Social Responsibility & inclusion
ELC Alum Featured in Grammy Interview
Delbert Anderson (Emerging Leaders of Color alumnus, 2021) was recently interviewed by journalist Morgan Enos about the difficulties of being a Native American musician in today’s music industry. Anderson’s interview is accompanied by other Indigenous artists who share their thoughts and experiences in going through similar situations. Check out the interview and learn more about what’s next for Anderson.
ALLIANCES, ADVOCACY & Policy
WESTAF to Create Bay Area Arts Policy Seminar with Funding from Hewlett Foundation
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation’s Performing Arts team has awarded a grant to WESTAF to develop an arts advocacy and policy seminar over 14 months in the Bay Area. The project will be led by WESTAF’s alliances, advocacy and public policy team in collaboration with the marketing and communications team and in partnership with Californians for the Arts. Further details will be shared in the coming months.
WESTAF to Create Bay Area Arts Policy Seminar with Funding from Hewlett Foundation
Ten artists, companies, and ensembles were selected in the first phase of the National Endowment for the Arts Performing Arts Discovery program being managed by WESTAF and delivered by the Western Arts Alliance in collaboration with sister regional arts organizations. Versa-Style Dance Company, Ensemble Mik Nawooj, and acoustic picker Cary Morin were selected from the West in the first round alongside artists from other regions. The ten artists and groups were showcased at the Western Arts Alliance Conference and at the Arts Midwest Conference. A selection of these artists were also featured at the National Endowment for the Arts/International Federation of Arts Councils and Cultural Agencies (IFACCA) Americas Cultural Summit 2021 in November 2021. Read on for information on phase two of the program—now accepting applications!
Applications Open for Second Phase of Performing Arts Discovery Program
The U.S. Regional Arts Organizations, led by WESTAF and the Western Arts Alliance (WAA) are now accepting applications for phase two of the Performing Arts Discovery Program (PAD). An additional 20 applicants will be selected, with all 30 PAD artists and/or ensembles working remotely with the PAD showcase production team beginning in March 2022 to develop professionally produced live performance videos. These videos will be featured on a dedicated platform as well as included in selected international online showcases later in 2022.
WESTAF Moderates Fieldwide Conversation at the Association of Performing Arts Professionals (APAP) Pre-Conference
WESTAF Deputy Director David Holland moderated a fieldwide conversation, “The Future of Presenting and Booking: The Role of Convenings in an Altered Landscape,” at the recent APAP Pre-Conference. The session brought together panelists Kevin Stone, president, Florida Professional Presenters Consortium; Loni Boyd, co-chair, Wisconsin Presenters Alliance; Christine Lim, board member, California Presenters; Gail Boyd, president, Gail Boyd, President, North American Performing Arts Managers and Agents (NAPAMA); and Thia Knowlton, senior vice president, IMG Artists, over 160 attendees, and the APAP team to discuss the ways presenters are approaching programming and the booking cycle as a result of the challenges and opportunities of the last 18 months and ways that convenings and conferences can play a role in supporting the work moving forward. A moderated panel, breakout groups, and a collective wisdom share-out considered the challenges to the viability of touring from audience, public health, health and safety, mental health, programming, contractual, technical and logistical, and financial perspectives. It also considered ways to evolve and innovate the booking conference format in ways that are inclusive, accessible, and impactful.
David Holland Elected Co-Chair of the Creative States Coalition
Ernesto Balderas, communications director, Utah Cultural Alliance; Claire Rice, executive director, Arts Alliance Illinois; and WESTAF Deputy Director David Holland were elected as Co-Chairs of the Creative States Coalition at their conference in Charleston, South Carolina the week before last after being nominated. They will serve a national member network of 50 state arts advocacy organizations, national arts service organizations, state arts agencies, and regional arts organizations across the country.
