Tennessee Arts Commission’s Strategic Planning Middle TN Public Meeting

 The Tennessee Arts Commission’s Strategic Planning Public Meeting

Wednesday, December 4, 2013 

Nashville Children's Theatre 1:00 -3:00 PM with networking at 12:30 PM

PANEL MEMBERS 

Dr. Ted Brown
President, Martin Methodist College, Pulaski

Dr. Barbara Hodges
Executive Director, Kids for the Creative Arts, Murfreesboro

The Honorable Lonnell Matthews
Metro Councilman and Operations Executive,
Davidson County School Age Services, YMCA of Middle Tennessee

Bo Spessard
COO and in-house attorney, Emma, Nashville

Moderated by Ann Coulter, Principal, A. Coulter Consulting, Chattanooga

 

Round-Table Discussion Report

 Question 1: How are the arts positively impacting your community? Give examples.

• Our organizations are already doing the 10 items mentioned as being things the arts are well suited to do on the slide presentation.
• As a muralist, I work with at risk populations and the work we create becomes the participants’ vision as opposed to just my vision as an artist.
• Art organizations are actively engaged in arts education by filling in the gaps left by schools.
• Great strides have been made in efforts to engage diverse audiences. Organizations are starting to see this as being valuable to the organizations as well as their audiences. There is still room for progress.
• Examples include Cheekwood’s Day of the Dead Festival, the Notes for Notes program and Oasis Center uses arts in its juvenile character development program. 
• In the Woodbine area, there is not a lot going on in the arts.  There’s a neighborhood association that puts on the Flat Rock Arts Festival for four or five years at Coleman Park, which is growing.  It promotes cohesiveness and community identity.  
• In our rural county, Hickman Co., we have lots of churches, which define social life.  Arts events are a way for people to interact beyond their church, they create another sense of community.  We create events for all to interact, it’s slowly happening.  It takes people from outside the area to create arts events.  
• The Southern Festival of Books in downtown Nashville, creates a visible, critical mass of people getting together for an event that is literature focused.  You can see thirty thousand people at once in a public space showing support for the arts, visible public component of what is usually a private activity (reading) or shared in small groups (book clubs).  Economic impact is determined by attendance (sixty percent come from outside Davidson co., for example).  It’s a free event, not ticketed.  There’s an expectation for number to grow.  We count people going to sessions, buying books and concessions.
• In Centerville in Hickman Co, we track sales tax for the day of the event, and that provides evidence to the mayor and city encouraging them to support arts events.
• Nashville Ballet reaches thirty thousand children a year through its outreach program, perform at schools, partner with schools for six residency programs reaching students not otherwise exposed to the arts to develop appreciation for dance.  There is a very small dance presence in after school and head start programs, so have started to go to Headstart programs to perform dances for, three year olds,  getting movement, arts education, cognitive skills to these young kids.
• Frist Center: Frist as an asset. OUR impact…academically, economic development. AAMD did economic impact study. Take a look at that.
• Google map – map the students 17,000 per year. Identify groups based on exhibitions. War exhibit – outreach to audiences. Put together an advisory group of veterans, etc. to help with outreach = mental health issues. 
• Native American Indian Association – huge part of our heritage. Need to incorporate American Indian art. Annual festival at Long Hunter State Park– overwhelmed by school children – 14-15,000 for 3 day weekend. Free and open to public. 12 to 15 buses. 
• Get requests for them to come to the schools…Cannon, Rutherford, Davidson…middle Tennessee area.
• We help drive a one hundred million dollar tourism industry in Cannon County.
• Represent Nashville and TN on a global stage: help setting global brand through ticket sales and recordings
• Raising Nashville creativity quotient.
• Raising quality of life by giving retires things to do: volunteers. Staying active and 
• Immeasurable impact and investment of arts experiences
• Celebrate local culture
• Offer public visibility for critical mass of readers and arts consumers
• Flatrock Arts Festival  give the neighborhood a sense of cohesiveness
• Global Education Center recently sponsored a one-person show in our area that I doubt I would have seen elsewhere
• In Nashville, there’s a significant influx of arts in the last few years
• The Frist Center has worked with several communities on special projects and with ESL communities. All ages, all ethnicities
• Quality of life, innovative thinking, jobs
• The arts and creative thinking are worthwhile. Creativity allows for strong focus and with that focus comes positive interactions
• Community involvement and sense of community ownership in public spaces – Art Crawl in Wedgewood – Houston has enjoyed and partnered with the neighborhood organization to plan events and opportunities
• A chance to express ourselves when we, as the disability community, don’t have typical ways
• The arts and creativity are an essential way to help causes and non-profits tell their story, raise funds and create experiences for people in need.
• Too many to list here, but follow facebook.com/creativity moves for a lot of local examples
• Engage the public and allows the public to take ownership/responsibility in the community (take pride in neighborhoods, etc)
• Express desire to create. Creativity is expressed
• Can create common ground, cohesion
• One participant explained that she used to live in East Nashville, where there is plenty of public art. She now lives in Antioch, where there is very little. She expressed that public art is very uplifting for a community and would like to see more of it in Antioch. Furthermore, it was expressed that public art should reflect the community’s demographics. 
• The Watermarks Public Art series was discussed at our table as public art that strongly reflects the surrounding communities. It was also noted that these pieces have been the site of community gatherings. 
• Because of accessible cultural programming racial reconciliation and religious tolerance increase significantly
• Several participants agreed that they’ve witnessed individuals develop self-expression and critical thinking as a result of exposure to and involvement in the arts. 
• I live in Antioch, which has had its share of problems. But the community is so excited that metro is renovating the Hickory Hollow shopping mall. There will be a new community center and library which will include a new piece of public art. The new public artwork will keep rejuvenate our neighborhood’s public image.
• I work with the Oasis Center here in Nashville.  When we host workshops in our art studio we hear a lot of kids say, "I can't do it" at first.  But when the kids participate in the workshops and complete the activity without giving up, kids learn to be positive and confident in their abilities. These art making activities are very therapeutic, students are forced to slow down, drown out the negative voices and focus on the task at hand.
• At my organization, we have a program where musicians create different pieces of music and then local students put the various pieces together and curate the finished product. This activity promotes an appreciation for Jazz music that students might not have otherwise.
• I live in Ryman Lofts which is part of an affordable housing initiative for artists in Nashville.  It is a great networking opportunity for residents who are looking to work with other artists or make trades for services they might not be able to afford otherwise. Whether your band needs a bass player for an upcoming show or a graphic designer to help design your website, there is always someone willing to help.

