Arts Advocacy

Arts Advocacy Symposium IV:  March 27, 2012

Hosted by Clark Bryan, at the Aeolian Hall

Projects and Tasks from last Meeting

• Getting an art and culture presence at Gateway Features in the City Entry points (Airport, train, bus station)

• How can we get people not currently active in community engaged in it, and then involved in arts and culture

Project and Tasks for Tonight

• What do you hope that we can achieve by going through the Cultural Prosperity Plan process

• Complete the Cultural Prosperity Plan Discussion Guide

Next Event:

• Cultural Prosperity Plan Culture Fair, April 3rd 5:00pm-7:30pm, London Convention Centre, 300 York Street (Free, but must register in advance)

What do you hope that we can achieve by going through the Cultural Prosperity Plan process?

• Important to engage everyone including children, universities, artists

• It is a strategic plan, how the city will support and grow culture

• More communication and collaboration between schools for events, Fanshawe and Western should be working together

o Arts organisers need to collaborate for joint events, and working to share audiences not compete with each other

• Various event calendars should collaborate to create one place with everything, would enable people to schedule events around others’ events to avoid competing

o Big venues, such as JLC, plan events without consulting smaller venues

o Arts council posts events from organisations that they support

o Londonmusic.com is another fairly comprehensive calendar of events

• Culture to attract new people, jobs, growth and prosperity to the city

• There should be an examination of how arts is funded in the city, is the pie being divided properly?

o Instead of each organisation receiving a set dollar amounts, possibly they should instead receive a set % of their budget.

o There should also be a link to the performance of each organisation

• Money per child for kids to be exposed to more art in grade school

o Teachers need more information about the arts, and need to get a stronger education themselves about the arts

• Campaign to teach people about arts and culture and its role in society

o How does it impact the quality of life

• Need higher visibility of Art and Culture

• Artists are often working and doing other things than their art (their passion), however it is in their nature to be an artist

• Shouldn’t be to try and convert the un-converted, you can’t force people to come, however people need to be let know about what is out there as an option for them

• Need to strengthen the economy so that the arts can be a viable profession and artists can support themselves by doing what they enjoy

• Needs to have grassroots connections

• How have past plans impacted other cities? Beside the finished report, what have past plans done for other cities arts and culture communities?

• That Tourism London shift its focus from sports to arts and culture

o Need to have and Arts Officer at Tourism London

• Council will likely try and get to a 0% tax increase again in the coming years, so there is a chance that funding for arts and culture could get cut, so we need to identify how we can be more efficient and do more with less

Cultural Prosperity Plan – Discussion Guide Questions

Question One – What does culture mean to you? What does it include?

• Expansion of the mind

o Expressing your mind

o Expression – expressing and experiencing the enrichness that people get from arts and culture

• Community

o Music is used to bring people together and collaborate

• Culture is the unique aspect of our lives that each person shares with others to create a unique identify for themselves

• There is a spiritual component

o We are in a different time where people have access, through the internet, to so much information, we are evolved now because of these access, which is no longer controlled by the mainstream media outlets

• Culture is a set of beliefs that we share

• Culture is immersing oneself and your family into Canada and your community and learning how others live

• Culture is the sum total of all that we do that is not work related, it drives our values

• Exchange ideas

• A vibrant culture is diversity, where culture is available and accessible for all to be able to come and experience it

• People make culture, they embrace traditions to suit the contemporary

• Culture is going from the mental (personal), interfacing with who is out there, to coordinating and connecting with people (social)

• What does it include? Institutions, one that is often overlooked is book stores

• Culture is what you do, but not necessarily what you do “to put bread on the table”, it is our passion, it has an uplifting quality

• Culture is based on history around the way we live, create, interact and the values we share. Many things can be creative, science and engineering can be creative, Culture is what a group of people stand for

Question Two – What do you feel are the City of London’s most important assets that this Plan must build upon?

• The People who are already out there creating art and culture, especially the ones who are not being recognised and supported

• The people, not just the artists but also the promoters, supporters and consumers

• The underground arts scene, which needs to be connected to

• London is a hub, separate from Toronto, or Detroit, we can stand as our own hub for art and culture

• Mixture of social outlets, there are many outlets here, big and small

• Should focus on what is already here

• The base that we already have, people need to know

• Diversity

• Grassroots events and happenings

• Natural landscape and heritage

• Cohesion between large and small scale arts organisations

o Blending of education organisation with art events

o Blending of arts community with local entrepreneurs and businesses

• The city has many venues already, not much capital is needed to build new ones, there currently is JLC, Grand Theatre, Centennial Hall, Victoria Park, Aeolian Hall, etc.

