tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9843502006014886202024-03-12T23:07:17.361-06:00Mile-High Musings on Arts, Culture, Creativity and PhilanthropyPeriodic musings on arts, culture, creative economy and philanthropy issues from the President and CEO of the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation in Denver. You can also follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/gsteuer.Gary Steuerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06964208018966427968noreply@blogger.comBlogger130125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-984350200601488620.post-54901670170055097682024-01-11T16:34:00.002-07:002024-01-11T16:34:55.666-07:00What connects Gary Steuer to Beyonce, Dolly Parton, Aggie Gund, Kehinde Wiley and Darren Walker?<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvVEJGaLpr33wMc0ss-_fzLTNOWlO5djmAySdzscTlcS45-7OXgaQz3WV32j91MKy3K9JsVavupsTBuzXB_YDaTDSVvPGPtFSKJaux2-_uG_p-AFI_Z5_LKrlh-e3OVAtFO7CUcmnnK125GBVT_mF4i12vXhzEoX5XTx0bkH46GH7ZRG-bkRFyEa5oUH2t/s1586/ArtDesk%20cover%20-%20Dolly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1194" data-original-width="1586" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvVEJGaLpr33wMc0ss-_fzLTNOWlO5djmAySdzscTlcS45-7OXgaQz3WV32j91MKy3K9JsVavupsTBuzXB_YDaTDSVvPGPtFSKJaux2-_uG_p-AFI_Z5_LKrlh-e3OVAtFO7CUcmnnK125GBVT_mF4i12vXhzEoX5XTx0bkH46GH7ZRG-bkRFyEa5oUH2t/s320/ArtDesk%20cover%20-%20Dolly.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />A couple of weeks ago I opened my Sunday <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/" target="_blank">New York Times </a>to find inside the newest issue of <a href="https://readartdesk.com/" target="_blank">ArtDesk</a>, a wonderful quarterly arts magazine published by the <a href="https://kirkpatrickfoundation.com/" target="_blank">Kirkpatrick Foundation</a> and distributed through subscription as well as to New York Times subscribers. The lead story (featuring a cover photo of Dolly Parton) is "<a href="https://readartdesk.com/feature/the-artdesk-100-2024-discovery-list" target="_blank">The ArtDesk 100: 2024 Discovery List</a>" - described as "Our favorite creators, thinkers, and voices—who give the best of themselves... Our honorees evangelize for a better world in a way that transcends their own success." And as I peruse this impressive list of leaders - artists and philanthropists, including luminaries like those in the title of this post - imagine my surprise to find myself included in this list! It was truly humbling and startling, since seeing me included in the list was the first I knew about the story. And of course, recognition like this is really recognition for all the folks that make it possible for you to do what you do, board members past and present, a wonderful team of colleagues, and an extraordinary community of artists and arts organizations in Colorado that I have the privilege of supporting through the <a href="https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/" target="_blank">Bonfils-Stanton Foundation</a>. It may seem trite at this point but it can never be stated too often. Those of us in institutional philanthropy have the privilege - and the heavy responsibility - of stewarding resources not of our creation. If you do not feel that weight, then you are not doing your job well. So click on the link above and be inspired, not by me, but by this incredible collection of individuals who have used their power, privilege, and in many cases artistic talents to make this world better. A great way to start the new year!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuWVKNPa5lw55kbaigc_IUPO0A9l9Zup-0Ap8OWDVVDpS6CZeyDUTzoXav0jE7i8krktm_cplUXpsVx_Uns6gUhfQhVSW1jjsu9-x8zotVL2-Xlzg9pq3j815ah5hxKFTdaHAtxOofbXQmR5C7ACzgKYZ-s1taSwxs9m81ZyAikfILNW7KzbEzxQjWUy43/s1532/Art%20Desk%20-%20Steuer%20listing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1022" data-original-width="1532" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuWVKNPa5lw55kbaigc_IUPO0A9l9Zup-0Ap8OWDVVDpS6CZeyDUTzoXav0jE7i8krktm_cplUXpsVx_Uns6gUhfQhVSW1jjsu9-x8zotVL2-Xlzg9pq3j815ah5hxKFTdaHAtxOofbXQmR5C7ACzgKYZ-s1taSwxs9m81ZyAikfILNW7KzbEzxQjWUy43/w640-h426/Art%20Desk%20-%20Steuer%20listing.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><br /></p>Gary Steuerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06964208018966427968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-984350200601488620.post-80118672686407902312023-11-14T13:50:00.006-07:002023-11-14T13:50:59.884-07:00A Decade of Transformation - Reflections on my 10-year anniversary at Bonfils-Stanton Foundation<p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjPaohibb8TgAkVN9VgwaG2Mp_68kHKGtAB710aslymNtaLqHWHiYeXfwpW_f-LBgRZBAfFPDEVVjz2qk0CRS6V3s_e4LWKG7LleHfLIQRzFWY7N_YiHnFyeJZFevAK4sZbJAwqNd56jK3lws3LeTwy0ODAw64OaSR1dHz8bvgzrx82XGNQ04kfDAVPyxQ/s624/BSF_redlogo_thumbnail%20size.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="624" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjPaohibb8TgAkVN9VgwaG2Mp_68kHKGtAB710aslymNtaLqHWHiYeXfwpW_f-LBgRZBAfFPDEVVjz2qk0CRS6V3s_e4LWKG7LleHfLIQRzFWY7N_YiHnFyeJZFevAK4sZbJAwqNd56jK3lws3LeTwy0ODAw64OaSR1dHz8bvgzrx82XGNQ04kfDAVPyxQ/s320/BSF_redlogo_thumbnail%20size.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>This reflection was created as part of my report to the Board of Directors at our recent quarterly board meeting. It seemed to me that it might be worth sharing more widely. So much has happened at the Foundation over the past ten years, it was a helpful exercise to try and capture those changes. I am sure I missed some!</i></span><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">October 1, 2023, officially marked my ten-year anniversary
at the Foundation. Inevitably with these milestones it is helpful to reflect on
what has been accomplished, what has changed, and what remains to be done.
Because this is an important and extensive story to tell, I hope you will
indulge <a name="_Int_R41VGL6t">me</a> as I share how the Foundation has
transformed over these past ten years.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><u><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Board/Governance<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC6F8mj_vglmx5ch2lbldpDt5PexrSx1Vj-s4-L404jTutOqYdJzKFTHfcPgMTMV0kNe_rfWbi7MeZjLTBhTfsGKreYR8xu0vfefHQQplsIbG1TN8rQ-2RBUk9LddPO5l5i8CDvTk_3OVO50J0x7LLyLetS6MlNc9KEWCJnxpkqJpMA_90M_0DYcQBQwZb/s600/Lanny%20Martin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="327" data-original-width="600" height="109" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC6F8mj_vglmx5ch2lbldpDt5PexrSx1Vj-s4-L404jTutOqYdJzKFTHfcPgMTMV0kNe_rfWbi7MeZjLTBhTfsGKreYR8xu0vfefHQQplsIbG1TN8rQ-2RBUk9LddPO5l5i8CDvTk_3OVO50J0x7LLyLetS6MlNc9KEWCJnxpkqJpMA_90M_0DYcQBQwZb/w200-h109/Lanny%20Martin.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;">I have worked with three (soon to be four) chairs in this
time, starting, of course, with Lanny Martin, who led the search process that
brought me to the Foundation.<o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When I began it was a small board of five with no term
limits and a Board that had not had a trustee of color in its entire history.
We first created the Community Trustee category as a way to bring in more
diverse (in all ways) trustees. The board size increased to 7 and then 9, and
the community trustee category was eliminated once term limits were
implemented. The board now has five BIPOC trustees out of nine, as well as a
trustee representing the interests of people with disabilities. We also have never
had a Vice-Chair role, making succession challenging, and established a
Nominating and Governance Committee in 2017, which has made the process of
recruiting new Board members much more strategic and thoughtful. This Board has
been wonderful from the moment I came to the Foundation ten years ago, but now
has a much broader array of perspectives and lived experiences, which has made
the transformative nature of our work much better informed and executed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It has been such a gift to work with everyone who has
served on the Board since 2013.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><u><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Strategic Planning/Communications/Racial Equity<o:p></o:p></span></span></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When I joined the foundation in 2013 strategic planning was
informal, and primarily done in-house. We commissioned an extensive external
assessment of the foundation by <a href="https://changingourworld.com/" target="_blank">Changing our World</a>, which informed a board
retreat and strategic framework in 2016, as well as significant changes in the
<a href="https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/leadership/livingston-fellowship-program/" target="_blank">Livingston Fellowship</a> program. It also led to the completion of a comprehensive
rebranding of the foundation working with Launch – new logo, design guidelines,
website, e-newsletter, etc. We also retained a communications contractor to
execute social media, newsletters and press relations, a first for the
foundation. Until these changes the Foundation had not used an email list
management program and did not produce an e-newsletter. And now we have created
the position of Director of Communications and brought on Anthony to elevate
our communications and storytelling to a new level.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In November 2017 we held a series of informal roundtable
conversations with grantees, facilitated by staff, to gain a deeper
understanding of their issues and needs. This was followed by the realization
that we really needed to hear from the many smaller arts groups, led by and
serving BIPOC and other historically marginalized communities, that we DID NOT
already support. We created a process working with consultant Erin Yoshimura
(also a Livingston Fellow) to facilitate conversations with these groups, working
with SCFD and others to source a list of invitees. These were extremely
informative and valuable conversations, and helped inform our work, leading
directly to the creation of what became the Inclusive Communities grant program
in 2019.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The past couple of years have brought working with the
<a href="https://www.thegeminigroupllc.com/" target="_blank">Gemini Group</a> and Dante and Christina James on Racial Equity, followed by the
work with <a href="https://www.lapiana.org/" target="_blank">La Piana</a> Consulting to develop a new strategic framework to guide us through the
next few years.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Over the entire ten years, there has been an overlay of
addressing equity in all our work and systems. Initially much of this work
happened organically, with it being a topic area in board retreat education and
discussion and influencing our program operations – grantmaking and the
Fellowship program. It was also reflected in efforts to diversify the Board. In
2020, issues were raised by three of our Fellows about the Foundation’s
commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, which led to the realization that
1) we had not effectively communicated about all the work that had already
happened or was underway. 2) there remained real issues in some operations and
systems and in our history that reflected a legacy of Whiteness that needed to
be acknowledged and addressed. 3) there was an imperative not just to do the
work, but to accelerate the pace of change. This led to much internal work at
both the Board and staff level, and ultimately the issuance of an RFP for deep
equity work (a process that had actually begun in 2019) and the retention of
the Gemini Group to conduct their year-long process that informed the strategic
planning process.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The commitment to equity has also been reflected in work on
team culture, work that has been ongoing for the past couple of years, with a
team retreat in 2022 with outside facilitation and a retreat coming up in 2023.
Staff have also participated in racial equity training through <a href="http://www.coloradoinclusivefunders.org/" target="_blank">COFIE (ColoradoFunders for Inclusion and Equity)</a>, <a href="https://www.philanthropycolorado.org/" target="_blank">Philanthropy Colorado</a>, <a href="https://pisab.org/" target="_blank">Peoples Institute forSurvival and Beyond</a>, <a href="https://www.giarts.org/" target="_blank">Grantmakers in the Arts</a> and others. This work is ongoing,
rewarding, sometimes difficult, and critically important. It will never end.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><u><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Grantmaking<o:p></o:p></span></span></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Over the past ten years we have granted a total of $34.6
million. While we have continued our quarterly grantmaking, we have added an
array of targeted programs designed to advance our mission. The percentage of
our grants going to BIPOC, and other historically marginalized communities
(disability and LGBTQ) has gone from 2% to about 38%. (And if we factored in
our Fellowship dollars, the shift in percentages would be even larger.) The
number of annual grants has gone from around 50 to over 135. We have launched
<a href="https://www.redlineart.org/arts-in-society" target="_blank">Arts in Society</a>, which has more than doubled our annual $200k investment with
support leveraged from other funders. </span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilbsoVdK-RyESxaxap-rW5qCIkFXbJUvT1_siZdHuftT8n0TU6ejOaLAzWgJRzzvct6Iqhq0FMstYp4MGaRrzWnxHf5pobDg2haiDAqaNAyb79VfwQ7Xg0iOXw22hD9nqbUia4iW39gKFNCeG0lsKBvBPheFNQwqF3CrIiCufzuP2GGeWCzFs6I69RQ_cP/s7360/B-COVID-19%20Arts%20&%20Culture%20at%20Reception.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4912" data-original-width="7360" height="134" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilbsoVdK-RyESxaxap-rW5qCIkFXbJUvT1_siZdHuftT8n0TU6ejOaLAzWgJRzzvct6Iqhq0FMstYp4MGaRrzWnxHf5pobDg2haiDAqaNAyb79VfwQ7Xg0iOXw22hD9nqbUia4iW39gKFNCeG0lsKBvBPheFNQwqF3CrIiCufzuP2GGeWCzFs6I69RQ_cP/w200-h134/B-COVID-19%20Arts%20&%20Culture%20at%20Reception.JPG" width="200" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />We responded to COVID with immediate
direct support to our grant partners as well as relief through the <a href="https://denverfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/COVID-19-Arts-Culture-Relief-Fund-Impact-Update.pdf" target="_blank">COVID relief fund</a> in partnership with <a href="https://denverfoundation.org/" target="_blank">The Denver Foundation</a> that took our $1 million
commitment and leveraged it with an additional $1+ million in support from a
wide array of donors. This partnership was recognized with the 2021 National
Philanthropy Day in Colorado award for Outstanding Foundation as well as the
2022 Innovative Partnership Award from <a href="https://scfd.org/" target="_blank">SCFD (Scientific and Cultural Facilities District)</a>.<o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We introduced multi-year support, small responsive staff
level grants, the Inclusive Communities grant program to help support smaller
BIPOC and other historically marginalized led/serving groups, and staff-level
approval of grants of $20k and under to streamline board meetings and make more
effective use of Trustee time. We also created a technical assistance grant
category to provide targeted TA support -a significant need that had been
identified. And just this month, launched the new <a href="https://think360arts.org/grant-opportunities/" target="_blank">Equity in Arts Learning</a>
collaborative grant program with Think360 Arts for Learning, modeled on the
successful Arts in Society grant program.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Related to grantmaking, we negotiated with the University
of Denver to convert the 1965 May Bonfils Stanton Endowment at the Korbel
School to a new endowed cultural diplomacy program.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><u><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Leadership<o:p></o:p></span></span></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-TwvwUMmRLXz2_CVRoXOcFd8Rh3A2AqJBTg0QIQ8EMEuiYSEzfXoodNy-uPVDLNZZ_1kuTymOqSCaqbme7ufceZWcGsN_HYmwkYtYFzkJV40FkxJvhWWDedtOOacVbfQ3lXLsV1jSyPD0XK3prEKvn5IYavsTgjHqllUQvQcDndUr4LUUxk-CZd-iKI_J/s4943/2023FellowsRec-107.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3300" data-original-width="4943" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-TwvwUMmRLXz2_CVRoXOcFd8Rh3A2AqJBTg0QIQ8EMEuiYSEzfXoodNy-uPVDLNZZ_1kuTymOqSCaqbme7ufceZWcGsN_HYmwkYtYFzkJV40FkxJvhWWDedtOOacVbfQ3lXLsV1jSyPD0XK3prEKvn5IYavsTgjHqllUQvQcDndUr4LUUxk-CZd-iKI_J/s320/2023FellowsRec-107.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />Our Livingston Fellowship program has seen the following
dramatic changes, while preserving its core structure around being flexible and
responsive to meet leaders where they are with what they most need: 1) the
panel process was changed to rotate panelists, to ensure a diverse panel, and
to no longer allow panelists to also be nominators. 2) the nominations process
went from a secretive group of nominators made up mostly of foundation CEOs to
initially a much more inclusive process with many more nominators, and
ultimately self-nomination, as well as the option to video nominate. 3) In 2020
we added Chrissy’s position to bring a full-time senior staff person on board
to oversee the Fellowship program as well as explore other opportunities to
advance leadership. 4) prior to 2014 the percentage of BIPOC Fellows averaged
20%. From 2014 through 2020 (2021 was suspended due to COVID) the BIPOC
percentage was 50%, and since 2021 it has been 93% (14 out of 15 in two
classes). 5) An array of other procedural and structural changes were made in
the program to make the program more inclusive and responsive – this included
introducing more flexibility in how Fellows can utilize their funds, providing
the option of having a portion of their funds be received as a direct taxable
gift, streamlining reporting, and welcoming Fellows from very small
organizations, including those that may be fiscally sponsored. We also launched
new leadership focused grant programs, such as providing an operating grant to
all Fellow organizations, adding a new grant program to support collaborative
arts-based projects between fellows, and a program that supports a select group
of other programs that are helping to advance a pipeline of diverse nonprofit
leaders. We also became a member of the national Leadership Funders Group and
hosted the LFG conference in Denver in 2023.<o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We initially evolved our Awards program to add an
Individual Artist award and then aligned all three awards around our arts
grantmaking focus, and finally in 2020 (with a final virtual awards event due
to COVID), we sunset this program after 35 years. We are developing plans to
introduce a new awards program honoring individual artists who are using their
art to make a positive difference in our community. This will launch in
rotation with the Livingston Fellowship program every other year.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><u><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Investing<o:p></o:p></span></span></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sometime around 2016 we began a long process of exploring
impact investing. Various guest speakers were brought in to speak to the
Investment Committee or the full board as we engaged in thoughtful learning and
deliberation. This led to the decision to commit to make impact <a name="_Int_QEEILWgH">investing</a> a core part of our investment portfolio,
which in turn led to starting an RFP process to identify the best investment
firm to work with, ultimately choosing <a href="https://advisor.morganstanley.com/blue-rider-group" target="_blank">Morgan Stanley/Blue-Rider Group</a>. As a
result, we are now aligning our investments to our mission and our values, a
huge change for the foundation. We created <a href="https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/investing-with-impact/" target="_blank">a new area of our web site</a> to talk
about our impact investing journey/process and have informally advised other
small and mid-sized foundations on their own journeys. Roughly 70% of our
investments are now impact aligned, and since 20% of our prior investments are
locked in and not changeable, in effect we are at 70% out of a maximum
achievable goal of 80%. And many investments, like the <a href="https://equityalliance.fund/" target="_blank">Equity Alliance</a> and
<a href="https://upstartco-lab.org/" target="_blank">Upstart Co-Lab</a> are even more directly value and/or mission aligned. This has
significantly amplified our impact by activating the “other 95%” – our corpus -
as an instrument of change.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><u><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Management/Administrative<o:p></o:p></span></span></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Staffing - Shifted Gina from contract role to permanent
employee role in 2013. Created and ran hiring processes for Chrissy and Anthony
as well as Emma, the new administrative assistant (and Sarah, the past
administrative assistant).<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Administration – Staff oversaw digitizing/culling of the
vast majority of our paper files to reduce storage needs and be better able to
digitally access documents. Monique and Gina began an assessment process to
review alternative grants management software options, which we hope to
implement in 2024. We shifted from data being stored on a local server to
cloud-based data management.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho9YHu57IG0L9f8nnvf0vQ_20XrD45HHb0upPYTCCrCFmHnFs3TqYQ5NiOjiOmGXpjVWOpf5osVMqpk7UCgNcpgxNdvDBqd81IA_XJEIZgiZpEC670W1fdWNKmDQtGxDF4dqxpPJExhF98JSZXhqG5_fGgG0rPORupiMvWAnlxDhu0butnnQKN4neEgr7Y/s1280/Entry.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho9YHu57IG0L9f8nnvf0vQ_20XrD45HHb0upPYTCCrCFmHnFs3TqYQ5NiOjiOmGXpjVWOpf5osVMqpk7UCgNcpgxNdvDBqd81IA_XJEIZgiZpEC670W1fdWNKmDQtGxDF4dqxpPJExhF98JSZXhqG5_fGgG0rPORupiMvWAnlxDhu0butnnQKN4neEgr7Y/s320/Entry.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />Space - Engaged in several years of work around identifying
new space for the foundation, to be more accessible, less subject to elevator
breakdowns and more reflective of our values and mission. This included an
effort to organize a group of funders in the creation of a shared philanthropy
space. While this effort did not succeed, SCFD and BSF ended up co-locating in
the same building. This effort meant working to put our two floors on the
market in the D&F Clocktower (one has since sold), negotiating a lease,
working to design the new space, oversee construction, work with both an
interior design firm as well as an art consulting service, manage the budget,
select and install art, select and install furniture, install technology and AV
systems, etc. <o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">History – in 2017 we commissioned historian Tom Noel to
research and write the <a href="https://issuu.com/projectiondigital/docs/bsf_history_book_0419_v.1" target="_blank">history of Bonfils-Stanton Foundation and its founders</a>.
This document was printed, distributed widely in the community and posted on
our website. A prologue on Race and Privilege as well as a statement on
findings related to History Colorado’s release of Ku Klux Klan roles were added
to the website piece in 2021.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><u><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Field Leadership<o:p></o:p></span></span></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><span style="line-height: 107%;">Provided sponsorship and grantmaking to support
IdeaLab, a collaboration between <a href="https://springboardforthearts.org/" target="_blank">Springboard for the Arts</a>, Issue Media Group,
and Confluence Denver to support convenings and tools to build innovative arts
and culture in Denver - 2015-2017<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><span style="line-height: 107%;">Hosted <a href="https://www.americansforthearts.org/" target="_blank">Americans for the Arts</a> conference – 2018
(Gary Co-chair host committee)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><span style="line-height: 107%;">Hosted Grantmakers in the Arts Conference –
2019 (Gary co-chair host committee)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><span style="line-height: 107%;">Hosted <a href="https://www.aam-us.org/" target="_blank">American Alliance of Museums</a> conference
– 2023 (Gary co-chair host committee)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><span style="line-height: 107%;">Hosted <a href="https://cof.org/" target="_blank">Council on Foundations</a> Leading Locally
conference – 2023 (Gary host committee)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><span style="line-height: 107%;">Hosted <a href="https://www.museumtrustee.org/" target="_blank">Museum Trustee Association</a> – 2023
(spoke to group and Chrissy organized and moderated a panel)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><span style="line-height: 107%;">Gary served on the host committee for the
<a href="https://www.citiessummitoftheamericas.org/" target="_blank">Cities Summit of the Americas </a>- 2023 and BSF hosted an Arts in Action luncheon
for arts leaders with the <a href="https://www.arts.gov/" target="_blank">National Endowment for the Arts</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><span style="line-height: 107%;">Gary served as Chair of Philanthropy Colorado,
2020-2022 (on board 2016-2023)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><span style="line-height: 107%;">Gary served on Grantmakers in the Arts Board,
2015-2021<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><span style="line-height: 107%;">Gary served on <a href="https://clyffordstillmuseum.org/" target="_blank">Clyfford Still Museum</a> Board,
2014-2018<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><span style="line-height: 107%;">Gary served many years as a juror for the
National Philanthropy Day in Colorado awards<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><span style="line-height: 107%;">Ann serves on and chairs <a href="https://cndc.org/" target="_blank">Colorado NonprofitDevelopment Center (CNDC) </a>Board (6 years, past 3 as Chair)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><span style="line-height: 107%;">Ann serves on <a href="https://coloradononprofits.org/" target="_blank">Colorado Nonprofit Association</a>
Finance Committee (3 Years)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><span style="line-height: 107%;">Ann serves on planning committee for
Philanthropy Colorado Finance group<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><span style="line-height: 107%;">Commissioned the national nonprofit shared
space association to conduct a feasibility study on the space needs and
opportunities for shared space among Denver arts community.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><span style="line-height: 107%;">Major local and national news stories about the
Foundation in <a href="https://www.philanthropy.com/" target="_blank">Chronicle of Philanthropy</a>, <a href="https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/" target="_blank">Inside Philanthropy</a>, <a href="https://denverite.com/" target="_blank">Denverite</a>, <a href="https://www.denverpost.com/" target="_blank">DenverPost</a> and others<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><span style="line-height: 107%;">Supported a feasibility study around the
creation of a regional creative alliance.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><span style="line-height: 107%;">As an outcome of the above, spearheaded the
creation of the Arts & Culture Funders Group, now administered by
Philanthropy Colorado.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><span style="line-height: 107%;">Funded a comprehensive external assessment of
the resident companies of the Denver Performing Arts Complex by <a href="https://wolfbrown.com/" target="_blank">WolfBrown</a>,
looking for opportunities for deeper collaboration – this segued into strategic
planning work with each company, having an especially powerful positive impact
on Opera Colorado and Colorado Ballet – 2014<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 107%;">Gary served on the Blue-Ribbon Panel for the
Imagine 2020 cultural plan for <a href="https://www.artsandvenuesdenver.com/about" target="_blank">Denver Arts & Venues</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 107%;">Gary participated as part of the executive
committee for the Next Stage process to re-imagine the Denver Performing Arts
Complex.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 107%;">Instrumental in bringing <a href="https://www.bloomberg.org/arts/strengthening-local-arts-organizations/arts-innovation-and-management/" target="_blank">BloombergPhilanthropies’ AIM (Arts Innovation Management)</a> program to Denver, providing
millions of dollars in support for a wide array of arts organizations, as well
as deep capacity building. Gina remains the liaison to this relationship,
recently helping to engage local arts & culture organizations with the
Bloomberg Connects project.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 107%;">Brought in <a href="https://www.wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/the-arts/pages/default.aspx" target="_blank">Wallace Foundation </a>to offer a
presentation of new research on audience development in the arts.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 107%;">Engaged Grantmakers in the Arts to provide
workshops on capitalization for the cultural community and funders.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 107%;">Brought in <a href="https://www.artplaceamerica.org/" target="_blank">ArtPlace America </a>to do a series of
presentations for the cultural sector (and funders) on creative placemaking.
