The Arizona Commission on the Arts' annual report,
The Report to the Governor, compiles a narrative and financial summary of
the projects funded by the Commission.
To read a copy of the current Report to the
Governor, click here. To request a hard copy, call (602) 255-5882. The
following are narratives from highlighted programs from previous years.
1984 - CULTURAL FACILITIES
"We shape our buildings and they shape us." -
Winston Churchill
More and more Arizonans are participating in the arts, as professional
artists, as amateur performers, as dedicated audiences for the rapidly
increasing numbers of organizations that present the arts. And as people turn to
the arts, cities and towns are looking for homes for the arts - places where
participation and celebration help turn western towns into more livable
communities.
This movement to create performance spaces began in the late 19th century
when new settlements dotted the Arizona landscape. Then, towns built opera
houses and theatres to attract the touring troupes that criss-crossed the
country. Today, dance, theatre and music groups are springing up in even the
smallest communities; painters, sculptors and craftsmen are seeking exhibition
opportunities. Communities are once again thinking of arts spaces as attractive,
not only to touring and local performing artists, but to residents who demand an
active cultural life in their hometowns. Many communities are developing an
awareness of the arts as one step to industrial and population growth. Cultural
facilities are viewed as a selling point for the community and a validation of
the western towns coming-of-age.
The search for arts spaces can, in many Arizona communities, return to the
historic buildings from our frontier days. Those opera houses and theatres are
often unused reminders that Arizona has a century-old cultural tradition of
presenting the performing arts. By reviving historic buildings for use as
performance facilities, communities can affirm that tradition and provide for
its continuity. Revitalization of historic properties for use as arts facilities
may vary from the spectacular rehabilitation of grand movie palaces to the
adaptive use of industrial spaces as galleries. Churches, schools, courthouses
or even fruit packing houses can be evaluated for conversion to performance
facilities in communities without historic theaters.
In searching for places where the arts can be presented to growing audiences,
communities are finding that the research and planning that precedes design and
construction makes the difference between a lively, useful arts facility and a
building that doesn't meet the artists' or the audiences' needs.
It is at this stage that the Arizona Commission on the Arts can provide
assistance. The Cultural Facilities program of the Commission gives technical
assistance to communities and nonprofit organizations seeking to develop housing
for the arts-performing arts centers, galleries or museums, cultural parks or
artists' spaces. Assistance is given on all stages of the facility development
process, from garnering citizens' comments to hiring consultants. A combination
of staff and professional consultants are used. Assistance is available for
preparation of grant applications for feasibility studies and pre-architectural
planning grants.
Between the dream of an arts facility and the reality of construction or
renovation there are many tough decisions to be made. To help the many Arizona
communities planning cultural facilities to reach the right decisions for their
communities, the Arizona Commission on the Arts sponsored Places for the Arts, a
two-day symposium designed for community groups involved in the process of
planning and developing cultural facilities. Fifty-five attendees representing
twenty Arizona communities heard arts facility planning experts discuss the
importance of facilities to the growth of the arts; creative use of space;
revitalization of historic properties; preplanning, planning, feasibility
studies, design and construction. The enthusiasm of the participants was matched
only by the excitement of the symposium leaders as everyone became involved in
wide ranging discussions pertinent to each topic presented. Participants left
the symposium with the basic information to plan and develop a successful
cultural facility and an awareness of the resources available to assist them.
Two important publications available to communities planning a cultural facility
are; Staging a Comeback: Recommendations for the Rehabilitation of Historic
Arizona Buildings as Performing Arts Facilities, published by the Arizona
Commission on the Arts; and Building for the Arts: A Guidebook for Planning and
Design of Cultural Facilities, published by Western States Arts Foundation.
One of the first projects undertaken by the Commission's Cultural Facilities
program was a feasibility study leading to a two theater complex in Central
Phoenix. The Arts Commission coordinated the project with in-kind services from
the City of Phoenix; a citizens' committee raised cash match to a grant awarded
by the National Endowment for the Arts.
A consultant team of nationally known arts facility planning experts, Bradley
Morison of Arts Development Associates and William Morrish and William Fleissig
of Citywest, was retained to conduct the feasibility study. The study was
completed with a successful presentation to the Phoenix City Council in
November, 1981.