WESTAF WEB SERVICES
ZAPP® and GO Smart™ Team Up in Collaborative Webinar
ZAPP and GO Smart recently teamed up to offer a collaborative webinar to showcase to ZAPP clients what the grant process entails. ZAPP has also created several resources from this webinar for questions regarding potential future grantmaking endeavors.
CaFÉ™ Opens Free Call to Artists of All Mediums
In recognition of the hardships that the pandemic, ongoing racial injustice, climate change and more has brought to the artist community, CaFÉ will showcase the work of artists from the past two years through its Recharge the Arts call. CaFÉ will feature selected artwork on their website, social media pages, and other spaces to highlight the resiliency, endurance, and talent of the artists who use the platform! The call is open to all mediums and is free to apply. The deadline to apply has been extended to Friday, December 17, 2021.
Public Art Archive to Present on a Panel at the 50th Annual Art Libraries Society of North America Conference
In spring 2022, Public Art Archive Manager Lori Goldstein will be presenting on a panel moderated by CollectionSpace during the 50th annual conference of The Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA). The panel will focus on different types of engagement, accessibility trends and emerging technologies that can help online databases like Public Art Archive create more equitable relationships between organizations as well as how these databases can be utilized as teaching tools.
CVSuite™ Releases First in Series of DataEd Videos
A premiere video released for DataEd by CVSuite™—the first in a series of video installments—dives into the questions, methodologies, and practices to better understand and analyze creative economy data. Part one focuses on defining the creative economy and ways to look at the creative economy through data analysis.
November Blog: Exploring Disability Culture with DisArt
The GO Smart team (and the whole WESTAF team!) recently participated in a professional development session on disability culture led by Christopher Smit and Jill Vyn from DisArt. In November’s blog post, GO Smart shares a few highlights from the session and dives into the four different models of disability.
GO Smart™ Participates in Technology Association of Grantmakers Product Showcase
GO Smart participated in the Technology Association of Grantmakers (TAG) Product Showcase on Tuesday, December 7. Highlighting the newest innovations and updates from product providers, GO Smart Product Manager Jessica Gronich conducted a brief walkthrough of the program, providing insight on how organizations can move their grant administration to the cloud to streamline and digitize their grantmaking processes.
WESTAF Community NEWS
WESTAF Holds Hybrid Board of Trustees Meeting in Denver
In late October, WESTAF held its first hybrid annual meeting, with trustees, staff, and equity and inclusion committee members gathering in-person for the first time since before the pandemic began. This weeklong annual WESTAF gathering was carefully produced to create memorable and lasting experiences, and build a stronger WESTAF community for all participants in-person and virtually. It was an action-packed four days that resulted in valuable, meaningful, and actionable dialogue on equity at WESTAF, and a professional development session conducted by DisArt to learn about how WESTAF could be a part of bettering equitable access to the arts for the disabled community.
Partners
Apply Now for Music Education Partnership Grants
Chorus America recently launched a new grants program, Music Education Partnership Grants, which will award $900,000 to support increased access to singing-based education while upholding the principles of access, diversity, equity and inclusion. This program will fund partnerships between schools and community organizations during the 2022-2023 school year with grants ranging from $15,000-$50,000. The deadline to apply is Friday, January 28, 2022. For more information, visit the eligibility criteria page or learn more about the selection process and scoring rubrics.
The January 26th application deadline for the NEA Big Read is fast approaching. With an aim to inspire meaningful conversations, artistic responses, and new discoveries and connections between communities, this year’s opportunity will feature a diverse range of voices, perspectives and themes. Visit the link below for more information, including archived webinars on this grant opportunity.
CONNECT WITH US
The Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF) is a nonprofit arts service organization dedicated to strengthening the financial, organizational, and policy infrastructure of the arts in the West (Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawai’i, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming). WESTAF assists state arts agencies, arts organizations, and artists in their quest to serve diverse audiences, enrich the lives of local communities, and provide access to the arts for all. Through innovative programming, advocacy, research, technology, and grantmaking, WESTAF encourages the creative advancement and preservation of the arts regionally and through a national network of customers and alliances.