This included working with <a href="https://oedit.colorado.gov/colorado-creative-industries" target="_blank">Colorado Creative Industries</a> to organize a statewide
tour by the ArtPlace team to understand rural arts in Colorado.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 107%;">Retained Leslie Koch, CEO of Governors Island
in NYC, to assess opportunities for arts participation in the National Western
Complex plans.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 107%;">Introduced LaPlaca Cohen to Arts & Venues,
resulting in two presentations by LPC to the Denver arts community on <a href="https://culturetrack.com/" target="_blank">Culture Track</a>, their
national research on arts audience trends and attitudes.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 107%;">Gary served on the planning committee for
<a href="https://www.philanthropysouthwest.org/" target="_blank">Philanthropy Southwest</a> conferences.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTPrBxilGd5Qe_9VzgkvSqCq3viNSERIdebAQ9w8nBmOUsSkHjc8jjCZv8YoYy9t93G4bWhhMfMf9l28BI2lxZ4iVocnFFyQ05ANp8SQV2JRQqkBzt8DGjVihi90JoYBujxdaY6rfINyugNDHYs45V-KwgqapyztKRgUTEDQJLtoQka6416F_42vtss216/s3800/Gary_Upstart%20CoLab%20NYC%20Event_4.2023.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2533" data-original-width="3800" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTPrBxilGd5Qe_9VzgkvSqCq3viNSERIdebAQ9w8nBmOUsSkHjc8jjCZv8YoYy9t93G4bWhhMfMf9l28BI2lxZ4iVocnFFyQ05ANp8SQV2JRQqkBzt8DGjVihi90JoYBujxdaY6rfINyugNDHYs45V-KwgqapyztKRgUTEDQJLtoQka6416F_42vtss216/s320/Gary_Upstart%20CoLab%20NYC%20Event_4.2023.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 107%;">Gary and/or other team members have presented
at many conferences/convenings (local and national), including: Grantmakers in
the Arts, Philanthropy Southwest, Americans for the Arts, Council on
Foundations, American Alliance of Museums, Confluence Philanthropy, Upstart
Co-Lab, Alliance of Artists Communities, National Performance Network, Colorado
Creative Industries, Confluence Philanthropy. <o:p></o:p></span></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 107%;">Gary served on grant panels for the National
Endowment for the Arts as well as ArtPlace America.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 107%;">Commissioned Donna Walker-Kuhne to conduct
focus groups and interviews and <a href="https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/enhancing-arts-engagement-with-diverse-communities/" target="_blank">assess the state of diversity efforts amongDenver’s cultural organizations</a>, leading to the creation of the Arts and
Diversity task force, which helped “birth” the <a href="https://www.ditainternship.com/" target="_blank">Diversity in the Arts internshipprogram</a> we continue to support.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 107%;">Gary served on the SCFD reauthorization Task
Force<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 107%;">CAST – Brought in the leadership of the Bay
Area-based <a href="https://cast-sf.org/" target="_blank">Community Arts Stabilization Trust</a> twice to discuss opportunities to
address arts space challenges in Denver, once to speak to just the Board and
once to a convened group of real estate, arts and philanthropy leaders.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://coloradomediaproject.com/" target="_blank">Colorado Media Project</a> – Gary serves on the
local advisory body for this effort led by the Gates Family Foundation, and we
also supported specific research on the state of cultural journalism in
Colorado and what the opportunities were for improvement going forward.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p></div></div>Gary Steuerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06964208018966427968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-984350200601488620.post-91975720177664736272022-04-28T16:26:00.002-06:002022-04-29T09:42:33.768-06:00Denver Museum Gift ShopsAbout ten years ago I wrote a series of three blog posts on the phenomenon of museum gift shops, the first on <a href="https://milehighculture.blogspot.com/2012/04/guide-to-arts-and-culture-gift-shops-in.html" target="_blank">Philadelphia</a> (where I was living at the time), one on <a href="https://milehighculture.blogspot.com/2012/04/arts-and-culture-gift-shop-guide.html" target="_blank">New York City</a> (where I had previously lived and worked), and a third covering <a href="https://milehighculture.blogspot.com/2012/05/arts-culture-gift-shop-guide-america.html" target="_blank">the rest of the country</a> based on museums I had visited in my extensive national travels. I was reminded of these bog posts (which got a lot of attention at the time) by new data just shared by Colleen Dillenschneider on her great Know Your Own Bone blog - <a href="https://www.colleendilen.com/2022/04/27/engagement-insight-from-the-gift-shop-what-visitors-say-is-the-best-thing-about-museum-retail-experiences-data/" target="_blank">"Engagement Insights from the Museum Gift Shop: The Best Thing About Museum Retail Experiences."</a> For the full report click on the link, but in summary the research found that the five best things from a consumer standpoint are: 5) friendly/helpful staff, 4) finding gifts for a child, 3) finding gifts for adult friend or family, 2) supporting the organization, and the<b> number one</b> reason is: 1) unique merchandise only available at this location.<p>When I wrote about museum gift shops many years ago, I found myself explicitly rating them based on this last point, not based on data, just based on what resonated with me - what kept me returning to certain museum gift shops but not others, what made them unique.</p><p>So inspired by this new data, it is time for a long-delayed fourth installment in the series - DENVER!</p><p><b><a href="https://www.denverartmuseum.org/en" target="_blank">Denver Art Museum</a></b> - the biggest museum in the community, and the biggest gift shop. The main shop is in the lobby of the Hamilton Building, designed by <a href="https://www.colleendilen.com/2022/04/27/engagement-insight-from-the-gift-shop-what-visitors-say-is-the-best-thing-about-museum-retail-experiences-data/" target="_blank">Daniel Libeskind</a>, and that is what I will talk about, though like many major museums, they usually establish specialized satellite shops specific to each "blockbuster" exhibition (i.e. Monet, Frida, Dior...). DAM's gift shop does a great job of always including a fine selection of merchandise related to current exhibitions that goes well beyond branded </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWbDOg5Jk1LBJerrop2h_hOgfRGwKLYxdlSEvuV7ZF1fRAnqtJEt9uBKsUqASFf5EuJPumIoDIJbgcwDpSYuamDIcOlxqhDlarvN1e7b90XVJphcYSHSk9o1rlKKcMaAl7ur3BX2DehYkFHBAx8vNBnqln4fiKN1jBNONKpE0uxnIUmIHY5cKUh_JJYQ/s800/Jewelry%20from%20DAM%20-%20LeftHand%20Studios.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="640" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWbDOg5Jk1LBJerrop2h_hOgfRGwKLYxdlSEvuV7ZF1fRAnqtJEt9uBKsUqASFf5EuJPumIoDIJbgcwDpSYuamDIcOlxqhDlarvN1e7b90XVJphcYSHSk9o1rlKKcMaAl7ur3BX2DehYkFHBAx8vNBnqln4fiKN1jBNONKpE0uxnIUmIHY5cKUh_JJYQ/w160-h200/Jewelry%20from%20DAM%20-%20LeftHand%20Studios.jpg" width="160" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Earrings by Colorado's Left Hand Studio</i></td></tr></tbody></table>tee shirts and caps. The ample shop has a great selection of jewelry, with a clear effort to include local Colorado artists, and also quite a selection of handmade artisanal glass - again many by local artists. There are many "artsy" scarves, shawls and wraps that are quite nicely curated. Of course, there are the usual art books, postcards, posters, etc., based on the collections in the museum. There is an excellent, modestly sized kids section- can't say it is especially unique but it is a great place to shop for special gifts for a child. There is a quite well-stocked section of kitchen and dining implements/objects. Again, most of it not that different from other major museum shops, BUT pretty unique for Denver so a great place to shop for a housewarming gift or something special for someone who likes to cook/entertain. And then there is a wide assortment of artisanal "stuff" - reading glasses, paperweights, desk supplies, bags and briefcases, belts, etc. - often changing, cool items, well-designed; not necessarily with a strong local focus but worth checking out as well. Fun historical tidbit? When I first moved to Denver I noticed the shop - for all its merchandise - had no Denver Art Museum logo caps or t-shirts, and I periodically would remind the Director when I saw him about this gap. Now they finally have caps! I will also say their e-commerce site for <a href="https://shop.denverartmuseum.org/default.aspx" target="_blank">the shop</a> is much better than most museums, with a wider array of merchandise, but still just a tiny fraction of what is in the shop. <p></p><p><a href="https://www.kirklandmuseum.org/" target="_blank"><b>Kirkland Museum of Fine and Decorative Arts</b></a> - The Kirkland is a pretty unique museum, and its small but well-curated shop reflects that. The museum has three focus areas: 1) The work of Colorado artist <a href="https://www.kirklandmuseum.org/about-vance-kirkland/biography/" target="_blank">Vance Kirkland</a>, whose working studio is incorporated into the museum. 2) Fine art by other Colorado</p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzWzzcjREcfVjwXabMlkAp-EktfnmZH-wf5ekPUfRrVWnv20AVyK0kTmZOunBcxJtChvEK56X8lhN1AF0_dNrWVElqoGq9bNCB53PfVJMCljhOuFFIpej441x-TSiOZkkFrdOgMfSSzl-TDnxOKMjqOZRi_NP7mIFHhD7aN4c_Af56s4Mq6Cy38voKRA/s2048/Kirkland%20Open%20Sun%20Coasters3.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2048" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzWzzcjREcfVjwXabMlkAp-EktfnmZH-wf5ekPUfRrVWnv20AVyK0kTmZOunBcxJtChvEK56X8lhN1AF0_dNrWVElqoGq9bNCB53PfVJMCljhOuFFIpej441x-TSiOZkkFrdOgMfSSzl-TDnxOKMjqOZRi_NP7mIFHhD7aN4c_Af56s4Mq6Cy38voKRA/w200-h200/Kirkland%20Open%20Sun%20Coasters3.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Vance Kirkland Open Sun Coasters</i><br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table> "modern" artists - i.e. avoiding contemporary art but focusing on artists of the 20th C. - who fall between the cracks of exhibiting and collecting at DAM and MCA. 3) An international collection of extraordinary decorative arts from the 1870's to the present - furniture, lighting, dining ware and other objects . It is very much a reflection of the voracious thoughtful collecting and personal attention of founder and director Hugh Grant (no, not THAT Hugh Grant). You will find works by Gio Ponti (the architect of the newly refurbished original "North" building of the Denver Art Museum), Breuer, Mies, Wright, Eames, Saarinen, Hoffmann, Gehry - just to name a few. The gift shop is a small gem - lots of work by local artists and designers and many items specifically related to the designers in the collection, as well as Vance Kirkland. Because of the museum's smaller scale, the <a href="https://kirkland-museum.myshopify.com/" target="_blank">online store</a> is really limited. If at all possible visit in person.<p></p><p><b><a href="https://clyffordstillmuseum.org/" target="_blank">Clyfford Still Museum</a> - </b>The Still museum is also quite unique but in a different way. It is a single-artist museum - one of the best in the world created when Still, one of the giants of the Abstract Expressionist movement, for the most part stopped selling his work at the height of his powers but kept making work and in his will called for all his work (as well as his papers and other ephemera) to be </p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8BU1Q_XdpQmnZU41gyLBp5UZSdWyyw5gemI7Cp5f4lf3d_9NSPuTSgydiVH3rsJe9bD2TKFH9AQDOdDsKCzN4Xf92LKXGE3Z9zgJqgUHH_GLhaSj9Cwfr_c3XDWd1Uwrnp9F2IoAJtg7z6BYxqVyg6-ffCJ0olw3EcDBbu6fquVXS4d0Gw8nOh7Axlg/s1440/Mobile2_1080x.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8BU1Q_XdpQmnZU41gyLBp5UZSdWyyw5gemI7Cp5f4lf3d_9NSPuTSgydiVH3rsJe9bD2TKFH9AQDOdDsKCzN4Xf92LKXGE3Z9zgJqgUHH_GLhaSj9Cwfr_c3XDWd1Uwrnp9F2IoAJtg7z6BYxqVyg6-ffCJ0olw3EcDBbu6fquVXS4d0Gw8nOh7Axlg/w240-h320/Mobile2_1080x.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A mobile based on Still shapes and colors</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br />donated to a city that would build a dedicated museum exclusively for his work; Denver won the "contest" and the museum is extraordinary. As part of the arrangement the museum is barred from having a formal gift shop as part of the building, but there is a small but beautifully curated collection of merchandise in sort of a kiosk structure in the lobby. The staff of the museum have been very creative in offering a small but might collection of material, some based on Still's work, some based on the architecture of the building, some inspired by current exhibitions or Still's philosophy around art and color. I especially like this hanging mobile inspired by the shapes and colors that are so prominent in Still's large paintings. This is also connected to a current show that was actually curated by children. There is a pretty good selection of items available in their <a href="https://shop.clyffordstillmuseum.org/" target="_blank">online shop</a>. <p></p><p><br /></p><p><b><a href="https://mcadenver.org/" target="_blank"></a></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivY3VXfI6cd9o1kabvxQwzKmTgXPA0TqY9_yeT3aA8CZk_Tgi4khfl68lgUPtICo0dVDYMd7472exRU1UVsiuPwHsy-nm4EpoCNb65gyoOqdgWC-VZ0v-qM9nVxVKQdlstVWIvuZCOwdT1ZGMY7L4LdpPhr9KZD5hIFqz6BhsXNq_a4awFpG_rJjUCLg/s1500/Booty%20Burner2.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivY3VXfI6cd9o1kabvxQwzKmTgXPA0TqY9_yeT3aA8CZk_Tgi4khfl68lgUPtICo0dVDYMd7472exRU1UVsiuPwHsy-nm4EpoCNb65gyoOqdgWC-VZ0v-qM9nVxVKQdlstVWIvuZCOwdT1ZGMY7L4LdpPhr9KZD5hIFqz6BhsXNq_a4awFpG_rJjUCLg/s320/Booty%20Burner2.jpg" width="256" /></a></b></div><b><a href="https://mcadenver.org/" target="_blank">Museum of Contemporary Art Denver - MCA Denver </a></b>- MCA is another one of Denver's cultural gems. This museum, in a gorgeous David Adjaye designed building in the LoDo neighborhood, is what is known as a "kunsthalle" - a non-collecting museum that has no permanent collection but is devoted to mounting temporary exhibitions. MCA focuses on a diverse array of contemporary artists, local, national and international. Their gift shop is - as a good museum gift should be - totally reflective of their mission, artists and ethos. A small, but quirky, unique and highly selection of items. Always some related to the current exhibition(s) but much to see and admire (and buy!) no matter what the current show is. The museum definitely has a great sense of humor, energy and style in all they do, and that is reflected in the shop. Their <a href="https://store.mcadenver.org/" target="_blank">online shop</a> is excellent, too. And illustrating the sense of humor that permeates the shop the example I am sharing is the "Booty Burner" - an incense holder for those who felt that the past year or two have "left them feeling like they have a stick up their a**." <p></p><p><b><a href="https://museo.org/" target="_blank">Museo de las Americas</a></b> - Museo, located in the heart of the Arts District on Santa Fe, "is the premier Latin American Art Museum in the Rocky Mountain
region, and has been celebrating the artistic and</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEyTg8UJa-m960Ss6AahBIxRGoTtqUljRpTxKx8uOxCUkhQTrrCAUE-wpA9eXp032Hqy1MnUjDrtSfMgaTj2Shk0TJeP8Svhl1-vFtXRiGUvzOMnPpMoc12u2M2GpQu6iXVORa-C8UNdaatNGf-hoQmGUlJ9VmXD7yA-ydT3SWLC1xQJlvk-lqvzArVw/s512/Museo.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="384" data-original-width="512" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEyTg8UJa-m960Ss6AahBIxRGoTtqUljRpTxKx8uOxCUkhQTrrCAUE-wpA9eXp032Hqy1MnUjDrtSfMgaTj2Shk0TJeP8Svhl1-vFtXRiGUvzOMnPpMoc12u2M2GpQu6iXVORa-C8UNdaatNGf-hoQmGUlJ9VmXD7yA-ydT3SWLC1xQJlvk-lqvzArVw/w200-h150/Museo.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>cultural achievements of the community for over three decades, from ancient to folk to contemporary art." They are always worth a visit - they have a couple of small galleries devoted to their permanent collection of art and cultural objects from Mexico and throughout Latin America, and then the rest of the space is devoted to major temporary exhibits. They have a lovely small shop tucked off the entrance lobby that features a limited but well-curated selection - prints, books, clothing items, jewelry, crafts, embroidery, etc. - some by local artists and artisans, but all tied to their culture and mission. As with all of these museums, but especially given their small size, buying gifts at Museo is a great way to provide extra support for the museum. Because Museo does not have an online shop, you must pay them a visit to check out the selection!<div><br /></div><div><b><a href="https://www.dmns.org/" target="_blank"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.dmns.org/" target="_blank"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjwOLJSejjKp-IXCMkqBU11baWkO84P_orcP1wtjG8cnf89jFxYD9Mywju5Rp6Dbb-XJsHeeLFgNSyfKKVw-cnWAWccU6W6sYaNUGC_luDeEbqNWDyq7iLfWPN4MdiZSL_2Q8_TA3e-r-pUJh6hvToOJr8irtCEy3D-TIaMGef_csx1-wT2OTxhNow-A/s1067/DMNS%20t-shirt2.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="900" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjwOLJSejjKp-IXCMkqBU11baWkO84P_orcP1wtjG8cnf89jFxYD9Mywju5Rp6Dbb-XJsHeeLFgNSyfKKVw-cnWAWccU6W6sYaNUGC_luDeEbqNWDyq7iLfWPN4MdiZSL_2Q8_TA3e-r-pUJh6hvToOJr8irtCEy3D-TIaMGef_csx1-wT2OTxhNow-A/w169-h200/DMNS%20t-shirt2.jpg" width="169" /></a></div><br />Denver Museum of Nature and Science </b>- This is our major science and nature museum, hugely popular with kids and families, and their gift shop reflects that. Lots of plush stuffies of cute cuddly animals and dinosaurs, books, cards and posters, t-shirts, stuff related to space and science, rocks and minerals, inexpensive jewelry and "mood rings." In the way back there is some nice, more pricey Native American ceramics, but mostly it is relatively affordable, generic merchandise targeted to kids. As with the art museums there are usually some items related to current special exhibitions, and most of the major touring special exhibitions will have their own themed shop as you exit the exhibit. If you are seeking kids gifts, and have a budding scientist, naturalist, astronaut or dinosaur lover, this is your place. There is a good <a href="https://shop.dmns.org/" target="_blank">online shop</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div><b><a href="https://www.botanicgardens.org/" target="_blank">Denver Botanic Gardens</a></b> - While not an art museum, botanic gardens are in fact "living collections," and in the case of DBG, they also have an extensive gallery exhibition program (with beautiful relatively new exhibition spaces. And in terms of gift shops, I have to say DBG has one of the best that I find myself returning to often. There is a selection of artisan outdoor garden sculpture, urns, planters,<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoVYDavmemDKmuaTfiIo0AXQaa4nkx7xuNsdXXO_Ji5qD4WelA_7Yz4vAXpr-iKqhxtrmMyESyOJMvXTMhRIrAst_v2-ZZwv5JrLLCiTU4UKLja2kLQBYtnZdRvhYEgUFA5cyFkEfp0ad6onFb4r1gT6M5aqxTFZiU4mKfkWNS9PlbA9dlvrMJdCWkfg/s1400/shopatgardens12.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="1400" height="114" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoVYDavmemDKmuaTfiIo0AXQaa4nkx7xuNsdXXO_Ji5qD4WelA_7Yz4vAXpr-iKqhxtrmMyESyOJMvXTMhRIrAst_v2-ZZwv5JrLLCiTU4UKLja2kLQBYtnZdRvhYEgUFA5cyFkEfp0ad6onFb4r1gT6M5aqxTFZiU4mKfkWNS9PlbA9dlvrMJdCWkfg/w400-h114/shopatgardens12.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /> tools and gardening implements etc., but the shop is also filled with a beautiful array of jewelry, botanical lotions and soaps, decorative objects, scarves, hats, cards, bowls, vases; many items are crafted by local artisans. At holiday times they have an extraordinary assortment of ornaments and other related items. There is a small but excellent selection of children's items. <a href="https://www.botanicgardens.org/york-street/shop-gardens" target="_blank">Here </a>is the area of their website with more shop info, but it appears they have now closed their online shop, so you will just have to visit in person!</div><div><br /></div><div><b><a href="https://www.mychildsmuseum.org/" target="_blank">Children's Museum of Denver</a></b> - Of course, as its name would tell you, this is Denver's wonderful children's museum. In the past few years they have significantly expanded their space, adding not just to the museum building, but also adding a large outdoor interactive play area, Joy Park. And as you would expect, the museum has a great gift shop, especially for younger children, the core audience for the museum - items that are fun, beautiful, engaging, educational. It is really one of the best kids gift shops in Denver. There is no e-commerce site, so again you will just have to visit!<br /><p></p><p><b><a href="https://meowwolf.com/visit/denver" target="_blank"></a></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW-MwRduFXg86CtlGigFJibM6VAIGkIj5lRRfATUbYJsy0_0m9BHUhhIiUByqEOlXvXohzDeZGJgDAyuurxe51Lgh8iaVFA37rXbKEKeMJmVxmpsy2Xw-UM4pTjmpPZ8cEWQfaslJvyE3mInyii4MNq1PlkG2iKuC4f8kwH85x5UPE4ttkqNCEbDuuWA/s760/C-street%20bucket%20hat2.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="760" data-original-width="600" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW-MwRduFXg86CtlGigFJibM6VAIGkIj5lRRfATUbYJsy0_0m9BHUhhIiUByqEOlXvXohzDeZGJgDAyuurxe51Lgh8iaVFA37rXbKEKeMJmVxmpsy2Xw-UM4pTjmpPZ8cEWQfaslJvyE3mInyii4MNq1PlkG2iKuC4f8kwH85x5UPE4ttkqNCEbDuuWA/w158-h200/C-street%20bucket%20hat2.jpg" width="158" /></a></b></div><b><br /><a href="https://meowwolf.com/visit/denver" target="_blank">Meow Wolf Denver - "Convergence Station"</a></b> - While not strictly a museum, Meow Wolf Denver is a new massive unclassifiable immersive creative experience that places guests in an imaginary space station/alternate universe environment with a maze of different unique spaces each designed by a different artist or team of artists, including many from the Denver area as well as some from the original Meow Wolf home in Santa Fe. It's Cirque du Soleil meets contemporary visual art meets Disney meets Las Vegas meets Star Wars meets acid trip. Some hate it, some love it, but regardless it is a cultural phenomenon that has engaged the work of scores of artists. It also has a great funky gift shop that utilizes some of the art/designs developed by the artists. There is not an online shop just for Denver (there are operations in Santa Fe and Las Vegas as well, with more to come) but you can actually sort items to see just merchandise related to Denver - here is the direct <a href="https://shop.meowwolf.com/?fwp_categories=artists-brands%2Cconvergence-station" target="_blank">link</a>. For the image I have selected a bucket hat featuring the bizarre futuristic faux brand logos designed for the C Street section of Convergence Station. It can be hard to sort out which artists designed which pieces of the environment, because they want to foster the illusion of this imaginary world, but if you dig deep enough on their web site you can learn that the lead designer for C Street is <a href="https://credits.meowwolf.com/people/nathaniel-gutierrez">Nathaniel Gutierrez</a>, an Albuquerque artist.<p></p><p><br /></p></div>Gary Steuerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06964208018966427968noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-984350200601488620.post-61104244593259275542021-03-09T10:42:00.000-07:002021-03-09T10:42:23.991-07:00 Reflecting on 2020 and Bonfils-Stanton Foundation’s Responses to COVID and Racial Justice<p><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); color: #747474; font-family: Roboto, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">2020 was a year unlike any other in my lifetime, and I have been through growing up during the 60’s civil rights struggle, the anti-war movement of the 60’s and 70’s, being in NYC for 9/11 and grappling with the massive economic impact of the 2008 recession.</span></p><div class="post-content" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Roboto, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; position: relative;"><div class="fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-1 hundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); background-position: center center; background-repeat: no-repeat; border-color: rgb(234, 233, 233); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><div class="fusion-builder-row fusion-row" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 1100px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; position: relative; width: 767px; z-index: 10; zoom: 1;"><div class="fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-0 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last fusion-column-no-min-height" style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; float: none; margin: 0px; position: relative;"><div class="fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy" style="background-position: left top; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-2" style="box-sizing: border-box; transform: translate3d(0px, 0px, 0px);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #747474; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">And now, I must bear not just the same personal impacts of 2020 (continuing into 2021) that everyone else is grappling with, but also the burden, privilege and responsibility of determining how Bonfils-Stanton Foundation can most effectively deploy its resources to respond.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #747474; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">We have talked about it in some previous communications, but as we turn the corner into 2021, with the impact of COVID still very present, and the work of fighting racism ever present, I thought it might be helpful to reflect on what we have been doing, what I have been thinking, and where we are going.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #747474; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;"><img alt="" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-2341" height="300" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" src="https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Bonfils-Stanton-Day-7-web-200x300.jpg" srcset="https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Bonfils-Stanton-Day-7-web-200x300.jpg 200w, https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Bonfils-Stanton-Day-7-web-400x600.jpg 400w, https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Bonfils-Stanton-Day-7-web.jpg 500w" style="border-style: none; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; float: left; height: auto; margin-right: 15px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: top;" width="200" />New Space</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #747474; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">A couple of years ago the Foundation had decided that our longtime home in the Daniels & Fisher Tower on the 16<sup style="box-sizing: border-box;">th</sup> Street Mall was no longer serving us well and we embarked on a plan to move. The layout of the space was challenging and offered limited flexibility for convening. Also, by literally being in a tower with locked floors it conveyed an aura of privilege that was not aligned with our values. We located a space at 1033 Santa Fe Drive, in the heart of both Denver’s Art District on Santa Fe, and the La Alma/Lincoln Park neighborhood. With significantly more flexible space we can host many more gatherings, as well as accommodate additional staff and interns. Our new neighbors include SCFD, Colorado Ballet, Youth on Record, Museo de las Americas, Center for Visual Arts and Su Teatro. You can learn more about the space and the wonderful selection of work by local artists that fills the space <a href="https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/about-us/our-space/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #01acc8; text-decoration-line: none; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-timing-function: linear;" target="_blank">here</a>. Of course, after all the excitement of creating our space and moving in on March 2, we were forced to close the office on March 16th for several months due to COVID.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #747474; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">We know that this will pass and look forward to welcoming the community into our new home to visit, and to take advantage of it as a community resource.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #747474; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">COVID Funding Response</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #747474; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><img alt="" class="wp-image-2120 alignright" height="212" src="https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Arts-Culture-Fund_Logo_BSF-Website_580X388-300x200.jpg" style="border-style: none; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; float: right; height: auto; margin-left: 15px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: top;" width="300" /></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #747474; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><u style="box-sizing: border-box;">Immediate grant support:</u> Literally our last act before shutting down our office in March 2020 was pushing out immediate checks to every organization we had provided funding to in the prior 18 months – payments were equal to 10% of their most recent grant – no application, no final report, we simply sent out emergency relief right away, which was approved by the Board via a Zoom meeting. This amounted to about $150,000 in grants.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #747474; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><u style="box-sizing: border-box;">A commitment to double grantmaking, if needed:</u> At our April 2020 Board meeting, the Board approved committing up to an additional $3 million towards COVID relief, essentially committing to double our grantmaking and because we have a July 1-June 30 fiscal year, this funding would be split over two fiscal years.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #747474; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><u style="box-sizing: border-box;">Launch COVID-19 Arts & Culture Relief Fund:</u> It became clear that in the Denver metro area there was no dedicated relief fund for cultural organizations. We committed $1 million towards launching such a fund and reached out to The Denver Foundation to partner with us to manage the fund, as well as donate to it. An array of additional donors also supported the fund, including many individuals at amounts both large and small (ranging from $25 to $50,000), and institutional donors such as Denver Arts & Venues, Gates Family Foundation, Rose Community Foundation, Colorado Health Foundation and PNC Bank. In the end, a total of about $1 million in additional funding allowed over $2 million to be granted over two cycles, one <a href="https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/COVID19ArtsCultureReliefFund_Grantees_FINAL.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #01acc8; text-decoration-line: none; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-timing-function: linear;" target="_blank">in 2020</a>, and another in <a href="https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Covid19ArtsCultureRelief_SecondRound_FINAL.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #01acc8; text-decoration-line: none; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-timing-function: linear;" target="_blank">early 2021</a>.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #747474; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><u style="box-sizing: border-box;">Augmented ongoing grantmaking process:</u> In our ongoing grantmaking to cultural groups, the impact of COVID has become an important review criteria, and this has led to many grantees benefiting from increased grant awards. We have also offered some groups on multi-year funding to accelerate their future grant payments to help with immediate challenges, while continuing our commitment to support them in the future. Many of our grantees are already on multi-year general operating support, making this flexibility especially important. Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been granted as additional COVID relief through this process, and this will continue through 2021.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #747474; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><u style="box-sizing: border-box;">Loosened application and reporting requirements:</u> In response to a <a href="https://nonprofitquarterly.org/an-open-letter-to-community-foundations-from-a-concerned-executive-director/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #01acc8; text-decoration-line: none; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-timing-function: linear;" target="_blank">passionate call for action</a> from Jami Duffy, one of our Livingston Fellows and Executive Director of grantee <a href="https://www.youthonrecord.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #01acc8; text-decoration-line: none; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-timing-function: linear;" target="_blank">Youth on Record</a>, we evaluated whether we could also help by significantly reducing “red-tape” during this challenging time. Through the end of 2021 we are significantly streamlining application and reporting requirements for general operating support grantees, as well as project support grantees we have been consistently supporting for several years.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><u style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #747474;">Shift in Arts in Society:</u><span style="color: #747474;"> As one of the lead contributors to the </span><a href="https://www.redlineart.org/arts-in-society/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #00c3ff;">Arts in Society</span></a><span style="color: #747474;"> grant program administered by RedLine, we participated in discussions with our funding partners and RedLine to take two immediate actions: 1) for 2020 grantees that were awarded in April, to recognize the impact of COVID by being as flexible as needed about shifting timelines, pivots towards virtual or whatever was needed for their project to respond to COVID; 2) for the 2021 program which normally would have been awarded in April of 2021, to have all funders accelerate the contributions to summer of 2020 and do a streamlined 2021 grant award process that would result in these critically needed funds – roughly $500,000 – being granted in fall of 2020 instead, again being especially open to projects that responded to the challenges of COVID.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #747474; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Racial Justice Response</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #747474; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><u style="box-sizing: border-box;"><img alt="" class="alignleft wp-image-2151" height="225" src="https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/IAmDetour_ThomasEvans_Mural_Website-300x201.jpg" style="border-style: none; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; float: left; height: auto; margin-right: 15px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: top;" width="332" />Inclusive Community Micro-grants:</u> Starting in 2019, we began a process of connecting with smaller cultural organizations in the region that specifically serve and are led by BIPOC people or other historically marginalized people. We had historically not funded these groups. This began with facilitated conversations led by a BIPOC consultant to learn what their needs and issues were. It led to the creation of a new grantmaking program designed to quickly get some funding out to many of these groups. We invited all of the organizations we had identified to apply for these funds, of which 20 applied, and had initially intended to choose 10 through a competitive process to be awarded $5,000 each. In light of both COVID and our commitment to addressing inequity in cultural funding, we decided to award every applicant, doubling our commitment from $50,000 to $100,000. Even though for us the grant amounts were small, for many of these groups these grants may have been their first foundation grant or their largest. At our January 2021 board meeting we committed to continuing support in 2021 for all these organizations.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #747474; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><u style="box-sizing: border-box;">Comprehensive anti-racism organizational training and consulting: </u>The Foundation had already created (in 2018) a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee of the Board of directors, which in turn had worked to develop a newly integrated Board-approved <a href="https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/about-us/mission-vision-and-equity-values/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #01acc8; text-decoration-line: none; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-timing-function: linear;" target="_blank">Mission, Vision and Values Statement</a> that reflected our equity values. In 2019 we had developed a draft RFP for a consultant to work with us to address board and staff training, assess institutional systems and documents and make recommendations on how the Foundation could more effectively address anti-racism work. In 2020 that RFP was finalized and distributed with <a href="https://www.thegeminigroupllc.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #01acc8; text-decoration-line: none; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-timing-function: linear;" target="_blank">The Gemini Group</a> being retained to do this work. They began their work in fall of 2020, and it will continue through mid-2021. In addition, outside the scope of the work with Gemini, the entire staff participated in the intensive “Undoing Structural Racism” training of the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #747474; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><u style="box-sizing: border-box;"><img alt="Chrissy Deal" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-2235" height="201" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" src="https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Chrissy-Deal-Headshot-Website-300x201.jpg" srcset="https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Chrissy-Deal-Headshot-Website-200x134.jpg 200w, https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Chrissy-Deal-Headshot-Website-300x201.jpg 300w, https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Chrissy-Deal-Headshot-Website-400x268.jpg 400w, https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Chrissy-Deal-Headshot-Website.jpg 580w" style="border-style: none; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; float: right; height: auto; margin-left: 15px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: top;" width="300" />Call for action from our Livingston Fellows: </u>In spring of 2020 a group of our Livingston Fellows brought to the Foundation’s attention what they felt was a legacy of White supremacy in the Fellowship program and by extension the Foundation itself. We took these issues very seriously and they were immediately shared with the Board. Some of the calls for action, such as the need for a comprehensive anti-racism assessment and training scope, were already underway. But this call for action also challenged us to self-reflect and to find ways to do better and address the instances of pain and disappointment that were shared. It became clear there were several interlocking rifts or disconnects that needed to be addressed:</p><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #747474;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">We had made the classic mistake of addressing diversity without addressing equity and inclusion in the Fellowship program. The percentage of Fellows who are BIPOC had gone from 20% in the first ten years of the program, to 50% over the past seven (80% of the 2020 class). This was the result of an elimination of “gatekeepers” in the nominations process, changing the make-up of the selection panel, and loosening an earlier emphasis on selecting leaders from larger organizations. But systems, procedures and policies were not changed to create a more inclusive community for the BIPOC Fellows.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Some of this was the result of limited staff capacity. The program had not had a dedicated senior Foundation staff-person to manage the program, which worked in the early years when the program was new and small, but as the program had grown, the need for someone to be focused on these issues had become apparent. So, one immediate response was to create a new senior staff position charged with managing the Fellowship program. That position was filled in fall of 2020 with <a href="https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/ChrissyDeal_BonfilsStantonFoundation_Final-3.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #01acc8; text-decoration-line: none; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-timing-function: linear;" target="_blank">Chrissy Deal</a>.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">We listened – even prior to Chrissy’s hire, we convened two facilitated (Zoom) conversations with Fellows, one specifically for BIPOC Fellows, and one for all Fellows that was largely attended by the White Fellows. Since the initial call for action had been raised by three Fellows, this listening process helped us gain a deeper understanding of the experiences of more of the Fellows, and helped them share with one another. Since Chrissy’s joining the staff, she has been having one-on-one conversations with all Fellows, and will be assessing all aspects of the program to see how we can operate it in a more equitable manner reflective of our values and also embracing the perspective that the capacity to address equity and racism should be a core competency of all leaders, and therefore a more integral part of the program.