Responding to the Central Phoenix Theater Study, the Herberger family
presented two million dollars to the Phoenix Performing Center, Inc. for a two
theater complex in Central Phoenix; the donation was a challenge to be matched
with private funds.
In addition to Phoenix, the Cultural Facilities program has provided
technical assistance to the cities of Mesa, Sedona, Kingman, Douglas, Chandler,
Yuma, Sun Cities and Sierra Vista, all in various stages of planning a cultural
facility. Initial discussions with Chandler city officials focused on the
building of a performance auditorium, but evolved into a vision of downtown
revitalization undertaken through a national competition to redesign downtown
Chandler. With Commission staff, assistance the City of Chandler was awarded a
$29,700 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to support an urban
design competition focusing on the adaptive reuse of San Marcos Park and the
Civic Center Plaza. The city committed $29,450 and staff time to the project.
The design competition attracted 163 entries from forty states and three
foreign countries. The winning design, Chandler Square, includes wide,
tree-shaded walkways in the original historic San Marcos Hotel motif throughout
the downtown area and many outdoor seating and recreational areas. Chandler
contracted with the design competition winner to implement the winning design.
From the initial planning, throughout the design competition, and continuing
as the revitalization of downtown becomes a reality there is an optimistic
spirit with citizen committees from many community sectors working cooperatively
to make Chandler, their city, a special place to live.
Across the state, the Yuma Crossing Park Council sponsored a Conference on
Revitalization to initiate a planning process which would culminate in the
design of a master plan for a historic park within the boundaries of the Yuma
Crossing and Associated Sites National Historic Landmark on the
Arizona-California border.
The site is significant in the history of the American West. Yuma Crossing
served as a vital transportation and communication link across the Colorado
River between California and the American Southwest for over three centuries. It
was, therefore, imperative that the master design reflect sensitive, innovative
methods that enhance the unique historical, bicultural, architectural, natural
and recreational qualities of the site.
Recognizing their responsibility for protection and management of this
national resource on the banks of the Colorado River, the City of Yuma, the
Quechan Tribe, the Arizona State Parks Board and the U.S. Department of the
Interior joined with the Yuma Crossing Park Council for development of the
master plan and historical research. An interdisciplinary team of historical and
landscape architects, archaeologists, planners and historians addressed
restoration, interpretation and design of new facilities within the park.
The Cultural Facilities program served as technical advisor to the Yuma
Crossing Park Council throughout the planning process and assisted the Council
to obtain $30,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts to design the master
plan for the historic park.
In announcing the NEA grant, Governor Bruce Babbitt said, "The park will be a
big, splendid asset, not only for Yuma, but for Arizona and all the Southwest."
The grant was matched by a commitment of $15,000 from the City of Yuma and
$5,000 from the Park Council. In addition $10,000 was awarded by the U.S.
Department of the Interior and $5,000 from the Arizona Historical Society for
extensive archaeological research to trace activity at the Crossing back to
prehistoric times.
The Yuma Crossing Park project is an example of a federal, state and local
partnership working to preserve and develop a regional park of national historic
and bicultural significance at the western gateway to Arizona. The Yuma Crossing
Park will be a place for people - to walk, picnic, play, or simply sit in the
sunshine to view what nature creates on the desert shores of the Colorado River.
West of Phoenix, the Sun Cities Art Museum will be the first art museum in
America to be built by and for a retirement community. People have come to live
in Sun City and Sun City West from all fifty states and over sixty foreign
countries.
With them, have come the resources of a vastly diverse population,
homogeneous in age, but different in every other aspect. Now their cultural,
educational and recreational facilities will be enhanced by their own art
museum, a testimonial to the hundreds of citizens who had a vision of a Sun
Cities Art Museum, who have given money time, hard work and devotion to make
their dream a reality.
The Sun Cities Art Museum will be situated adjacent to Arizona State
University's Sun Cities campus, between Sun City and Sun City West. Support for
the Museum comes from the Del Webb Development Company, Gannett Foundation,
Maricopa County and local citizens through the fund-raising efforts of the Sun
Cities Art Museum League and the Board of Trustees. The Commission's Cultural
Facilities program has provided basic ongoing technical services-staff
assistance, planning consultants and use of the Commission's Arts Resource
Center - throughout three years of planning the Museum. The Commission will
continue to offer its technical services to the Museum as it begins to research
programming, exhibitions and acquisitions.