Question 2: What can we do beyond funding to get the arts to more children in your region?

• TAC should partner with libraries and community centers as well as schools
• There should be a network of artists and some sort of marketplace or showcase to market them to schools
• The poor community has no arts organizations, so churches and non-arts organizations pick up the slack with arts and cultural events.  However, the difficulty of grantwriting is a huge hurdle for these groups.  Our community lacks the institutional infrastructure to apply for funding.  The TAC needs to do more outreach, technical assistance, talk to them specifically about how to apply for grants.
• Teachers, children, parents love the arts, but school administrations cutting arts from the budgets, and leave teachers no time or leeway to add it.  The panic about money and testing comes from higher up, on the administration level.  As a result there is reluctance among teachers to go outside the box since they have to abide by administrative mandates.  Years ago TAC had a wonderful program with the State Board of Education, a partnership to interact with teachers and artists.  School administrators need to be convinced that the arts can impact the schools.  Perhaps TAC could talk with Dept. of Education.  Schools are under pressure from testing.  Local arts advocates needing to have voices heard by education.
• It's a curricular issue, all the emphasis is on science, math, everything is results oriented. There needs to be hard data proving that curriculum should be structured so math, science can collaborate with the arts, music, show it is a positive thing.  
• Parents put pressure on school systems?  Start with educating the PTA, get parents to support the arts.  Parents often involved in aggressive fundraisers for the schools, but the money often goes for tech, equipment, athletics, rather than the arts.  Also low income areas in the city and rural counties lack strong PTAs  or in some cases, any PTA at all.
• Art is not seen as essential or a priority by the public at large.  Other things are a priority – i.e., jobs, health.  Finding a way to bridge, to show measurable impacts of arts education, arts experiences, ON “essential priorities” – economic development – is a way to insert arts into the conversation
• Art can't be advocated by itself, has to be incorporated into math, science, language, curriculum. 
• How broaden your reach? Partnerships. Native American Indian Association is not in the system. Not considered an arts organization. 
• Target the parents. Educate them on the stats/value of arts in their schools.
• Series of 1 minute videos “art is all around you” for school kids. Frist kids.org working to reach.
• Tennessee State Museum – facility. Movement there. TSM updated 21^st Century Classroom so now have means of providing satellite education and training.  Funded by Nissan. Hoping to expand through You Tube and google offering sessions on Tennessee History. 
• Have a heavy arts focus at TSM.
• Help create markets for Native American artisans. 
• Use art to teach language skills to Native American kids through federal grant.
• Community engagement exercises: 
• Immeasurable impact and investment of arts experiences/ framing the creative process as an informal process that has definite applications and impact on students
• Helping to work with school districts to make it easier a better system to connect artist and arts organizations.
• The use of technology for greater access
• Being able to go to where the kids are or target audiences maybe 
• How the commission can help students engage the community engagement piece
• Expand your teaching artist program so TN artists can assist inside and outside the classroom. Make grants that utilize artist-teachers available to everyone with minimal restrictions.
•  Fund this category heavily (mini-grants: are orgs who receive operating support eligible for mini-grants?)
• Creating awareness
• Mobilize the art to go to the children
• Frist Center “Art Trunks”
• Help promote and create visibility for existing programs for kids that will help other funders and supporters discover them.
• Facilitate connections/collaborations between your members, doing this kind of work and seeking these kinds of programs
• Help crate and foster opportunities for arts organizations and partner with community liaison to meet people interested in working together who otherwise might not meet. Putting artists and art advocates into more non-arts meetings. What does a networking event look like if you are not mid-level, middle-class person? How to engage these? When and where and how do these events happen?
• Match artists to schools
• Identify collaborative opportunities
• Professional development for teaching artists
• Identify community liaisons
• TAC can foster dialogue between State Board of Education and the arts as a valued teaching tool and hope it trickles down to the schools, as a go-ahead for already willing teachers to bring it back into the classroom
• Educate school PTA leaders about availability of arts programs and their value. Schools use discretionary funds for technology and equipment. A small percent redirected to artist visits and events would make a big impact. They may not know how affordable it is
• Outreach to first-time applicants at non-arts organizations
• Beyond funding, it is important to develop a presence in the community. Steer people toward public arts that can be teaching tools for children. Those works already exist and can be great ways to engage children
• Use media as an educational tool for the arts. Specifically elements of art, getting moving – dance theater. Curious about reading and writing creatively
• Open doors for consistent placement of arts in school curriculums. Organizations have resources that they are willing to give, but entry is impossible. Need participation in planning for standards, curriculums, etc.
• Transportation
• Support for reaching families that have English as their second language (training)
• Be adaptive. Be inclusive. Teach teachers not to fear general disabilities. 500,000 youth with autism will lose their services in the next 10 years after graduating high school. It is at least 700K if counting all developmental disabilities. Many are innately talented artistically. We have just begun phase one workshops of the inclusive CreativeArts co-op where adults with and without disabilities create, exhibit and sell their work. This will eventually be a full-time program
• Reform education so that teachers have more time and support in incorporating the arts
• Create legislation that reflects the arts as cohesive and inextricable from our lives, which is ‘true advocacy’
• At The Nashville Jazz Workshop we find ourselves competing with kid’s busy schedules. Lots of students have numerous extracurricular hobbies taking place after-school. In order to still reach those students we are opening up dress refusals to different groups during the day.
• I think we need more visionary directors/leaders that encourage government employees to insert themselves in creative workshops for community groups that target young audiences.
•  “Trying to reach more students is difficult for non-profits but I think reaching a bigger audience is easier when your organization has presences on social media websites.”
• Government agencies could facilitate connections between schools and arts organizations through programs and workshops they are already sponsoring or hosting.  
• Making sure we are making the most of the time students spend in their art class. Teachers see every child in school, weekly. I think it is important that our local teachers have resources to curriculum and classroom activities that expose children to all the great resources our city has to offer, like public art.