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">One issue that surfaced was related to the Foundation’s evolution about eight years ago into being exclusively an arts funder, while preserving the Fellowship program as serving leaders from all nonprofit sectors. Fellows from arts organizations, including BIPOC Fellows, were well-informed about the Foundation’s significant strides in more equitably supporting BIPOC arts organizations and being a champion around anti-racism work in the arts. But Fellows from non-arts organizations did not have a grantee relationship with the Foundation beyond their Fellowship and were much less aware of this work. We realized we needed to do a better job of communicating our values and actions around being anti-racist, that there are two related issues: continuing to make needed changes, but also telling the story of what we are doing, to the Fellows and beyond.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Taking immediate steps responding to the call for racial justice through grantmaking. As an arts grantmaker we thought deeply about what shape such action might take, but we also felt (and this was reinforced by the Fellows) that if the Fellowship program was something we were committed to, part of our response needed to be about supporting the Black and Brown leaders we were already invested in. We committed to funding the organizations being led by five Black Fellows immediately at $10,000 each for a total of $50,000. In addition, we committed to doing the same for five more BIPOC Fellows in 2021 and 2022, for a total commitment of $150,000. (This represents all 15 BIPOC Fellows currently in leadership roles at Colorado nonprofit organizations – some Fellows over time had moved out of the state, transitioned to government or the private sector.)</li></ul><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #747474; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><u style="box-sizing: border-box;"><img alt="" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-2347" height="201" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" src="https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/TogetherWeCreate_Unsplash-300x201.jpg" srcset="https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/TogetherWeCreate_Unsplash-200x134.jpg 200w, https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/TogetherWeCreate_Unsplash-300x201.jpg 300w, https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/TogetherWeCreate_Unsplash-400x268.jpg 400w, https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/TogetherWeCreate_Unsplash.jpg 580w" style="border-style: none; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; float: left; height: auto; margin-right: 15px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: top;" width="300" />Other racial justice grantmaking: </u>We realized there many opportunities in how the arts were being engaged in the fight for racial justice in our community (as well as some projects more specifically linked to COVID response) and that these often required small amounts of funding with quick action. We already had an existing staff-level grant program that allows for grants of up to $4,000 without Board approval and with a very streamlined process. We were finding that the Board-approved funding allocation for this program was being quickly exhausted, so the Board agreed to double the funding from $30,000 to $60,000. This allowed such grants as:</p><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #747474;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Support for the Anti-Racist Club under John Futrell’s leadership to launch a program that involved community created anti-racism posters, a mural painted by Thomas “Detour” Evans at RedLine, display of the posters on fencing at Civic Center Park and a celebration event in the park incorporating spoken word.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Support for community dialogue events connected to the Carne y Arena virtual reality installation by filmmaker Alejandro G. Iñárritu that deeply explores issues of immigrants and refugees.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Support for the Arts Through it All campaign which encouraged the public during the holiday season to “Give the Gift of the Arts.”</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Support for the African American Film Festival: The Color of Conversation</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Support for the development of a business plan for the Colorado Black Arts Movement as part of the Montbello FreshLo Hub.</li></ul><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #747474; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><img alt="" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-2348" height="201" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" src="https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Paintbrushes-web-300x201.jpg" srcset="https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Paintbrushes-web-200x134.jpg 200w, https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Paintbrushes-web-300x201.jpg 300w, https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Paintbrushes-web-400x268.jpg 400w, https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Paintbrushes-web.jpg 580w" style="border-style: none; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; float: right; height: auto; margin-left: 15px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: top;" width="300" />Actions already taken to address enhanced equity in grantmaking:</p><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #747474;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><u style="box-sizing: border-box;">Established a grant cap of $60,000</u>. This was designed to prevent grants to the very largest organizations from making up a growing percentage of our grantmaking. It is being phased in over time for those groups that were already over the cap. It was important to us that we continue to be able to support these groups, but also recognize that as a small foundation, some trimming of the grants to the largest organizations was needed to expand capacity to add smaller BIPOC organizations to our grant roster.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><u style="box-sizing: border-box;">Reduce large capital grants to the biggest organizations:</u> It became clear that even though we did not provide operating support to groups like the Denver Art Museum or Denver Botanic Gardens, that collectively our periodic very large, multi-year commitments to capital projects were making up a third of our grantmaking capacity. As worthy as these projects are, given our limited size and that these institutions have enhanced access to other private and public support, we have decided that going forward capital grants will be prioritized for smaller and BIPOC organizations and BIPOC-serving facilities where our funds can be more impactful. Examples of this are capital grants that have recently gone to support: a new home for Wonderbound, support for Cleo Parker Robinson Dance’s capital project, the new home for Lighthouse Writers Workshop, support for the new KUVO live performance studio, and to support the purchase of an FM signal/translator for The Drop, the new Hip-hop and R&B community station launched under the aegis of KUVO.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><u style="box-sizing: border-box;">Support for Community ACTS Fund:</u> This new initiative is funded through contributions by Tier 1 SCFD organizations and is directed at supporting Tier 3 organizations explicitly led by or serving BIPOC or other historically marginalized communities. We provided $50,000 towards this effort, with a commitment to watch its operation and potentially provide additional future support. In response to the COVID pressures on these organizations, we also allowed Community ACTS Fund to redirect our funds – which had been targeted to capacity building for funded organizations, to be reallocated as needed.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><u style="box-sizing: border-box;">Trim support for small classical music organizations:</u> It has become evident that our roster of grantees has several relatively small arts groups dedicated to various classical “Eurocentric” musical art forms. All these groups are worthy, but again relative to audiences, communities served and our goals to be more equitable, we are trimming funding to these groups collectively by half over time.</li></ul><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #747474; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;"><img alt="" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-2342" height="201" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" src="https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/AwardsScreen-300x201.jpg" srcset="https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/AwardsScreen-200x134.jpg 200w, https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/AwardsScreen-300x201.jpg 300w, https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/AwardsScreen-400x268.jpg 400w, https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/AwardsScreen.jpg 580w" style="border-style: none; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; float: left; height: auto; margin-right: 15px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: top;" width="300" />Awards Program</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #747474; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">Our annual Awards Program – the 35th – was by virtue of necessity held virtually, which turned out in many ways to be a blessing in disguise. As with many of our supported cultural groups, we learned that the pivot to virtual, while losing the human face-to-face interaction, also allowed the event to be more accessible than ever. We were able to accommodate as many people as wanted to attend, and we had friends and family of the honorees attending from many places around the country. And even though much of the virtual event was pre-recorded, the live chat created a true sense of community. You can experience the entire virtual event <a href="https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/leadership/annual-awards-program/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #01acc8; text-decoration-line: none; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-timing-function: linear;" target="_blank">here</a>, and we also have separately made available the powerful land acknowledgement performance art piece created by <a href="https://youtu.be/_92gYJE4uEU" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #01acc8; text-decoration-line: none; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-timing-function: linear;" target="_blank">artist Gregg Deal</a> as well as the videos created for each of our honorees: <a href="https://youtu.be/LyWfVnndk6w" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #01acc8; text-decoration-line: none; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-timing-function: linear;" target="_blank">Marcela de la Mar</a> , <a href="https://youtu.be/sWfyjFcGuEI" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #01acc8; text-decoration-line: none; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-timing-function: linear;" target="_blank">Jeremy and Susan Shamos</a> , <a href="https://youtu.be/j3vdp5CnfDk" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #01acc8; text-decoration-line: none; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-timing-function: linear;" target="_blank">Catherine O’Neill Thorn</a> and<a href="https://youtu.be/hNVexVEg-T0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #01acc8; text-decoration-line: none; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-timing-function: linear;" target="_blank"> Ed Dwight.</a></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #747474; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">While not publicly announced at the November event, we are re-thinking the Awards Program to determine if it continues to provide the value and impact originally intended when it first began in 1984. Current thinking is to continue with the Artist Award in some form, as it seems this type of award, along with its substantial cash prize, is not being done by anyone in our community, and it would help elevate the arts and artists in our state. Stay tuned!</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #747474; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Next Steps – 2021</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #747474; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">New grant initiatives: In 2021 we anticipate launching two new grant initiatives that have already been approved by our Board, both of which are related to racial and social justice. These names are not finalized – just placeholders – and include:</p><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #747474;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Creative Community Development – this program will select two different historically BIPOC neighborhoods in Denver, at least one of which will be Black. We will provide each community with a three-year $90,000 grant ($30,000/year) towards integrating the arts and creative enterprise into a systemic effort to preserve and celebrate the unique culture and heritage of the community. Our hope is to partner with one or more other funders, so our commitment would be augmented by other support. This could be neighborhoods like Westwood, Five Points, Montbello, La Alma/Lincoln Park, etc.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Imagining a Just Denver – modeled on a program recently launched in Oakland CA, this initiative would, through a competitive inclusive process award $25,000 each to five artists of any discipline who would create works of art that would do exactly what the title of the program says – uses their art and creativity to imagine a Denver that is truly just. What would justice look like? What would need to change? How do we make that vision manifest through visual art, dance, music, theatre, poetry, film, etc.? We will evaluate the program after the first year.</li></ul><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #747474; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><u style="box-sizing: border-box;">Impact investing</u></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #747474; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">The Foundation has committed to embrace aligning our investments with our values – to ensure that over time, the full force of our corpus is assessed through a mission and equity lens, while still striving to achieve market returns. This will involve:</p><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #747474;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Ensuring we have an investment advisor with capacity to guide us in this work.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Embedding an equity lens in our advisor, managers and investment selections.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Applying ESG screening (environmental, social, governance) to our corpus to ensure we invest in funds are that are aligned with Foundation values.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Exploring opportunities for mission aligned investments up to (as currently authorized by the Board) 8% of our total corpus. This would include both program related investments (PRIs) – below market loans made to initiatives directly aligned with our programmatic objectives , as well as investments at or approaching market rate targeting the broader creative economy.</li></ul><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #747474; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">This process is still in development so more information will be shared as available.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #747474; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><u style="box-sizing: border-box;">Livingston Fellowship Program</u></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #747474; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">With Chrissy Deal now on board and leading our efforts to refine, adapt and grow the program so it evolves to respond to the changes in our society and our understanding of leadership, it is likely that the program will see some changes in 2021. Any adjustments will be informed by Fellows’ experiences and guided by our commitment to embrace our equity values more effectively. We will move deliberately, engaging in conversation to listen, learn, reckon with harms done, heal, and build community in the process.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #747474; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><img alt="" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-2344" height="201" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" src="https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/BonfilsStanton-NewLocation-Web-1-300x201.jpg" srcset="https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/BonfilsStanton-NewLocation-Web-1-200x134.jpg 200w, https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/BonfilsStanton-NewLocation-Web-1-300x201.jpg 300w, https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/BonfilsStanton-NewLocation-Web-1-400x268.jpg 400w, https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/BonfilsStanton-NewLocation-Web-1.jpg 580w" style="border-style: none; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; float: right; height: auto; margin-left: 15px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: top;" width="300" />And on a personal note, I will continue to learn and grow, to act with humility, but with purpose and conviction that if our society, if Denver, if philanthropy, is to change, to do our best to cleanse a legacy of White privilege, of racism (both subtle and overt) then I must be a part of that change. We need more BIPOC leaders in philanthropy and in the arts, but we also need White leaders to be willing to stand up, to be that voice in the room so that BIPOC people who are exhausted in this fight do not always have to be the one to speak up. This is complicated and nuanced work because sometimes we DO need to shut up, listen and sit back while BIPOC people lead. It is not always easy to determine when to raise our voice as White leaders and when to be silent. We (I) will make mistakes, will stumble, will feel like we are failing, or even be told by others we are failing, not doing enough, not moving fast enough. I (we) need to (as is becoming a truism in this work) “get comfortable with being uncomfortable.” Whatever discomfort we must grapple with still pales in comparison with what Black and Brown people live with every day and have for generations.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #747474; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">Yet, I enter 2021 with some optimism and joy, that we are seeing a way past the worst of the pandemic, bringing a time when we can once again come together “in real life” as a community, enjoying the arts and one another’s company, giving and receiving hugs and high-fives. And it feels like the move towards a more just and equitable society is not a passing phase, but a sea change in our society. As Dr. King said, “We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #747474; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><i>This piece was originally written for and posted on the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation website.</i></p></div></div></div></div></div></div>Gary Steuerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06964208018966427968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-984350200601488620.post-51917422276102651032020-10-07T13:48:00.002-06:002020-10-14T11:00:10.876-06:00Making Big Change at a Small Foundation<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />The significant actions of very large foundations like Ford and Mellon, both in response to COVID and the imperative to address racism and social justice, have understandably received considerable attention, in both the general press and the philanthropy press. The work that they have been doing has been extraordinary. From <a href="https://www.fordfoundation.org/the-latest/news/ford-foundation-commits-1-billion-from-endowment-to-mission-related-investments/" target="_blank">Ford announcing an allocation of 10% of their assets</a> - $1 billion - towards impact investing in opportunities like affordable housing and economic opportunity, and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/25/arts/ford-foundation-grants-people-of-color.html" target="_blank">committing $156 million to support arts organizations run by people of color</a>, to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/05/arts/mellon-foundation-monuments.html" target="_blank">Mellon's recent announcement of a $250 million commitment to reimagine monuments in America</a>, these commitments are big and meaningful.<p></p><p>There are about 120,000 foundation in the US, mostly independent private foundations (as opposed to community foundations and operating foundation). 98% of these foundations are smaller, with assets of $50 million or less. If you use a cutoff of $100 million or less, the figure is probably closer to 99%. </p><p>Why is this important? Because making change happen at these smaller foundation has the potential for collective impact equal to or exceeding the foundations with multi-billion dollar endowments. Yet generally the media do not cover transformative change at these smaller foundations. As a result it can seem like significant change and transformative impact is only possible at really big foundations.</p><p>And the irony is that smaller foundation can often be less nimble than the larger foundations. They are more likely to still have family members involved, or to still be very driven by original donor intent. And those original benefactors are, frankly, likely to have had philanthropic interests that were a reflection of their time and social class. Smaller foundations are less likely to be members of <a href="https://www.cof.org/" target="_blank">Council on Foundations</a>, or even regional grantmaker associations and affinity philanthropy groups (like <a href="https://www.edfunders.org/" target="_blank">Grantmakers for Education</a>, or <a href="https://www.giarts.org/" target="_blank">Grantmakers in the Arts</a>). And as a result, they may be less connected to trends in philanthropy and evolving best practices, and more likely to operate via inertia: giving in the same way, and often to the same organizations, that they have been doing for decades. Yet at the local level, in communities far from the major coastal centers, the impact of smaller local foundations is likely to be far greater than the actions of the largest national foundations.</p><p>I still remember doing a presentation to a group of foundation CEOs about changes we had made at Bonfils-Stanton Foundation to enhance our communications effectiveness - new branding, transformed website, e-newsletters, social media - all designed to help us advance our mission and tell the stories of our grantees, as well as communicate better with potential grantees and other constituencies. After the presentation one of my foundation CEO colleagues asked - with all seriousness - why we would possibly want to do all this. It would only make us more visible and result in more emails and phone calls and make more work for us, she said. This is indicative of a resistance to change that is still very real at many smaller foundations.</p><p>At the <a href="https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/" target="_blank">Bonfils-Stanton Foundation</a>, where I have now been President for seven years, we have made some really significant changes around how to make our philanthropy - which is largely focused on arts and culture - more equitable and impactful. That effort, while quite transformative, has certainly not garnered the kind of national attention that a Ford or Mellon attract. But how do we light the way for other foundations to follow? How can they learn about steps that their peers - smaller foundations - have taken to make real change, especially around racial equity?</p><p></p><div style="text-align: left;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXAQN7uJTNAIW7-WJA11d0vQTcMi4WUt-JhQeCsrpJ1iUuhwSSMB229layxqRieONGwoWXraqYGy-tUDV-yjMwmhrbUg_hxHM2jG7ol4MoaPIRC57kUZ6EZnDdVu4AyXf4lAjjK7Yojk0D/s360/CMD_Armando_Artist+in+Residence+%2528003%2529.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXAQN7uJTNAIW7-WJA11d0vQTcMi4WUt-JhQeCsrpJ1iUuhwSSMB229layxqRieONGwoWXraqYGy-tUDV-yjMwmhrbUg_hxHM2jG7ol4MoaPIRC57kUZ6EZnDdVu4AyXf4lAjjK7Yojk0D/s320/CMD_Armando_Artist+in+Residence+%2528003%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo credit in linked article<br /></td></tr></tbody></table>That is why I was so pleased that <a href="https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2020/10/06/how-a-small-regional-arts-funder-made-its-grantmaking-more-equitable" target="_blank">Inside Philanthropy recently published a major story about the efforts at Bonfils-Stanton Foundation</a> (this is a subscriber-based publication so you may hit a paywall - if you email me I can send you a PDF of the story). We also published this <a href="https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/bsf-racial-equity-journey/" target="_blank">timeline </a>on our website, and a number of stories on the foundation's <a href="https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/news-resources/blog/" target="_blank">blog</a> over the past few years. </div><p></p><p>Our work has not been easy, it has not been perfect, and it is far from over. We also operate the Livingston Fellowship Program, a leadership development program for nonprofit CEOs, and in that program have been challenged to respond to calls to better eradicate a legacy of White privilege and embrace anti-racism as a core competency of leadership. We have been doing our best to respond aggressively to this imperative. If there is one thing we have learned in 2020, it is that the only constant in today's world is change. The world is changing rapidly, technology is influencing change, philanthropy is changing (and of course, our climate is changing). I think ten year plans, and even five year plans, are no longer meaningful. We must establish mission and values-based frameworks that allow us to be nimble and responsive. The journey of the Foundation has only been possible because of a dedicated staff team, a Board that has not only been supportive, but has also increasingly pressed for change, and many philanthropy colleagues locally and nationally who have shared their wisdom and models freely and generously. </p><p><br /></p>Gary Steuerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06964208018966427968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-984350200601488620.post-71097105279558716612020-09-16T11:35:00.001-06:002020-10-07T09:17:27.433-06:00A life of cycling...Like many people in these pandemic times, I have been bicycle riding more than usual. The closed roads in City Park have made it our go-to location for family cycling. I have been cycling as my favorite recreational activity to stay fit and sane. Finally, now that I am able to work in my office (new space that lends itself well to COVID-safe working) I am able to take a route that is almost entirely on the partially closed 16th and 11th Avenues, so I am also commuting by bike almost every day.<div><br /></div><div>This has gotten me thinking of my long history with bikes, and thought it might be fun to reflect on my life in cycling.</div><div><br /></div><div>Do not remember when I first learned to ride. I remember perhaps at around the age of six my father trying to teach me to ride, doing the "run alongside holding onto the back of the seat then letting go" thing but he had little patience, and I was probably a difficult student. He gave up and so did I. I remember a couple of years later - I was perhaps 8 by this time - I was getting embarrassed that I had not yet learned how to ride, so I took the bike out onto the sidewalk in front of our apartment building (83rd and Riverside Drive in Manhattan) by myself and started trying to ride (Of course, this was an era when an 8 year old could be out on the street in New York City without a parent and it was not a big deal). I remember repeatedly falling, getting back on, trying again, over and over. Finally it clicked, and I just kept riding and riding around our block over and over again, utterly gleeful. I remember coming back upstairs and my mother being alarmed because my knees and elbows and hands were all raw and bleeding from all the falls, but I was feeling no pain.</div><div><br /></div><div>Later, as a young teen, I got my first "10 speed" - it was not a high end bike, just a basic entry level, what we would now call a road bike. Me and a friend Tom became avid cyclists in middle school and it extended into high school. (An interesting side note. My childhood friend Tom became an avid Central Park birder, and had a brief moment of fame/infamy when he was kidnapped by rebels on a birding trip to Colombia and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1998/04/03/nyregion/new-yorker-held-hostage-in-colombia-flees-captors.html" target="_blank">escaped his captors</a>.)</div><div><br /></div><div>In that era American Youth Hostels in New York (now <a href="https://www.hiusa.org/" target="_blank">Hosteling International USA</a>) ran a very extensive summer program of bicycle trips around the country (and in other parts of the world), mostly for teenagers, with some for adults. Most trips mixed camping and youth hostels as accommodations. They also ran day trips and weekend trips in the metro area. As a young teen I began going on the day trips and weekend trips, and from the age of around 13 to 16 my summer was mostly devoted to doing a multi-week AYH trip. One trip started in Montreal which we flew to with our bikes packed into boxes, then cycled down through Canada to Grand Isle in Northern Vermont, then down through Vermont, across Massachusetts to Cape Cod, then a few days each on Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. It was actually on this trip that I met some members of the US Olympic Nordic ski team, which was based in Vermont, and used cycling as their off-season training activity. This was actually my introduction to Nordic skiing - something I knew nothing about at the time, which has become a lifelong passion as well. Another trip was six weeks in Hawaii, travelling by plane between Oahu, Kauai, Maui and "The Big Island." and on each island cycling, camping, hiking (and swimming, of course). These were extraordinary experiences, with one adult leader and about ten teens. We had to travel our route every day to get to our next destination, manage shopping, cooking, cleaning, making and breaking down camp, dealing with mechanical breakdowns, sometimes emotional breakdowns - not to mention inclement weather. Through these trips I became not just an accomplished cyclist, but also a committed outdoors-person, and had early experiences in leadership. Sadly, AYH decided they wanted to build an urban hostel, not by itself a bad idea, but the massive needs of that capital project essentially caused it to shut down everything else they did - no more organized trips, no more nonprofit bike and camping shop with really affordable prices. They also operated ski trips in the winter - nice organized day trips and weekend trips to nearby mountains like Hunter Mountain, or further north like Vermont. None of those valuable programs ever came back. This <a href="https://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/06/07/Youth-hosteling-For-youth-of-all-ages-A-way-to-see-the-world/7131360734400/" target="_blank">UPI story</a> written right when they were starting to create the youth hostel gives a sense of what was lost in quest of the hostel.With four younger brothers, my youthful cycling (and outdoor) experiences influenced many of them, who also became avid cyclists, campers, hikers and Nordic skiers.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHVB2eExh0q73Vz2fdWWnq8LkwDF-1xZE9QWiSdTB9NLMfY9BIKt2lFuftnOZah0TpQ70QcsYHwl02CMy5gX7nS_Te-BC5GzRor7bu1-UEe_uVyGWkSQrAjjiHyEN5U93klHY5flYF_dWL/s960/Tom+and+Gary.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="734" data-original-width="960" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHVB2eExh0q73Vz2fdWWnq8LkwDF-1xZE9QWiSdTB9NLMfY9BIKt2lFuftnOZah0TpQ70QcsYHwl02CMy5gX7nS_Te-BC5GzRor7bu1-UEe_uVyGWkSQrAjjiHyEN5U93klHY5flYF_dWL/s320/Tom+and+Gary.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>One summer, in addition to the AYH trips, I spent a few days with Tom's family at their summer home in Maine, and we brought our bikes. His father was an artist, and their home was like something out of Little House on the Prairie - off the grid, a hand pump for water, wood burning stove, outhouse, kerosene lamps for light at night, apple orchards and vegetable garden - and a big barn that served as an art studio for his father, who was an artist. We then rode our bikes from Maine to my parent's home in Vermont - easier said than done as there are really no East-West direct routes in that area of Northern New England, so we spent a lot of time zigging and zagging along little rural roads, sometimes dirt roads, but we did ultimately make it. We then rode our bikes back to New York from Vermont, though I have no recollection of where we stayed along the way. (That's Tom on the right and me on the left in the photo.)</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZSDkfzhXKySG_Omlr5M_NPkWPeAJtSdAEVOctd-o9DqVIhCLOU-fFvLLtPyCr7bkXjmJXYVNIa-w7KCGWB4fa2EtdnaQgI8ksz8HPEpiDEfKkXC22ALrHiCB72xgsG2zzsDdYFuVmhheV/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZSDkfzhXKySG_Omlr5M_NPkWPeAJtSdAEVOctd-o9DqVIhCLOU-fFvLLtPyCr7bkXjmJXYVNIa-w7KCGWB4fa2EtdnaQgI8ksz8HPEpiDEfKkXC22ALrHiCB72xgsG2zzsDdYFuVmhheV/s320/River+Road.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Even though we lived on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, during the rest of the year there were many cycling options. We, of course, could do the road loop inside Central Park, which is about 6 miles. We also regularly rode our bikes up Riverside Drive to the George Washington Bridge, then across the bridge to the New Jersey side. Once across, you could ride south on a little local road a short ways, hang a left, and you found yourself on a beautiful relatively little used two lane road that went right down to the Hudson River. You could ride this road - River Road - through a park along the river back under the bridge and North about six miles to Englewood Cliffs. From there you could do a a loop back to the bridge on 9A, a local road. If we had more time, you could continue North for a few miles and then turn left on onto Closter Dock Road, then North again on a series of little back roads. A favorite destination was a little farmstand - probably the closest farmstand to NYC accessible by bike. I would fill up my empty panniers with fresh produce, and other treats (they had amazing apple cider donuts) and then we would head back to New York. This round trip was about 25 miles. If we had even more time and energy we would continue North all the way to Bear Mountain - Harriman State Park, which made it about a 60 mile round trip.</div><div><br /></div><div>Other favorite rides? Down to South Ferry in Manhattan, then catch the Ferry across to Staten Island, and ride around Staten Island. An easy quick ride was just visiting Snug Harbor, but many longer, beautiful rides around the island were available. American Youth Hostels (AYH), the cycling association, also ran the annual Montauk Century, which was a favorite ride of mine, and the Five-Boro Bike Tour. Starting in Jamaica Queens, the Century ride would take you all the way out to the tip of Long Island - Montauk Point - where a reserved train would be waiting to take us all back to Queens. While the hundred mile ride was rigorous by itself, I would ride my bike to the starting point and back home again, making the ride more like 135 miles. And while the route was relatively flat (no Colorado-style "triple bypass" here) weather variability could subject you to unrelenting headwinds the entire way (and of course sometimes rain and unseasonably cold weather). I still remember one year of driving cold rain and headwinds. About halfway through the ride I literally keeled over from exhaustion because my fingers were so cold I could not unpeel them from the handlebars. Eventually I got my fingers to move and found a bag of "gorp" - a mix of nuts, raisins and bits of chocolate - and stuffed a few handfuls into my mouth. That almost instantaneous boost of energy got me back on my bike and finishing the ride. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1998/05/24/nyregion/cycling-to-montauk-blood-sweat-and-rain.html" target="_blank">This story from the New York Times in 1998</a> captures a bit of that experience of exhilaration...and exhaustion. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFRbDFrl2i_hK-uvHnwhPfoBjO6SyYS4Kq6Ctl3sfwYmUpFw7TaiUi0x23YzMgSmc-0VKx1TRYorPaqtnZJ7ARmi-uJ_QHkP1odKo_E4qzPn3SEqvShoj1KrWiOl7YtRktjhm8ds6h_KzM/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFRbDFrl2i_hK-uvHnwhPfoBjO6SyYS4Kq6Ctl3sfwYmUpFw7TaiUi0x23YzMgSmc-0VKx1TRYorPaqtnZJ7ARmi-uJ_QHkP1odKo_E4qzPn3SEqvShoj1KrWiOl7YtRktjhm8ds6h_KzM/" /></a></div>I joined the <a href="https://www.crca.net/" target="_blank">Century Road Club Association</a>, the oldest (founded in 1898!) and largest cycling club in the country, and began racing in their Saturday and Sunday morning races in Central Park. There was also a bicycle track in Queens, the <a href="https://kissenavelodrome.info/" target="_blank">Kissena Velodrome</a>, and I would sometimes go out there to do track racing. I also remember during this era getting to meet and spend some time with the legendary bicycle racer <a href="http://www.johnhowardsports.com/about-us/" target="_blank">John Howard.</a> One thing that was interesting about bike racing in New York, was that it was a total reflection of the diversity of the city. This was not the bike racing of "Breaking Away" - but full of people of color, of immigrants, bike messengers.</div><div><br /></div><div>I also began hanging out in bike shops, getting after school and weekend jobs as a mechanic. I worked at a shop on 72nd street between West End Avenue and Broadway for a while, at <a href="https://www.bicyclerenaissance.com/" target="_blank">Bicycle Renaissance</a> (still there!) on Columbus Avenue, and then at West Side Bicycles on 96th Street and Broadway. At Bike Renaissance their chief mechanic was known as Mexico, and actually lived (I assume not legally) in the basement. When I first met him (late 60's?) he was probably already in his 60's. He was not Mexican, but actually indigenous Chilean or Peruvian, but in that era in NY, if you were Spanish speaking and not Puerto Rican, then you were deemed Mexican, which is how he got his nickname. Mexico became my friend, my guide, my mentor, teaching me not just bicycle mechanic skills, but also life skills. I remember him once telling me in response to some comment that probably revealed my materialism or White privilege. "Chum, I have all I need here and I am happy, I make my rice and beans, and sometimes I have a tomato as a treat, I have a dry place to sleep, I ride my bike and enjoy the city. What more than that do you need Chum?" He road a fixed gear bike (long before "fixies" became popular) and that was part of my introduction to track bikes and track racing, and because his leg muscles were already weakening a bit from age and he could not brake with just leg strength alone, he had modified his bike gloves with a big piece of thick leather attached to one of his gloves and when he needed to stop he would just put his hand on his front wheel to slow himself down.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj0CE49LUdJ9RxRlJ7HuotDerzdQb6d7sjhvJlYD7UYdkwSVQvj3CIMswtXDsnUrDzHOlrHSIVK8mIxSHRVz1TdZrJjWWiUZdF6Pecqp1ueVyusOchXJF8Mx-ttnZOwHSkisc1vsTAG1Q4/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="415" data-original-width="610" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj0CE49LUdJ9RxRlJ7HuotDerzdQb6d7sjhvJlYD7UYdkwSVQvj3CIMswtXDsnUrDzHOlrHSIVK8mIxSHRVz1TdZrJjWWiUZdF6Pecqp1ueVyusOchXJF8Mx-ttnZOwHSkisc1vsTAG1Q4/s320/Metro+Bicycles.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>At West Side bikes, I worked for many years all the way through college, not just as a repairman, but as a salesperson and assistant manager. I remember learning how to true wheels from our Jamaican master mechanic, and getting introduced to the City Island sailing culture by our manager, Richie, who was an avid sailor and lived year round on his sailboat on City Island, commuting every day by public transportation. (Found this photo on the Web, from 1970, and do believe the kid in the shorts and long hair could be me.) I have memories of being robbed at gunpoint a few times, and also of a regular visitor who worked at WBLS and would come by about once a week with a bag full of "cutouts," the "for promotional use only" records that radio stations would get, which they punched a hole in the sleeve of, to designate them as not for sale. He would sell them to me for something like a dollar each. This was the height of the classic R&B, Soul and Disco era, and I was also developing an interest in DJ'ing and this really boosted my collection and love of this music - Donna Summer, Stylistics, Harold Melvin, Teddy Pendergrass, George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic, Bohanon, Kid Creole. I think in this era I was riding a <a href="http://classiclightweights.net/france/lejeune/1969-lejeune-professional/" target="_blank">Lejeune</a> road bike, and a Peugot track bike, plus a fixed gear city bike I built out of used spare parts and an old Raleigh frame. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXp97fz0-YUGpUg5gyBdUH_uUpqkr2WudOvVaymZqGoIM1OrlG71XcXASAVEz9VWp_4sisfWhI4cvCGJVjZhYRAfFH5gNTH7_FueIbNIHT4AZULuBJ_VmYSVNMOULEmsAmb8JnbCJXGi80/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="452" data-original-width="700" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXp97fz0-YUGpUg5gyBdUH_uUpqkr2WudOvVaymZqGoIM1OrlG71XcXASAVEz9VWp_4sisfWhI4cvCGJVjZhYRAfFH5gNTH7_FueIbNIHT4AZULuBJ_VmYSVNMOULEmsAmb8JnbCJXGi80/s320/Lejeune+bike.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>When I went away to college (Purchase College, just North of New York City), I realized I had the opportunity to be a bit of an entrepreneur because there were no bike shops anywhere near the campus, and many bicycles being used by students in need of repair and upkeep. I got the administration to make available to me rent free a room in the basement of one of the dorm buildings, and using my bike shop connections to stock it with the necessary repair tools and spare parts. Posted store hours, and was open for business. Definitely helped me pick up some extra spending money, and fill a need on campus.