In 1984-85 the Cultural Facilities program will offer one-day consultations
with knowledgeable arts facility planners for those communities considering
feasibility and planning studies. Assistance is required in organizing plans of
action, establishing effective community committees and preparing requests for
proposals for consultants. The Cultural Facilities program of the Arizona
Commission on the Arts offers an important service to help Arizona communities
chart the unfamiliar territory of planning and designing a cultural facility and
take the significant steps toward opening night.
1985 - TRAVELING EXHIBITIONS
PROGRAM
The Traveling Exhibitions Program is older than the Arizona Commission on the
Arts, having had its genesis in the early sixties when Louise Tester Pollard,
then director of Yuma Fine Arts Association, loaded the back of her El Camino
with exhibitions from the Phoenix Art Museum, University Art Collections at
Arizona State University, the University of Arizona Museum of Art and Northern
Arizona University Art Gallery and brought them to the Yuma City/County Library.
She shuttled back and forth carrying art work from these institutions to Yuma,
sometimes bringing exhibitions organized in Yuma, such as the Yuma Southwestern
Invitational to Phoenix and Flagstaff.
During these early years, Rudy Turk, director of University Art Collections,
gave strong support, not only loaning exhibitions, but through his expert
knowledge of the field helping to plan exhibitions to tour small communities. It
was his suggestion to incorporate ceramics into the annual Yuma Southwestern
Invitational which became a showcase for Arizona artists and craftsmen and
continues as such today.
As early as 1968, at the suggestion of Mrs. Pollard, by then a member of the
Arizona Commission on the Arts, the Commission approved financial assistance to
art galleries and museums to upgrade the quality of their shows.
In addition, in response to a report from Rudy Turk, chairman of the
Commission's Visual Arts Advisory Committee, $5,000 was set aside to be matched
by local sources "to bring to communities which have little or no opportunity to
view art shows of excellent quality, exhibitions of interest - to audiences who
find it difficult to attend exhibitions available to metropolitan populations."
* This remains the primary purpose of the Traveling Exhibitions Program today,
along with giving exposure to the artists of Arizona.
In 1969 Louise Tester Pollard became the executive director of the Arizona
Commission on the Arts bringing her vision of touring exhibitions statewide. Her
concept of helping the Arizona artists and bringing art into small communities
was favorably received by the members of the Arts Commission.
By 1972 the Commission was touring seventeen exhibitions to twelve Arizona
towns: Bisbee, Flagstaff, Glendale, Grand Canyon, Jerome, Many Farms, Mayer,
Mesa, Prescott, Scottsdale, Tempo and Yuma. The exhibitions that year reached
176,873 people, people who would not have had access to quality exhibitions nor
to the work of contemporary Arizona artists.
1973 was the initial year of an exhibition of Hopi-Navajo crafts which would
become a tradition of the Traveling Exhibitions Program. The late Inger
Garrison, a consultant to the Arts Commission on Native American crafts, took
Mrs. Pollard across the Indian reservations to meet the Indian artists and
craftsmen. From this trip the Hopi-Navajo /exhibition was organized. Over the
years, Mrs. Garrison continued as a consultant to the Commission, serving as
curator for Hopi-Navajo II, III, IV, V, Dreams, Hands and Fibers and the Spirit
of the Weaver. Dreams, Hands and Fibers featured over eighty contemporary Native
American baskets by nine Arizona tribes: Chemehuevi, Havasupai, Hopi, Hualapai,
Navajo, Papago, Pima, San Carlos Apache and Yavapai.
The posters for these shows were designed by Thomas Hall and won many awards
on local, national and international levels. The Hopi-Navajo IV poster was one
of only one hundred posters from around the world accepted into the Art Poster
Exhibition and Competition of the 2nd International Art Fair in Tel Aviv,
Israel.
An unusual exhibition organized in 1976 was Roger Buchanan's Seeds of the
Gila, a photographic documentation of Indian artist Larry Golsh's residency at
St. John's Indian School on the Gila Reservation, where he worked with the
Indian students teaching them their native crafts.