Question 3: What could we do to help the arts get “a seat at the table” in all Tennessee communities?

• The Metro council member on the panel has the right idea. Find out what the agenda at the table is and come with what the arts can do to advance that agenda.
• We need to foster a new generation of arts allies outside the arts community.
• TAC could email constituents statistical studies showing how the arts affect test scores, economic development, how to access that information. (Note:  some of this info available on TAC website under ARTS ED)  Look at jobs for TN graduates, show that the arts produce jobs.  Does Americans for the Arts, TFTA have statistics proving to administrators? Show me the numbers.
• It's about personalities. The presence of a sympathetic ear.  Find those people! Work them.  People come and go, when your champion is gone, you rebuild.  
• Strategies are different in different areas.  We don’t have arts groups in all TN counties or city neighborhoods.  TFTA is taking responsibility for lobbying for the arts to protect the license plate revenue stream and provide online materials for arts constituents to advocate for the arts.  
• Defending “the formula” (arts income from license plates) is a real priority.  
• The parents, the people who live in communities, they are the people who elect the legislators.  Political action, community forums, inviting people into community centers, educating about the arts, what lack of the arts would mean.
• Planning and development, communicate with elected officials
• Grassroots action is important.  If it's happening down on the street, the elected officials have to notice.  We can do a lot because we’re not in their way.  Before there was anything, there was the public library.  If there were two people who wanted to do someone thing, the librarian said yes.  Trickle down to all kinds of arts events
• Public partnership model.  TAC could partner with neighborhood associations and groups, neighborhood resource centers.  Gov’t organizations partnering with local entities. Do more than just offer a grant. Communication, contacts, addresses, access to the community. 
• Do research:  Creative peacemaking book.  Rise of the creative class.  William Cleveland, speaker at conference, valuable insight.
• Support seats that are already there/ Advocacy.  Target the parents. Educate them on the stats/value of arts in their schools.
• Need for private and public sectors and arts sector need to speak the same language/communicate better. Arts seen as separate, independent, an ancillary thing to support and enjoy.
• People in the arts can't be afraid can't be afraid to be political/ being strategic And critical in garnering support
• Leveraging political connections of arts legislators and arts supporters
• Raising awareness of art issues: the arts commission playing a role to highlight what table they need to have a seat at.
• Being involved with the chamber in your community / partnering
• Advocacy for relationship 
• Economic impact studies case. Looking at MTSU or other partner to hell with economic impact studies,
• What is being said is not being reflective in the funding.
• Find out civic/political agenda and goals and find connection point with arts
• Boot camp to train mid-level artists and organizations to join civic organizations and committees; create incentives by making in an honor to participate; encourage them to walk with their leadership to get plugged in
• Access to staff of legislators
• Critical thinking
• A shift in the culture and an understanding of what’s offered through the arts. We currently see a shift in Nashville that is bringing arts to the forefront
• Partner with neighborhood resources or community centers to educational forums
• Provide arts advocates with clear measurable data on benefits of arts in communities and schools: economic, social and cultural
• Provide easily accessible list of statistics, resources, planning tools that can be used by grass roots organization to convince of value of the arts in the economic , educational, cultural, tourism levels
• Specific arts orientation for council leadership class with arts focus
• Widen the vocabulary of how we talk about creativity in communities. Specific and clear ways the arts impact a group/place; Use past examples relevant to that community and shown to them through methods they use and find relevant.
• How to make parents advocate? Give them tools and opportunities to know value of arts
• Tie into the concept of “creativity and the creative community” which is broader and includes entrepreneurs, science, design, marketing, business, leadership, etc
• Change the vocabulary to engage a broader audience
• Help our arts organizations be strong and help us articulate our various and common voices, in all way you can.
• Every bit of communication is actually advocacy. And everyone should be invited to the table of planning and recognition
• Advocacy is expanding the community’s awareness of the arts
• Integrating the number of ways that people can access funding is advocacy
• There’s only so much that can be done in schools if the arts are not supported in the home. We need more programming incorporating the whole family
• Advocacy is related to access—people who directly experience the arts will begin to invest in the arts, including electing officials who support them
• When I think of ‘advocacy,’ I think of making a case. So the question is, to whom are we making the case for the arts? Funders? Politicians? And what are our tools in the making of this case? Can the TAC help provide the tools – the time and resources – that we can use in making the case?