</div><div><br /></div><div>And the summer before college I even took my bike with me to a summer program at Cambridge University, flying into London, then packing up my bike and cycling to Cambridge. It was about a 70 mile trip and given timing issues I did it over two days, without any real planning. In a little town at about the halfway point I stopped for a bite to eat. In a scene that seemed out of a movie, a boy - maybe 10 or so - sat next to me and asked if he could bum a fag (a cigarette). Told him I did not smoke and even if I did I would not have given him one because he was two young to smoke. He heard my accent and started asking me about America. After a bit he said I needed to come home with him and meet his mum and dad and have dinner with them. Not really sure mum and dad would be as excited about meeting a strange yank, I nonetheless went home with him and had the most amazing time with this authentic real British working class family. They ended up inviting me to spend the night - insisted - and I slept in their daughter's room, who they made bunk with the boy. Her room was totally plastered in teenie bopper boy posters - David Cassidy and the like. After dinner I played frisbee in the back yard with the boy, who had never seen one, so I left mine with him as a gift. Once in Cambridge, my bicycle of course gave me a mobility to explore the countryside I would not otherwise have had. </div><div><br /></div><div>After college I continued my interest in cycling and decided that while I still had some flexibility in my schedule, and was young enough, I would like to be an AYH tour leader, as a way of giving back to the program I got so much out of, but also to get to engage in some serious bicycle touring and get paid for it. So I went through their rigorous training program - sort of like the National Outdoor Leadership School but with the specific objective of learning how to lead a tour of 10-12 teenagers on your own for a period that could extend for several weeks. After being certified I led my first trip - it was about a month long, starting in Toronto, biking up into Algonquin Park where we stopped for a few days for canoeing and portaging, then over to Ottowa, followed by a bike up past the Laurentian Mountains to Quebec, then back down to Montreal, from which we trained back to NY. Two big memories from that trip: 1) While just outside of Quebec, cycling through some spectacular countryside and getting roadside raspberries, and fresh fire roasted corn on the cob. Brought some raspberry jam home (carefully packed of course) and it was the best jam I have ever had. 2) While in Quebec I got seriously sick while staying in the youth hostel, to the point where I had to go to the hospital. I was terrified of the fact that I was incapacitated yet responsible for this group of young people. Could they help get me to the hospital, then manage without me for a couple of days until I was well enough? They came through with flying colors, and I was so proud of them, but also of the independence, leadership and responsibility that I think I had instilled in them.</div><div><br /></div><div>Given my interest in the arts, I began developing an idea for a tour of European arts festivals as an AYH trip. They loved the idea, assigned me a trip planner to work with and we put together an exiting trip that unfortunately could just not be done logistically by bicycle. It was planned as an adult trip using rail travel and youth hostels. There ended up being ten trippers, all women, between the ages of 18 and 28. I remember our youngest participant was extremely privileged and spoiled, and did not really know how "rustic" the trip was to be. All her gear was packed in a huge hard-bodied suitcase while everyone else had backpacks (wheeled bags had not yet been invented). After a couple of days of her being unable to really navigate her suitcase through trains and walking, I forced her to ship half her stuff home, and buy a cheap backpack for what remained. I will say in the course of the trip it was rewarding to see her truly grow out of her "spoiled brat" persona. We flew into Zurich then trained to Montreux where we stayed in a hostel and got to experience several days of the Montreux Jazz Festival, including taking a funicular up to the alps for a day of hiking. We saw James Brown, Chick Corea, Mike Oldfield (Tubular Bells) and lots of great unknown artists and big bands on the outdoor stage. We then took rail to Rome for a few days (no specific festival - just toured the ruins, the Coliseum, Roman Senate, etc.). The big take-away from Rome was that the youth hostel was in a Mussolini era brutalist concrete building, and was very sketchy and dangerous. Then on to Florence for the Spoleto Festival, where the hostel was in an idyllic Renaissance era villa just outside the city, with much of the architectural detail and frescoes still intact. From Florence, we traveled by rail to Avignon for the Avignon Theatre Festival - an especially memorable performance of King Lear in the courtyard of the Palais du Papes, then to Arles by the Coast for the Arles Dance Festival. All in all, a memorable experience, but of a bit of a digression from bicycle trips.</div><div><br /></div><div>The third trip I led was up the coast of Maine to Bar Harbor, a couple of days in Acadia National Park, then the ferry across to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. We then circumnavigated the island, including a couple of days in the interior canoeing, under the leadership of a local guide Granville Nickerson, who was quite the character. He lived year round in this remote area of the park in a little cabin where he survived on the occasional modest guide income. He was probably about 75 and had a girlfriend who was probably about 25. He was immensely strong, but also a gentle soul. He was a master baker, and served us his signature bread - can still taste it. After circling the island we ended up in Halifax,and flew home from there. I actually co-led this trip with the woman who was to become my first wife, and I remember the staff-person at AYH telling us they almost never approved co-leaders, and that leading a trip together likely meant we would either end up married or never want to see one another again. Clearly the result was the former.</div><div><br /></div><div>Later, after getting married, we did a bike trip through central and Western New York together one time (her family was from Buffalo). We flew with our bikes to Buffalo, then got our panniers and gear all set up and biked to the Finger Lakes. Did a few winery visits and tastings, by bike, and stayed at a lovely bed and breakfast there, then we biked up towards Rochester, where we stayed with family, then biked back to Buffalo. </div><div><br /></div><div>Then life happened. Work became more and more demanding, first one kid, then two, added more parental responsibilities, and it became harder to prioritize cycling. But as the kids got older, and with a move to Westchester, cycling started to re-enter the picture. Living in Ardsley, I had easy access to the <a href="https://www.visitwestchesterny.com/things-to-do/outdoors/trailways/north-south-county-trailway/" target="_blank">North-South County Trailway</a> - a "rails to trails" system that used the right of way from the old Putnam railroad tracks - 36 miles of car-free bike bike riding on a dedicated paved trail. Also nearby was the <a href="https://aqueduct.org/interactive-map" target="_blank">Old Croton Aqueduct trail</a>, which used the right of way from the original 19th C. aqueduct that brought water from upstate to New York City. This trail is almost 30 miles of beautiful packed dirt trail, smooth enough that you could ride it with a road or hybrid bike, or a mountain bike. So once again, I was riding regularly, sometimes with the kids.Riding these trails is idyllic...</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAQZwrVjy6WXkxl0dnHcUJ_5WE4NijH-P8XCdxarP2qQicf48huJiZ0uJbUWcHz13jiiB1NjkrFgX_CIq6OPUrne3MvmkCoUirEVRGdKsGmjzdCMFz6QlVlS6OtB0yWUVdPBnIiSX7jLnH/s1200/Motobecane+grand+jubilee.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAQZwrVjy6WXkxl0dnHcUJ_5WE4NijH-P8XCdxarP2qQicf48huJiZ0uJbUWcHz13jiiB1NjkrFgX_CIq6OPUrne3MvmkCoUirEVRGdKsGmjzdCMFz6QlVlS6OtB0yWUVdPBnIiSX7jLnH/s320/Motobecane+grand+jubilee.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Divorce happened, an interim move to Tarrytown (which put me even closer to thew Aqueduct trail for cycling) and eventually remarriage, and a move to Manhattan, where there was really no room to store a bike, so my hybrid bike was sold to a friend, and my aging but still beloved Motobecane Grand Jubilee touring bike went via Craigslist (I was able to find this image of the exact bike I had), and for the first time in decades, I was bikeless. That Motobecane had been with me for 20 years and parting was painful - still regret having gotten rid of it.</div><div><br /></div><div>But after moving to Philly, with the bikability of the 75 mile long <a href="https://schuylkillriver.org/schuylkill-river-trail/" target="_blank">Schuylkill River Trail</a> beckoning, I bought a used city bike from a friend and began riding regularly again, and it was joyful! My office was close enough to where I lived that I could bike to work sometimes (had to wear a suit so much that bike commuting was rarely possible).</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1K6f9E6RD1zBtlzvXCBnvUSTrEdTHEKhfwoO1zZxtFFqKi2vfYwub88Qk8vDXsOtP-r9WbXoxxq0nj9gc9J5ZcBZj8FDXlA1ETHs-jsnplwCL3MbSGE_ODOpjMh6UccUD5HLyKdy9eNRG/s3516/Illimitate40PNG.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2144" data-original-width="3516" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1K6f9E6RD1zBtlzvXCBnvUSTrEdTHEKhfwoO1zZxtFFqKi2vfYwub88Qk8vDXsOtP-r9WbXoxxq0nj9gc9J5ZcBZj8FDXlA1ETHs-jsnplwCL3MbSGE_ODOpjMh6UccUD5HLyKdy9eNRG/s320/Illimitate40PNG.png" width="320" /></a></div>Next up: a move to Denver, a very bike friendly city. After a year or so of using the old beater city bike I brought with me from Philly, I sold it on Craigslist and upgraded to a new Fuji hybrid city bike. Began biking to work regularly (Denver is a more business casual - or just plain outdoorsy casual city, so much easier to bike to work most days), and also began doing longer rides on the weekends - first time in years I was doing rides of 20, 30, as much as close to 50 miles. But I began to feel limited by using my hybrid city bike for the longer rides. Began researching and eventually bought a Tommaso Illimitate "adventure" bike, what is also sometimes called a "gravel" bike. Basically a road bike, with frame geometry and equipment (like disc brakes) that make it better equipped for rough roads and trails, while still be light enough, and the tires thin enough, to perform well on pavement - but not really the capability of a mountain bike. <a href="https://tommasobikes.com/" target="_blank">Tommaso</a>, which I found online, is a really great company that uses the brand name - and spirit - of a vintage Italian bike company, but sources their equipment and assembles their bikes out of a facility right in Denver. They only sell direct to consumers so their pricing is excellent, as well as their product.</div><div><br /></div><div>So now I am once again biking regularly, commuting to work almost every day (about 7 miles round trip - but its something...), and doing one or two longer rides a week, usually for a total of about 50 miles. Definitely slowing down - no more averaging 18 mph on my rides - more like 13-14 mph, and not really doing serious mountain passes like many Colorado cyclists. Mostly cycling alone, which is getting frustrating - but has been hard to find a cohort of folks to ride with. All the meet-up groups and cycling clubs seem to be organized around serious cyclists, and I do not want to feel like I am holding a group back. And cycling alone does offer the benefit of being a time for thought and the benefits of solitude. Denver is blessed with great recreational cycling trails - Cherry Creek, Platte River and High Line Canal, are all accessible to me, and there are many others too. Sadly, my trusty Fuji hybrid was stolen out of our building's bike parking area in April, but I was able to pick up (at a great little shop in my neighborhood called <a href="https://www.slohibikeco.com/locations/city-park-store/" target="_blank">SloHi Bikes</a>) a very nice Giant Escape 2 Disc that I love. I was luckyto find it given that the dramatic rise in cycling due to COVID has resulted in a serious bicycle shortage.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZCz_7ChOY0kVEKt1Gc_K2HvMgnSl66byrTTC96xgPi62oWHsC0ax585JNsdG3i2-lhtYcUe7w9OOAJnHXcLKsMvN3Lx22VrX13cF5h_W4ZXwea37a5KL599XdyvxVHbhfGIPM41YS-RxO/s3024/highline+esme+picnic.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZCz_7ChOY0kVEKt1Gc_K2HvMgnSl66byrTTC96xgPi62oWHsC0ax585JNsdG3i2-lhtYcUe7w9OOAJnHXcLKsMvN3Lx22VrX13cF5h_W4ZXwea37a5KL599XdyvxVHbhfGIPM41YS-RxO/w320-h320/highline+esme+picnic.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyN9-RPYFGolyDv_osAwIskkWVrYOH6bfQ2y1EjIl8OijUMYFbTy5AdD8nI3hstPLqWFI7aIDZUz7w0PlRdPAGWhZYn7UgL6CpwY3y_pHDBF90crXT7ZEC_5K6T13yZIi8OTi5WQu5uZB_/s4032/high+line+esme.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyN9-RPYFGolyDv_osAwIskkWVrYOH6bfQ2y1EjIl8OijUMYFbTy5AdD8nI3hstPLqWFI7aIDZUz7w0PlRdPAGWhZYn7UgL6CpwY3y_pHDBF90crXT7ZEC_5K6T13yZIi8OTi5WQu5uZB_/w320-h240/high+line+esme.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikk0H8Mu7pOjs8bwmXzHbHdCIWFFWmuGivIt2LE9tpEsc30f4RgSgHeW8xmBFFSw4qZH5BenHxUhJvwyabC46oaNHKD5-Z4k5nGqksRODSNlc997xsUM7Zxv6UdSWGfxK8EQermipQlmI5/s3035/high+line+view.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="3035" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikk0H8Mu7pOjs8bwmXzHbHdCIWFFWmuGivIt2LE9tpEsc30f4RgSgHeW8xmBFFSw4qZH5BenHxUhJvwyabC46oaNHKD5-Z4k5nGqksRODSNlc997xsUM7Zxv6UdSWGfxK8EQermipQlmI5/w200-h199/high+line+view.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>And now, having a third daughter, who is nine, I can once again go cycling with my kid. We do lovely rides along a section of the 71 mile long <a href="https://highlinecanal.org/about-canal/" target="_blank">High line Canal trail </a>that is tightly packed gravel/dirt and very rural feeling, often stopping for a picnic lunch, and we also are able to do family rides, including both my daughter Esme and my wife Sophie in City Park, which due to the pandemic is now car free - something we hope can be continued. We have taken our bikes (or rented bikes) on trips to the mountain towns as well- Aspen, Vail, Steamboat, Telluride - one of the huge advantages of living in Denver.</div><div><br /></div><div>I realize now I have been cycling seriously for over 50 years, and my cycling life after lots of ups and downs is once again up. Biking is now a serious part of my life, much as it was back in the 70's - I have done long distance touring and bike camping, I have raced, I have commuted, and I have done recreational cycling. The only thing I have not done in a serious way is mountain biking, though I think maybe that cow has left the barn at this stage of life.But you never know.</div><div><br /></div><div>Life is good...and better with cycling.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Gary Steuerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06964208018966427968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-984350200601488620.post-43969499902308782592020-05-18T09:41:00.000-06:002020-05-18T09:41:02.538-06:00Bonfils-Stanton Foundation Responds to the Colorado coronavirus crisis<i>This is an edited version of a blog post I recently published on the Foundation's web site. Thought it was important that it be shared here as well.</i><br />
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<a href="https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/" target="_blank">The Bonfils-Stanton Foundation</a>’s mission is to foster, through arts and culture, a creative, inspiring and connected community in the Denver region. Our vision is a Denver alive with vibrant, relevant, and compelling arts and culture that is accessible to all, and filled with passionate, collaborative and effective leaders whose efforts improve the lives of the people of the Denver region.<br />
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That mission and vision, like much of our community, is now in crisis due to the devastating impact of Colorado’s coronavirus pandemic. The impact on arts and culture has been especially acute, as much of art by its very nature demands a communal experience, from seeing art in a museum or gallery, to enjoying a concert or theatre performance, to taking a dance class. Our artists and arts organizations have done an extraordinary job of finding ways to make art and interact with the public via technology, helping to use the power of art to help us connect with our humanity and compassion in these challenging times. Yet we cannot underestimate the enormous negative financial impact the crisis is having on our arts sector.<br />
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The Foundation is dedicated to doing all within our power to help our arts & culture sector get through this crisis and continue to provide its extraordinary value to our community.<br />
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Here are the steps we have taken:<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">GRANTMAKING PROGRAM</span></b><br />
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<b>Emergency Response Grants </b>– Bonfils-Stanton Foundation was one of the first funders in the country to respond to the Colorado coronavirus crisis with emergency funding by providing roughly $125,000 in immediate grants. These no application and no strings attached grants (45 in total) were given to operating and project support grantees who had received Foundation funding over the past 18 months. Not only did this funding provide immediate and much needed funds, it also sent a powerful message, locally and nationally on the needs of the cultural sector, and the importance of not using the traditional “business as usual” process.<br />
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<b>DEI Opportunity Grants</b> – We had recently made a $50,000 commitment to provide ten $5,000 grants to small arts & culture organizations we have not yet supported that are led by and serving people of color or other historically marginalized communities as part of a larger long-term DEI strategy. We received 19 applications for the program and considering the current crisis and the special threat it poses to small, more fragile community-based organizations, we have funded every applicant, nearly doubling the original budgeted amount. Meet all of these new grantees <a href="https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/dei-opportunity-grants/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<b>Maximum flexibility for grantees and programs - </b>We are shifting as many grants as possible to three-year commitment of general operating support to provide flexibility and sustainability to our grantees.<br />
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<b>Arts in Society</b> – The 2020 grantees were just announced, and we have informed these grantees, and other past grantees whose projects are still in process, that the initiative will be extremely flexible with their project budgets and timelines. We are delighted that grantees are still eager to complete their projects as proposed, though many will have to adjust the timing. For the 2021 Arts in Society funding year, we have accelerated contributions from all the funding partners and implemented a streamlined process that will allow us to make the grants by mid-July 2020 rather than April 2021. We are expanding the guidelines to also invite proposals that are using the arts to educate, heal, and otherwise respond to the community challenges posed by the COVID crisis. To learn more visit <a href="https://www.redlineart.org/arts-in-society" target="_blank">RedLine – Arts in Society</a>.<br />
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<b>Community ACTS Fund </b>– The Foundation had previously awarded a $50,000 grant towards capacity building training for grant recipients in this new initiative. The Community ACTS (Arts, Culture, Transformation and Science) Fund, guided by an advisory committee comprised with individuals representing various sectors and counties throughout the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD), supports Tier III arts organizations dedicated to serving communities of color and other historically marginalized populations. In response to the current crisis and at request of the Fund’s leadership, we agreed to repurpose the grant towards relief for this grantee cohort.<br />
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<b>Creation and Lead Funding for the COVID-19 Arts & Culture Relief Fund</b> – We are excited to <br />
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announce that we are making a leadership gift of $1 million towards the launch of a new Arts & Culture Relief Fund focused on provided emergency funding for nonprofit cultural organizations impacted by this crisis. Preliminary rough information, already a couple of weeks old, estimates a COVID-related loss of $11 million to our state’s nonprofit arts organizations. The real number is clearly already much higher. Several funds have been created in the State around crisis relief, but the ones within the arts have largely focused on the enormous challenges facing individual artists and creatives, and we applaud those efforts. This new fund was modeled on similar funds already created in Minnesota, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Seattle, Los Angeles, Detroit and New York City, among others. We are actively soliciting support from other funders, including foundations, corporations, government, and individual donors. We are pleased that The Denver Foundation will serve as our partner to receive and administer this fund and that over $400,000 has already been committed to the fund beyond the Bonfils grant. Here is the <a href="http://www.denverfoundation.org/COVID-19-Arts-Culture-Relief-Fund" target="_blank">link </a>for more information on how to contribute to the Fund, and here is the <a href="https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/colorado-coronavirus/" target="_blank">link</a> to the official announcemnt.<br />
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<b>Increased Annual Grantmaking </b>– Our Board understands the struggle ahead to sustain our arts & culture landscape and has agreed to potentially DOUBLE our usual grantmaking budget in the coming fiscal year. This would be a significant commitment, but not so large as to dramatically reduce our ability to respond to needs as they continue to arise and for future grantmaking when we get beyond this crisis. The COVID-19 Arts & Culture Relief Fund and Emergency Response Grants were the initial deployment of these additional funds. The remainder will focus on the acute needs among our existing grantees and could also be used to make additional investments in the COVID-19 Arts & Culture Relief Fund.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">LIVINGSTON FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM</span></b><br />
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We have informed all active Livingston Fellows that they may delay aspects of their plan development and activities, including extending deadlines, given that we realize it will be difficult to complete leadership development work during the crisis and subsequent recovery. We are suspending the 2021 Livingston nomination and selection process. It is clear this is not the time to be launching a new class of Fellows. We will, however, continue to share leadership resources with our Fellows, and strive to create more opportunities for virtual convenings. We hope to return to “normal” programming in 2021, operating the selection process for 2022 Fellows. <a href="https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/livingston-fellows-coronavirus-leadership/" target="_blank">We have also been sharing the stories of how our Fellows are leading in these difficult times. </a><br />
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<span style="color: red;"><b>ANNUAL AWARDS PROGRAM</b></span><br />
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In light of the crisis and social distancing restrictions, we have postponed our annual Awards Celebration Luncheon until November, at which time we hope that we will once again be able to gather in this annual celebration of the arts.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">INVESTMENTS AND COMMUNICATIONS</span></b><br />
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<b>Mission-aligned Investing/PRI</b> – The Foundation Board of Trustees approved a Mission Aligned Investing Policy that establishes a framework to utilize up to 8% of our corpus for mission aligned or program related investments as appropriate opportunities arise. We believe it is critical to consider impact investing as both part of our crisis response and as part of our ongoing efforts to use all the tools at our disposal to serve our mission.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIS0DqAGZJoWrPShr9QgS6Mt03p2m5B249KrmctGnXRIxBn1p34Vs56WsXLwSKfzw0rTQtePbSrdiG1d56BlPYWwyo4SXrIihokAGk2hsTAZ-C5kKMqSsQxDmMvwAJEhvp-o3PQZOlCb3C/s1600/ATIA-refresh-social-media.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="1024" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIS0DqAGZJoWrPShr9QgS6Mt03p2m5B249KrmctGnXRIxBn1p34Vs56WsXLwSKfzw0rTQtePbSrdiG1d56BlPYWwyo4SXrIihokAGk2hsTAZ-C5kKMqSsQxDmMvwAJEhvp-o3PQZOlCb3C/s400/ATIA-refresh-social-media.png" width="400" /></a><b>Coordinated Messaging</b> – We have been meeting regularly with other regional cultural leaders – Colorado Business Committee for the Arts, Scientific and Cultural Facilities District, Denver Arts & Venues, Colorado Creative Industries, Boulder Office of Arts and Culture, Cultural Office of the Pikes Peak Region, etc. – to share ideas, actions and strategize. This led to the creation of a new messaging campaign called “<a href="https://cbca.org/arts-through-it-all/" target="_blank">Arts Through it All</a>” an advocacy campaign designed to educate and inspire arts and culture enthusiasts and the general public on how best to support the creative sector during the COVID-19 pandemic. The campaign and related toolkit were developed so it can be personalized by individual arts organizations for their use. A special thanks to <a href="https://launchadvertising.com/" target="_blank">Launch Advertising </a>for the pro bono work and to <a href="https://cbca.org/" target="_blank">Colorado Business Committee for the Arts</a> for managing the site. We have also recently been able to add a companion communications guide, produced pro bono by <a href="https://resnicow.com/" target="_blank">Resnicow + Associates.</a><br />
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<b>Communication </b>– We have added a new page to our website that is regularly updated to provide our visitors with current, valuable information on resources available to them related to the COVID-19 crisis. In addition, we are rapidly sharing critical information and resources via social media and e-blasts.<br />
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In sum, we believe these are extraordinary times that call for extraordinary actions. The threat to many of our most beloved and important cultural assets is truly existential. When we as a society do come through this – and we will eventually – we must have in our community the things that make life worth living, arts and culture that inspires, educates, moves, transports, entertains. We intend to play a leadership role in ensuring that is the case. We will use our grantmaking capacity, our endowments, and our voice. And we hope to inspire others to join us.</font></i>Gary Steuerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06964208018966427968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-984350200601488620.post-11478904566942562242020-05-14T14:02:00.002-06:002020-05-18T09:42:22.443-06:00My Youth on Record Podcast<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlYPlxcOVLiJzzKZR-sdTm7a13150QH0M8b50TVxp89xNt_i_JcGAA0nk_Y01RrQt7O_ig-6d4Nrvqd6XNlDVQW4l9AXqPXf4njpXfiOkf8vshq1LusQt8LYzqYiF4p8TVrArAlQpYTgij/s1600/At+YOR+Block+Party+2017.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="640" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlYPlxcOVLiJzzKZR-sdTm7a13150QH0M8b50TVxp89xNt_i_JcGAA0nk_Y01RrQt7O_ig-6d4Nrvqd6XNlDVQW4l9AXqPXf4njpXfiOkf8vshq1LusQt8LYzqYiF4p8TVrArAlQpYTgij/s320/At+YOR+Block+Party+2017.jpg" width="320" /></a>I have been inactive on my personal blog for way too long! Just so much going on professionally, personally, that it has been hard to prioritize this blog. Hoping to be better going forward, perhaps inspired by this crazy pandemic time we are in.<br />
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This is a blog post I started working on quite a while ago. Last year I had the pleasure of participating in the <a href="https://www.youthonrecord.org/myyouthonrecord" target="_blank">My Youth on Record</a> podcast series. <a href="https://www.youthonrecord.org/" target="_blank">Youth on Record</a> is a wonderful Denver organization that engages local working musicians to work as teaching artists in local public schools, the goal being to engage youth that would otherwise be in danger of dropping out. They also put on an annual community Block Party that would be happening very soon, and obviously can't happen this year, which is why it may be on my mind. This event has become a tradition with me and my daughter Esme - one year she even got to go up on stage with me as I made some remarks. It is a wonderful, inclusive, family-friendly celebration for the community.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVwABSf5VCBzibFrzgSoREJcmCoEuSf5HfGyAMVhzOlBElSJUzNlgE9wJLwBkOnHGBoc5DTjnSjGXIXRybkVmk48Ef2rEisMEdGxQEnFJbQdjnHKmoQBdMjJagSHczJZerXeTh7TnWMSCg/s1600/My+YOR+Int+Logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVwABSf5VCBzibFrzgSoREJcmCoEuSf5HfGyAMVhzOlBElSJUzNlgE9wJLwBkOnHGBoc5DTjnSjGXIXRybkVmk48Ef2rEisMEdGxQEnFJbQdjnHKmoQBdMjJagSHczJZerXeTh7TnWMSCg/s320/My+YOR+Int+Logo.jpg" width="320" /></a>YOR and its programs also provide employment for indie musicians. And their facility - housed in a Denver Housing Authority mixed-income development, also houses robust after-school programs, including a state of the art recording "Youth Media Studio." A couple of years ago they launched a podcast series - with support in part from <a href="https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/" target="_blank">Bonfils-Stanton Foundation</a>, called My Youth on Record, with Shawn King from Devotchka as host and Stephen Brackett from the Flobots also involved. The series, however, is almost entirely engineered and produced by the youth involved in the program, giving them fantastic real world experience. The theme of the series is getting successful musicians to talk about their early musical influences, the first song they wrote, the first time they performed, etc. In my case, they wanted to talk about what influenced me to go into the world of producing, enabling, and funding the arts, and especially my love for music. It was great fun to do it, and really inspiring to work with and be interviewed by these immensely talented young people.<br />
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In recent weeks, YOR has pivoted to do a series called My Youth on Record - Interrupted, talking<br />
with musicians about how their personal, professional and creative lives have been transformed by the coronavirus.<br />
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You can check out my podcast episode here "<a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/4DpcRX45gw1gLfmQGQqiaH" target="_blank">On puce uniforms, the arts & NYC as a teen"</a> You may even learn what was the first concert I ever attended...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">With YOR Executive Director Jami Duffy, Stephen Brackett and some of the MYOR team</td></tr>
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<br />Gary Steuerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06964208018966427968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-984350200601488620.post-65075603918290292322018-11-02T11:51:00.000-06:002018-11-02T11:51:40.159-06:00Reflecting on alternative transportationOn occasion in the history of my blog, I have deviated from talking about arts, culture, philanthropy, cultural policy, to talk about other things on my mind. Many years ago, when I became a father for the third time, I <a href="http://milehighculture.blogspot.com/2011/09/thoughts-on-time-age-and-children.html" target="_blank">wrote</a> about fatherhood, and being an "older" dad.<br />
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Today, I want to share some thoughts on alternative transportation. I have been a lifelong bike rider, both for recreation and commuting. And in my family my wife and I share one car, so I am often using alternative modes of transportation. I was an "early adopter" of ride share programs like Uber and Lyft. Apologies in advance, because I am going to ramble a bit.<br />
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Growing up in New York City, using mass transit was also second nature - hardly anyone I knew owned a car. And despite the recent woes of the aging mass transit system, it is still the dominant mode of getting around. While there is now an active bike share program, and a much better network of bike lanes (thank you Mike Bloomberg), and of course taxis, Lyft and Uber, I feel like mass transit is still the beating heart of the city. It is also is a great equalizer - used by janitors and Wall Street traders alike. People of all races and classes literally bump against each other every day, and I think that has an impact on the culture of the city, and makes New York feel less economically and racially segregated. When I return to New York to visit, taking the subway is actually something I look forward to and marvel at how easy <br />
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it makes going pretty significant distances around the city and between boroughs. I remember Donna Walker-Kuhne telling the story of George C. Wolfe giving her a charge to make the theatres of The Public Theatre "look like a New York City subway car." What a perfect image for truly welcoming all people into our cultural institutions!<br />
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By contrast, when I lived in Philadelphia I was startled at how segregated the train system was, used largely by people of color, and students (Temple on the Broad Street line and Penn/Drexel on the Market Street line). When I would take the subway to meetings or events, there was often shock that I had actually taken the subway - the shock usually came from wealthy or middle class White people who would never dream of taking the subway. Much more than in New York, it seemed like in Philadelphia races lived in parallel universes. The largely Black and Brown areas of West and North Philadelphia never were seen by the White populations of Center City and the suburban Main Line areas. And I think the lack of physical interaction through transit fosters a culture where the largely White people with wealth can live in a bubble and never interact with or even see people who are poor, Black and Brown, neighborhoods that are dis-invested, commercial corridors where all the stores are boarded up. As a result, the people with wealth do not "own" or take responsibility for the fact that the City has a 28% federal poverty rate, a challenged under-funded public school system that limits opportunity for young people to break the cycle of poverty. New York is by no means perfect, but in New York I saw vastly more interest among people with wealth in addressing the challenges of poverty - look at the huge success of the Robin Hood Foundation, or Harlem Children's Zone.<br />
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So, now here I am in Denver, a thriving economically successful City that is trying to create a much better alternative transportation infrastructure. So regarding the social impact of transit, I feel like Denver is somewhere in between Philadelphia and New York, but much closer to the former. The light rail system is relatively new, and I think is still largely used by suburban commuters coming from middle-class communities downtown for work. Buses seem to be used more heavily by poorer folks and people of color. These are just my impressions - don't know what the stats are. I know that my grown daughter, who makes regular use of buses here, says that her Millennial peers are often surprised that she takes the bus. Denver is still rooted in car culture.<br />
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There is a growing network of bike lanes but very few of them are protected lanes, and of the ones that are, even fewer are protected with permanent concrete curbs. Most have those flexible plastic poles. The result: even when there is a protected lane, it is frequently blocked by cars making left turns and delivery trucks. Even the city and entities like the Downtown Denver Partnership BID are guilty of exacerbating this problem. With all the events in Skyline Park, the trucks that are loading and unloading, delivering materials, etc., regularly park in the bike lane on Arapahoe Street. FedEx trucks park in the bike lane. Uber and Lyft drivers dropping off or picking up passengers pull into the bike lanes. Advocacy groups like Bike Denver have tried to shine a light on this, but I have seen no sign of enforcement - if anything it seems to be getting worse. And another big issue with the bike lanes is that they do not connect in any sort of logical way based on commuting patterns. Lanes randomly end, without even directional signage on how to connect with nearby bike routes, or dump you onto heavily trafficked roads where it is not safe to ride a bike.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_aRrL93uQUrpc3tkmX_K0WMz9CztxdY_6hXRhzMgYty0TGXEnnMXmYvpmKMnFaSdfwopkd1743ncWzPOcyXe5xNN_x_NWve2hnHw8c5Ja60J8jFR6Oivpxfl2nyCwkfG_pURAI8vXiuBq/s1600/B_cycle_Station_Credit_Visit_Denver_b13fd10c-2bf5-4ce6-b12b-8463158409c9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1071" data-original-width="1600" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_aRrL93uQUrpc3tkmX_K0WMz9CztxdY_6hXRhzMgYty0TGXEnnMXmYvpmKMnFaSdfwopkd1743ncWzPOcyXe5xNN_x_NWve2hnHw8c5Ja60J8jFR6Oivpxfl2nyCwkfG_pURAI8vXiuBq/s200/B_cycle_Station_Credit_Visit_Denver_b13fd10c-2bf5-4ce6-b12b-8463158409c9.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
Denver was lucky enough to have the first bike share program in the nation - <a href="https://www.denverbcycle.com/" target="_blank">B-Cycle</a>, and it is a great resource, but one (like most City bike share programs) with some equity challenges. There is a high cost to each docking station installed, resulting in few docking stations in poorer neighborhoods, and poor people who could benefit from this low cost alternative to driving, are less likely to have a credit card to use the system. Even though I regularly ride my own bike to work, B-Cycle is a great option if you are going to need to mix up multiple transportation options, or do not want to hassle with locking your own bike. For example, I might use B-Cycle to go to work, rather than use my own bike if afternoon rain is in the forecast, or if I have an end of the day meeting in bikable distance to my home, and don't want to lock my bike up on the street.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSWjOxehVi9eHieR2a3XgKVQ4I1e_SdRUEq0rgICuZFCE2wtQb9Cf5xS6mJ1gDQATucaaoQDiHIIKMOVT7ZNt_VJNQqCuA0UWTa_KBLy4srIEvhRDoz6pqpg9oWIi-NxvCfWR08MeArBEY/s1600/lyft-scooter-by-kg_750xx3584-2019-0-392.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="422" data-original-width="750" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSWjOxehVi9eHieR2a3XgKVQ4I1e_SdRUEq0rgICuZFCE2wtQb9Cf5xS6mJ1gDQATucaaoQDiHIIKMOVT7ZNt_VJNQqCuA0UWTa_KBLy4srIEvhRDoz6pqpg9oWIi-NxvCfWR08MeArBEY/s200/lyft-scooter-by-kg_750xx3584-2019-0-392.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
Now we have electric scooters, adding a new alternative transportation option, as well as dockless electric-assist bikes (JUMP, owned by Uber). To promote competition, Denver has issued permits to multiple scooter companies - Bird, Lime, Lyft and Razor with more (I believe) to come - as well as more dockless bike companies. This makes using the scooters or bikes frankly challenging. No one company has any scale, so you need to have on your phone separate apps for each company, and sometimes check each company until you find a vehicle near you. THEN, because you cannot reserve the scooter in advance (JUMP actually does allow you to reserve), you must start walking to the scooter, and often it gets rented by someone else before you get there, and you have to start the process all over again.<br />
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I have used the scooters, and they are fun, easy to use and I think add a valuable new transportation option to the mix. I think they are especially useful for the "last mile" challenge of getting from a train or bus stop to your home or office, which might be a long walk away. And in my case I have, for example, found them really useful to get from our offices in the D&F Tower to locations in the Golden Triangle or Santa Fe, which are not that far away (but a long walk), but not easily accessible by public transit from where I am. But there are clearly problems to be solved. In addition to the issue above, there are several others. Under Denver law, the electric scooters are treated as toys, and legally must only be ridden on sidewalks, which many riders (and pedestrians) are unaware of, and on crowded downtown streets a scooter going up to 20 MPH can be a safety hazard for all. Seems to me they need to be treated like bicycles, and be ridden in the street, and in bike lanes wherever possible. People are also often riding them recklessly and intoxicated, and with the small wheels, a pothole or bad crack (on the road or on the sidewalk) can result in a tumble; as a result scooter related injuries are on the rise. These issues was covered in this recent Denver Post <a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2018/10/01/denver-dockless-scooters-confusion-injuries/" target="_blank">story</a>. I have actually especially <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiECSNaT0jzQv3YaeAC4OjWSqM_FA30HJ1VGI3NmXedAf16c1MWhp0C0wgS34hT68twSF657CBcb4c0G60gutyhat73_5v0xa5OGDFjR3Ldzhjx-Oo-xYKNB_D0hGy5WqTm1JWYAM5SEQz_/s1600/JUMP_Bikes_001_1534781839478_95230223_ver1.0_640_480.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiECSNaT0jzQv3YaeAC4OjWSqM_FA30HJ1VGI3NmXedAf16c1MWhp0C0wgS34hT68twSF657CBcb4c0G60gutyhat73_5v0xa5OGDFjR3Ldzhjx-Oo-xYKNB_D0hGy5WqTm1JWYAM5SEQz_/s200/JUMP_Bikes_001_1534781839478_95230223_ver1.0_640_480.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