The Commission's first visual arts fellowship was awarded in 1979 to
photographer James Cowlin in the amount of $4,000. For Cowlin, the fellowship
bought a month of time to pursue a project which had only been a dream. He
walked the length of the Verde River documenting the river with hundreds of
photographs. From his expedition came the Verde River Walk, an exhibition of
forty of Cowlin's photographs.
Since their beginning the Traveling Exhibitions have given a panoramic view
of the traditional and contemporary visual arts, a perspective of Arizona's
history and minorities, as well as its ties with Mexico. Mexican Masks from the
Moya Collection featured 120 antique Mexican ceremonial and dance masks from the
collection of Victor Jose Moya and was made available for circulation in the
United States by Fonda Nacional Para Activida de Sociales (FONAPAS), a Mexican
federal arts agency. Bisbee 1880-1920 presented 200 photographs documenting
Bisbee's history as mining camp and boom town. The exhibition was organized by
Cochise Fine Arts Association and Bisbee Council on the Arts and Humanities.
Eight Bisbee Artists showed thirty-two works on paper by eight contemporary
Bisbee artists. Glittering Recuerdos: The Glass Painting Tradition of Magdalena,
Sonora, was mounted for touring by the University of Arizona's Southwest
Folklore Center and the Pimeria Alta Historical Society in Nogales. Thirty from
Thirties, drawn from the collection of the University of Arizona Museum of Art,
consisted of thirty prints from the Graphic Arts Division of the Federal Art
Project, a part of the Works Project Administration (WPA). Four Corners States
Craft Biennial, organized by the Phoenix Art Museum, exhibited the work of
craftsmen living in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah. Currently, being
toured, Outer World/Inner Vision represents the work of four Prescott artists in
painting and sculpture. Next year an exhibition of the works of two artists
working in the Commission's Artists-in-Education program will be available to
tour.
An exhibition which toured nationwide from 1983 through 1985 was the 7 Views
of Hopi, mounted by Arizona State University's Northlight Gallery and curated by
Erin Younger, executive director of ATATL** and Victor Masayesva, Jr., Hopi
photographer. The exhibition's tour included the Southwest Museum in Los
Angeles, LaRoche College, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the Joslyn Art Museum,
Omaha, Nebraska, Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It will
open in March 1986 at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural
History, Washington, D.C. in conjunction with the exhibition, Sun Tracks, an
American Indian Literary Series and the University of Arizona press published
Hopi Photographers, Hopi Images edited by Larry Evers.
Proposals to the Arizona Commission on the Arts for traveling exhibitions are
accepted from artists, groups of artists, collectors, Arizona museums,
galleries, community colleges, universities, libraries and community arts
organizations.
Eligible exhibitions include contemporary or historical painting, drawing,
printmaking, photography, sculpture and crafts. Proposals for exhibitions drawn
from museum permanent collections are encouraged as are proposals featuring
ethnic artists.
Exhibitions submitted feature individual artists and groups of artists and
frequently are curated for touring by Arizona museums, community arts groups,
colleges and universities. Institutions curating exhibitions have included
Arizona State University's University Art Collections and Northlight Gallery,
Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, Galena de la Raza in San Francisco, Northern
Arizona University Art Gallery, Museum of Northern Arizona, Phoenix Art Museum,
Tucson Museum of Art, Yuma Fine Arts Association and Western States Arts
Foundation.
A five member panel of professional artists and arts-related professionals
select the exhibitions to tour based on artistic excellence and the
appropriateness of the exhibition for touring.
Each year at the Commission's Annual Presenters Conference, held in
conjunction with the Scottsdale Festival of the Arts, museums, schools,
community colleges, universities, visitor centers and community organizations
have the opportunity to view slides of exhibitions available to tour and to
schedule their next year's season of exhibitions. The exhibitions selected
present a wide variety of media and are scheduled by organizations in Arizona
towns from one comer of the State to the other.
Exhibitions are not only toured to Arizona communities, but also to
out-of-state sponsors. On occasion exchanges are arranged with other states.
