WESTAF Update Notes #62 | December 2010
From Anthony Radich, Executive Director
This is the 62nd in a continuing series of updates about the work of WESTAF
Inaugural Denver Music Summit to Convene December 9-10, 2010
WESTAF and the Denver Office of Cultural Affairs (DOCA) are presenting the first-ever Denver Music Summit on December 9-10. The summit will provide numerous opportunities for professional growth to Denver-area musicians and features a kick-off concert to highlight and celebrate Denver’s vibrant music scene. The summit emerged from discussions about the findings of the Creative Vitality™ Index (CVI™), WESTAF’s research-based economic development tool that provides comprehensive data about an area’s for-profit and non-profit creative economic health. Noting high concentrations of economic activity related to music in Denver’s CVI™ report, WESTAF and DOCA partnered to complete an additional study investigating the phenomenon. What resulted is a qualitative research report about the strength of the music scene in Denver, summarized in a publication titled Listen Local: Music in the Mile High City, available from WESTAF. A music task force was assembled to discuss the implications of collective investment in Denver’s music community, and the concept for the first-ever Denver Music Summit was born. Learn more at Facebook.com/DenverMusicSummit.
WESTAF’s Public Art Archive Nearly Ready for Public Launch
The Public Art Archive is a sophisticated, searchable online database of public art in the United States. This innovative new system makes public art collections accessible to cultural tourists, artists, researchers, other agencies, and the general public, displaying images of each piece alongside an extensive description with Google mapping functionality, supplementary audio and video files, and more. Currently, the Public Art Archive includes the collections of several pilot organizations and will soon be available to accept any agency’s public art collection, free of charge. The Public Art Archive is the sister project of WESTAF’s CallForEntry.org™ (CaFÉ™) system, an online application and adjudication system used by public art administrators everywhere. To see the Public Art Archive and learn more about adding a collection, please contact the Public Art Archive team.
Arts Leadership Seminar with Steven Tepper Convenes in Aspen
WESTAF will host an arts leadership seminar at the Aspen Institute, in Aspen, Colorado, December 15-17, 2010, for WESTAF-region state arts agency executive directors, chairs, and state advocacy leaders. The event will be facilitated by Steven Tepper, an associate of former NEA Chair Bill Ivey and the associate director of the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise, and Public Policy at Vanderbilt University. The convening will focus on topics that touch on creativity, collaborative learning, and moving beyond conventional thinking; re-envisioning the work of public sector arts agencies through the eyes of those outside the cultural policy field; and strategies for proactively addressing a number of possible scenarios as the political and economic climate continues to shift for arts agencies, advocates, and cultural policy organizations.
WESTAF Releases its Newest Grants Administration System: GO:GrantsOnline™
WESTAF is pleased to announce the public release of GO:GrantsOnline™ (GO™). This revolutionary online grants management solution, two years in the making, is now the most robust, customizable, and affordable system on the market. To learn more about GO™, please visit GoGrantsOnline.org or contact WESTAF for a system demonstration.