enjoyed using the JUMP electric-assist dockless bikes. They give you some exercise, but the electric assist means you can cover longer distances and hills without working up a sweat if you are using them to commute or get to and from meetings<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5lCX-snPRsUyd_ehd6Hr_PHfsvDuHELRQxU9YdxLvfLsSz_Fu4-ybww-rVs_mlgntBbVY1sUss_Ch378HKr0ahvOfFKDbSC-yEAq-TH5TqxDlrpS7FAC_mNxq7PtfVylyzVy_QdO2vLK6/s1600/p-1-40571579-this-bike-helmet-folds-down-to-fit-in-a-water-bottle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="649" data-original-width="1153" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5lCX-snPRsUyd_ehd6Hr_PHfsvDuHELRQxU9YdxLvfLsSz_Fu4-ybww-rVs_mlgntBbVY1sUss_Ch378HKr0ahvOfFKDbSC-yEAq-TH5TqxDlrpS7FAC_mNxq7PtfVylyzVy_QdO2vLK6/s200/p-1-40571579-this-bike-helmet-folds-down-to-fit-in-a-water-bottle.jpg" width="200" /></a>Another big safety-related issue for bike share, and scooters, is that for the most part people do not use helmets. It is understandable - who can or wants to lug around a helmet with you all the time because you MIGHT use a bike share or scooter. One exciting development on that front is a new start-up company, <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/40571579/this-bike-helmet-can-fold-down-to-the-size-of-a-water-bottle" target="_blank">Park and Diamond</a>, that is developing a collapsible helmet that meets or exceeds all bike helmet safety standards - pretty cool! They have already far exceeded their goal on Indiegogo, and I have contributed and eagerly await my new helmet - delivery is expected in early 2019.<br />
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One final note - with the introduction of scooters and dockless e-bikes, there is a bit of a Wild West feeling to getting around without a car these days. I see many scooter users and dockless bike users riding the wrong way in the bike lanes. Regular cyclists who use their own bikes or Bcycle know the rules, they ride more safely and know that bike lanes are one-way in the direction of traffic. These new users are often "joy riders" not used to alternative transportation, and they ride much more recklessly.<br />
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I think it is great that Denver is implementing so many alternative transportation options, but there is still much room for improvement. Here are my recommendations:<br />
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<ul>
<li>Expand the bike lane network, adding many more permanent protected bike lanes, and better interconnect the bike lanes. Add a dedicated protected bike lane to both 13th and 14th avenues, and create some dedicated bike lanes that go North-South (right now going North or South is very difficult via bike)</li>
<li>Introduce a Metro-card like system for RTD that makes it really easy to use buses without exact change, and have kiosks that make it easy to replenish the funds on the cards.</li>
<li>Ultimately settle on ONE electric scooter company to avoid the problems of having so many different providers.</li>
<li>Change the law so that electric scooters are treated like bicycles.</li>
<li>Educate the public about alternative transportation safety and begin warning and then ticketing scooter riders who disobey the rules.</li>
<li>Add designated Uber/Lyft pick up and drop off zones at poplar locations like the Performing Arts Complex. Right now it can be very confusing.</li>
<li>Strive to expand bike share, scooters and dockless bikes into poor neighborhoods, and provide programs that educate and even subsidize their use in those communities.</li>
<li>Continue to invest in building out the light rail system</li>
</ul>
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<br />Gary Steuerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06964208018966427968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-984350200601488620.post-42788983031490781692018-09-26T10:26:00.000-06:002018-09-26T10:37:23.442-06:00The Commitment of the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation to Equity<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #747474; font-family: Roboto, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 20px;">
“Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” are not just buzzwords, but the subject of critically important conversations among funders, nonprofits, cultural organizations, artists and civic leaders. These conversations – which are often difficult and even messy – can and should lead to action.</div>
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I have served on the Grantmakers in the Arts (GIA) board for the past few years, and they have been a leader in urging arts funders to apply a racial equity lens to their grantmaking and operations. In fact, they developed and disseminated a <a href="http://www.giarts.org/racial-equity-arts-philanthropy-statement-purpose" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #01acc8; text-decoration-line: none; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-timing-function: linear;" target="_blank">Racial Equity in Arts Philanthropy Statement of Purpose</a> in 2015, and followed it up with dialogue and in-depth training through their conference, webinars and publications.</div>
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<img alt="Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Theatre" class="alignleft wp-image-557" height="133" sizes="(max-width: 332px) 100vw, 332px" src="https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/CleoParker-New-Image-Quartet.jpg" srcset="https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/CleoParker-New-Image-Quartet-300x201.jpg 300w, https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/CleoParker-New-Image-Quartet.jpg 580w" style="border-style: none; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; float: left; height: auto; margin-right: 15px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: top;" width="200" />GIA has also been a leader in promoting the term ALAANA (African, Latinx, Asian, Arab and Native American) as a replacement for the more common “people of color.” No terminology is perfect, and it is easy to get paralyzed in this work by the fear of using the wrong term.</div>
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There is a good articulation of the rationale for choosing ALAANA over other imperfect options in a <a href="http://www.ddcf.org/globalassets/news-and-publications/2018-news-and-publications/final-yancey-consultings-alaana-thrivability-report-january-2018.pdf" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #01acc8; text-decoration-line: none; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-timing-function: linear;" target="_blank">study</a> of how “to nurture thriving institutions of color” in New York City, conducted by Yancey Consulting and commissioned by <a href="http://www.ddcf.org/" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #01acc8; text-decoration-line: none; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-timing-function: linear;" target="_blank">Doris Duke Charitable Foundation</a>and <a href="https://www.nycommunitytrust.org/" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #01acc8; text-decoration-line: none; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-timing-function: linear;" target="_blank">The New York Community Trust</a>. And as we know, diversity, equity and inclusion are three terms now often lumped together that mean three very different things.</div>
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Frankly, I think diversity and inclusion are often bundled with equity to make the conversation palatable to some who might be hostile to the implications of an equity conversation. Angelique Power, President of the Field Foundation and Board Chair of GIA, provides a great and succinct explanation of these three terms in this <a href="https://youtu.be/gTTGa9IY1ts" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #01acc8; text-decoration-line: none; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-timing-function: linear;" target="_blank">video</a>.</div>
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In 2016 Americans for the Arts released a <a href="http://www.americansforthearts.org/about-americans-for-the-arts/statement-on-cultural-equity" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #01acc8; text-decoration-line: none; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-timing-function: linear;" target="_blank">“Statement on Cultural Equity,”</a> which I wrote about at the time in <a href="http://milehighculture.blogspot.com/2016/05/some-thoughts-on-americans-for-arts.html" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #01acc8; text-decoration-line: none; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-timing-function: linear;" target="_blank">this blog post</a>. This statement also came about after a long process, and took a different approach than the GIA statement, as it focused on “cultural equity” as opposed to exclusively racial equity, embracing the need to battle other forms of discrimination and disenfranchisement, such as LGBTQ, disability, and gender bias.</div>
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This approach has its champions, as does the approach that says it is critical to call out racism as the core equity issue that overlays everything else. I believe with this divide, as with the language issue discussed earlier, it is easy to be dogmatic and feel there is only one right approach, or one right terminology. But, in fact, what matters is stepping in and beginning to do the work, with an openness to learn, a humility that you will never get it “right” and also a generosity toward others who choose a different strategy or language.</div>
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Last year the Helicon Collaborative – a consulting firm specializing in cultural issues – published <a href="http://www.notjustmoney.us/" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #01acc8; text-decoration-line: none; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-timing-function: linear;" target="_blank">Not Just Money</a>, a new study supported by the <a href="http://www.surdna.org/" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #01acc8; text-decoration-line: none; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-timing-function: linear;" target="_blank">Surdna Foundation</a> that looked at equity issues in cultural philanthropy and was a follow-up to a similar study done in 2011. The findings? Not encouraging. Despite foundations getting much better at exploring and talking about this issue, the actual distribution of funding has, if anything, become more inequitable since 2011. Sixty percent of arts philanthropic dollars go to 2 percent of the organizations (those with budgets over $5 million), and this disparity is actually <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">up</em> 5 percent since 2011. The 90 percent of organizations that have budgets under $1 million have seen their share of dollars decline from 25 to 21 percent.</div>
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<img alt="Curious Theater" class="alignright wp-image-977" height="133" sizes="(max-width: 388px) 100vw, 388px" src="https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/CuriousTheater_1.jpg" srcset="https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/CuriousTheater_1-200x134.jpg 200w, https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/CuriousTheater_1-300x201.jpg 300w, https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/CuriousTheater_1-400x268.jpg 400w, https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/CuriousTheater_1.jpg 580w" style="border-style: none; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; float: right; height: auto; margin-left: 15px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: top;" width="200" />The vast majority of cultural organizations whose primary mission is to serve communities of color have budgets under $5 million. People of color represent 37 percent of the nation’s population, but just 4 percent of all foundation arts funding is allocated to groups whose primary mission is to serve these communities. (An additional 2 percent of funding goes to “mainstream” cultural groups specifically to serve communities of color.)</div>
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This is all background to say that like our colleagues in Colorado and around the country, Bonfils-Stanton Foundation has been thinking deeply for some time about how we incorporate a commitment to equity in our grantmaking and operations. To date this work has been happening, but organically.</div>
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We have made intentional changes in our <a href="https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/leadership/livingston-fellowship-program/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #01acc8; text-decoration-line: none; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-timing-function: linear;">Livingston Fellowship Program</a>, first broadening our pool of nominators, then entirely opening up the nominating process. We have also rotated the selection panel members and ensured a higher proportion of ALAANA individuals on the panel. Finally, we have become more accepting of leaders of smaller organizations, given that a much higher percentage of these groups are primarily serving ALAANA communities and are led by ALAANA individuals. The result: over the past five years, ALAANA Fellows have gone from a historical level of 20 percent over the previous 10 years, to an average of 50 percent. The 2018 class happened to be 80 percent. We have also encouraged the Fellowship cohort to embrace discussions of equity and racism as a shared value and critical environmental factor among all their organizations.</div>
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In our grantmaking, over the past five years the percentage of our dollars going to organizations primarily serving ALAANA or other traditionally marginalized communities has gone from 2.4 percent to 13.1 percent, a 275 percent increase in grant dollars. Our Board of Trustees has gone from never having an ALAANA individual on the board since our incorporation in 1962, to now having three out of nine members.</div>
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<img alt="Donna-Walker-Kuhne" class="wp-image-397 alignleft" height="133" sizes="(max-width: 427px) 100vw, 427px" src="https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Donna-Walker-Kuhne_resize.jpg" srcset="https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Donna-Walker-Kuhne_resize-300x201.jpg 300w, https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Donna-Walker-Kuhne_resize.jpg 580w" style="border-style: none; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; float: left; height: auto; margin-right: 15px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: top;" width="200" /></div>
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In 2015 we commissioned Donna Walker-Kuhne, a nationally-recognized leader in building more diverse audiences in the arts, to study audience diversity efforts here in Denver. Her <a href="https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/enhancing-arts-engagement-with-diverse-communities/" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #01acc8; text-decoration-line: none; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-timing-function: linear;" target="_blank">findings</a> became a valuable tool for many cultural organizations and also led to the formation of an arts and diversity task force, which continues to meet regularly, and recently came to the Foundation to support a new effort to build a more diverse cultural workforce in Denver, which we have funded. A comparable task force has now been formed, also with the support and encouragement of the Foundation, to work on equity issues in the arts for people with disabilities.</div>
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Even with these significant efforts and accomplishments, we recognize we have far to go. After a preliminary board conversation around diversity, equity and inclusion in April 2017, we have continued to do research and craft ideas about how we could more formally embrace this work, and these values. We began educating staff and board members, sharing research like the studies cited earlier. We had a much deeper full-day board conversation in April 2018, leading to the formation of a DEI committee. And after several months of work, the committee and staff together crafted a new integrated governing document, with a linked Mission, Vision and Values/Equity statement. The full text of this statement follows (and is linked <a href="https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/about-us/mission-vision-and-equity-values/" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #01acc8; text-decoration-line: none; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-timing-function: linear;" target="_blank">here</a>), and I encourage you to read it, but I want to quote what I think is a key section:</div>
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<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">“We believe that access to the arts, as an appreciator, participant and/or creator, are basic human rights that should be enjoyed by all those who live in our community. We also believe that factors like racism, ableism, sexism, gender bias and lack of economic opportunity have prevented these cultural opportunities from being equally enjoyed by all. These factors have contributed to lack of equal access to leadership opportunities, within the arts and the entire nonprofit sector. We will ensure that we operate in a way that recognizes these inequities, and that we work to mitigate them.”</em></div>
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I am extremely proud of the board and staff of this Foundation for putting into writing what I think is a strong statement of our values that includes an acknowledgement of the structural barriers many in our community have faced. So how will we live these values? What will change? The Foundation is committed to ensuring that these are not just empty words but are reflected in our actions and operations. We are now in an internal process with board and staff determining next steps and will share more information in the coming months.</div>
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<img alt="BSF Red Logo" class="aligncenter wp-image-211" height="128" src="https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/BSF_redlogo-e1504810350262.jpg" style="border-style: none; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; display: block; height: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 100%; text-align: center; vertical-align: top;" width="200" /></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Mission, Vision and Equity/Values Statements</span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Mission Statement</span>The Bonfils-Stanton Foundation is dedicated to fostering, through arts and culture, a creative, inspiring and connected community in the Denver region.</div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Vision Statement</span>Denver is alive with vibrant, relevant, and compelling arts and culture that is accessible to all, and filled with passionate, collaborative and effective leaders whose efforts improve the lives of the people of the Denver region.</div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Equity/Values Statement</span>We believe that access to the arts, as an appreciator, participant and/or creator, are basic human rights that should be enjoyed by all those who live in our community. We also believe that factors like racism, ableism, sexism, gender bias and lack of economic opportunity have prevented these cultural opportunities from being equally enjoyed by all. These factors have contributed to lack of equal access to leadership opportunities, within the arts and the entire nonprofit sector.</div>
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We will ensure that we operate in a way that recognizes these inequities, and that we work to mitigate them. This includes our grantmaking, programmatic activity, and community engagement. We hope to inspire and cultivate an arts and culture sector that also embraces equity in their work. We recognize that there are significant societal structural issues that are beyond our capacity to change, but with the tools that ARE at our disposal will do all we can to ensure that our cultural community is healthy, artistically vibrant, equitably supported, and serving the full spectrum of our residents.</div>
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We also recognize that doing this work requires that we continually be alert to the necessity that our board, staff and vendors reflect the diverse nature of our community, and that our systems and procedures are examined for bias and changed if necessary.</div>
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We value open, honest communication with all our constituencies – grantees, potential grantees, Livingston Fellows, funding colleagues, and civic leaders. With grantees we will always strive to have the sort of relationship that, to the best of our ability, is transparent and collaborative, avoiding the pitfalls of the power differential dynamic.</div>
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We will operate our organization in a way that fosters collegiality, opportunity, fairness and honesty, in all we do, striving to maximize the potential of all our employees, trustees and team members.</div>
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<i>Note: Originally published in the Fall, 2018 e-newsletter of the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation </i></div>
Gary Steuerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06964208018966427968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-984350200601488620.post-72536035228468106322018-06-11T13:19:00.000-06:002018-06-11T13:21:33.491-06:00Reflections on Over 20 Years of Americans for the Arts Conventions<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8ZUMBDtmkpu04s207RtyOkPIEs44j2YDQG_azV7jpuLPDZWtveyLGYQKgDljNLW5ChxCq58hER9wXkp54MdFcL5W67hFCpKz9IHsCMhG2k6lPlUv-c0M2E9b-w-ULKSo5Jb8J8G1niIE2/s1600/GPS+at+AFTA+Convention+in+Nashville.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="683" data-original-width="1024" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8ZUMBDtmkpu04s207RtyOkPIEs44j2YDQG_azV7jpuLPDZWtveyLGYQKgDljNLW5ChxCq58hER9wXkp54MdFcL5W67hFCpKz9IHsCMhG2k6lPlUv-c0M2E9b-w-ULKSo5Jb8J8G1niIE2/s200/GPS+at+AFTA+Convention+in+Nashville.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At the Americans for the Arts Convention in Nashville</td></tr>
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In 1993 I became the Director of New York Programs of the
Arts & Business Council Inc., the national organization for the network of
Arts & Business Councils and <a href="https://www.americansforthearts.org/by-program/networks-and-councils/business-volunteers-for-the-arts-and-employee-engagement" target="_blank">Business Volunteers for the Arts</a> programs
around the country, and in 1996 I became its President and CEO, the same year
that the National Association of Local Arts Agencies and the American Council
for the Arts merged to become what is now Americans for the Arts. </div>
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As head of a
national partner arts service organization of Americans for the Arts, I began
what has become a very long association with the organization, and the <a href="http://convention.artsusa.org/" target="_blank">Annual Convention</a>, literally attending the first Convention under the Americans for
the Arts name, and nearly every one since.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I have watched the organization, and its signature
convening, the Convention, grow and evolve over time, responding to the field’s
changes – and the external environment in which we all operate. There have been
so many conventions, over so many years, it is hard to pull memories out of the
haze, where they all blend together. I remember a cultural tourism pre-con at
the Convention in Atlanta, where I learned so much about Atlanta’s African
American cultural heritage, knowledge that helped me greatly when later I
served as Chief Cultural Officer for the City of Philadelphia and worked on how
to better support and promote that city’s extraordinary African-American
heritage. Another memory that stayed with me was the public art pre-con in San
Diego, where we toured the extraordinary UC San Diego public art collection, and
also visited Louis Kahn’s iconic Salk Institute.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg956AmvQmAsjtjO_kD9qtH5G1-uy94dnq5s04nKxSYc9prSF1w4bGNQl-zJkcpl-POWCg6zzdzBK0h5OeBVCr8W1gDsQA2yirhEKwR_m3sPfL-rgKB0uZrL2rxAIe-iZ3S-MW5cQsuZ5H0/s1600/Millwaukee_Museum_from_south-west.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1200" height="125" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg956AmvQmAsjtjO_kD9qtH5G1-uy94dnq5s04nKxSYc9prSF1w4bGNQl-zJkcpl-POWCg6zzdzBK0h5OeBVCr8W1gDsQA2yirhEKwR_m3sPfL-rgKB0uZrL2rxAIe-iZ3S-MW5cQsuZ5H0/s200/Millwaukee_Museum_from_south-west.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Milwaukee Art Museum</td></tr>
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I remember at the convention in Milwaukee being so impressed
with the extraordinary Calatrava architecture of the Milwaukee Art Museum (as
well as their excellent gift shop where I snagged my treasured Gee’s Bend
quilt-inspired tie). There have been great sessions on our evolving
understanding of the areas of “creative economy” and “creative placemaking.”
And I have seen the various <a href="http://convention.artsusa.org/preconferences" target="_blank">pre-cons</a> and their supporting Councils grow into
their own forces – especially the <a href="https://www.americansforthearts.org/by-program/networks-and-councils/emerging-leaders-network" target="_blank">Emerging Leaders Network</a>, which gives me such
hope for the future of our field.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In 2001 I was the co-chair of the host committee for the
Convention in New York City (with Nicolette Clarke, who was then executive
director of the New York State Council on the Arts). We struggled with the
challenge of how to ensure that all the Convention attendees fully experienced
the cultural assets of New York and got out into neighborhoods. We felt it
would be a huge loss to host the Convention and have the vast majority of our
attendees spend their time just at the convention hotel in midtown, yet we also
knew that visitors new to New York might feel uncomfortable travelling to
unfamiliar neighborhoods and navigating mass transit on their own. So, we
invented the <a href="http://convention.artsusa.org/artventures" target="_blank">ARTventures </a>– organized excursions with different themes that
extended the conference into communities all over the city. I love that this
has become an established and cherished part of the Convention to this day.
Also, in 2001 the Arts & Business Council, which had created the National
Arts Marketing Project with significant early support from American Express, mounted
the first <a href="https://namp.americansforthearts.org/get-smarter/conference" target="_blank">National Arts Marketing Project Conference</a>. With the conference
taking place in October of that year in San Francisco, right after 9/11, we
were expecting a very poor showing, and even considered cancelling the
conference. Instead we experienced a surge in registrations as arts leaders
from around the country sought out the opportunity to be with colleagues in
that difficult time, but also to learn how to communicate with the public about
the value of the arts in the face of tragedy. This reinforced for me the huge
value of convenings like the Convention and the NAMP conference<o:p></o:p></div>
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Then, in 2005, the Arts & Business Council began discussions
about partnering more deeply with Americans for the Arts. In the middle of
those discussions Americans for the Arts learned of the significant Ruth Lilly
gift, and the discussions shifted into a conversation about how we could
utilize that enhanced capacity to be more impactful at the national level in
fostering private sector support for the arts. Ultimately Americans for the
Arts and the Arts & Business Council Inc. merged, creating the new Private
Sector Affairs department, with the <a href="https://www.americansforthearts.org/by-program/networks-and-councils/arts-business-council-of-new-york" target="_blank">Arts & Business Council of New York</a>
being born (or re-born) as the New York City private sector chapter, operating
under the umbrella of Americans for the Arts. Thus, began my phase as part of
the Americans of the Arts staff, serving as the first Vice President for Private
Sector Affairs. Not long after, we also merged with Business Committee for the
Arts, creating the strong private sector programs and leadership that continues
to thrive. So, for the next few years I was not only attending the conference,
I was organizing the Private Sector programming that was a part of it, as well
as continuing to grow and strengthen the National Arts Marketing Project and
its conference, that had come under Americans for the Arts management as part
of the merger.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In 2008, the Convention came to Philadelphia, which
ironically happened to coincide with the election of Michael Nutter as Mayor,
who began recruiting me to serve as his Chief Cultural Officer and head the
City’s new Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy. It was actually at
the Convention in Philadelphia that I sat down with Bob Lynch and broke the
news that I would be leaving Americans for the Arts.<o:p></o:p></div>
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But of course, the connection did not end there, because as
head of Philly’s local arts agency, I was still a part of the Americans for the
Arts family, and ultimately served as a member of the Steering Committee for
the <a href="https://www.americansforthearts.org/by-program/networks-and-councils/united-states-urban-arts-federation" target="_blank">US Urban Arts Federation</a>. And again, the Convention became a valued part of
my learning and professional development every year – connecting with
colleagues, hearing great speakers and artists, visiting and learning about new
communities. Over the years I remember having the opportunity to hear such
inspiring artists and speakers as Anna Deavere Smith, Malcolm Gladwell,
Alejandro Escovedo, Sir Ken Robinson, Ben Cameron (to name just a few).<o:p></o:p></div>
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My career took another turn in 2013, that once again kept me
in the Americans for the Arts Convention “family.” I became President of the
<a href="http://bonfils-stanton.org/" target="_blank">Bonfils-Stanton Foundation</a> in Denver, Colorado, and in that role have become
one of the hosts and funders of the 2018 Americans for the Arts Convention here
in Denver. We are so excited to be hosting this conference, and know that the
content will be informative and inspirational, and that the City and its
cultural assets will enchant. I hope that my decades of experience being a part
of the Convention in so many different capacities has perhaps helped shape a convention
that will make the investment of your time and resources well worth it. </div>
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And
don’t forget, just like the importance of the “19<sup>th</sup> hole” in golf,
some of your most memorable experiences may take place NOT in organized
sessions, but in the bar at the end of the day, in random conversations in the
hallway, or in follow-up after the Convention with connections you made while
there. We also hope you will take away a deep and abiding love for Denver and
for Colorado, and will return to experience our culture, community, and
exquisite natural beauty.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Note: This post originally appeared on <a href="https://blog.americansforthearts.org/2018/06/11/reflections-on-over-20-years-of-americans-for-the-arts-conventions" target="_blank">ARTSBLOG</a>, the Americans for the Arts blog site.</div>
<br />Gary Steuerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06964208018966427968noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-984350200601488620.post-79747922678502686352017-07-17T15:54:00.000-06:002017-07-17T15:54:14.914-06:00The Foundation - a new spoken word film about the elemental power of the arts<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjKT0qEMyWlhYuVX2q5tg0dftBlh3_4VXabZSjfZo2vlnQB6xQTGAgGq4UT6LZJvlw2v-2oGV8tRcadumEkJnyx_Rt7rdnAG3BQy_qYYpMxWiREN0iTwFkkBCiix4z3jc2oHlm79OeeCiT/s1600/Jovan_4Website.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="388" data-original-width="580" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjKT0qEMyWlhYuVX2q5tg0dftBlh3_4VXabZSjfZo2vlnQB6xQTGAgGq4UT6LZJvlw2v-2oGV8tRcadumEkJnyx_Rt7rdnAG3BQy_qYYpMxWiREN0iTwFkkBCiix4z3jc2oHlm79OeeCiT/s400/Jovan_4Website.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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This spring was especially exciting for <a href="http://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/" target="_blank">Bonfils-Stanton Foundation</a>, between the announcement of our first ever “<a href="http://www.redlineart.org/arts-in-society/" target="_blank">Arts in Society</a>” grants, the Road to Results Forum we presented in partnership with the <a href="http://www.wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/building-audiences-for-the-arts/Pages/default.aspx" target="_blank">Wallace Foundation</a>, and our <a href="http://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/leadership/annual-awards-program/" target="_blank">32<sup style="box-sizing: border-box;">nd</sup> Annual Awards Celebration</a>.</div>
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Now that we’ve officially wrapped up the excitement surrounding the Awards Celebration, we can take some time to reflect on the event and all of the elements that made it special, from the inspiring honorees and tribute films, to a flash mob performance by <a href="https://centralcityopera.org/" target="_blank">Central City Opera</a> to pay tribute to our long-time chair Lanny Martin who was stepping down, to one particular moment at the event that had guests stunned – in a good way.</div>
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When planning the Celebration, we knew we wanted to include an artistic element into the program. After all, that’s one of our core goals as a Foundation – to provide funding for some of Colorado’s best arts and cultural organizations. Little did we know when planning the performances, that we would be struck with something so profound and beautiful that it’s hard to describe through this article.</div>
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We commissioned <a href="http://www.jovanmays.com/about.html" target="_blank">Jovan Mays</a> to create a spoken word piece to kick-off the programming for the Awards Luncheon in May. Now, we knew Jovan wouldn’t disappoint. He is, after all, a former Poet Laureate of Aurora, National Poetry Slam Champion and TED speaker and director of <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Your Writing Counts (</em>a youth poetry program throughout Denver that has 200,000 students annually). Jovan takes words and spins them into gold.</div>
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In talking with him about this commission, we had asked Jovan to reflect on the power of the arts in our community, building on the work the foundation had done last year to answer the question “Why Arts?” on our website. What he did was go much deeper than we had expected, through soaring word and metaphor conjuring the elemental, literally prehistoric human drive to create, to express, through language, paint, clay, dance, and voice.</div>
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Jovan’s spoken word piece was so well-received, Bonfils-Stanton Foundation wanted to capture it visually so we can share it with others in a way that did it justice – not just as written word but as a performance and visual work. We’re excited to present <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Foundation, </em>a short film created by <a href="http://www.sampike.co/" target="_blank">Sam Pike</a> Films around Jovan Mays’ artistic piece. We are “the foundation” but the arts are THE Foundation! We hope you enjoy this piece and feel free to share it…</div>
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Gary Steuerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06964208018966427968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-984350200601488620.post-648818391416629792017-04-25T15:28:00.001-06:002017-04-26T09:32:51.252-06:00My Life As a Shameless Lover of Museums: Toto Pulls Back the Curtain<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipHDvwg2tntWof6SwhjH7ob7bOoFXtlyVLGBBJS0TAb5rUW1FhrbBo-FCTCvt3h4xkIDgSLdkpj1oc1aKmVAKyhq8fhvxY2BMr4LyKk6iDvDTenkEo1F6nmfZYPAEIXuLOyt_4y4uQaZ5J/s1600/WizardofOz_toto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipHDvwg2tntWof6SwhjH7ob7bOoFXtlyVLGBBJS0TAb5rUW1FhrbBo-FCTCvt3h4xkIDgSLdkpj1oc1aKmVAKyhq8fhvxY2BMr4LyKk6iDvDTenkEo1F6nmfZYPAEIXuLOyt_4y4uQaZ5J/s320/WizardofOz_toto.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><i>I recently gave the keynote talk for the Colorado Wyoming Association of Museums annual conference in Boulder, CO. This is the text of my remarks (you will understand the picture after you read the piece):</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In thinking about what to speak to you about today, since you
are all experts in museums and I am more of an observer of museums, I decided
what might be most helpful is to share my personal reflections, based on my
experience and a lifetime of interacting with museums. There is probably
nothing I can tell you about the technical aspects of operating a museum,
dealing with curation, conservation and management that you don’t already know.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I grew up in New York City, in Manhattan, with parents who
while not working in the arts where stereotypical New York City culture
vultures. From a very young age I was being taken to museums – <a href="https://www.moma.org/" target="_blank">MoMA</a>, the <a href="http://www.metmuseum.org/" target="_blank">Met</a>,
<a href="http://www.amnh.org/" target="_blank">Museum of Natural History</a>, the <a href="http://whitney.org/" target="_blank">Whitney</a>, <a href="https://www.guggenheim.org/" target="_blank">Guggenheim</a>. I also grew up in an era
when even New York City public schools had regular art class for all students.
Museums for me became these places of magic, of mystery, and also in many ways,
an alternative playground.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">At a young age, perhaps about eight, I began taking art classes
at the Museum of Modern Art, which at that time had an art school as
part of their education program. This whet my appetite for art even more, as I
began actively making art, not just looking at it. A few years later, when I
was maybe about 11, my great aunt Selma took me on a visit to MoMA, when there
was a major retrospective of Diane Arbus – and this story has now become part
of my family lore. As we strolled through the show, my aunt became more and
more concerned because of the challenging nature of Arbus’s photographs. I,
however, seemed totally unperturbed until I looked at one photo, read the wall
signage, and then said “Aunt Selma, what’s a transvestite?” Neither of us
remember exactly what she answered, but it clearly caused considerable
consternation for my aunt as she struggled to find a way to talk to me about
transvestites. But isn’t that a great example of what is great about art? We
were enjoying an intergenerational bonding experience, and appreciating the art
of photography from an aesthetic perspective. But then we were also having a
serious, honest conversation about an important subject, gender identity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">When I was in middle school, I will admit I was not the most
diligent student and a group of us kids would sometimes skip school (I know – a
shocking admission!). Where did we go to hang out, especially if it was too
cold or rainy to go to the park? The Museum of Natural History, which was right
across the street. I spent many hours roaming the halls and exploring the
exhibits, and probably learned more than if I had been in class.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I later went on to attend LaGuardia High School for the Arts,
as an art major, so of course this deepened even more my immersion in art. I
remember we had a special January break program where we got to do special
projects outside of the school. One year I spent time experiencing the
conservation and storage side of the Met Museum. I also remember visiting Push Pin Studios,
the graphic design firm of Milton Glaser, a LaGuardia alum, giving me an
introduction to the commercial side of art.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">This was also the height of the anti-war movement, the Black
Panthers, the Puerto Rican independence movement, the Chicano movement, so we
were all steeped in both art and social action. I think this stayed with me as an
influence, and increasingly artists and arts organizations are working at the
intersection of art and social justice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In some ways, this deep career-driven immersion in art from a
very young age also ended up in some ways damaging me. What do I mean by that?