• We need research literature that is more accessible and readable, like an index of the last five years’ worth of research

• Nashville needs people to advocate for the fair payment of art and artist’s services. We need non-profit leaders to help remove the stigma associated with non-profits paying for services. Even if you’re a non-profit organization, that doesn’t mean you can’t pay and artist competitive wages. Organizations should be proud to fairly compensate our creative class.

• There needs to be a change within the culture of craft fairs. As a craft artist, it is difficult to pay a fee for a booth and still make a profit when customers feel like they can haggle or demand a cheaper price. Craft fairs are a great way to get your art out there but customers just don’t value the product, they just want to find a deal even if it is at the expense of a local artist.

• Increasing the number of communal performance and exhibit spaces, more affordable housing for artists and finding a way to make studio space more affordable for young, local artists would help.

4.  Other comments

• TAC needs to be more supportive of individual artists, not just organizations.  Artists are asked to perform for free.  I.e., TAC grants going to organizations who then do not pay the artists.  The poorer we get, the louder we have to get.  Individual artists must be considered to be important stakeholders. 
• Kudos for Arts Education Program’s conference team!  Create2013 was a fabulous conference.
• The TAC website is very difficult to navigate

The Tennessee Arts Commission’s Strategic Planning Southeast Public Meeting

 The Tennessee Arts Commission’s Strategic Planning Public Meeting

Thursday, November 21, 2013 Bessie Smith Cultural Center 10:00 am until noon with networking and coffee at 9:30 a.m.

PANEL MEMBERS 

Dr. Jean Heise, Humanities Supervisor, Knox County Schools, Knox County

Jill Levine, Principal, Normal Park Museum Magnet School, Hamilton County

Thomas A. H. White, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations, Unum, Chattanooga