• Natural Beauty

• Educational institutions: Not just UWO and Fanshawe, but the other colleges in the city as well

• We are struggling for an identity / brand for ourselves, needs to be cohesive

• The heart of the city needs to be revitalized, to be something that we are proud of

• Increase the quality, availability and diversity of cafés and restaurants

• Micro-communities (Minneapolis and Toronto are examples of cities with strong micro communities), London has some such as Old South, Soho, and Old East Village

Question Three – What is your vision for the culture of the City of London?

• That the City of London becomes a destination and a hub 

• More opportunity for art, culture and employment in the city

• Teach kids in grade school about respect for the arts

• More flash mob performances, more free spaces for artists to hold events

• More opportunities, become an arts community that does it ourselves now, without waiting for others (Cabbage town model), a community with self-actualization with arts community leading the way.

• London to be known in Canada and beyond as an arts and culture hub, with growth, a safe place to come and have fun

• Culture available to all, all aware of opportunities, there already are many seeds of culture here, we just need to get out of the way and let them grow, it can’t be forced though. Cross pollinate each other’s’ efforts

• One website, with an all-encompassing calendar that can be sorted by date as well as by genre.

• Spaces for people to create, research and develop art, that is available, affordable and accessible.

• Connect to grassroots

• Just do it, get into schools to teach, show children all opportunities, create and strengthen networks, grow arts education

• A city with a new set of values, based on more and stronger micro-communities, with more artists who can make a living and drive the economy.

Question Four – How can the City become more culturally vibrant?

Question Five – In 5 years from now, 5 things have changed about the City for the better, what would they be, and what will have been done to make them happen?

Arts Advocacy Symposium III: February 7, 2012

Recorder 1 Notes
February 7, 2012

Clark opened the evening by saying that a limited number of people attend cultural events & that art culturing is undervalued in the classrooms.
A former theatre critic for the London Free Press read an article he wrote from 1992:  A Case for the Arts.  The article talked about the value of arts, economically, as a vehicle for the expression of the Canadian identity, talked about cuts to the arts because arts are generally understood as a non essential “frill” etc.
Question to Speaker:  Did article spark discussion in the London community.
Answer:  No, not really.
A discussion ensued where it was agreed that the funding of arts had worsened since the article was written.  For example:  the former theatre critic mentioned the Stratford subsidy has been cut to almost zero.

It was noted that we are in the same place now as when the article was written 20 years ago.  Resourcing arts only happens if people re-evaluate their own priorities for spending.  From this discussion it was agreed that we need to prioritize the project list that was developed at the previous symposium.

London is one of the only cities that don’t have a cultural inventory.  There is art in buildings, hospitals, etc.  People are trying to get the artwork in Electro Motive nominated as National Treasures so Caterpillar can’t take them.
Schools don’t visit art galleries anymore.  Do people even know that Museum London is free admission?
Just because we have wonderful art culture, doesn’t mean that people will come if there is no relationship between the community especially those that do not participate in the arts, so why would they come to events?
It was suggested that we need to begin dialogue with people in their communities about what arts and culture means to them. For example, we could go into the community (malls etc.) and ask people about what they would like to participate in and what they know about the arts in London.  From this discussion, a number of questions were identified that might assist with the dialogue.  These included:
- What questions would you ask? 
- How would you build a relationship between arts organizations, arts venues and artists and your community? 
- What would you do to get people “fired up” to participate? 
It was suggested that the idea of incorporating these questions into a survey for administration in networks of communities might begin the dialogical process that would encourage non-participating citizens to consider the question “What does art culture mean to you?”  When we begin this discussion with non-participating citizens we may create opportunities for community based arts engagement projects that will build bridges to arts venues, arts organizations and artists.
Broke off into groups to discuss 3 questions: 
What questions would you ask people?
How would you engage them in a conversation about arts & culture?
How would you build a relationship with them?