I felt that if I were to be an artist I must be a Michelangelo, a Picasso, a
Jackson Pollack. Just making art and seeing where it might go did not work. The
pressure I put on myself as an artist eventually became so great I could no
longer really make art, and I began to explore other art forms like theatre. I
also became more interested in politics. I spent a year abroad in England,
studying British literature, theatre and cinema, and of course also visiting
museums.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">But when I returned to the States and graduated college I
ended up working for a United States congressman, seemingly leaving the fine
arts for the political arts, though as the “arts guy” on staff I was given the
job or working on any arts-related issues. This included working on a project
that many years later became what is now The High Line. One day, the chief of
staff for the Congressman asked I would be interested in doing a side project.
A good friend of hers was directing the education department of MoMA, which was
presenting its first big blockbuster show, Van Gogh at Arles, and the education
staff was overwhelmed. So, I began moonlighting at MoMA, working to create
slide lectures to be used by teachers bringing in school groups. Remember slide
carousels? All of a sudden a light bulb went off – despite having grown up
around art as a consumer, and even as an art maker, I had never really thought
about the fact that museums were also businesses, that there were people
writing press releases, balancing budgets, creating education materials,
raising money. For me this was the “Toto pulling back the curtain and exposing
the Wizard of Oz” moment. This got me rethinking my decision to leave the arts
and I began exploring graduate arts administration programs. These programs may
be ubiquitous now, but back in the 70’s there were maybe half a dozen of them
in the country.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I ended up doing the Masters in Arts Administration Program
at NYU, and thus began my professional career in the arts. Don’t worry, I am
not going to recount my entire career in excruciating detail. But I am going to
try and touch on moments, stories that relate to my feelings about museums.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">After a few years and a few jobs largely in the theatre
world, I ended up with my first job in philanthropy, running the capital
funding program for the New York State Council on the Arts. This work proved
especially influential for me. It involved extensive travel for site visits
throughout New York State, including very rural communities, as well as
communities of color.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">This is when I got to know museums and cultural groups like
the <a href="https://www.theadkx.org/" target="_blank">Adirondack Museum (now the Adirondack Experience)</a> on Blue Mountain Lake, the <a href="http://www.hydecollection.org/" target="_blank">Hyde Collection</a> in Glens
Falls, the <a href="https://www.albrightknox.org/" target="_blank">Albright-Knox</a> in Buffalo, <a href="https://eastman.org/" target="_blank">Eastman Museum</a> in Rochester, the <a href="http://www.queensmuseum.org/" target="_blank">QueensMuseum</a>, the <a href="http://www.bronxmuseum.org/" target="_blank">Bronx Museum</a>, the <a href="http://www.cmog.org/" target="_blank">Corning Museum</a>, the <a href="http://www.fenimoreartmuseum.org/" target="_blank">Fenimore Museum</a>, and <a href="http://aliceausten.org/" target="_blank">AliceAusten House</a> on Staten Island.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I developed a much deeper appreciation of the riches
available in every corner of our country, and the outsized role that museums
and cultural center could play in the lives of rural communities, as well as
poor urban communities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I also developed a deeper understanding of the facilities
aspects of museums. Perhaps more than any other art form, museums are about
buildings, about this envelope, this receptacle, that must contain and protect
the art, but also must be comfortable and welcoming. I remember one particular
project very well, where a major regional art museum had been renovated with a
new climate control system. Years later they noticed that some of their
paintings in certain galleries had developed a filmy coating that required
cleaning. After it became clear this was not an isolated problem but systemic,
they tried to figure out what was causing it and were stumped. Finally, a
maintenance person figured out that the climate control vents had been
installed along the edges of the walls in certain galleries, with the return
registers along the floor directly below. So, air was being, in effect, washed
along the surfaces of the paintings 24/7, where even minor impurities were
building up deposits on the canvas.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">We also supported some very big projects, like the
restoration of the Guggenheim Museum. There I learned that on top of the many challenges
of the iconic Frank Lloyd Wright Building, like the outward slanting walls
along the rotunda, that they were also having major water infiltration
problems. This was not just due to the age of the building. The big problem was
that Wright had designed the exterior of the building to be pure poured
concrete, but after it was built someone had decided the building needed a
waterproof coating, and this coating over time had trapped water in the
concrete, which with freezing and thawing had opened up cracks in the concrete.
Our support helped strip the offending coating, repair the cracks and restore
the exterior closer to the way Wright had intended.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Later jobs helped me develop an even broader appreciation of
museums and their extraordinary civic value, and also the growing diversity of
types of museums – places like <a href="http://diaart.org/visit/visit/diabeacon-beacon-united-states" target="_blank">Dia Beacon</a>, <a href="http://massmoca.org/" target="_blank">Mass MoCA</a> and <a href="http://stormking.org/" target="_blank">Storm King</a> that were
entirely about large scale art, or temporary installations or outdoor sculpture
and earth art. And working at the national scale allowed me to go far beyond
New York and get to know museums like the <a href="https://mam.org/" target="_blank">Milwaukee Art Museum</a>, <a href="http://www.lacma.org/" target="_blank">LACMA</a>, the
<a href="http://pamm.org/" target="_blank">Perez Museum</a>, the <a href="http://www.gardnermuseum.org/home" target="_blank">Gardner Museum</a>, <a href="http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/" target="_blank">Seattle Art Museum</a>, <a href="https://www.sfmoma.org/" target="_blank">SF MoMA</a>, the <a href="http://www.wingluke.org/" target="_blank">Wing LukeMuseum</a>, <a href="http://www.artic.edu/" target="_blank">Art Institute of Chicago</a>, <a href="http://nationalmuseumofmexicanart.org/" target="_blank">National Museum of Mexican Art</a>, again just to
name a few. I have probably visited literally hundreds of museums, large and
small, rural and urban, art museums, science museums, children’s museums,
history museums and historic houses. I was trying to calculate how many states,
and I think I have visited museums in about 40 states. I became such a
connoisseur of museum gift shops that a few years ago I actually wrote a whole
series of blog posts about my favorite museum gift shops through the country,
and became a connoisseur of museum gift shop ties, one of which I am wearing
today. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">During five years in Philadelphia as Chief Cultural Officer
for the City, I served on the boards of the <a href="http://www.philamuseum.org/" target="_blank">Philadelphia Museum of Art</a> and the
<a href="https://www.pafa.org/" target="_blank">Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts</a>, so I developed a Trustee’s perspective as
well. Now I serve on the board of the <a href="https://clyffordstillmuseum.org/" target="_blank">Clyfford Still Museum</a> in Denver, which
our foundation played a major role in creating.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">While in Philadelphia the board of PMA grappled with a major
leadership change with the sudden passing of a long-time beloved director, as
well as a serious debate about the merits of a long-standing huge capital
project designed by Frank Gehry. Would the $500-750 million total to be raised
for the capital project be better spent on investment in programs and digital
technology? Was the focus on the building distracting from needed attention on
innovative programming? Were these goals mutually exclusive? There was a serious debate about this at the board
level. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">And the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the nation’s
oldest art school and oldest museum, historically devoted to classic figurative
art like Eakins and Cassatt, had to grapple with two big decisions – would they
begin teaching and exhibiting new art forms like digital art, conceptual and
performance art? And the acquisitions committee proposed the purchase of a
major work of video art (<a href="https://www.pafa.org/exhibitions/bill-viola-ocean-without-shore" target="_blank">Bill Viola's <i>Oceans Without a Shore</i></a>) – the first piece of video art ever to be acquired by
the museum (and a piece I happen to love). In the end, the board authorized the acquisition, but not without
considerable debate and concern. Here we had two major museums with deep
histories grappling with how to best serve the art and communities of today.
This change is not easy, and there are often Trustees who may resist change,
who see themselves as the keepers of a tradition, a legacy, who may not
understand or appreciate new art forms or new ways of connecting art to the
public.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Over the past fifty years or so we have seen an incredible
geographic democratization of art, with important museums and collections much
more uniformly distributed throughout the country. There is no such thing as a
flyover state from an art standpoint anymore. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">We have seen the growth of single collection museums – not a
new phenomenon of course. Institutions like the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
have been around for a long time – in their case since 1903. And in
Philadelphia we had the <a href="http://www.barnesfoundation.org/" target="_blank">Barnes Collection</a>.
But now we also have the <a href="http://www.nashersculpturecenter.org/" target="_blank">Nasher</a>, the <a href="http://www.thebroad.org/" target="_blank">Broad,</a> the <a href="http://brantfoundation.org/" target="_blank">Brant Collection</a>, and
here in Denver the <a href="https://www.anschutzcollection.org/" target="_blank">Anschutz Western Art collection</a>. I am not sure this is
necessarily a bad thing – as I said, it has always been with us. People who
amass large collections will sometimes want to donate it to existing museums,
but I can understand that sometimes they may feel they assembled work with a
cohesive collecting vision that would be lost if it was absorbed into an
existing museum, and if they have the money and ego to build a building and
properly fund staff and endow their own museum, why not. Personally, I really
enjoy getting insight into a collector’s personal, idiosyncratic vision of art.
Whether Barnes, or Gardner, or Broad, it is just a different kind of museum
experience.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Here are some of my museum memories – images or experiences
that have stayed with me…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<li><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%; text-indent: -0.25in;">The
extraordinary beautiful collection of classic Adirondack lake boats at the
Adirondack Museum</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%; text-indent: -0.25in;">The
beautiful setting and eclectic collection of the <a href="https://shelburnemuseum.org/" target="_blank">Shelburne Museum </a>in Vermont,
especially the folk art circus collection</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%; text-indent: -0.25in;">The
wings of the Santiago Calatrava designed Milwaukee Art Museum opening on a
beautiful sunlit morning, reflected in the water below.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%; text-indent: -0.25in;">The
Seattle Art Museum’s Olympic Sculpture Park, where you have no sense it
essentially extends on a bridge over a highway.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%; text-indent: -0.25in;">The
awe-inspiring Richard Serras at Dia Beacon</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%; text-indent: -0.25in;">The
Gees Bend Quilt exhibition at the Whitney</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%; text-indent: -0.25in;">The
Aboriginal Art Collection of the <a href="http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/collection-areas/?area=aboriginal+and+torres+strait+islander+art" target="_blank">National Gallery of Victoria</a> in Melbourne
Australia</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%; text-indent: -0.25in;">The
Asian Art collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, including the pillared
temple hall from India and the Japanese teahouse</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%; text-indent: -0.25in;">The
diorama cases at the American Museum of Natural History – as old-fashioned as
they may seem, I still love them – part of my childhood</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%; text-indent: -0.25in;">The
medical oddities of the <a href="http://muttermuseum.org/" target="_blank">Mutter Museum</a></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%; text-indent: -0.25in;">While
it is more about the architecture than the art, walking up the staircase at the
<a href="https://www.aspenartmuseum.org/" target="_blank">Aspen Art Museum</a> between the outer woven wall and the inner wall of the museum.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Watching
my toddler daughter fall in love with Nick Cave’s art at the <a href="http://denverartmuseum.org/exhibitions/nick-cave" target="_blank">Denver Art Museum</a></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Hanging
out on the roof of <a href="http://mcadenver.org/" target="_blank">MCA Denver</a> with Mark Mothersbough listening to a local band
play, and talking about art, music, and cities.</span></li>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I feel like museums have been a thread, a through-line for my
life, the imprinted memories functioning almost like invisible tattoos that I
carry with me. I am sure if I was younger, I would be covered with actual
tattoos! I wish that experience for everyone. And while I have had the
privilege of growing up in a family that nurtured my love art, and also have
the privilege of special access through my work, this is not an experience, a
way of life, that is reserved for the privileged. What do I see as the trends
in museums, from my vantage point as a funder, a policy person, an avid
consumer of museum content? What are the barriers to having museums for all
people as much a part of life as going to work, or going to the supermarket –
or to speak to the specific community we are in, as much a part of life as
skiing, hiking or mountain biking? Here is a list, in no particular order:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The cost barrier</span></b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> – While it is not just about the
money, we can’t ignore that money is a factor. When the Denver Museum and the
Children’s Museum of Denver eliminated price barriers for kids and families,
visitorship spiked. On SCFD “free” days, visitorship at the major museums
reflect the diversity of our communities, and they are so crowded that members
and other donors try to avoid those days. How do we ensure that every day is
like that? I know it is complicated, that having a cost can place a sense of
value on something, and that having admission also drives memberships, where
free admission is a key benefit. I don’t have an easy answer but I do think we
must continue to explore how we can eliminate cost as a barrier for those for
who cost IS a real factor.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The image barrier</span></b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> – Museums, especially art museums,
are perceived by people who did not grow up with exposure to them, as
intimidating, as scary – not something that could ever be a comfortable part of
their life. A blogger just wrote a piece called “<a href="https://gpmcleer.com/2017/04/18/ten-things-in-the-arts-that-should-die/" target="_blank">Ten things in the arts that shoulddie</a>” and one of them was hovering gallery guards who treat you as a criminal
and not so discretely follow you around the museum, like a security guard in a
department store who stalks you as a potential shoplifter. This is real, and I
have seen it happen, most recently when I was at MFA Houston. Here is a non-museum
example: I was attending a meeting at a country club with several other people.
Three of us happened to arrive independently but at the same time, all walking
from our cars to the front door simultaneously. One of the group was a woman
and the third an African American man, dressed, as I was, in a jacket and tie.
The guard at the front door walked straight up to this man and asked him why he
was there. Did not even attempt to question me or the woman. The moment the
guard saw that I and the woman knew this man he backed off, but it was a stark
reminder that people of color, no matter how successful, deal with these
“micro-aggressions” every day. So while this phenomenon is not always about
race, it can be. Museums must relentlessly impress upon their staff and
volunteers to always make visitors feel welcome.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Related
to my previous point, <b>everybody is part
of the customer service team</b> – my experience at a museum is immensely
enhanced by staff that seems happy, enthusiastic, knowledgeable – but not too
pushy. Many larger museums may outsource security, custodial or food service to
outside contractors. Even if in the short run this is cost-effective I think
this can be a huge challenge as you lose control of the customer service piece.
They are no longer part of your team, but part of someone else’s team.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">It’s OK to have kids in the galleries</span></b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> – abouth three years ago Judith Dobryzinski, an art critic
and blogger, <a href="https://www.artsjournal.com/realcleararts/2014/03/kids-and-museums-a-few-words.html" target="_blank">wrote a piece</a> about how too many art museums these
days were overrun with children, making it harder to enjoy quiet contemplation
of the art, specifically citing an experience at the Denver Art Museum - I pushed back a bit in a comment [<i>you can see the whole exchange in the link]</i>. My position is that while it can sometimes be distracting, and some
parents can do a better job of ensuring their kids don’t treat museum galleries
like playrooms, I will take those downsides ANY DAY. Please do not limit kids
and family programs to specialized education areas far away from the galleries.
I LOVE that the Denver Art Museum has family activity areas spread throughout
the museum, and their backpack program where young children can explore
sections of the museum with their accompanying adults through a sort of
activity treasure hunt. And I see the delight on the faces of most visitors
without kids when they see kids doing an activity in a gallery. We need MORE,
not LESS of this. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Get out of your building</span></b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> – Museums are by their nature
place-based, about buildings and real estate as well as art. And we spend so
much time trying to get “THEM” into our buildings. But one thing research has
repeatedly shown is that poor communities, communities of color, really want
cultural opportunities in their neighborhood. Figure out how you can get more
programs, even less fragile/valuable objects from your collections, out into
the community. Think about community satellite locations, or touring
exhibitions to community centers, schools, social clubs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Take Equity seriously and make it a
total organization commitment </span></b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">– This can be difficult work and can make many board and
staff uncomfortable. Someone commented recently about the growing presence of
“diversity, equity and inclusion” in arts conferences, that “this is not a
track,” meaning conference should not be creating equity tracks, where
attendees can choose whether or not to attend such sessions. It should be woven
into the fabric of the conference – keynotes, staffing, sessions NOT on equity
topics. I have often heard from the staff-people running diversity or community
outreach departments at museums that they feel marginalized. They may be the
only professional staff of color. They may feel a “box was checked” by hiring
them and creating such a program. Does the organization, from the Board, to the
President or Director, to curators and department heads, embrace this work. Are
these issues something you think about in hiring, in vendor selection, in
marketing and communications, in wayfinding and facility design? And related to
this, if to reach communities of color you partner with organizations from
those communities, truly partner with them and pay them for their time. Another
thing I hear often from smaller, culturally-specific arts organizations is that now
every major arts organization in town wants to partner with them on both
programming and marketing. However, there is little recognition of how much
these partnerships involve in terms of staff time, for organizations already stretched
thin with less access to resources.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Have Fun and Take Risks </span></b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">– Museums can be thought of as
stuffy, serious places. How to you blow up that stereotype? Adam Lerner at MCA
Denver has been a master at this, and in fact they just got a <a href="http://www.denverpost.com/2017/02/03/mca-denver-grant-museums-programs/" target="_blank">big grant fromMellon</a> to sort of share that secret sauce with museum staff from around the
country. Not to be flip, but “Be Like Adam.” I remember when I was in Philly
the Philadelphia Museum of Art did very traditional opening gala receptions for
all major exhibitions – business attire or black tie, cocktails and canapes,
maybe a chamber ensemble playing lovely classical music. The guests were
trustees and patrons. Average age of probably 75. But one year they decided to
give their first ever solo show to a local artist – photographer Zoe Strauss.
Zoe specialized in photographing the people of Philadelphia who the patrons of
the museum probably never see, as well as the people of poor, challenged
communities in places like Mississippi and Louisiana. To Director Timothy Rub’s
credit, he realized the traditional opening party would be wildly at odds with
the values and work of Zoe. So, he assembled a cross departmental team of the
20-somethings on staff, gave them the opening reception budget and said – throw
the kind of party you and your friends would want to go to. And they did.
Tickets were $10 and it was promoted entirely via social media, selling out
easily. Patron types and board members were basically told, if you don’t like
it, you don’t have to come. The people who came were almost entirely in their
20’s and 30’s, many of whom had never been to the museum before. The
entertainment began with one of the city’s top drumlines and dance teams from a
local largely-Black high school marching through the crowd and parting it like
the Red Sea, followed by a dance party DJ’d by Questlove of the Roots. It was
an amazing party, like nothing the museum had every done before, and opened it
up to a whole new audience.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Signage </span></b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">– I know a lot of curators don’t like
to distract you from the art with signage or labels that are too large. But
speaking as a fairly sophisticated museum-goer, I like signage that helps give
me more info and more context, and is large enough to easily read. Now imagine
the experience of someone less comfortable with the museum experience. I also
really appreciate signage that helps put work into historical or cultural
context. I think sometimes curators or exhibit designers take too much for
granted. Because something is obvious to them they forget it may be less
obvious to others. I think they also tend to shy away from what can be
difficult conversations. An anecdote here – a museum mounted an exhibit of
beautiful paintings of Southwestern scenes from the early 20<sup>th</sup>
Century featuring many paintings of local Indians. The artists were not
themselves native. While I very much enjoyed the work, I found it interesting
that there was no signage talking about the issue of cultural appropriation.
What did the Indians feel about being painted in this way? I happened to run
into the Director and asked what the Indian community
thought of this work, or the show, and was told “Oh, they hate it of course.”
Now I am not arguing that this means the show should not be done. But what if
there was an information panel in the exhibit that presented a contemporary
Indian point of view on this work? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Hours and Amenities </span></b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">– Be Starbucks. Now by that I don’t
just mean serve over-priced coffee – many of you probably do that already. What
I mean is take a cue from the famous Starbucks “third place” goal – being the
third place for people to hang out, after work and home. Have free WiFi in all
your public areas, have comfy sofas and chairs. And stay open later. Can’t tell
you how many times I rushed to get to a museum by 3:30 or 4 and then am hustled
out at 4:45 as the museum tries to clear the galleries by 5. I know there are
costs to this, but I am urging you to find a way to make it happen, and not
just on a first Friday once a month, or even every Thursday or Friday as some
museums do. Experiment, find out what works, and don’t forget to also let
people know you are doing it. And be patient – it takes time for people to
modify their default behavior. A non-museum example. When the Guthrie Theatre
in Minneapolis opened their new theatre a few years – a significant very cool
building that included a glass bottom cantilevered bridge over a river – they
designed it to welcome people all day and late into the evening, even on days
and times when there were no performances. The building had full free WiFi
throughout. It also had many seating areas. You did not have to have a ticket
to get into the building, only into a theatre space itself when there was a
show. They had one or two coffee stations that switched over into bars in the
evening. They had a full service restaurant that again was open regular
restaurant hours, not just ties to when there was a show. The Guthrie became a
hugely popular place in the city just to hang out, to meet people. Now I don’t
have stats on whether it led to a measurable increase in audiences, but I can
tell you being in that building just felt right, and when I did see a show the
audience looked more like the crowd hanging out in the lobby areas, sipping a
latte and working on their laptop. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Of course, many museums already do many if not all of these
things I am recommending, but many do not. And as I said at the outset, I speak
as a passionate layperson, as a consumer and supporter of museums, not as a
museum professional.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I believe deeply in the power of museums to educate and
enlighten us, to challenge us, to spark dialog and conversation, to connect
us with the sweep of human civilization and natural beauty this world has to
offer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">So, I close by saluting all of you, for what you do, day in
and day out, to make that magic happen, often toiling hidden behind that
curtain like the Wizard of Oz.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Gary Steuerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06964208018966427968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-984350200601488620.post-45911589748001398672017-01-11T11:47:00.000-07:002017-01-11T12:24:42.545-07:00Silence - sharing a beautiful post from Grant Oliphant of the Heinz Endowments<span style="font-family: inherit;">I have been silent on my blog for quite a while - a combination of the usual press of work and family obligations that can push writing to the back burner, and a sense of shock and impotence in the face of the political discourse of our times.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I am sure I will be back soon, sharing thoughts on the arts and creative enterprise, philanthropy and cultural policy, but for now I share this excerpt from a recent post by Grant Oliphant of the Heinz Endowments:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i></span>
<br />
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>There are truths that need to be spoken now, spoken out loud and unapologetically by people who know them to be true. Spoken with love, yes, but also fierce conviction—truths about the validity of science, the perils of climate change, the nature and price of injustice, the insanity of racism and all the other isms creeping out from beneath their ill-concealed rocks, the importance of civil and human rights and why they matter for all of us, how worsening poverty hurts everyone, the opportunities before us to create and innovate our way to a better future.</i></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>These are not partisan truths but rather human truths. They belong to no political party and can be declared off limits by no lawmaker or grandstanding commentator. And they are where we as a sector, foundations that presume to offer a vision for the future, must find our voice, in holding them out not as criticism but as the True North we still must point towards, the star we still see and hold steady in our gaze despite attempts to obscure it in tawdry distraction.</i></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I encourage you to read the entire post. <a href="http://www.heinz.org/Interior.aspx?id=480&post=39" target="_blank">Here </a>is the link.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Thank you, Grant, for breaking the Silence with your voice. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<br />Gary Steuerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06964208018966427968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-984350200601488620.post-80173780982788751292016-05-25T14:20:00.002-06:002016-05-25T14:20:52.243-06:00Some Thoughts on the Americans for the Arts Statement on Cultural Equity<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioeH01UrJoAlbzETFpi-0jFkWrgwQHSF4k5y9NUgESyO16Jr8KomDnwRlFQ7N8aIAVu2bU55_d_87elb-r6tCrc84RmdWV6XjqZ4b0JN3FB_0hV6NLyS5MyuPc2knqGKHnXVq7jU15gUmQ/s1600/AFTA+Cultural+Equity.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioeH01UrJoAlbzETFpi-0jFkWrgwQHSF4k5y9NUgESyO16Jr8KomDnwRlFQ7N8aIAVu2bU55_d_87elb-r6tCrc84RmdWV6XjqZ4b0JN3FB_0hV6NLyS5MyuPc2knqGKHnXVq7jU15gUmQ/s320/AFTA+Cultural+Equity.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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You would have to be living under a rock to not be thinking about equity these days, and all its related terms/concepts - structural racism, inclusiveness, privilege, etc. Just having the conversation can be a minefield, especially as someone who comes to the conversation from a position of privilege. Am I using the "right" language. Am I being aggressive/forceful enough in my approach? Am I being too aggressive? Will I offend someone by being too timid? Will I offend by being too threatening? If I verbally commit, then what will I actually do to make that verbiage actionable?<br />
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Those charged with looking at the "big picture" of the cultural life of our communities - service organizations, funders, local arts agencies - have a special imperative to think deeply about these issues and take action, both to examine their own operations for bias and inequity, and to foster these values in the field. Over the past few years Grantmakers in the Arts went through an extraordinarily thorough process of developing, approving and disseminating a <a href="http://www.giarts.org/racial-equity-arts-philanthropy-statement-purpose" target="_blank">Racial Equity in Arts Philanthropy Statement of Purpose</a>. This helped trigger really thoughtful conversations and change in the funding community. Every foundation is different, and many are driven by elements of legacy, history, family control that may limit - or accelerate - such dialogue and change. What the GIA document did was empower foundation staff to at least have the conversation, and have a "field approved" document to help guide that conversation. And most importantly, the document was backed by concrete action. All staff AND trustees were now required to complete the "Undoing Racism" training of the<a href="http://www.pisab.org/" target="_blank"> Peoples Institute for Survival and Beyond</a>. A study was undertaken of the entire operations of the organization through an equity lens, special convenings were held, and equity became a thread woven throughout GIA's signature annual conference. And to paraphrase Vu Le's recent <a href="http://nonprofitwithballs.com/2016/05/7-hopeful-trends-in-philanthropy/" target="_blank">Nonprofits With Balls post</a>, equity is not a "track."<br />
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So now Americans for the Arts has just released its "<a href="http://www.americansforthearts.org/about-americans-for-the-arts/statement-on-cultural-equity" target="_blank">Statement on Cultural Equity</a>." It is an important milestone and something that all who care about the arts should read. It was developed through a long process engaging board, staff and field leaders. Is it perfect? No. Has it been a long time coming - perhaps too long? Yes. BUT, as noted above, fear of not getting it perfect should not prevent taking action, and I applaud Americans for the Arts for taking this step - it is exactly what they need to be doing in leading our field. The Statement leads with: "To support a full creative life for all, Americans for the Arts commits to championing policies and practices of cultural equity that empower a just, inclusive and equitable nation."<br />
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It is my hope that this Statement will inspire others to dig in and make this work a priority, as the GIA statement did. Already, <a href="http://www.ideasxlab.com/cultural-equity/" target="_blank">IDEASxLab</a> in Louisville, Kentucky has adapted the Statement for their organization. And Americans of the Arts has already begun to make equity an authentic part of their annual convention and other programs. I think the challenge Americans for the Arts has is that it has a senior leadership team - CEO, COO and eleven VPs - that is entirely White. While there is ample diversity below that level, the fact remains that the face the organization presents to the world with its senior leadership team is not reflective of our society. Having been one of those White faces for a while, I understand the challenge. Virtually that entire senior team has grown up with the organization, many there for ten or even 20+ years, and they are extremely competent and experienced. There is considerable - though vague - language in the Statement about taking specific actions, internally and for the field. So I think for many observers, the proof will be in how the Statement is made actionable - will it shape budget priorities, staffing and board decisions, programming?<br />
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Americans for the Arts - again, to its credit - has encouraged a robust dialogue in the field around the release of their Statement, opening up their ArtsBlog to an array of other voices, including <a href="http://blog.americansforthearts.org/2016/05/24/a-beginning" target="_blank">this thoughtful post</a> by Roberto Bedoya, and <a href="http://blog.americansforthearts.org/2016/05/23/avoiding-the-cultural-equity-blob" target="_blank">this post</a> by Lindsay Tucker So. Other bloggers like Doug Borwick, who writes <a href="http://www.artsjournal.com/engage/2016/05/cultural-equity/" target="_blank">Engaging Matters</a>, have also written about the new Statement, again encouraged by AFTA. Clay Lord of Americans for the Arts has written a particularly thoughtful blog post on this effort, titled <a href="http://blog.americansforthearts.org/2016/05/23/the-humble-step" target="_blank">"The Humble Step."</a><br />