Touring and exchanging exhibitions out-of-state gives increased visibility to
the work of Arizona artists. The Arizona Commission on the Arts' Traveling
Exhibition Program has exchanged exhibitions with the University of Oregon's
Visual Arts Resources and the Utah Arts Council. Exhibitions exchanged with the
Montana Art Gallery Directors Association and the Texas Arts Exchange are
block-booked by these out-of-state sponsors for a specified time period.
The Traveling Exhibition Program also offers technical assistance to the
sponsoring organization. Design assistance is available to organizations
attempting to improve their gallery facilities and/or their publications.
Sponsors are provided with sample news releases and, if available, posters or
brochures. Commission staff helps with program development, lighting,
installation and gallery design. The program schedules, frames, packs and
delivers or ships exhibitions year round.
The Traveling Exhibition Program is especially suitable to Arizona where
rural communities are far from the two urban centers. If people can't get to the
art, the Arts Commission's Traveling Exhibition Program brings art to the
people.
*Arizona Commission on the Arts, Minutes, January 31, 1968.
**National service organization for Native American Artists.
1986 - SERVICES
The day the Arizona Commission on the Arts opened its doors for business as a
state arts agency Arizona artists and arts organizations not only requested
funding support, but also help with the business aspect of the arts. The Arts
Commission responded, and continues to respond, offering services in an
increasingly complex arena of legalities and economics.
Arizona has experienced a wave of migration from other states over the last
few years and with these new citizens have come many artists to make Arizona
their home. This influx of artists and people spawned small arts organizations
to serve their needs, to produce arts activities in which they could
participate. Operating with limited staff or volunteers, these organizations
wanted help to grow professionally.
In 1975, the Arts Commission initiated a program to give assistance in
problem areas common to all artists and nonprofit arts organizations. The Arts
Services program, the first formalized arts services program in a state arts
agency began to address the legal and economic aspects of operating an arts
organization or making a living as an artist. The program offers information and
referral services and technical assistance which includes consultant services,
and workshops.
Consultant Services provide access to professional consultants who offer help
with accounting and tax problems, board development, management, marketing,
fundraising, cultural facility planning, and design. Frequently, the project
utilizes arts organizations with professional staffs to assist smaller arts
organizations managed by volunteers or limited staff. Out-of-state consultants
are used where expertise is not available within Arizona.
The Arts Resource Center, a specialized non-circulating library in the
Commission's offices, has books and periodicals covering all aspects of
operating a nonprofit arts organization, designing and planning a cultural
facility or making a living as an artist. The Center's publications generally
aren't available in the public library. Also located in the Arts Resource Center
is the JobBank, an up-to-date nationwide listing of jobs in the arts. The Center
is used by arts organizations, artists, Commission staff and the general public.
Travel assistance was implemented to help artists and representatives of
small arts organizations attend out-of-state conferences and workshops where
they could learn new techniques and make regional and national contacts. This
information, which is not available locally is shared with Arizona artists and
arts organizations and has had a decided influence on the professional
development of the arts in Arizona. It is not feasible to list all the national
conferences and workshops attended by Arizona artists and arts administrators
since 1975, but a sample would include:
In addition, the Commission's services were broadened to include workshops
and technical assistance specific to particular arts fields. In the late
seventies, the Commission's Expansion Arts program assisted the Black Writers
Workshop sponsored by the Phoenix Urban League and supported a national meeting
of AtlatI, a Native American arts service organization. The program helped
ethnic artists and representatives of arts organizations serving Arizona's
ethnic communities to attend the 1st Annual Hispanic Theatre Conference, the
Smithsonian Museum Workshop Program, the American Indian Museum Association
meeting and the American Indian Film Festival.
Apache Medicine Man Phillip Cassadore received assistance to research
historical information at the Smithsonian Institution on the lifestyle of the
Apache in the 1800's. Consultant assistance with exhibition planning and design
was provided the Quechan Indian Museum (Yuma), Colorado River Tribal Museum
(Parker) and to the Hopi Cultural Center (Second Mesa).
Since 1974, the Arts Commission has sponsored many workshops, seminars and
conferences. These meetings have drawn not only artists and arts administrators,
but also many other people who work in some capacity of community service and
whose support is necessary to the growth and development of the arts in Arizona.
The number and variety of the meetings precludes a comprehensive listing. A
summary listing follows.
