I have been a big fan of Springboard for the Arts and the work they do for a number of years. I look forward to their annual reports which have been depicted as infographics for the last decade or so. They recently released the infographic for their 2024 annual report. There is a short written … Read more
Hat tip to Andrew Taylor for calling attention to ever awesome Springboard for the Arts’ “Year In Review” report which consists of a short letter from Executive Director Laura Zabel but more prominently features the following infographic which you can print and color. I feel like this is a great example of the underlying message … Read more
If you hadn’t seen the press release floating around social media, Springboard for the Arts announced that they partnered with the microlending platform Kiva to provide artists a loan of up to $25,000 for 36 months at 0% interest. Springboard executive director Laura Zabel probably laid out the best rationale for pursuing a loan versus … Read more
Last week, Springboard for the Arts, based in St. Paul, MN posted on LinkedIn about different funds they and others had created and contributed to in order to mitigate the impact of federal immigration enforcement presence in Minnesota. While some of the funds are intended to provide relief to artists and organizations who had lost … Read more
Over the last dozen years I have frequently written about Springboard for the Arts’ Irrigate initiative where they organized 600 artists to provide activity along the construction route for the Green Line light rail in St. Paul, MN. Businesses along the route were concerned that the 2-3 year span of construction would drive them out … Read more
This weekend Margy Waller posted a guide for arts and cultural organizations to use to talk about the termination of your National Endowment for the Arts grant. The guide is based on research the Topos Partnership did about how to talk about arts with your community. Waller says not to just focus on the dollar … Read more
Hyperallergic wrote about the ending of the pilot phase of Springboard for the Arts’ Guaranteed Basic Income project last month. I have been following the project since it was launched in 2021 as well as other efforts like it around the world. Apparently I wasn’t paying close enough attention because I didn’t realize they have … Read more
If you aren’t familiar with Springboard for the Arts, it is an organization based in St. Paul, MN, (with a rural office in Fergus Falls, MN), run by artists, for artists. But that is just the short description of an organization involved with tons of community projects. A few weeks ago, executive director Laura Zabel … Read more
Seth Godin made a post about leveraging the power of word of mouth by incentivizing sharing with friends. Krispy Kreme grew to become a doughnut behemoth in the US. The formula was simple: Scarce supply, high short-term taste satisfaction, and a dozen priced almost the same as just four. As a result, most people bought … Read more
Last week Laura Zabel, Executive Director of Springboard for the Arts, has a piece on CityLab discussing the contributions artists can bring to pandemic recovery. She references a report issued by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences that lays out policies to better support cultural organizations and workers. I haven’t read the report yet, … Read more
Laura Zabel, Executive Director of the awesome Springboard for the Arts posted a important Twitter thread on being mindful about the way you solicit creative work from the community. Are you thinking about hosting a contest for a logo, essay, or other creative work? You are probably looking for a way to broaden your network, … Read more
In case you missed it, somethings to keep an eye on over the next two years or so are the guaranteed income program for artists that have been established in St. Paul and San Francisco. The NY Times reported on these efforts today. In San Francisco, 130 artists will receive $1000 for the next six … Read more
This week CityLab mentioned that the US Senate was working on funding a program to reclaim areas of communities displaced/demolished/bifurcated by highway projects as those roads are decommissioned. As Streetsblog reported on Jan. 11, the Economic Justice Act, a spending package worth over $435 billion, includes a $10 billion pilot program that would provide funds … Read more
Last week Shelterforce had an article about places around the country that are using arts and culture strategies as part of transit planning processes. They provide examples of projects in beginning, middle and final stages in three communities around the country. However, these efforts are occurring in far more communities than that. The article mentioned … Read more
Last week Springboard for the Arts’ Executive Director Laura Zabel addressed the concept of solving “arts deserts” in a series of tweets. But, please, let’s not let this “arts desert” idea take hold — it perpetuates the idea that underinvested communities (esp urban neighborhoods and rural places) need culture imported to them rather than support … Read more
Yesterday I got to do something I have been dreaming of doing for a long time. Now keep in mind, as an arts and cultural policy nut, my dreams tend to be a little different than everyone else’s. Yesterday I participated in On The Table Macon, a project whose goal was to get people out … Read more
The video of ArtPlace America’s CEO Jamie Bennett’s keynote at an Invest Health convening came across my feed recently. What I found valuable in his speech was that he laid out an argument for the value of the arts that didn’t pivot to economic statistics. Around the 6:50 mark he starts to talk about the … Read more
Head over to CityLab and read an interesting piece about how Minneapolis health clinic used pop-up art stations to provide services in their community. People’s Center Health Services hired 16-17 artists to spend a few hours every Thursday over a summer in an attempt to “…engage with the community about health in a less disease-focused … Read more
A short post today. I spent most of the day at a conference organized by the Ohio Arts Council to discuss the Arts and Cultural Ecosystem in the state and there was a lot of driving involved. The keynote speaker was Jamie Bennett, Executive Director of ArtPlace America. The start of his speech was essentially … Read more
Springboard for the Arts recently profiled Artists U, an artist lead, artist centered professional development and planning project. The project started in Philadelphia and has spread to Baltimore and South Carolina. Since they train artist facilitators to lead workshops elsewhere, their sessions may be coming to a location near you. Artists U grew out of … Read more
The always cool people at Springboard for the Arts (and that isn’t a commentary on Minnesota weather) recently got to do a “TV Takeover” where they explained how they serve the artistic community in Minnesota. They chose the theme of “Your Secret Art” to emphasize the idea that a lot of people have artistic talent … Read more
Some interesting thoughts on the purposes of boards in the blogosphere today. Laura Zabel makes some “bored assumptions” about the primary purpose of boards suggesting that passion about the mission should come first with fund raising being a distant second or third or fifth… “I’ll be blunt here: if you’re not thinking about how your … Read more
Last week, Americans for the Arts held a blog salon on Rural Arts. There were a lot of familiar names and faces with posts by Wormfarm Institute and Springboard for the Arts’ rural offices, but there were more people with whom I was unfamiliar. There were three posts that jumped out at me, likely because they … Read more
A couple weeks ago a job listing from Springboard for the Arts’ job board came across my Twitter feed simply listed as “Stabilizer.” Intrigued, I followed the link and discovered that it was for the job as Climb Theatre’s accountant. As you might imagine, many of the staff at Climb Theatre have non-traditional titles. While … Read more
Last month Springboard for the Arts tweeted that the attendance at the Guthrie Theatre’s attendance last year exceeded the Minnesota Vikings’ home game attendance, 425,932 to 421,668. Springboard Executive Director Laura Zabel blogged about these numbers suggesting the 400k Guthrie audience members should manifest their love for the theater in the same way Vikings’ fans … Read more
By way of Arts and Letters Daily is the text of National Endowment of the Arts Chair Dana Gioia’s graduation address at Stanford University. He uses the apparent controversy that he wasn’t a big enough celebrity to address the graduation as a springboard for discussing the decline in appreciation of the artist, scientist and intellectual … Read more
So I am of mixed feelings today. Yesterday, the last place I worked enthusiastically welcomed the news that I would return for two weeks to help them run this year’s festival thereby confirming that my skills are indeed valued. But I also got a letter from Wayne State saying they are hiring someone else for … Read more
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