Moderated by Ann Coulter, Principal, A. Coulter Consulting, Chattanooga

Round-table Discussion Report

Question 1: How are the arts positively impacting your community? Give examples.
•   25 artists were given recognition by James McKissic and shown how to get integrated into the system
•   Southern Literature Alliance - world renown literature artists come into the schools 
•   Art camps on Glass St through the Glass House Collective
•   Glass House Collective and the Better Block Event in February 2013- giving people the opportunity to "taste" the arts
•   Create an opportunity for ALL segments of the community to get involved in the arts
•   Small park – city take over – steel sculpture – revitalizing the neighborhood
•   Sculptors moved here, consolidated 3 studios. Montague Park – park made into a landfill and back into park, International Sculpture park – leasing from the city – phase 1 – motivation – bring people collectors here – cultural tourism – industrial area – raise property values – not the intent to have regentrification
•   3 children – grown – 30’s mid to late – left and didn’t want to come back – now they want to come back – artist is back – neuroscientist wants to come back – bringing back community pride and educated workforce – granddaughter with epilepsy – can dance  making it possible for her to have pride and confidence
•   Chattanooga is a cultural jewel – building it up to be a complete, fulfilling quality of life – attracts a dynamic workforce, brings commerce – at universities, creativity is promoted and welcomed
•   Makes education complete – lets children be all they can be
•   Neuroscientist – arts background has helped him excel and think outside of the box
• Helps to bring people from other countries to community
•   Bring business leaders to workforce and community
•   Place-making
•   Influences visibility of arts
•   Community engagement / civic pride /festivals
•   Develop writing and other artistic skills / awareness
•   Generate public response in rural areas / hard to get word out in rural areas
•   Through university lens: visiting artist opportunities
•   Multidisciplinary activities  working with community members and students
•   Collaboration with students
•   Public art / grassroots arts organization  creates more open minded community 
•   Promoting tolerance and openness to different mindsets
•   From museum standpoint: quality of life / working with schools
•   Become resource to schools –how do you get there?  Work in schools and get funding to offer resources in schools.  Hard to work in public school system because so set in timeframe
•   Museums are an outlet and venue for artists to showcase talent and work and sharing the process
•   Conduits of information between artists and families / how do you get information out to families
•  Getty grant by UTC made efforts in arts (visual, music and dance) helped school systems understand the importance of arts in schools and subsequently the community.  This is an obvious strength in Chattanooga.  Wish that funding was still in effect to record data and continue the effort.
•   Students and families become engaged be in the arts. 
•   Southside area in Chattanooga sees positive impact from CreateHere.
•   The arts scene brings those from big cities.
•   Lack of access does exist though, in areas like Sill Creek, there is still a need for access to and recognition to the arts.
•   Public arts programs help in accessibility.
•   There are sources of cultural information.
•   Positive economic impact; state employment tax; increased property tax. Helps make Chattanooga a walking city. Improving standardized test scores. When we began to value public art - the talk of our citizens has changed. Now the chatter at restaurants are all very excited about their city. Its amazing to see how many are moving to Chattanooga. The arts play a role in the popularity of Chattanooga. The arts have also attracted industry here - companies want to come because of the diverse opportunity for entertainment. EX. The Olstrum Company came here b/c they wanted the TN Riverwalk to go through their property. VW said that the intangibles had become tangible here. The beautiful city attracts people - the arts have played a large role. The arts impact community by building community. Peggy Petri economic impact study ... data is essential. 
•   Dance Alive: A partnership between cities ballet and families. Has received state wide recognition for kids at risk. We select 65-70 kids each summer form auditions at recreation centers who have taken the master class and select based on motivation or need extra help. Bring them into our space, its free and bused in. Partnering currently with Mustang project and bring it back to studio. And get to interact with the ballet as well. Most successful and monitoring programs that the community has done and touched thousands of children. It has changed kids’ lives resulting in male dancers who are working professionally. Michael Howard, Laura Akinson for example. Close relationship with center for the arts. 