Exhibitions: A Technical Workshop (1974). Over one hundred people
representing museums, galleries, community arts centers and college and
university art departments from around Arizona attended the workshop to hear
presentations on exhibition packing, shipping, installation, security and
lighting.
Legal and Accounting Problems of Nonprofit Art Organizations (1975).
Volunteer accountants and attorneys presented this workshop for thirty
representatives of small arts organizations.
Art Law Seminar (1977). Co-sponsored with the State Bar of Arizona and lead
by Leonard Duboff of Lewis and Clark Law School. An outgrowth of this seminar
was the formation of the Art Law Committee of the State Bar of Arizona. The Art
Law Committee wrote, and the Arts Commission published, a booklet on nonprofit
incorporation in Arizona which is made available to arts organizations seeking
Arizona incorporation.
The Business of the Arts (1978). A series of three workshops attended by one
hundred thirty poets, writers, visual artists and representatives of small arts
organizations. Copyright, taxes, contracts and nonprofit incorporation were
discussed by attorneys from the Art Law Committee, while the health hazards of
the arts were presented by Gail Barazani, director, Hazards in the Arts in
Chicago and staff from the State Division of Occupational Safety and Health.
Price, Waterhouse and Co. accountants gave instruction in accounting and tax
procedures for nonprofits.
504 and the Arts (1979). A workshop to assist grantees in making the arts
accessible for persons with handicaps, and thereby comply with the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 504. Arts and Special Constituencies
Director Larry Molloy and Robert Wade, general counsel, from the National
Endowment for the Arts lead the day long workshop which was signed by
interpreters for the deaf.
Collection Care Workshops (1981). Four workshops were held in each of four
Arizona towns: Nogales, Casa Grande, Yuma and Prescott. Topics covered were the
care of photographic and textile collections, furniture and leather and the
preservation of paper documents and works of art on paper. An outgrowth of these
workshops was the development of the Museum Environmental Test Kit, which the
Commission lends to Arizona museums to help them preserve their collections. It
was the first such test kit in the nation and has been copied by other states.
Health Hazards in the Arts (1982). Presented in Phoenix and Tucson by
physicians from the Environmental Preventive Occupational Health Clinic at the
University of Arizona Health Sciences Center.
Bicultural Exchange Seminar (1982). This seminar was held to strengthen the
existing historic ties to Mexico through cultural exchanges. Thirty-five Arizona
organizations took part in panel discussions lead by representatives from the
U.S. Information Agency, U.S. Customs Service, Dept. of Justice, Immigration and
Naturalization Service, Consulado General de Mexico, El Paso, Coordinacion
General de Cultura en el Estado de Sonora and Institute Cultural Mexicano.
Marketing the Arts (1984). Co-sponsored with Women in Design and conducted by
nationally known marketing art expert Calvin Goodman. Three hundred thirty
artists from Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado and Nevada attended.
Earned Income Workshop (1985). Dr Richard Steckel, national fundraising
expert, led two hundred attendees through a step by step approach to develop and
implement marketing strategies to earn money from income producing ventures for
nonprofits.
Taxing Questions: There's More than Form 990 (1985). A workshop on federal
taxes and nonprofits conducted by the staff of the Internal Revenue Service for
one hundred fifty representatives of nonprofits.
Lesson One: How to Use Video for Marketing the Arts (1986). Helped one
hundred thirty artists and arts organizations learn about equipment selection,
production planning, video techniques and scriptwriting.
Grants Preparation Workshops for Organizations (1986). Presented by the
Commission staff the workshops covered all project areas eligible for funding
from the Arts Commission. One hundred seventy people attended the workshops
which were held in Phoenix, Tucson and Flagstaff.
The first Southwest Presenters Conference was held in 1978, an auspicious
beginning for what has become a major showcase for performing artists and an
important conference/booking meeting for presenting organizations from
throughout Arizona. The conference addresses such issues as programming risks
and how to market them, building an image through graphic design, audience
development and how to develop broad based community support. Held in
conjunction with the Scottsdale Festival of the Arts, the conference and
showcase give presenters the opportunity to see the artists they are considering
bringing to their communities perform before live audiences.
In 1982 the Arts Commission established the Small Organization Support
program. The SOS program is designed for community-based arts organizations
which are in a period of artistic and management growth. These organizations
have small staffs who manage both business and program areas; board members who
often are inexperienced in working with nonprofit organizations.
