separation of church and state,” and while it is not in any formal document, I feel it should be.

The freedom of religion and of speech is set in constitutional stone; you can believe in what you want, and say it as well, but don’t push it on me.

I may not (and don’t, in this case) share your point of view.

Repel Amendment One, and put all this effort into something that will help other people, not bog us down in negative things.

What would happen if we put this much energy into doing something positive?

We are a very Un-United States.

***My own Amendment:  5/8/2012 at 4:00 pm EST:

Internet of Babel

http://www.somethingawful.com/

Taking a short hiatus from things can be good, now and then. I’ve wondered what to do with this blog: the guest posts have given me a wonderful respite, allowing me time to get better as well as well lend time to write when I felt like it, as opposed to just churning out something to post.

So…a huge thank you to all who have already guest blogged here, and to the ones that I still have in wait. I’m going to set up that schedule soon.

As to right now, I again find myself questioning directions for the next segment of my life. I am tired of all the negative chatter that surrounds  us; doing something, anything, is preferable than sitting in a corner (to me). I am not sure if this is the proper forum for achieving any goals.

Is blogging just another Tower of Babel?

I took on the mantle of blogging just a wee bit more than a year ago: “get an internet presence!” was what my (then, hopeful) agent said to me, as well as others. In that year time, I am still not sure what greater good this has done for me or anyone else. So…

Now that I have that down, I need to take another step back, post the guest posts I have in hand, and figure out “What Comes Next.”

One thing: I commented on Bonnie Copeland’s (My Rivendell) The Foundations of Character post about what I feel breaks down character. I do think we are lacking in character, overall, and bend to who shouts the loudest. I called it a “non-community of yellers”, the age we’re living in.

Listen—really listen to someone’s POV. Place your own concerns aside for the moments it takes to really click with where someone is coming from. Communicate back: don’t condemn, place judgement (moral or religious or political) and LISTEN. Ask questions “Why?” or ask for clarification.

Does it take time? Sure, a bit more. But…we’d all be better off if we agreed to really hear what someone else has to say, really try to care why they feel that way.

Thanks for all of your support. It DOES mean a lot.