As the group pondered these questions, it was noted that historically artists have performed in non-traditional settings in the community.  For example:

It was mentioned that the Fagan Singers used to perform in the malls with a politician as a guest conductor to raise awareness of the group and London Youth Symphony used to play at Covent Garden Market, local malls and in schools in order to promote the orchestra.
We have to create pathways and open doorways to get people to the point of understanding art culture before they will participate in it.
A comment was made that trying to survey people in the malls is very difficult.  Based on the recent surveying in the Old East Village, it was found that people are just too busy and won’t stop and talk and answer questions.
It was mentioned that we need a strategic starting place to bring in systemic change and broader participation in the arts and that one of the starting places may be with children.  People want more and better for their children.  If you create accessible programs for the children, you’ll get the parents/relatives.  Examples such as the youth programming at the Palace Theatre, Aeolian and London Potters Guild were cited noting that over time this work will build new audiences for the arts.
It was suggested that providing regular mall based Saturday opportunities for kids to play music might get them interested in music and in turn get the parents interested.
Based on numbers from the Brick awards and the DISH awards there are a significant number of performers in London every year.  People need to know what is out there and that not everything is expensive.  Price is always an issue for people.
It was noted that the Beat Magazine does a great job at advertising and getting it out there, but they are preaching to the converted.
We need to get people back to what happened in their lives that took them away from arts and culture.  We need to ask key questions to get a people’s stories.
Around the 5th, 6th or 7th question, people will start to shut down. 
We were told us about the youth summer camp offered at the Palace.  Children get a chance to write their own plays.  They learn about set design, light design, editing etc.  They had a diverse socio economic group of children.  Sifton sponsored the camp.  He also told us that the Palace is using Groupon and Dealfind coupons for marketing.  55 people came with the coupon that had never been there before.  The product is great, but it’s finding ways to get people to go and keeping them coming back.
We need to dispel the myth that arts & culture is only for certain types and classes of people.  Need to get diverse groups involved.  Get different ethnic groups involved like Sunfest.
Ethnic groups are highly cultured in their own cultures, just not Canadian cultures.  We need to try and bridge the two together.
It was mentioned that they are bringing Cavalcade back in September.  It is a federal/provincial event being run by the London Art Council & London Heritage.  10-15 community centres have already agreed to participate.  It is free entrance for the Cultural Days.
The Doors Open program is getting stronger every year.  Unfortunately hockey rinks hold more attention than theatres.  London should be more of a cultural hub.
Questions:  how do you keep them engaged and coming back? What is there for them?
We need a community arts centre in every neighbourhood in London.  Fusion in Ingersoll has a radio station, kids can edit films, write plays, recycle and rebuild computers etc.  They are a non-profit organization who gets some funding from the city of Ingersoll.
One participant said they have tried to organize theatre trips/events in town for groups such as senior citizens, but people prefer to go out of town.
The Port Stanley Festival is struggling to keep going.  Funding has dropped.
Most people who come to the Grand in the winter go to Stratford in the summer.  Fanshawe art is coming to downtown London and we need to find a way to make London a year round theatre city.
The High School Production at the Grand is a good idea for the kids.
Budget cuts to schools mean they don’t have the money to put on as may plays anymore.  It is not how do we get people into our buildings, it’s how can we move the activities of our buildings out into the community.  We need to reciprocate – if the arts give out people will want to give back.  How do we encourage this kind of reciprocity?
When a discussion occurred about the role of the arts in expressing the lived reality of ordinary people, the topic of the closure of a local plant arose.  Citing this example someone said that we could be doing work such as a series about unions and the lives of those they represent.  Present these plays to union members and follow the plays with a discussion/venting period so people feel they are being heard.  Theatre can be very emotional and it can also be a vehicle for community organizing and inspiring social change.  It was noted that there is a playwright in London who creates these kinds of plays and theatrical experiences.
One individual suggested that such a play could be turned into a fund raiser for Electro motive workers saying that he believes that local musicians would be willing to help.
The conversation then turned to the topic of Performing Arts Centre for London.  It was agreed that we have to overcome the fear that a performing arts centre is going to hurt smaller venues and we have to engage citizens in a broad discussion so that the questions “what is it going to cost me” & “why should I pay for it when I don’t care about it” can be addressed.
A comment was made that because of the nature of their entertainment offerings, JLC events don’t help to grow the London arts scene, whereas a London Performing Arts Centre developed by a broad range of Arts groups and cultural workers might assist with this.
Group discussions ended here and we joined together as one big group
We need to give people choices when asking them personal questions so as not to seem as intrusive.  We need to adjust the survey to different groups as we have a lot of quite varied groups including the immigrant community and isolated people.
It was mentioned that food is a common thread.  Everybody eats.  Food is always engaging and from there could spark conversations about the arts and build a relationship with people that way.
We need to ask what is important in people’s lives.  Besides what you have to do (ie work, kids, house) what do you like to do?  Some people don’t feel party of a community.  Ask them what they have always wanted to do?
Change happens through children and the adults follow.  Ask the parents:  what kind of a life do you want your children to have?
It was suggested doing a survey in the food court at a mall or at the Western Fair Farmer’s market.
We need people to engage with the community, not just fill out surveys because no relationship gets built.  They fill out the survey and you never see them again.
We need to be clear about what you are surveying and why.
It was mentioned about how successful El Sistema has been.  The parents are getting engaged because the children are teaching their parents.  The whole process is about different things in different settings.
People might not say arts & culture is important to them, but they may say music and film are important to them.  Don’t assume people don’t think arts and culture is important.  The kinds of questions that we ask people about their relationship to arts and culture, will be critical to our ability to engage non-participating citizens in traditional and non-cultural offerings.
Someone stated that everybody is attached to a screen and consequently never leaves their home.  He suggested that we could do an online/Facebook virtual living piece of artwork that people can add to and incorporate a brief survey at the end of the virtual piece of art work.
We were asked:  what do you think are the top 3 priorities on the list to advocate for art culture in London & how do we resource classrooms more?
It was noted that we need to convince Tourism London that there is more than just sports in London.
We need strong gateway features for the city like streets signs advertising & directing you to the Aeolian Hall or Palace Theatre.  London airport could be more like Chicago airport with inspiring thoughts/poems or advertising the Aeolian Hall and Palace Theatre.
We need to start with small, easy to achieve and inexpensive projects.