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I am very sensitive to the situation Americans for the Arts is in, having once been part of the senior leadership team there, and now running a private foundation with an excellent - but not diverse - small board and staff. We do not have term limits which makes achieving a more diverse board a special challenge that will take time and patience. And the staff - which I inherited and is excellent - has not had any turnover so no opportunity to diversify yet. But that does not mean that action is impossible. We were able to expand the board by two "community trustee" slots that are term limited to two years and are designed to add new voices to the board - artists, diversity, youth. Over the past year we added our first artist to the board. and our first trustee of color.<br />
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And we have taken many specific actions in our programs and funding. The theme of the annual retreat for our Livingston Fellowship Program - a high-level leadership program for nonprofit CEOs - last year was racial equity. It was a very powerful, uncomfortable and moving experience for all the participants - not perfect, and generated much raw emotion - but, again, the conversation started and has only deepened since. We brought in Donna Walker-Kuhne to engage in a series of focus groups with local cultural leaders on how to better serve the full diversity of our community, resulting in a very informative report and the formation of a cultural equity working group that has been meeting regularly to learn, share, and advance this agenda. And we have made equity an important component in our funding decisions, adding grantees or expanding grants to an array of culturally-specific and disability-focused organizations like Su Teatro, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, Phamaly theatre company and Museo de las Americas. We have also made review of accessibility and outreach and internal equity efforts a part of the review of our general operating and project support grantees. We have made a conscious decision that with our grantees we won't provide special funding for diversity initiatives - to echo Vu's point, we do not believe equity is something you only do if you get special funding to do it. It needs to part of the fabric of how you operate. (The exception is that we may fund special initiatives that benefit the larger community, rather than a single organization, like our work with Donna). These are just a few of the actions we have taken.<br />
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So I hope the field will not dismiss this Statement from Americans for the Arts because it is not as aggressive as they would like, or uses the word "ability" instead of "disability", or includes fewer specific action items than some would like. As Clay notes, let us all engage in this work with humility, with the knowledge that there is no perfect way to do it, that we are flawed, that many of us bring to the table our privilege, or our hurt and pain at living with bias every day. But fear of difficult conversations, fear of not saying (or writing) the right thing or using the right language, should not stop us from the conversation, the journey. To be honest, the future of the cultural sector, and of our society as a whole, depends on it. Inaction is not a viable option.<br />
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<br />Gary Steuerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06964208018966427968noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-984350200601488620.post-38140180992077455052016-01-11T15:35:00.000-07:002016-01-19T10:26:29.145-07:00Creative Placemaking in IsraelI recently spent several days in Israel engaged in an initiative to elevate the conversation around creative placemaking in the Negev region of Israel. For context, here is a map of the region:<br />
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The Negev region is about a 60-90 minute drive south of Tel Aviv. It has historically had a somewhat negative reputation, as a place you would not want to live in unless you had to. Back in the 50's many Russian immigrants were settled there after World War II. Later, it became the home of the Ethiopian Jewish population when they emigrated to Israel, and it is also home to many Bedouins. Coincidentally, the New York Times recently ran a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/10/world/middleeast/all-bedouin-tech-company-hints-at-shift-in-israel.html?_r=0" target="_blank">story</a> on the Bedouin population in the Negev and its economic challenges.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">LtoR - me, Jane Golden, Mayor of Netivot Yechiel Zohar</td></tr>
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The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia has a "sister city" relationship with the Negev city of Netivot. About three years ago, the Federation helped support a <a href="http://muralarts.org/about/press/philadelphia-arts-leaders-will-try-help-israeli-city-prosper" target="_blank">Creative Economy conference</a> in Netivot to raise awareness of the role the arts and artists could play in the economic vitality of the city, and I was asked to be the keynote speaker. Jane Golden of the Mural Arts program also participated as a speaker, and <a href="http://mobile.philly.com/beta?wss=/philly/opinion&id=309968611" target="_blank">Mural Arts later worked with the community on the creation of a mural on an iconic water tower at the entrance to the city</a>.<br />
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Two factors have since focused even more heightened attention on the Negev region. First, the population explosion through the country and the skyrocketing cost of both residential and commercial space in Tel Aviv have driven individuals and businesses to look to the relatively undeveloped and more affordable Negev region. In addition, the Ministry of Defense has started a process of moving all their centralized military operations (intelligence, training, technology, etc.) to the Negev region. They have had to face the fact that the senior military officers and their families who will need to relocate do not have a high opinion of the region and this is something that must be changed (both the actual livability of these communities and the perception). <a href="http://cityobservatory.org/lets-talk-about-neighborhood-stigma/" target="_blank">Here</a> is an interesting article on the importance of how a community is perceived.<br />
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So a coalition has formed - something they are calling the "Smart Partnership" between a group of seven local Jewish Federations from the Jewish Federations of North America (each of which has a relationship with a Negev community), the Negev Development Authority, and the Ministry of Defense. This coalition has embarked on a multi-faceted creative placemaking effort targeting the Negev region. A masters degree program in creative placemaking has been launched at Ben Gurion University of the Negev in their urban planning school. And a similar undergraduate training program has been created at Sapir College, a Negev college with very strong arts training programs. Guiding this work has been Boaz Israeli of the planning and strategy firm, <a href="http://www.praxis.co.il/index.htm" target="_blank">Praxis</a>. A good overview of this entire effort is available <a href="http://cp.mcafee.com/d/FZsS86Qm7SkrK6zBxMTsSyyCYyMOeshdEEFL8IcLnjdEEFL8IczD4PqaarOb33XUUShS9o54aMtAvgLiuMDm700jp2I7p7QbQDI9RxM04SDstJzhOU_R-hjd7ab29EVpWZOWrad-jvvp73HEZh5dqWqJSk-l3PWApmU6CQjr1K_9zAnSmhObz1KVI04jTo_ckVv2uX7Vyxs_i7DQNqFzUUzPzOoUsOr8lQkBie-v854hfBPrUVAs-r1vF6y3jh0oH50Qgltd44OuMaCy0JlIQgeNGGq8dd43Ipv10SOedNGSnkWyLzB7A" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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Another key component of this effort has been something they called the Creative Placemaking Master Class, which I was asked to lead. This was actually a series of talks to different audiences, as well as site visits and meetings designed to stimulate thinking around creative placemaking. My work began on December 26th, with a preparation meeting with many of the organizers of the program, followed by a personal meeting with Yossi Sharabi - who I had met on my last trip when he was Director, Culture, Society and Leisure Administration, Jerusalem Municipality (where he was doing really innovative work!) - who is now Director-General of the Ministry of Culture and Sport; also at the meeting was the new Director of Culture for the agency. The key goal of the meeting was to persuade the national cultural agency to join this partnership, and embrace the role of creative placemaking in the Negev, which they agreed to do.<br />
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On December 27th I met with a group of civic leaders in Netivot and toured the City, looking at an array of potential sites for creative placemaking. For example, the main "downtown" of the City is anchored by several municipal buildings with large plazas - all typical 70's era awful concrete dead space. How could these places be transformed both physically and through programming to become the beating heart of Netivot, bringing all the different communities together and presenting a different impression to those entering the city? The water tower with the mural is also located here. In addition, there is a staggering amount of new construction underway - in effect a literal doubling of the city, with new residential construction as well as schools, parks, roads and other infrastructure and a new rail connection of Tel Aviv and the north. How to make this brand new - frankly sterile - area vibrant and exciting? How to connect it to the rest of the city so Netivot does not become a "tale of two cities."<br />
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I also met with a class of middle school Orthodox Jewish girls who were working on a project to help creates some context for the mural. The mural, which engaged many in the community in the process - their faces were painted and then photographed - had inadvertently created some negative backlash. To satisfy Orthodox concerns about including recognizable faces/people in the mural, all the images were distorted and rearranged to create an abstract pattern. The citizens, however, were disappointed to not see their faces in the mural. The students are learning stop motion animation skills and making films that describe different aspects of the process in fun, engaging ways, Lively signage will then be installed in the plaza below the mural that will connect to an augmented reality app that will allow visitors to view the animated films projected onto the water tower. It was exciting to see these young girls who had never been exposed to the arts getting deeply engaged in both art making and connecting that art to a civic objective. They were inspiring...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chatting with Ben Gurion University President, <br />
Rivka Carmi</td></tr>
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The day ended with what they called the "main event" - a "top level" talk on creative placemaking at Ben Gurion University in Be'er Sheva. The audience consisted largely of Mayors and other municipal staff and planning types, and the talk was preceded by a reception. The President of Ben Gurion made welcoming remarks. And prior to the reception I was able to meet with some staff from the Merage Foundation in Israel, which is affiliated with the Merage Foundation in Denver. <a href="http://www.merage.org/israel/why-negev/" target="_blank">Merage Israel </a>is also focused on the Negev region but had not previously been engaged in this collaborative effort, so a fortuitous outcome of my involvement was being able to make this introduction. It was also announced at this event that the Jewish Federations of North America would be launching a <a href="https://jewishfederations.org/fedworld/federations-negev-vitality-initiative-now-accepting-applications" target="_blank">Negev Creative Vitality Initiative Challenge</a>, modeled on the Bloomberg Challenge, to fund some specific creative placemaking initiatives.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Carrying the flag for ArtPlace America!</td></tr>
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The goal was to give a succinct overview of what this thing "creative placemaking" is, how it evolved, as well as an overview of how it has been implemented as a concept in America. So of course, I covered the work of the National Endowment for the Arts program <a href="https://www.arts.gov/grants-organizations/our-town/introduction" target="_blank">Our Town</a> as well as <a href="http://www.artplaceamerica.org/" target="_blank">ArtPlace America</a>. Then a good half or more of the presentation was dedicated to providing a wide array of examples of creative planning in action - urban and rural, facility driven and programming driven, etc.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWsC3YPvCFffLe7Wthsqh6zkdGyQBCqdYyr67yCl3FUFa1SooGgTNEE4eIdH4kWHCosz9-U8BOYKmRoimrQi_BTln1KKRorBJEfGhtagCDy5i466sDNoaxe30iSrfKCf4gBn7SiSKF8T_p/s1600/L-247.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWsC3YPvCFffLe7Wthsqh6zkdGyQBCqdYyr67yCl3FUFa1SooGgTNEE4eIdH4kWHCosz9-U8BOYKmRoimrQi_BTln1KKRorBJEfGhtagCDy5i466sDNoaxe30iSrfKCf4gBn7SiSKF8T_p/s200/L-247.jpg" width="133" /></a>I also covered the challenges of creative placemaking - issues of measurement and outcomes, the danger of being an agent of gentrification, needing to respect and value the local culture and community. The hostility shown by some artists and arts organization towards the role they might play in community transformation, feeling that it somehow diminishes their artistic purity.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Later in my trip I was able to visit the Fringe Theatre</td></tr>
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The next day began with a much longer version of the same presentation at a different Ben Gurion University site, this time to an audience largely of students and professors (from both Ben Gurion and Sapir College), as well as artists, creative entrepreneurs and arts organization leaders. In addition to my talk, three local case studies were presented, including the <a href="http://www.fringeb7.co.il/" target="_blank">Fringe Theatre of Be'er Sheva</a>, the <a href="http://daromadom.habsor.co.il/" target="_blank">Red South Festival</a> - a festival built around the local Anemone blossoms, and <a href="http://muslala.org/en/" target="_blank">Muslala</a>, a really interesting Jerusalem organization that has used the arts to bring together the Jewish and Muslim populations in Jerusalem. I was asked to respond to and critique each of the case studies.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Speaking to funders in Tel Aviv</td></tr>
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Later that day we returned to Tel Aviv, where I spoke to a group of the heads of several of Israel's leading foundations. This was another variation of the basic creative placemaking talk, this time tailored to the interests of funders. What is their role? What are their questions? An interesting side note: One of the participants heads the <a href="http://www.prattfoundation-israel.co.il/?tribute/eng" target="_blank">Pratt Foundation in Israel</a>, created by the late Richard Pratt and his wife Jeanne. Richard was the Chairman and CEO of Visy Industries in Australia. Years ago, when I was President of the Arts & Business Council, I had the opportunity to attend a conference in Australia and meet Richard Pratt and his wife, and have dinner in his home - he was the Chairman of the Australian Business Council on the Arts. Pratt, who was Jewish, had also established a foundation in Israel. He was truly a wonderful man and great lover of the arts and it was nice to reconnect with his legacy.<br />
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The next stay consisted of doing site visits to Ofaqim and Be'er Sheva, to tour the cities with their civic leadership and look at both creative placemaking successes, as well as challenges and opportunities. In Ofaqim I visited an arts center that had been created in an unusual concrete dome structure. The dome had been recently transformed into a mural generated and painted by young people from the community under the supervision of a local artist. We also visited an interesting overgrown stream and pathway that had previously been a sewage ditch (sewage since redirected into underground pipes). This "artery" connects two important areas of the city and plans are afoot to make it their "High Line" <br />
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using landscaping, art and design to turn it from an eyesore into a major spine of the City. At one end of this path is a HUGE abandoned textile factory that used to employ many in the community. We also discussed the potential of this building becoming their MassMoca - a great model because they would like to integrate arts activity as well as commercial creative businesses.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Talking creative placemaking to the tech folks...</td></tr>
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We finished the day at Be-er Sheva where I made yet another formal presentation to a group of technology and creative entrepreneurs located in a newly opened tech center, and visited the <a href="http://www.attractions-in-israel.com/negev/negev-historical-sites/abraham%E2%80%99s-well-in-be%E2%80%99er-sheva-%E2%80%93-ancient-well-and-information-center-in-beersheba/" target="_blank">Abraham's Well</a> visitor center (yes, that Abraham from the Bible, and this is - presumably - his actual well) for a presentation on the arts, tourism and creative placemaking efforts underway in the City. We visited the Old City, which they are working to cultivate as a vibrant community for residents and visitors, and as part of that tour also visited the Fringe Theatre, which had presented a case study the day before.<br />
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And that completed my Creative Placemaking Master Class work in the Negev - an exhausting - but very rewarding - few days. Got to meet so many dedicated, passionate and interesting people. I was particularly struck by the uniqueness and exciting opportunities of having a nation's defense department embracing the value of creative placemaking. I was also struck by the potential of creative placemaking to play an important role in bringing together different communities that can be more fractious and divided by race and religion than even we are in America. The pace of development and change taking place in the Negev region is unlike anything I have ever seen before and I look forward to following what flows from this work I was a part of.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yes, that is Abraham's Well in the foreground!</td></tr>
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I did have my family with me for the trip and we were able to spend some time beforehand and afterwards enjoying our time together without work (of course, Sophie and Esme had all the time while I was working to explore Tel Aviv). We visited Jerusalem, Old Jaffa and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesarea" target="_blank">Caesarea</a> (a site with incredible history on the coast of Israel north of Tel Aviv), and we connected with some long-lost Israeli relatives I discovered on my last trip - long story, the telling of which would make this already lengthy blog post ridiculously long!<br />
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A copy of my full "Creative Placemaking: What Is It" Why Does It Matter " presentation can be found <a href="http://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Creative-Placemaking-Presentation-Israel-Dec-2015.pdf" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNH__BAB7ofuhDCycTNVnX72wiQpyVvoYaNrZ-SGN9geKCoeASl6jvQRluBYsvIPicaC_mU05qnMEFhC-CmGhxOSTZ3EXA76yn6GSJnU2NzOd46je4NcwEqEdONC8JSimd3bQ7C9S4TqIf/s1600/Esme+in+Caesaria.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNH__BAB7ofuhDCycTNVnX72wiQpyVvoYaNrZ-SGN9geKCoeASl6jvQRluBYsvIPicaC_mU05qnMEFhC-CmGhxOSTZ3EXA76yn6GSJnU2NzOd46je4NcwEqEdONC8JSimd3bQ7C9S4TqIf/s400/Esme+in+Caesaria.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Esme "performing" at the Caesarea Roman Coliseum </td></tr>
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<br />Gary Steuerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06964208018966427968noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-984350200601488620.post-16270482778119714762015-07-17T16:03:00.001-06:002015-07-17T16:03:43.829-06:00The SECOND Most Important Relationship in a Nonprofit<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Note: This blog post was originally published in the July/August, 2015 issue of Nonprofit Colorado, a publication of the <a href="http://www.coloradononprofits.org/help-desk-resources/research-publications/newsletter/" target="_blank">Colorado Nonprofit Association</a>. </i></div>
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I think we all might agree that the most important relationship in the success of a nonprofit organization is that between staff leadership and board leadership: the president or executive director and the chair. Executive directors MUST prioritize this relationship, and realize that its success – or lack thereof, can effectively trump almost everything else they do. Can an ED on their own effectively recruit high-level board prospects? Can they make peer-to-peer asks of major donors? Can they align trustees to support the most effective strategic direction of the organization? Can they effectively motivate and inspire trustees to perform at the highest level as trustees, and to gently but firmly move them off the board when they are not contributing? I would answer to all these questions almost invariably, no – these functions require leadership from the chair, to be done to their maximum effectiveness. Therefore an effective CEO must devote considerable effort to ensuring the right person is in the chair role, and that they develop and maintain a strong, honest working relationship with the chair. There also must always be strategic focus by both on the chair succession plan.</div>
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That said, I believe that in most cases the second most important relationship is between the CEO and their director of development <i>(or VP of development, VP of advancement – whatever title is in use – for this article we will use director of development as a generic term for all)</i>. This may seem self-evident, but in my experience it is relationship that is not given enough attention. Recently I spoke to a group of current and past participants in the <a href="https://ildcolorado.wildapricot.org/" target="_blank">Institute for Leaders in Development</a> and was asked “what more could be done to strengthen the fundraising sector and help retain quality directors of development in the field?” The original motivation behind the ILD program was to professionalize the development sector in Colorado, and to create a peer learning and mentorship network that would address the challenge of low morale and high turnover in the profession. My answer was “train EDs on how to be strong partners to their development leaders and staff.” All the training in the world of development professionals will have minimal impact if they are not working with CEOs who understand their role and can honestly communicate about development.</div>
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So what are the issues that tend to get in the way of a successful working relationship?</div>
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<b>Unrealistic expectations</b> – this can be a special challenge for a new development director. There can be an expectation that they arrive like a fairy godmother, and can wave their magic wand and make contributions materialize. Of course, there is a reason the profession is called “development” – relationships must be cultivated over time. Even the most seasoned and accomplished professional will not be able to quickly turn a $1,000 donor into a $100,000 donor overnight, or turn someone totally new to the organization into a major donor. Related to this is the assumption that a top development professional is like a salesman with their “book” of customers who can just bring donors from their previous job to their new one. Of course, they will have donor relationships, but that does not necessarily mean that a donor they worked closely with at a museum is going to have any interest in early childhood education. A CEO must be patient, must understand development is a process and a system, and have the skill and experience to be able to know if their development director is implementing the right strategies and building the right relationships. They also must sometimes help “translate” that understanding to the Board and help the development director educate the board about their role in the process.</div>
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<b>Too much emphasis on “credit” for gifts</b> – It can be extremely undermining when a CEO fosters a culture that over-emphasizes who gets credited for a gift. I understand metrics are needed and people need to have goals, but effective development is a team effort. It works best when everyone’s goal is resource development in support of the mission. When a development director works hard to cultivate a prospect and set them up for an “ask” by the CEO (or board member), and then is told that since the CEO closed the deal, or the prospect was already on the prospect list, that they will get no credit for the success of the gift, this is demoralizing and deflating, especially so if it happens repeatedly. The ideal CEO eagerly shares credit, realizing a successful team ultimately reflects on them as well. The successful development director applies this same approach within their team – a major gift that is “triggered” by an event should be considered a result of a team effort that put on an inspiring event, and that perhaps cultivated that donor years, making them ready to act on a major gift.</div>
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<b>Insulating the development director from the board</b> – sometimes there is a fear that the development director will not work well with the board or might somehow threaten or overshadow the CEO. To be effective, a development head MUST work closely with the board. If they can’t do it, or can’t be trusted to do it, then they should not be in their role. A CEO should be thrilled to have a development director who can work with the board, not just the development committee, but all trustees. Trustees are a critical component of successful resource development and the development lead must build strong working relationships with as many trustees as possible to be successful.</div>
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<b>Not including the development director in Nominating Committee/board recruitment efforts </b>- This is especially true as a board transitions from a working board to a board focused on higher level strategy and resource development - the development director must be involved in board prospect evaluation. Will a prospect fill a development gap in the board? Will they really be able to deliver what they are perhaps promising? Not that their opinion should drive decisions, but it should inform them. A CEO – and board – should welcome the input provided to the process by a development director.</div>
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How many directors of development have been demoralized – sometimes to the point of leaving the field, or engaging in frequent turnover – by the challenge of working with CEOs who undervalue them, don’t understand the complexity and nuance of the development function, take credit for their accomplishments, don’t provide the necessary support or staffing? Having been one of those CEO’s for a good part of my career, these lessons are personal and were learned the hard way by me. Hopefully I have not been one of the worst offenders in this area.</div>
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I am also a big believer in unifying development, marketing, communications and PR within a single department. In today’s world all these functions are so interrelated it is much more efficient and effective to have them combined. It also improves the development/CEO relationship because development is no longer “competing” for CEO attention focus and budget with these other functions, as they are now integrated. This results in a single senior-level staff relationship around resource development (earned and contributed) as well as communications. Of course, universities and health care have for many years had External Relations departments, but this structure is becoming increasingly more common in other nonprofit sectors, I think for good reason.</div>
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Another aspect of the CEO/director of development relationship is the tendency for CEOs to sometimes give lots of leeway to a development professional who “brings in the $” even if they are a poor colleague and/or supervisor. This can be damaging as fundraising is a team effort, and even though someone may be a top performer by the narrow standards of, let’s say, shepherding a major seven figure gift, if they are also creating poor morale in the development team, leading to high turnover and perhaps even alienating other donors, their value may in fact be more than offset by their damage.</div>
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The same can be true, of course, of a trustee. Years ago I had to deal with a situation where the largest individual donor to the organization, a trustee and vice chair of the board, was also highly polarizing, alienating other donors, fostering conflict and tension among trustees, and terrorizing staff. She demanded the firing of the development director, after what she deemed to be insubordination – it was true, the development director lost their temper at her, though only after being provoked. This was a demand I ultimately gave in to because I did believe the development director’s lack of self-control was a serious concern, and the resulting ongoing battle with a senior trustee would have made her ineffective in her role. Ultimately, this donor/trustee was moved off the board, a very messy and costly loss, but in the long run it was best for the health of the organization.</div>
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So as we celebrate the success of Institute for Leaders in Development, and we as a field look at how we cultivate development leaders, let us think about how we also cultivate nonprofit CEOs who can be strong, knowledgeable, respectful partners with their development leaders. The field, and the people and communities we serve, will be the beneficiaries.</div>
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Gary Steuerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06964208018966427968noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-984350200601488620.post-62442619195744728512015-06-18T10:27:00.000-06:002015-06-18T10:27:31.938-06:00Lessons in Leadership from Reynold Levy, via Tim McClimon<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOIbzA03NV8iaffJ6is7crI7Y5QHcXAqvxhQIfVp1F9tvUhY2X-bdBfDd4refPElUDisJqG5JHwrYtcCUCqOdJjFNshhusZ5ZYj9N2hOv4bGJKgb9LFAkAHSB0PlReQ-qdcmtAwf6foAWO/s1600/Levy+book+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOIbzA03NV8iaffJ6is7crI7Y5QHcXAqvxhQIfVp1F9tvUhY2X-bdBfDd4refPElUDisJqG5JHwrYtcCUCqOdJjFNshhusZ5ZYj9N2hOv4bGJKgb9LFAkAHSB0PlReQ-qdcmtAwf6foAWO/s320/Levy+book+cover.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
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In his blog (<i><a href="http://about.americanexpress.com/csr/csrnow/csrn166.aspx" target="_blank">CSR Now!</a></i>,
highly recommended) Tim McClimon, President of the American Express Foundation,
recently devoted a couple of entries to re-capping an interview he did with
Reynold Levy, whose book <b>They Told Me Not to Take That Job: Tumult,
Betrayal, Heroics, and the Transformation of Lincoln Center</b>, recently came out. Tim worked at the
AT&T Foundation during the time that Levy was president there, before
assuming the presidency of Lincoln Center.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Tim recaps some of
the 25 leadership lessons that Levy lays out in his book. I thought it would be
valuable, given the <a href="http://bonfils-stanton.org/leadership" target="_blank">commitment of the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation to leadership</a>
(a focus we have in common with the <a href="http://about.americanexpress.com/csr/leadership.aspx" target="_blank">American Express Foundation</a>), to share some
of these by excerpting from Tim’s blog. If you want more visit Tim’s blog, or
better yet, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/They-Told-Take-that-Transformation/dp/1610393619/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1434576297&sr=8-1&keywords=reynold+levy&pebp=1434576299565&perid=00JABYS9JMF8B559VRY5" target="_blank">buy and read Levy’s book</a>!<o:p></o:p></div>
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I think his advice
resonates – perhaps because it mostly mirrors what I have learned in my career. (It's always gratifying, I suppose, to have some of our perspectives externally reinforced.) Ren was not always the easiest person to work with or for (as I think he would readily admit), but he was highly
respected, and highly successful, and therefore is worth listening to and
learning from. What follows is from Tim's blog, with his permission, excerpted and slightly adapted.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>* * *</b></div>
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He begins his chapter on leadership lessons with this one: <b>The
Art of Employee Recruitment and Retention</b> -- generally regarded
as one of the most important responsibilities of any CEO, but one that is
sometimes disregarded in the nonprofit sector. "I am always on the prowl,
seeking energetic, intelligent, curious, and ambitious new employees who wish
to achieve extraordinary results," states Levy. "I look for both solo
actors and team players, recruits brimming with the confidence to go it alone
if necessary and able to work with others productively, whenever
desirable." But, his confidence comes with a price: quoting David
Rubenstein, he observes that he has "never encountered an outstanding
performer in his professional life who worked from nine to five."<br />
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On the other hand, another lesson is <b>Seek Work-Life Balance</b>. While
recognizing the need to achieve a balance across all aspects of one's life,
Levy suggests that leaders should think of their lives in phases that "may
require you to defer gratification and to sacrifice, at work and at home."
In fact, he suggests that "to aspire at any given time for complete
harmony between meeting the unpredictable challenges of the workplace and
satisfying the often surprising needs of your children, your parents, your
spouse and your friends is an open invitation to frustration."<br />
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That being said, one of the more important leadership lessons that Levy
discusses is <b>Make it Easier for Others to Help</b>.
From personal experience, I can say that he was, and is, a master of that. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Stay Focused, Avoid Distractions</b>. "Intense focus leads to
outstanding performance. Superior programming. Balanced and surplus budgets.
Audience enthusiasm. And, a positive reception among trustees, donors and
critics," states Levy. "Not being aware of all kinds of practical
stuff, like the date of Mom's birthday or the capacity of the gas tank of my
car, leaves me the space to keep on top of what I need to know at work, as undistracted
as possible." So, in other words, don't sweat the small stuff. Leave the
details to others. Don't lose the forest for the trees.<br />
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<b>Ask Thoughtful Questions, Listen Intently</b>. "How often have you been
involved in a conversation in which those participating talk completely past
one another, and pauses are not just intervals for absorbing what was said, but
simply a waiting period before offering one's own point of view, uninfluenced
by other participants," asks Levy. "A key to successful leadership is
learning from those closest to problems and challenges." Active listening
and engaged questions. This is an important skill for leaders to master, and
employees will feel more energized and motivated if leaders are asking them
questions rather than simply making statements.<br />
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<b>Self Discipline</b>. When I practiced law with former NYC Mayor John
Lindsay, he would often tell young associates that one of the most important
things we could do as attorneys was answering our phone messages the same day.