•   Splash, brand new. We were teaching free art classes so we formed a nonprofit to get supplies. Visual art but you want to do all.  Teaching art to all kids not just the talented. Held on Saturday and whenever we can get the kids. Project based. 
•   Schools here are now adopting hands-on approach and it’s not just the carrot at the end, but it’s the process. Kids learn that there is a lot of opportunity through the arts. I teach process in a whole different way. Arts is a reality check, they make connections immediately. 
•   We get these wonderful programs in place and the kids involved, but we would like a parent component to get the parents involved. We educate the kids but the parents need to be educated about It as well. Having more access to big names. We need to focus on TN Artists and Southeast artists. Because we are trying to create SE artists, but we can't narrow the scope to just them. We need to bring the artists that have moved away. 
•   We used to have certain programs such as specialist that we don't have anymore. Arts integration was there. People want to fund new ideas instead of continuing something that is good and growing but loses its excitement. Long term programs that invest back into the community so we need to connect those to keep the programs going. And we need to encourage those who left to come back.
•   We let our kids go. Businesses can help us retain our kids Grow Chattanooga as a brand to bring kids back to invest their community.
•   Tell the stories of those who have done that - and tell how they want teach kids what they have learned. Going back to our roots
•   Tree grows from the roots up. and that is where the fruit is produced. Don't want to wet their whistle but that we have a program that build a body of knowledge from the ground up. Not nearly enough funding. Sometimes we are more interested in how many we are reaching instead of just reaching fewer kids but every day. Quality over quantity. 
•   What about the media? The program is just for the media, when artists are invited for 15 minutes, is there any follow up.
•   Success with media to follow up on stories but you have to connect with them 
•   Coming back to the community, because there wasn't anything in non-profit that I could work at and not with my folks, getting private and business organizations, or umbrella arts organizations to hold fundraisers but helps you connect and network with them. Instead of fighting for only little benefit, but collaborating with other small organizations.  Group things like what the AmeriCorps does this is a community program asking for community involvement. Few people doing all the jobs, so we can't do it to get it right, so we could use each other. Ripples of Hope as an example. Many orgs benefit and lists of people can see all the different things they are supporting. What makes your gala special because the dancers perform we see the results of what they do.
•   But I would like arts build do something for the teachers and so many do not know anything about the arts. Teachers need to have training, lessons in arts integration. And at recreation centers as well because they can make or break these small programs. Need to get the top person on board. 
•   Why is there so little funding for arts access? We need to get the people that matter on board. Come together and say there is enough but how can we work together to share resources so we can all benefit. Example of Walmart and target in same area causing an area destinations
•   Create a grant to underwrite fundraiser costs when small organizations come together. 
•   Transportation is an issue and needs to be factored in getting kids to the programs. Sponsor families for kids who go into long-term programs. It’s a number one need
•  Send ensembles into community, engagement providing more access outside of normal- bring professional musicians from other places to work with becomes a resource
•  Ongoing training through youth orchestra
•  The employment issue and economic impact relationship between arts organizations and local government
•  People amazed at the presence of public art in the community driving. Arts experiences increased at every level, city leads with it cultural presence.
•  Providing jobs bringing people together bringing joy into people's lives
•  Arts based programming bringing social change
Neighborhood revitalization--Southside Chattanooga. (Lyndhurst Foundation funded initiative to bring artists, establish studios.)  Now "hottest" place to live.  Treescapes and public art on sidewalks, grocery store just built, families, bakery, restaurants, other businesses moving in.  Huge success story.