Next meeting March 27, 2012

Arts Advocacy Symposium II:  October 18, 2011 

Where we left off at the First Symposium: We were going to identify some projects which we can start on, who would do them, and how we could fund them:
Project Ideas Presented at Symposium #2:
• Apparent disparity in knowledge of arts community
o We are the ones who are equipped to sell it the best
• Art community contact list
• Summer show for kids
o also involves the parents / families
o Uses established youth organisations / funding
• Making what is available, accessible
o Organisations / performers go out to community to showcase in public spaces
• Social Media
o Flash mob concept – impromptu and spontaneous as opposed to planned
• Involve umbrella groups
o They have connections and knowledge of cultural organisations
• Do It Yourself
o Leveraging community (resources, connections, networks)
• We need to start being creative, and thinking outside the box for opportunities:
o Make boring things artistic (communication towers)
• Take shows out to community centres
• Connect disciplines
• Turn parking lots / unused / unusual into venues
o Free shows to promote shows at other venues
• School Gymnasiums which are often unused
o Can be used for performances / classes / other events
o Need to turn free shows into audiences at paid shows
• Work with large organisations and businesses
o Set up in business common spaces
• Festivals all over the city, not just in one space
o Brass Band Festival
• Collaboration for festivals
o What do people do at other times when they come for the festival
o We could create packages, and suggestions for what else to do in the city when they are attending events and festivals
• City Symposium
o At one event bring together silos of Arts and Culture, Non Profit / Social Biz, Academia
o It is an opportunity to expose people to a wide range of ideas outside of what they regularly see in their own community
o So far the audience has been growing
• Funding / Promotion through partnerships
o USC at western, London Library
• Marketing to build name recognition and trust with the community
o Communicate value to the community
• Organise the organisations
o Connect performers / venues / promoters / funders / community groups / schools
• Innovative ideas and links
o Creating instruments from recycled material (recycling, youth, music)
• Funding for collaboration
o Funders want a big production to put their name on
o Cohesive events can
• We need to go from words to actions
o Identify achievable projects
 These bring together the arts community, leads to further partnerships
• Youth need to be inspired
• We don’t need to reinvent the wheel
o There are other places which have innovative ideas already
• Connect arts to council / city leaders
o So that they know what there is
• Need objective evidence of the impact of arts
o There is funding now for arts mapping
o There are statistics for other cities
 We need them for London
o We could as a community assemble this information ourselves
 We can’t wait for others to do it
 Venues need to collect information on who attends to allow more accurate estimates of the impact
 More organisations need to be equipped to track their impact
• What gets people to “cross the street”
o What gets people out to events, off the sofa
• Different demographics require different marketing techniques
o How do we make arts and culture intergenerational?
o For the youth - need to change arts and culture to be “cool”
 Link with sports in the city
 Orchestras can be cool, they can dance!
• Needs to be more collaboration on the internet to link existing websites for organisations
• Link to teachers at schools
• Engaging individuals, one by one
• What are stopping people from coming here?
o It is hard to get to and from
o Theatre tickets could be transit tickets
• This conversation needs to be had in neighbourhoods
o In communities with people who are outside the “arts community”
• We can all start having these conversations where we congregate
o Places that we go – bars, clubs, coffee shops, offices, religious institutions
o “What would it take to get you out?”
o Then share the answers you get with others
 We don’t need to compete, there are plenty of people to support all venues
 Everyone needs to do it, can be just one organisation
• Art may mean something different to communities
o Communities must want to embrace it, they cant be told why to embrace it and that they should embrace it
Final Message and Homework for Next Symposium:
• Go out and talk to people
o In other communities and gatherings, outside the arts
o Bring some friends from outside the arts community to the next meeting in January!

