For Immediate Release
Contact Person: Scott Carpenter
Phone: 336.722.9660
E-mail: scott@capturevalue.com
Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts Connects Members of Local Arts Community to Discuss the Piedmont Triad’s Role in Supporting and Retaining Emerging Artists
Winston-Salem, N.C. (October 20, 2009)—The Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts is partnering with Americans for the Arts to host an Emerging Leader Creative Conversation in the Piedmont Triad on Wednesday, October 28, 2009. At this special gathering, members of the local arts community will engage in dialogue with emerging artists about living and working in the Piedmont Triad, and the role this community plays in their decision to stay. This particular Creative Conversation will be modeled after the World Café approach www.theworldcafe.com, complete with coffee and dessert.
Creative Conversations bring together local emerging arts leaders to discuss challenges specific to their age group and experience and issues regarding the arts in their communities. Creative Conversations are part of National Arts and Humanities Month programs coordinated by Americans for the Arts. The event is free and open to the local arts community. To attend, register online http://artsusa.org/networks/emerging_leaders/events/creative_conversations or contact the Kenan Institute for the Arts at 336.722.0030 or amandab@kenanarts.org.
“Our close affiliation with the University of North Carolina School of the Arts means that we are in constant relationships with emerging artists,” says Margaret Mertz, Executive Director of the Kenan Institute for the Arts. “We have a deep responsibility to hear their concerns and their priorities. The World Café format will be our newest effort to ask the question ‘What makes Winston-Salem a good environment for young artists?’ While the answers may provide conflicting viewpoints, they will help us identify current issues, and we will use that feedback as we think toward the future.”
Robert L. Lynch, president and CEO of Americans for the Arts, said, “For five years now, Creative Conversations have become innovation incubators for a new generation of arts leadership. These dynamic conversations allow emerging arts leaders to discuss challenges specific to their age group, compare experiences in the field, address community issues, and brainstorm how to connect with others like themselves throughout their local area.”
Creative Conversations are free and open to all arts professionals with an interest in emerging leader issues. Last year, more than 1,500 emerging arts leaders participated in 43 locally hosted Creative Conversations held throughout the country. An interactive Google map is available online at http://www.americansforthearts.org/networks/emerging_leaders/events/creative_conversations detailing where Creative Conversations are taking place throughout the country. Visit the website after October to read summary reports of the events and learn what next steps to take in your community.
National Arts and Humanities Month is coordinated by Americans for the Arts. Americans for the Arts is dedicated to representing and serving local communities and creating opportunities for every American to participate in and appreciate all forms of the arts. The month-long celebration has become the largest annual celebration of the arts and humanities in the nation. With 50 years of service, Americans for the Arts is dedicated to representing and serving local communities and creating opportunities for every American to participate in and appreciate all forms of the arts. More information about Americans for the Arts, Creative Conversations, and National Arts and Humanities Month is available at www.AmericansForTheArts.org.
The Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts is a privately funded program of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts that incubates projects that sustain artists at every point in their creative development through strategic partnerships that capitalize on visionary thinking in the arts. For more information, please visit www.kenanarts.org.
###
Leave a reply