Echoing that advice, Levy writes: "The respect people accord to those who
work hard never ceases to amaze me. Return phone calls, e-mails, and paper
correspondence on the day they are received. Be available, as needed, to your
fellow employees, trustees, sources of funding, and key influentials. Exhibit
energy. Exude optimism." This kind of best practice takes incredible self
discipline and intense focus. But, the pay-off can be tremendous - both for
organizations and for leaders.<br />
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<b>Pick Up the Pace</b>. "I have committed many more errors through
inaction or delay than through timely or even premature conduct," asserts
Levy. "Mistakes by omission, not commission. Mishaps by neglect, not
abuse." I often recommend a similar approach that can be summed up as
"Ready, aim, fire, aim, aim" rather than "Ready, aim, aim, aim,
fire." I've had to learn that getting things roughly right is often more
important than getting them perfect, despite the fact that I'm somewhat of a
perfectionist. In our fast-paced work world, the hare beats the turtle almost
every time. Finding the right balance between being quick to market and having
a perfect product is critical for many leaders today.<br />
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<b>Heavy Lies the Head</b>. It's often said that being at the top of any
organization or enterprise can be a lonely position. It's hard to know whether
the advice you are receiving from employees is really accurate and not
sugar-coated. And, motivating people through reward and recognition can
sometimes be harder and more time-consuming than simply telling someone what to
do. But, sharing in the success of others, and offering credit where credit is
due go along ways toward decreasing the isolation. Levy concludes his chapter
on leadership lessons learned with this statement: <o:p></o:p></div>
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal">Running
a nonprofit is never to be confused with running for office. It is not a
popularity contest. There will be occasions when tough choices are
necessary. They will not always be well received. The true leader should
aim neither to be feared, nor to be loved, but to be respected.<o:p></o:p></li>
</ul>
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Gary Steuerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06964208018966427968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-984350200601488620.post-39652391432818907062015-06-04T17:05:00.000-06:002015-06-04T17:05:31.910-06:00Private Foundations and Communications<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbwNFPY3eTwYiTc29O2BuLUJrrQZxNB2gzg6550_pcXg9l5HysUuBrePrs_rmn3n3mtFvctVrUthUHm7Eqr5JJmXOhhTxCj2Fu0tMMjNOrVDHF-sNRvgXiVAQUuKRSM-VXTHU2rNmBtVXM/s1600/BSF_whiteboxlogo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="128" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbwNFPY3eTwYiTc29O2BuLUJrrQZxNB2gzg6550_pcXg9l5HysUuBrePrs_rmn3n3mtFvctVrUthUHm7Eqr5JJmXOhhTxCj2Fu0tMMjNOrVDHF-sNRvgXiVAQUuKRSM-VXTHU2rNmBtVXM/s200/BSF_whiteboxlogo.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
Recently the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation completed a comprehensive assessment of our programs and operations, and one of the key findings was that we had not adequately told the story - or stories - of our good work and the work of our grantees. The need for more robust and effective communications was made more acute by the relatively recent decision to focus our grantmaking on arts and culture, and nonprofit leadership.<br />
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We began working with <a href="http://launchadvertising.com/" target="_blank">Launch Advertising</a> - which had done similar work for the <a href="http://www.denverfoundation.org/" target="_blank">Denver Foundation</a> - to assess our existing communications assets, strengths and weaknesses. This led to several months of deep work clarifying to whom we wanted to communicate with, to what end, with what messages, and how.<br />
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We have developed a <a href="http://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/" target="_blank">new web site</a>, a refreshed logo, and will be rolling out an e-newsletter, and more aggressive use of social media. (Interestingly, after lots of experimentation, our new logo is exactly the same as the old logo - same typeface, but with a different color palette, and dropping the wreath image.)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2YzvmzPnRpzqGIXYZFZyJHCIzB7KZ66xm3waBW8ES-lMwrhe88SKCuow5khaNvvmmrjMJqg6THCdVsq1gEj0-y_vNu9Pf_1yqp5hLpGvXurmUDtgsrcYYfMC_2p8tW1sFTiz_wBzOXLl5/s1600/old+logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2YzvmzPnRpzqGIXYZFZyJHCIzB7KZ66xm3waBW8ES-lMwrhe88SKCuow5khaNvvmmrjMJqg6THCdVsq1gEj0-y_vNu9Pf_1yqp5hLpGvXurmUDtgsrcYYfMC_2p8tW1sFTiz_wBzOXLl5/s200/old+logo.png" width="141" /></a></div>
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And with all of this deep thinking on our own communications needs, it got me exploring the very concept of why a private foundation should even be thinking about this stuff, and devoting any but minimal resources to it. Certainly this was the model of the past - a foundation often did not have a web site, even in the era when websites were common. We don't have to raise money, we don't have to "sell" anything, so why think about communication? I remember years ago when serving on a communications committee for <a href="https://www.independentsector.org/" target="_blank">Independent Sector</a> it was a major topic of discussion that foundations were not communicating what they did, and that made the public - and Congress - uninformed of their work and value. At one of those meetings the <a href="http://www.fordfoundation.org/" target="_blank">Ford Foundation</a> presented their then-new web site, and it was a transformative shift. The site was no longer about how to get a grant, or who got a grant (though that information was still there), but about the issues Ford cared about, and how programs and organizations (supported by Ford) were making a difference in communities.<br />
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A recent series of articles in the <a href="http://www.ssireview.org/" target="_blank">Stanford Social Innovation Review</a>, (in partnership with the <a href="http://www.comnetwork.org/" target="_blank">Communications Network</a>) called <a href="http://www.comnetwork.org/2015/01/making-ideas-move/" target="_blank">"Making Ideas Move"</a> is a tremendous resource on this topic. Yes, private foundations do not raise money, and don't need to "put butts in the seats," but we do care about issues that are core to our mission, and we can be storytellers. Embedded in our grantmaking are remarkable stories of people and organizations making a difference in the world, and we should be communicating those stories - to other funders, civic leaders, the nonprofit sector, and maybe even the general public. This can significantly amplify the power of our grantmaking. As the Communications Network puts it: "the power and potential of strategic communications to improve lives and spark change."<br />
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We are not alone in this shift in thinking. As we look at examples nationally, foundations like <a href="https://www.irvine.org/" target="_blank">Irvine</a>, <a href="http://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/" target="_blank">Rockefeller</a>, <a href="http://www.knightfoundation.org/" target="_blank">Knight</a>, and <a href="http://www.bloomberg.org/" target="_blank">Bloomberg</a>, have web sites that go far beyond the traditional basic grantmaking information. Locally, Colorado foundations like <a href="http://gillfoundation.org/" target="_blank">Gill</a>, <a href="http://www.coloradohealth.org/" target="_blank">Colorado Health</a>, and <a href="http://www.piton.org/piton-foundation" target="_blank">Piton</a> use their sites to address issues they care about, tell compelling stories of their grantees, and transparently share what they are learning. (I am excluding Community Foundations from this discussion, as they must solicit and communicate with individual patrons, and therefore their communications have always been somewhat more sophisticated.)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilvk4wdoSOOf6fQekPgIgZNJvIW9mDEwid1WesfFpkEjvWms0dh4hnSrfrHnt7XFVvlKMouU7LByoVzVUVicRGDzRGisES_9aLWBaxT8zAukB0SXGayUVGgUjChNHsCJefJgT466S7F-79/s1600/All+staff+photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilvk4wdoSOOf6fQekPgIgZNJvIW9mDEwid1WesfFpkEjvWms0dh4hnSrfrHnt7XFVvlKMouU7LByoVzVUVicRGDzRGisES_9aLWBaxT8zAukB0SXGayUVGgUjChNHsCJefJgT466S7F-79/s320/All+staff+photo.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">BSF Staff, L-R, Gary Steuer, Monique Loseke, Ann Hovland, Gina Ferrari</td></tr>
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More attention to communication can also humanize and make more transparent the work of the foundation and improve relationships with grantees, which also improves the effectiveness of what we do. Our previous site, for example, had no bio information or images of staff.<br />
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This is clearly is a topic of growing interest as I was recently asked to facilitate a conversation on the topic among Colorado Foundation CEOs for the <a href="http://coloradofunders.org/" target="_blank">Colorado Association of Funders</a> (CAF), as well as a similar conversation for the <a href="http://www.aspeninstitute.org/events/2015/06/21/seminar-mid-america-foundation-ceos" target="_blank">Aspen Institute's Seminar for Mid-America Foundation CEOs</a>. As the initiator of the <a href="http://www.artsmarketing.org/" target="_blank">National Arts Marketing Project</a> when I was CEO of the Arts & Business Council, and the creator of the communications efforts of the <a href="http://creativephl.org/" target="_blank">City of Philadelphia Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy</a>, thinking about communications clearly has become something of a pattern or thread in my work, in very different contexts. Interestingly, at the CAF conversation some funders still expressed skepticism at why they want more robust communications if it would only lead to more grant inquiries, which they could not handle with limited staff. And clearly, being a smaller foundation, we have also had to be cognizant of the need to be able to staff our communications work appropriately.<br />
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So, visit our new web site, and let us know what you think. After all, real communication is a two-way conversation! The URL is: <a href="http://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/">http://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/</a><br />
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<br />Gary Steuerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06964208018966427968noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-984350200601488620.post-63331280362217252772015-04-17T17:08:00.004-06:002015-04-29T11:08:08.172-06:00Adventures in Cultural Planning<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQuZxInOfwmNIt-Suy_CnilgTvWeojW2SSSJFyeaWzCwBsAJc9pGGcCud4n8lQbUuV-YlGVaNpgiB7l96W4KsO6xZDoAnBva0361uoEB1mZY52h21GSS8tFtJssheDbmgZiW1vhZ1gs4_R/s1600/CAALW0PWAAA0WTE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQuZxInOfwmNIt-Suy_CnilgTvWeojW2SSSJFyeaWzCwBsAJc9pGGcCud4n8lQbUuV-YlGVaNpgiB7l96W4KsO6xZDoAnBva0361uoEB1mZY52h21GSS8tFtJssheDbmgZiW1vhZ1gs4_R/s1600/CAALW0PWAAA0WTE.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
New York City has recently been engaged in a debate around cultural planning. The New York City Council is developing legislation that would mandate that a cultural plan be created and then updates every few years. Details are still in development, such as whether a plan might be required every ten years, twenty years, etc., and how much detail should be in the legislation in terms of mandating specific components be included in the plan.<br />
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Because of the enormous scale of New York City and its cultural sector, this effort has provoked considerable conversation and even contention. Tom Finkelpearl, Commissioner of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, is working to ensure that this plan does not end up creating a complex and expensive "unfunded mandate," and also wants to avoid Council specifying in too much detail the structure or process the plan must use. And a local coalition of funders, led by New York Community Trust, has been working to support the concept of a plan, creating the New York City Cultural Agenda Fund, and organizing a recent public panel conversation that I participated in. A great summary of the session can be found <a href="https://storify.com/SalemTsegaye/city-cultural-planning" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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Above is the video of the panel discussion, which in addition to myself, featured Roberto Bedoya of the <a href="http://www.tucsonpimaartscouncil.org/" target="_blank">Tucson Pima Arts Council,</a> Julie Burros, the new <a href="http://www.cityofboston.gov/arts/" target="_blank">Chief of Arts and Culture for the City of Boston</a>, and San San Wong of the <a href="https://www.barrfoundation.org/" target="_blank">Barr Foundation</a>, also in Boston. Michelle Coffey of the <a href="http://lambentfoundation.org/" target="_blank">Lambent Foundation </a>and <a href="http://www.nycommunitytrust.org/AboutTheTrust/CollaborativeFunds/NewYorkCityCulturalAgendaFund/tabid/729/Default.aspx" target="_blank">NYC CulturalAgenda Fund</a> moderated. <a href="http://council.nyc.gov/d26/html/members/home.shtml" target="_blank">City Council member Jimmy Van Bramer</a> made welcoming remarks - he chairs the Council's art and culture committee which is drafting the cultural plan legislation. The session was held at <a href="http://bricartsmedia.org/" target="_blank">BRIC</a> - my first time there since leaving New York in 2008, so it was a great opportunity to see a wonderful community arts organization and facility in action. Also was great to get a tour of <a href="https://www.urbanglass.org/" target="_blank">Urban Glass</a>. When I was running the New York State Council on the Arts's Capital Funding Initiative back on the late 80's early 90's, I was involved in funding the creation of their Brooklyn home. Beyond the great panel discussion itself, it was such a treat to reconnect with so many old friends from the New York City arts world.<br />
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I found it to be a great conversation, thoughtful and wide ranging. So many issues to explore, among them:<br />
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<li>What are the different forms a cultural plan might take?</li>
<li>Is an outside consultant really necessary?</li>
<li>How do you engage the community, the citizens, so you are not just serving arts organizations with the plan?</li>
<li>How do you integrate individual artists into a plan?</li>
<li>Should the plan also address the for-profit creative sector?</li>
<li>How do you address issues of equity, and growing diversity of the population that may not be matched by cultural philanthropic resource allocation?</li>
<li>How do you tackle cultural planning in a city the scale and complexity of New York City?</li>
<li>How often should a plan be re-done? Especially in a world that is changing so rapidly</li>
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I did my best to share both my experiences in Philadelphia, and in Denver, informed by my long and deep immersion for the early part of my career in New York. Denver's Imagine 2020 plan is available <a href="http://artsandvenuesdenver.com/images/files/AV-1401-Imagine2020-FullPlan-FINAL-PROOF-2.pdf" target="_blank">here</a>. Philadelphia's Creative Philadelphia Vision Plan can be seen <a href="http://creativephl.org/tagged/Vision-Plan" target="_blank">here</a>. And Boston's new plan is well underway - <a href="http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/2015/04/08/mayor-walsh-unveils-details-boston-cultural-planning-initiative/hbBTNCzIP8vkWwxiTgFzTI/story.html" target="_blank">here is a great article in the Globe</a>.<br />
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For all of the challenges, I think it is very exciting that New York is embarking on this process - the Mount Everest of cultural planning!<br />
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<b><i>[Update: This week, the New York City Council voted 49-0 to support a bill mandating the creation of cultural plan for the City of New York, supported by Tom Finkelpearl, Commissioner of the Department of Cultural Affairs. Here is a <a href="http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/04/28/council-set-to-create-a-cultural-plan-for-new-york-city/?smid=fb-share&_r=0" target="_blank">link to the New York Times article</a>.] </i></b><br />
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Gary Steuerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06964208018966427968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-984350200601488620.post-26799456102108021232015-04-08T13:21:00.000-06:002015-04-08T13:22:31.627-06:00Is it a problem when an arts group is too dependent on a single donor?<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dancer Jin Young Woon of Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet<br />
source: Cedar Lake Facebook page, photographer not credited</td></tr>
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The recent case of Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet in New York City shuttering as a result of the withdrawal of support from their major benefactor, Nancy Laurie, an heiress to the Wal-Mart fortune, has sparked a dialogue around the pitfalls of over-reliance on a single donor. The New York Times wrote about the dance company's closure <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/28/arts/dance/cedar-lake-ballet-to-close-in-june.html?_r=0" target="_blank">here</a>, and Michael Kaiser addressed the larger issue in a blog post <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-kaiser/when-donors-have-too-much_b_6968666.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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Clearly, significant dependence on a single donor by an arts group poses serious challenges, and adds to institutional risk. On the other hand there has been a significant growth of arts institutions, largely in the visual arts, that are the creation of single donors/collectors. Would the excellent Neue Galerie in New York be able to survive without the support of Ronald Lauder and his family wealth? Unlikely.<br />
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And many of our now-great institutions with diverse funding began as the creature of a major benefactor. Carnegie Hall, of course, was the creation of Andrew Carnegie and his wife, and after his death came very close to disappearing.<br />
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It seems to me over-dependence on a single donor has been a phenomenon within the arts since the dawn of "the arts" as we know it, going back to court patronage. In many instances we need to look at largely single donor entities as creatures of their donor, that depending on the donor's desire, or lack thereof, for the entity having sustainability beyond their support, will either disappear based on the choices of that donor, or survive, based either on the careful work of the donor to wean the group off their support, or the efforts of other donors and leaders to sustain the organization.<br />
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Thirty years ago, when I became the first Managing Director of the Vineyard Theatre in New York, it was heavily dependent on the support of founder Barbara Zinn Krieger and her family. She, however, clearly understood the necessity of the organization building a diverse base of support, and during my four years there we steadily reduced her share of our philanthropic support from about 75% to 25% (if my recollection of budget numbers from so long ago is accurate). Now the theatre is thriving and fully independent of its founder's support.<br />
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But success in weaning an arts group of an unhealthy reliance on a single donor, is often dependent on that donor being committed to the effort, and sometimes needing to force the issue by establishing a predictable schedule for the steady reduction of their support. When an organization is known for being largely dependent on a single donor, this can lead to other donors being reluctant to provide significant support because of the perception that the major patron will always "pick up the tab" as well as the sense that the major patron will also not (intentionally or not) "share the limelight" with other supporters interested in donor recognition. And development staff can get complacent as well, further exacerbating the situation.<br />
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I think the lesson is that if you are the major patron, and you want the organization to survive beyond your support, you need to "own the problem" and be willing to engage in some planning and, if needed, tough love. Or the major patron (and the staff) need to accept that the organization is the creature of that donor, and will exist only as long as they desire it to, and there is nothing wrong with that.Gary Steuerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06964208018966427968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-984350200601488620.post-74538504117172670812014-09-19T16:17:00.000-06:002014-09-19T16:17:39.082-06:00Arts in Education Week Post: The Need for Arts Teachers<a href="http://www.arteducators.org/news/arts-in-education-week" target="_blank">Arts in Education Week</a> draws to a close tomorrow, so arts education is on my mind and in the air. A recent blog post by Alan Yaffe - <a href="http://artsyncconsulting.com/2014/09/05/arts-education-arts-attendance-missing-link/" target="_blank">here</a> - that contended arts education advocacy should be focused more on art-making than art-viewing got me thinking. It is true, much energy goes into trying to get K-12 students to attend arts events, and that's wonderful and much-needed. We try to organize class trips, and bemoan the increasing challenges of getting access to buses, to getting the OK to leave school for an arts experience when the pressures of sticking to curriculum and "teaching to the test" are ever-present. And arts groups do all they can to provide "enrichment", to facilitate those out-of-school experiences and to also bring teaching artists or arts education programs into schools.<br />
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But ultimately, and I think virtually all arts groups and teaching artists engaged in this work would concur, the most important component is having qualified arts teachers in the school providing consistent day-in day-out arts instruction. And by arts instruction I don't mean just "appreciation" or preparation for an out of school experience, but the actual teaching of the practice of making art. And this is not just visual art and music - the two art forms most commonly offered in schools - but dance, theater, spoken word and media arts.<br />
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Increasingly, even when schools do have arts instruction, it is a single music or art teacher trying valiantly to serve an entire school, often providing only the most superficial level of arts instruction to each student, making it impossible to engage in high-level "art-making" education. When I was in Philadelphia, even before the recent massive budget woes, the school district pledged to achieve the goal of having ONE art OR music teacher in each school, and even that anemic goal was considered Utopian, given how far away it was from being attained.<br />
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How do we solve this challenge? Arts funders increasingly fund robust arts education programs operated by arts groups - symphony orchestra, dance companies, art museums, etc. - as well as by arts-education-specific organizations. And even if they don't directly fund such programs, increasingly the presence and quality of such programs is an important component of how grantees are evaluated. This is a very positive trend that has supported excellent programs throughout the country. The conundrum is that with rare exceptions funders DON'T fund the actual salaries of qualified arts teachers in schools. Even if it were possible, there is a strong sense that this cost should be borne as part of the school budget - that it is an essential educational expense, and that if funders took the cost on it would be a slippery slope and send exactly the wrong message - that arts were a frill and less important than math, science and other areas of instruction.<br />
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So it seems that what is needed is a refocusing or reframing of the arts education advocacy argument to more forcefully target the hiring and support of arts teachers in the schools. For all of the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/criticism-toward-teach-for-america-is-misplaced/2014/09/18/00c3c332-3dc3-11e4-b03f-de718edeb92f_story.html" target="_blank">controversy</a> recently around <a href="http://www.teachforamerica.org/" target="_blank">Teach for America</a> (TFA), maybe we need an "Arts Teachers for America" program that recruits and pays artists to spend a couple of years (or more!) after school or grad school in a public school classroom as an arts teacher. Maybe arts conservatories could participate as partners, since a growing number of schools realize they must provide a more well-rounded education to their students so that they are better prepared for a career that will require teaching skills as well as business skills. Maybe the time commitment SHOULD be longer, to blunt the concern with TFA that teachers some in relatively unprepared and then don't actually spend enough time for the full benefit of their engagement to be realized. And even if the commitment is only a couple of years, maybe a significant portion of these artist-teachers would decide to stick with teaching.<br />
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Maybe something like this already exists but I don't know of it. Went on the TFA website, and even if they are placing arts teachers it is not mentioned anywhere, though they do reference the need for math and science teachers. There are some AmeriCorps arts programs but they seem to be widely dispersed and local (for example, a program in Maryland that is operated by <a href="http://www.mica.edu/About_MICA/Departments_and_Services/Office_of_Community_Engagement/Community_Art_Collaborative/AmeriCorps.html" target="_blank">Maryland Institute and College of Art</a>). What about a major national effort, backed by the federal government and some major national foundations that provides matching funds for the hiring of new certified arts teachers in public school, requiring local investment as well? Maybe engage arts conservatory programs in the effort too. Many of them are frankly grappling with what is the "new normal" for their graduates. Increasingly even graduates from elite music conservatories like the Curtis Institute may find that their students cannot count on a career consisting just of playing for a good living wage for a major symphony orchestra. Their career is likely to now also involve teaching, and even if they secure one of the plum orchestra spots, that job too increasingly involves education and outreach. Not to mention that increasingly artists WANT to do this work - want to be more engaged in the community, to inspire young people; to use the term promoted by Yo-Yo Ma and Damian Woetzel in their Aspen Institute work, they want to be <a href="http://www.aspeninstitute.org/about/blog/yo-yo-ma-named-2013-harman-eisner-artist-residence" style="text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">citizen artists.</a> Curtis has in fact just launched the <a href="http://www.curtis.edu/about-curtis/press-media-room/news-archive/2013-14/curtis-joins-aspen-institutes-franklin-project-to-inspire-million-service-year-positions-by-2023.html" target="_blank">ArtistYear Fellowship</a> program, part of the Aspen Institute's Franklin Project. This is a very promising development, and will place three recent grads in a year-long program of bringing music into Philadelphia under-served communities and schools. But it stops short of a more extended period of actually serving as in-school music teachers with the training to do the job.<br />
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A policy statement <a href="http://www.americansforthearts.org/sites/default/files/pdf/2013/by_program/networks_and_councils/arts_education_network/A-Shared-Endeavor.pdf" target="_blank">"Arts Education for America's Students: A Shared Endeavor"</a> was recently endorsed by <a href="http://www.americansforthearts.org/by-topic/arts-education" target="_blank">Americans for the Arts</a> and a wide array of other leading arts education organizations. This document articulately lays out the complex web of players and practices that make for a strong arts education system, and it includes a useful "venn diagram" than shows the interrelationship of certified arts educators, community arts providers, and certified non-arts-educators. And I don't mean to undermine the value of this excellent statement or the importance of community arts providers, out-of-school experiences, etc. What I do mean to do is assert that the toughest - and perhaps most important - piece of this challenge is getting more certified arts educators in the schools, with a reasonable enough workload that they can truly serve their students in a deep, not superficial, way. School budget restrictions, hiring freezes, limitations on principal autonomy - all these and more contribute to how difficult it can be to tackle this aspect of the challenge. But let's acknowledge that it still remains hugely important and we need to have more strategies to tackle it. During my time in Philadelphia I watched the School District strive mightily to dramatically increase the number of arts teachers - often challenged by being able to find enough qualified candidates - only to then have to turn around and implement massive layoffs when a huge budget gap opened. I observed first-hand that there was no substitute for an extraordinary arts teacher in the school, what a gift it was for those students lucky enough to have one of those teachers. Let's work harder to ensure more kids benefit from that gift...<br />
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<br />Gary Steuerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06964208018966427968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-984350200601488620.post-77512925134176832152014-09-11T16:13:00.000-06:002014-09-11T16:13:28.042-06:009/11 <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifMxNowpbDlHWAKtW0n2Y7hXVpQOS0lmERSxt-r42UCehi2EHZR-JUo763GvD6MyWJBBzYJ20a00B5UcvOy1iUlUor1PanUZi2RcOfRftZ-oSnnBKhIqimbfPsPkxWVVYepfAYEnHnr2k_/s1600/Twin+Towers+of+Light.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifMxNowpbDlHWAKtW0n2Y7hXVpQOS0lmERSxt-r42UCehi2EHZR-JUo763GvD6MyWJBBzYJ20a00B5UcvOy1iUlUor1PanUZi2RcOfRftZ-oSnnBKhIqimbfPsPkxWVVYepfAYEnHnr2k_/s1600/Twin+Towers+of+Light.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tribute in Light - produced by Municipal Art Society -<a href="http://www.mas.org/programs/tributeinlight/" target="_blank"> http://www.mas.org/programs/tributeinlight/</a></td></tr>
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I have never actually written about 9/11 in any of my blog posts, and can't say why exactly I feel compelled to do so this year. The obligatory Facebook post or tweet just seemed inadequate. Perhaps it is the timing of President Obama's speech about ISIS that emphasizes how much the terrorist threat remains real, how much this date 13 years ago marked a dramatic change in our world view.<br />
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In 2001 I was the President and CEO of the Arts & Business Council, based in New York City. In the early morning of 9/11/01, I was meeting with my board chair, Warren Bodow, and my board member Karen Brosius, then a senior executive in corporate philanthropy and marketing with Altria. We were meeting in Karen's office, on a high floor in the Altria headquarters on 41st and Park. As is often the case in corporate offices, Karen had a news channel - probably CNN - running on a TV in her office but muted. All of a sudden we saw the first report of a plane hitting one of the towers and turned the sound on to see what was happening. Even though initial reporting, as I recall, had not grasped the magnitude of what had happened, thinking it was a small plane that perhaps was out of control, this incident clearly halted the meeting and we all began watching the TV. Of course when the second plane hit, and the jet fuel-fed fires began to rage out of control, the true horror of what was going on became clear.<br />
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We walked over to Karen's colleague's office that was facing South with a totally clear unobstructed view of the towers. There we joined perhaps a dozen or so other Altria employees as we gazed out this huge picture window and watched the towers ablaze. Then, of course, we watched, and gasped,and cried, as the unthinkable happened; one by one, the towers fell, followed by the clouds of ash and smoke and debris that billowed and spread out across Lower Manhattan. I still remember glancing over and noticing that someone in the office was actually at their desk working through all of this. That is as indelible an image as the collapsing towers themselves. How could this be? How could any human being continue to do their work when this horror was going on right outside the window?<br />
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Once the enormity of what had happened sunk in, I decided I needed to check in with my staff at the office to find out how they were doing; I felt like I needed to be with my team. I had no way to be with - or even reach - my family because transit and phones were not working. The office was down on 27th and 6th, so I began walking south.As I walked downtown I was like a salmon swimming upstream, because I was beginning to pass the first wave of ghostly, white-powder-coated, shell-shocked survivors, making their way uptown. I passed an electronics store and realized we had a TV in the office but no cable or antenna, so I stopped in to buy an old fashioned "rabbit ears" antenna. Hundreds of people were huddled around the TVs, watching the news unfold. I continued on to the office, where I found my frightened staff, desperate for news of what was going on. We connected the TV and got grainy reception of what I believe was the only station that had not had its broadcast antenna on the top of one of the towers (CBS?). I was living in Westchester County at the time and it was sometime in the evening before Grand Central Station and Metro-North started running again. We stayed together at the office watching the numbing and often repetitive news coverage. But what was the choice? You could not stop watching and go do work. That seemed inhuman, like the woman in the Altria office. But it also was draining and deeply disturbing to sit in front of the TV and sink deeper into the realization of the extent of the loss. I suppose in the end, the actual loss of life was quite a bit less than it seemed it might be at the time. It initially seemed like tens of thousands of people might have perished given the scale of the destruction. Watching it happen - two 100+ story masses of concrete and steel - come crashing down it seemed like all of lower Manhattan must be flattened. My mother was actually working at St. Vincent's Hospital at the time in the Village, one of the closest hospitals to the site. They mobilized for the expected waves of injured, but ultimately it was a trickle - people either escaped mostly physically unharmed, or they were vaporized. there was very little in-between.<br />
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I suppose this had special resonance for me, as it did for so many. There was definitely "there but for the grace of God" aspect to the tragedy for me. I spent a great deal of time in the Towers, in the World Financial Center buildings that survived, and in the concourse underground. We regularly presented workshops in either American Express or Deloitte & Touche offices, usually in the same early morning time as the attack. If we had a workshop that morning I likely would have been in the concourse, and there is a good chance I would have been among the lost.<br />
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And the buildings themselves had been a part of my New York life since they were erected. From periodically visiting the observation deck for the unmatched views, to remembering Philippe Petit's famous tightrope walk between the towers. We had a big family birthday celebration for my grandmother in one of the Windows on the World private rooms, and I still remember our disappointment that the building was socked in by fog that day - it was as if the windows were painted white. Then suddenly, as if by magic, the fog swirled and dissipated in front of the window, and that glorious vista looking south and west opened up, and it literally felt like we were dining in the clouds. Soon after the fog swallowed us up again, but it made those few minutes of heaven all the sweeter for how fleeting the moment was.<br />
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Some years later, when I was working at the Alliance of Resident Theatres/NY, we had a staff outing to the bar at Windows on the World, the Hors D'Oeuverie - they had famously killer martinis. It was a surrealistically prescient evening. While we sat drinking our martinis and taking in the view (and people watching the largely tourist crowd) we began to notice a commotion by the window. Turns out someone on the observation deck on the other tower had climbed over the protective fence and was now sitting on a small ledge at the top of a sheer 1,368 foot drop. The crowd was mesmerized. . We watched the drama continue to unfold: security arriving and locking down the roof. SWAT team arriving and clearly strategizing what to do. Meanwhile this man calmly smoked a cigarette. And what could we do? We sneered at the callousness of the tourists videotaping it and snapping pictures, yet we were also transfixed. There was nothing one could do to help. Was it more inhuman to keep watching, or to simply get up and go home? So we watched - and drank - pretty much in stony silence, until we spotted a tethered SWAT officer creep out some sort of hatch above the ledge in the facade, just around the corner from the "jumper," who had apparently run out of cigarettes. Another officer was distracting him with an offer of a pack, and as he passed it over the fence, the other officer ran gingerly along the narrow ledge and grabbed the man from behind. And just like that he was whisked away: drama over, tragedy averted, tourists dissipated. And we quietly settled our bill and went our separate ways home.<br />
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So as day began to turn into evening on 9/11 and mass transit came back on line, we all began to filter out and head home, haunted by the specter of what had happened, and not really knowing what the future would bring.<br />
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In the coming days there was, of course, a "new AB-normal" - impromptu memorials of photographs and notes on fences all over town as people sought to locate missing friends or relatives, prompting spontaneous tears several times a day. News of people close to home who had been lost or lost someone close. And of course, while every life is precious, it does bring it home more powerfully when there is a personal connection. Our event planner's father - a prominent retired arts leader, served on the board of the City's cultural institutions pension fund. That board had been meeting on a high floor that morning and he was lost. The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council had a program that made vacant space available to artists in the towers, and one of those artists was in his studio working that morning - gone. And of course, more and more connections surfaced in the coming days - neighbors in Westchester and friends/acquaintances from all walks of life who were lost, or lost someone dear to them - investment bankers, administrative assistants, and of course all the uniformed service members and first members. Despite the vast size of New York City and the fact that the dead represented just a tiny fraction of the population, it seemed like EVERYONE in NY had some sort of connection.<br />
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My organization created a program - Arts For Hope, designed by the agency LaPlaca Cohen, and sponsored primarily by JP Morgan Chase, that I remain very proud of. It worked to help the community heal through the arts. It was disappointing to me that many in the arts community devoted their energies to raising funds to help arts groups recover. As much as I felt their financial pain, I believed strongly in the long run the arts would fare better if they in effect functioned as selfless "second responders" - being there for families, all of those grappling with grief, needing community, even distraction.<br />
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And I got deeply engaged in the contentious process that continues to this day of figuring out what the role for the arts was in the rebuilding of the site of the Towers and the entire neighborhood. American Express's River to River Festival was an important early way the arts contributed to bringing vibrancy back to Lower Manhattan. I still remember attending a Dar Williams concert right along the Hudson River just behind the World Financial Center Winter Garden. My then young daughter was with me - perhaps 12 years old at the time - and it was just one of those glorious, magical evenings. Family, great music, perfect weather, a beautiful setting. And I remember thinking for the first time that eventually things would get back to normal, that this City would heal. The Flea Theatre - based in Lower Manhattan - produced The Guys, a profoundly moving play about 9/11, that was made into a movie, and touched so many thousands of people. And I worked with a group of civic leaders to create a dedicated website service for family members of victims that gave them access to donated tickets and admission to just about every cultural and sports event in town. I believe the arts played a big role in the city's - and victim's families - emotional healing. The art project Tribute in Light - illustrated at the beginning of this piece - has also become an annual and iconic reminder - perhaps a better monument in its temporary way than the permanent monument and museum.<br />
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So here we are now, 13 years later. In the intervening years I have been divorced, remarried, had another daughter, and moved twice, first to Philadelphia for five years, and last year to Denver. So much has changed in my life. But a piece of me is still in New York, not just because I grew up there and spent the first part of my professional life there. But because of the experience of living through 9/11, the horror as well as the extraordinary bravery and humanity, of the community coming together. I also know that however profoundly this experience affected me, it still does not come close to all those families who on a beautiful September morning, in a flash, lost husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, parents.<br />
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And, yes, for the first few months after 9/11 that great lumbering behemoth of a metropolis became a small town, a village, of neighbors taking care of one another. And the role the arts played in that is one of the things that sustains my belief in its profound social value.<br />
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<br />Gary Steuerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06964208018966427968noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-984350200601488620.post-6445574568053199222014-09-02T14:56:00.000-06:002014-09-02T15:00:11.607-06:00Some Thoughts About the Arts and Philanthropy - From Aspen<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Recently I spent some time with Carolyne Heldman of <a href="http://aspenpublicradio.org/" target="_blank">Aspen Public Radio</a> for her program CrossCurrents, and the segment has just recently aired and been posted to their website. It was a wide-ranging interview covering how I got into the arts/philanthropy/policy world in the first place, my thoughts on the challenges arts groups face, and finally, the work of the <a href="http://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/" target="_blank">Bonfils-Stanton Foundation</a> and the state of the arts in Denver and Colorado. I thought my blog followers might find this worth listening to: <a href="http://aspenpublicradio.org/post/crosscurrents-gary-steuer-bonfils-stanton-foundation">http://aspenpublicradio.org/post/crosscurrents-gary-steuer-bonfils-stanton-foundation</a><br />
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Carolyne was a great interviewer and got me talking about some things I am not sure I have talked about before - at least not to the media. And my apologies in advance to the many groups and programs I could have mentioned in the interview but didn't, or that got edited out. I was particularly aware in listening to it that in talking about Denver and Colorado's great cultural assets I cited all visual arts examples, and there are of course MANY important performing arts groups: the <a href="http://www.coloradosymphony.org/" target="_blank">Symphony</a>, <a href="http://operacolorado.org/" target="_blank">Opera</a> and <a href="http://coloradoballet.org/" target="_blank">Ballet</a> companies, as well as <a href="http://centralcityopera.org/" target="_blank">Central City Opera</a>, <a href="http://wonderbound.com/" target="_blank">Wonderbound</a>, <a href="http://www.denvercenter.org/" target="_blank">Denver Center for the Performing Arts</a>, and <a href="http://www.curioustheatre.org/" target="_blank">Curious Theatre</a>, just to name a few. Given the Foundation's grant focus on the Denver metropolitan region, I also did not really talk about the out-sized (relative to population) cultural assets of Aspen itself - from the <a href="http://www.aspenmusicfestival.com/" target="_blank">Aspen Music Festival</a>, to the <a href="http://www.aspenartmuseum.org/" target="_blank">Aspen Art Museum</a>, to <a href="http://www.andersonranch.org/" target="_blank">Anderson Ranch</a>, to the <a href="http://www.aspeninstitute.org/" target="_blank">Aspen Institute</a> (especially the Ideas Festival) and <a href="http://www.jazzaspensnowmass.org/" target="_blank">JAS Jazz Aspen Snowmass</a>, Aspen is truly an international cultural mecca. Even if they went unmentioned on-air, the least I can do is cite them here on my blog. It is inevitable in these conversations that there are some omissions, so I hope everyone will be understanding.<br />
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Frankly, I have been doing a lot of thinking lately about the extraordinary cultural assets of the Colorado mountain towns like Aspen, Vail and Telluride, and that combined with the cultural assets of Denver it is a pretty unprecedented concentration of world-class culture within just a few hours drive. Yet, from a consumer and patron standpoint, they have too often operated in different worlds. The cultural patrons and second home owners of Aspen and Vail for the most part fly in directly to those towns from wherever in the US or abroad they reside (whether commercial or private), and while they may change planes in Denver (or rent a car there) they don't really take advantage of the cultural offerings of the City. And this is a shame because the vast majority of them are culturally sophisticated people (and, yes, with wealth) who can and should be appreciating Denver's cultural assets. Also, the audiences for these Rocky Mountain town cultural assets tend to be largely national and international, with a pretty small local contingent - a shame given that these cultural offerings are so accessible to Denverites.<br />
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Similarly, the great cultural festivals in the mountain towns tend to overlook Denver artists and arts organizations when doing their programming. Because their audiences come from all over the nation and the world they tend to strive in their programming to present "the best" art, and there is a tendency to view local artists as being somehow lesser. While perhaps many years ago that perspective may have had some basis, in fact, I think some of the local arts groups ARE now world-class, and merit consideration. There is a role for these festivals to play in selectively introducing local artists to such a discerning audience. This came up recently in a story aired by Colorado Public Radio: <a href="http://www.cpr.org/news/story/few-colo-artists-highlighted-international-arts-festivals-rockies" target="_blank">"Few Colorado artists highlighted in international arts festivals in Rockies."</a> In that story State Film Commissioner Donald Zuckerman notes that the Telluride Film Festival is not really produced locally, but in Northern California, and that only 20% of its audience is from Colorado. And to quote directly from the CPR story: <i>Garrett Ammon, the artistic director of Wonderbound, believes
Colorado’s lack of showing at the big festivals has to do with the fact that
perceptions about Colorado artists may still be stuck in the past. “I look at some of
these big festivals in the mountains and they grew out of a very different
time, when Colorado didn’t necessarily have a lot of cultural offerings,"
Ammon says. "If you’re looking to bring cultural experiences in, then
you’re going to build the systems to do that</i>.”<br />
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If would be great if we could get even a small share of the Aspen/Vail/Telluride summer arts crowds to spend some time in Denver getting to know its cultural riches, and would also be great if more of our great local arts groups and artists could occasionally find a place in the programming of the festivals. That said - not a bad problem to have in Colorado: so many breathtaking cultural experiences to go along with the breathtaking setting!<br />
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<br />Gary Steuerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06964208018966427968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-984350200601488620.post-73502241220274379102014-07-09T13:51:00.001-06:002014-09-11T10:44:01.996-06:00Some Thoughts on Denver's Cultural Life and Assets<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/QLKxgQbnv9Q" width="480"></iframe><br />
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A few months ago I did an interview for the "<a href="http://onedayindenver.org/" target="_blank">One Day in Denver</a>" film project that the <a href="http://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/" target="_blank">Bonfils-Stanton Foundation </a>supported. This is part of a larger<a href="http://www.onedayonearth.org/" target="_blank"> One Day on Earth</a> project, that on April 26 organized filmmakers in 11 cities to capture the issues and essence of their city over a 24 hour period (<a href="http://www.yourdayyourcity.org/" target="_blank">"Your Day. Your City. Your Future</a>"). Have no idea how much if any of this footage will make it into the final film - there will be individual films for each city, as well as an edited feature-length film that will weave together all 11 cities. But I thought I would share this footage because it may help explain my passion for Denver and its cultural community!Gary Steuerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06964208018966427968noreply@blogger.com0