Brings public spaces to life, adds humanness, thoughtfulness--A sculpture of a dog is sited in a popular walking spot in downtown Chattanooga. The dog's right paw is raised, constantly drawing people to "high five" it as they walk by.  Kids hug it. 
Sense of community--draws people together to share positive experiences.  4 Bridges Arts Festival is a "feel good" weekend, people milling about, smiling, talking with artists, listening to music, happy kids, etc.   Similarly when the Symphony plays the 4th of July Pops concert at Coolidge Park, music, kids running around, families having picnics--we all share in the experience, talk with the stranger,  help the older couple set up, etc.  Helps us to know we're all in it together.
Question 2: What can we do beyond funding to get the arts to more children in your region
•    Impact the whole family- educate the family at large—develop a COMMON language for the arts
•    Find organizations that aren't typically art—partner with them 
•    Learn from Knoxville
•    Promoting past examples (from other communities) to make the “sale”
•    Communication: how do we get information to right people: from schools to TAC to families
•    Hard to exclude funding
•    Some broad reaching electronic listing of free programs and classes Need for one community calendar
•    Host free family concert
•    Mini version of family concert program to rural area but no one came-if parents don’t see value the won’t bring their kids
•    Educating parents to value of art
•    Understanding the needs of the parents and community, especially inner-city and rural settings: example: combine concert with meal could improve audience attendance
•    Create two strategies, one for parents and one for child
•    Go where the people are
•    Work with local organizations such as churches or centers familiar to people
•    Concert at WalMart /
•    Looking at presenting programs in alternative settings where the groups are
•    TAC needs to work with dept. of education and assist in driving policy
•    Improving test scores is one part but kids having access to things is important but if they don’t have experience of art, it is a lost experience / serious policy issues at state level
•    Get students excited to decrease drop-out rate
•    Art integration and multidisciplinary approach
•    Let kids cultivate the way they learn, kids have natural creative talent that can be utilized for helping translate core content
•   Funders do not recognize importance of arts in schools. We need data to take to them to show how arts improve stake holders. Data on neuroplasticity as related to those involve in music help create marketable job seekers.
•   Go beyond testing data. Give them information about what the funders are about.  What about ROI.
•   Help define art and creativity to everyday life.  How seemingly un-art related activities come from an artistic root.
•   Incorporate into the curriculum (K-12) both visual and performing arts. Message to the community that we must insist on quality arts education in every school. Advocacy is very important. Parents are the power brokers. If we can tie this to the business community it will transfer to the whole community. Difference between arts entertainment and arts education. The state is not in compliance with NCLB when the arts are missing. Could we connect with legislators to insist this is happening. We also need state wide assessments in all arts disciplines. The arts are core curriculum ... How our district spends their money is the question. The role of the arts needs to be clarified. We need help from the State to be sure the arts are core. The hottest jobs are in data and science - visualization is part of this work.  Does the board of education have a DOE liaison? We have to get the BOE on board with this, too. Only one school board member is here ... where is our city and county government? Claude Ramsey is an advocate. 
•   Can we talk about afterschool arts (AP). Is there after school arts instruction happening in Hamilton County? Could the schools do a survey to find out if parents would support summer camps about the arts? Private sector helps support these.  Make them more exclusive.
•   Arts camps can turn kids around. Summer school program called Art Works - apprentice artists in varied disciplines. 
•   It’s about the money.
•  Arts programming resource for teachers / professionals to volunteer to go into different schools and help with arts programming
•  Training artistic and educators to be advocates
•  Encouraging more artistic to share in public places/ shared spaces and collaborations. Creates advocacy by bringing together/ sharing spaces and places.