Arts Advocacy Symposium I:  July 27, 2011

The Aeolian supported by Sunfest, The Beat Arts in London, The Old East Village BIA held an Arts Advocacy Symposium at Aeolian Hall on July 27th, 2011.  Many artists, arts organizations and interested citizens attended.  This is the first in a series of Symposiums planned until Spring 2012.  Please send us your ideas to add to this process of making Art, Culture and Lifesyle even richer in London and region.  We are looking for ideas in the catagories below including how we can resource and accomplish them.

Topics discussed during the symposium and ideas added since include:

 Umbrella Considerations

• Evaluating the need for a central arts location, i.e. will the downtown Fanshawe development involve all arts groups? Promoting a central arts hub without putting existing arts venues out of business.
• Using the arts community when developing a new brand for London.
  Dealing with declining disposable income as a city while sending the message that art centres are accessible for all, not just the wealthy.
• Working together with other arts organizations.
• Breaking silos in the arts community by leveraging social media, communicating, and finding solutions and resources to solve each other’s problems.
• Everyone must take it on themselves to learn everything they can about the arts community in London and become a “walking encyclopedia” so this information can be shared with others. Its important to be each other’s cheerleaders.
• Connecting with dance groups – facing a unique set of challenges, especially finding affordable space.
• Approach Tourism London to discuss what more can be done to highlight the arts community in the city.
• A strong arts community is an important factor when businesses are deciding where to locate. The arts can help attract them to London.
• Encouraging City officials, organizations, businesses and citizens to use language reflecting the rich artistic tapestry we have in London; become walking encyclopedias of our arts community
  
  Arts Education
  
• Offering better arts programming to kids.
• Communicating to kids – going beyond summer programming, finding ways to get information to schools.
• Schools that don’t have strong arts programs are the ones that need it the most, also important to start engagement at the elementary level.
• Creating a contact list for both school boards (secondary & elementary) that has people who can organize arts programs or pass along opportunities to students. Creating an arts portal to facilitate this.
• Collaborating with academic institutions in London (UWO and Fanshawe) by identifying projects which students can undertake that will connect the student population in the arts community.
  
  Marketing/Media
  
• Create gateway features at the 401, London Airport, City Hall, Tourism London and other locations promoting London's rich artist community.
• Achieving a balance between paid and free events, leading to sustainability. There is no shame in making a profit in an arts profession.
• We want to educate people that hold on to clichés about the arts industry and change the language used to reflect a positive position.
• Our current use of social media and what can make it better. (Suggestion: social media conference at the Best Western on September 26.) Understanding why and how social media should be used and the return on investment it can provide.
• Knowing how to correct mistakes from previous social media attempts, i.e. ensuring the organization maintains ownership of pages, accounts, etc.
• Striking a balance between traditional promotion methods and social media and using a multigenerational approach to social media.
• Fundraising effectively using social media platforms.
• Taking advantage of outlets like the Beat’s Facebook page which is open for anyone to post on.
  
  Community Engagement
  
• Informing the public of performing arts centres, we want to convey the message that these events are for everyone and benefit everyone. Educating people about the broad range of options to suit a wide range of tastes.
• Engaging the suburbs – someone needs to spearhead this initiative.
• Engaging the elderly – working with nursing homes to have richer artistic environments which inspire and engage.
• Finding better ways to communicate across age/ethinc/cultural groups.
• Deciding on ways to engage the uninvolved, starting small, knowing the talents and strengths of your organization. Encouraging friends to come out. Using the London Arts Council portal or teaming up with an organization in the neighbourhood.
• Inspiring passion within the audience.
• Working with businesses, helping each other. Businesses value creative employees so partnerships can be developed.
• Getting business and community leaders to make endorsements for the arts. For example, the LEDC promotional video has no arts focus,  we need to find out about things like this ahead of time and get involved.
• Using connections (i.e. being a board member of a non-arts organization) to build relationships with non-arts groups. Getting involved as much as possible to make the connection