Help organizations to learn of opportunities and make connections.  With TAC's broader overview, the commission could help us learn of others with whom we could work. We get easily caught up in our day to day--meeting payroll, working with board members, hanging the show or staging the play-- that we don't necessarily know a school or a kids program has an opportunity.
Help to make programs available outside of schools.  We keep trying to get into schools (rightly so), but there are opportunities outside of schools such as Boys Clubs and YMCA and Big Sisters.  If there's resistance getting into a rigid system such as a school curriculum, maybe look at how to go around it.

Question 3: What could we do to help the arts get “a seat at the table” in all Tennessee communities?
•    Ambassador for the arts through the city, neighborhood relations who bring  artists in
•    Art Fairs- much like a Science Fair
•    Creative platemaking "great spaces make great places"
•    Seat at the table: define it 
•   Advocacy and communication / work with state policy / show economic impact / invest in research that documents impact of arts / do local studies across state to show impact of arts / tangible evidence matters / demand the seat / ask for the seat / getting government on board /
•   ROI will make art a non-negotiable in budgets and policy discussions. 
•   Chattanooga is lucky because the creative industries (skilled craftsmen) help breathe new life into old industry clusters.
•   Louder advocates for the arts. We must prove to our community that its important.
•   Community engagement professionals to train arts leaders to help them engage in local and regional 
•   Regional academic performance. 
•   We have a lot of retired talent in our community to help send this message. Your school is only as good as your principal. Is there a way to incentivize arts leadership. 
•   At one time the arts commission did a peer advising study. Could there be a core of volunteers as advocates. We have defined the mission for ArtsBuild: to change the thinking of this community about the importance of the arts in our schools. It’s those intangibles that bring industry. State legislatures demand data. 
•   Where is 'the seat at the table'? - Target our efforts. Chambers of Commerce; City Council and elected officials. Politics are local. Business owners. Top 25 players: how will we target our message to them?
•  See a high level summit to tallk about arts ed initiatives
•  We keep talking to ourselves and not the people who can effect change/huge disconnection between new wealth and where the money is now to where it was
•  Some of the younger companies different generations, don't connect with older creative sources
•  Arts agencies have trouble communistic acting their message
•  Ways to build one to one relationship is political advocates/ business leaders/ and other people who can facilitate change
We are our own worst enemies sometimes. We in the arts community segregate ourselves by calling ourselves "we in the arts community."   We can change our language to "we in the community," stop seeing ourselves as separate.
Have conversations outside of our sector.  Meet with people across the state who aren't focused on the arts with answers of how the arts can help with some of their problems.   The problem is always going to be money.  And the first answer is usually jobs.   What they want "bigger picture" is a good quality of life, including jobs. Have answers and examples (why you're asking the above questions!) of how the arts are part of a healthy, strong community, or can help make a one. Help the communities to see that the arts are a tool, not a by-product.