The SOS program is about commitment. The participating organizations are
committed to attaining professional artistic and management growth. The board
members and staffs make a three year commitment to a specialized training
program which combines salary assistance of a professional manager with
structured comprehensive technical assistance. This assistance helps them
develop skills and expertise to avoid some of the crises experienced by emerging
organizations.
To augment the SOS program, the Commission invited chief executive officers
of Phoenix and Tucson corporations with a commitment to community service to
identify members of their organizations who might be interested in serving on
boards of small arts organizations. The Commission served as broker by
introducing arts organizations to potential new board members from the business
community. Many individuals have been successfully placed as board members with
emerging arts organizations. This is a service continued by the Commission.
Just as small emerging arts organizations need help, communities around
Arizona seek assistance in their search for places where the arts can be
presented to growing local audiences, performance halls, galleries and museums,
cultural parks or artists spaces. The Design program offers help in the research
and planning that precedes design and construction. "Places for the Arts," a
two-day symposium was held in 1984. An enthusiastic, energy charged audience of
one hundred forty people heard Bradley Morison of Minneapolis based Arts
Development and Catherine Brown and William Morrish of San Francisco's Citywest
describe the planning and community analysis needed for a facility design which
meets the community's cultural needs.
Also in 1984, the Commission sponsored a state-wide theatre conference. One
hundred twenty theatre representatives from around the state met to discuss
issues of importance to Arizona non-profit theatres. The conference has become
an annual event. In the past three years speakers have included Bill Bushnell,
artistic director, Los Angeles Actors' Theatre, Jerry Turner, artistic director
Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Frederic Vogel, executive director, Foundation
for Extension and Development of the American Professional Theatre (FEDAPT).
During the past five years, the Arts Commission staff provided extensive
assistance to committees working toward the redevelopment of downtown Phoenix.
The Commission coordinated a Cultural Districts Workshop lead by Joseph Golden,
executive director of the Cultural Resources Council of Syracuse and Onondaga
County, New York. The Arts Commission was instrumental in obtaining federal
funds from the National Endowment for the Arts for the Central Phoenix Theatre
Study which resulted in the decision to build the Herberger Theatre, and for the
Downtown Phoenix Streetscape Design. Assistance was given during the
implementation of these projects and with the research for the South Mountain
Amphitheatre Study.
The Arts Commission's leadership has brought about the formation of several
statewide professional organizations: Museum Association of Arizona, Arizona
Composers Forum, Arizona Orchestra Association, City Presenters Network.
Beginning in the late sixties and continuing through the seventies to the
present time, the Arts Commission has a high rating nationwide as a service
agency The Arizona Commission on the Arts was a leader among its peers in
providing services to arts organizations, artists and communities throughout
Arizona, a prime example of the initiative and commitment of the public sector
to the professional development of the arts in Arizona.
1987 - ARIZONA:
THE ARTS IN PARTNERSHIP 1987-1990
"If a community does not have quality arts, it is a
signal that something is missing, that the community does not care. The arts are
vital to the spirit and essence of the community." - Don Reck, IBM General
Products Division, Tucson, AZ
The Arizona Commission on the Arts, in celebration of its twentieth
anniversary, has completed a major research project resulting in a statewide
arts plan. The plan Arizona: The Arts in Partnership 1987-1990 was developed to
give visibility to Arizona's model arts programs inside the state and to look at
how the arts could serve as partners with other sectors in promoting Arizona's
artistic resources outside of the state.
In developing its plan, the Arts Commission wanted to look beyond its own
programs and services to see how the arts are perceived by leaders in the state
and to determine what needs to be done to improve Arizona's efforts in
producing, preserving, presenting and promoting quality arts programs and
cultural activities for the citizens of the state.
Arizona is a young state. It has a rich tradition of indigenous arts and
culture. However, it lacks history in presenting the European arts. Many of its
residents are newcomers or, at least, have not the generational history of other
communities and states. As a result, Arizona does not have that sense of
permanency that comes from having extended familial roots in a stable community.
The arts struggle as do other community concerns, precisely because a sense
of roots and of community is missing. Unlike cities such as Minneapolis and
Cleveland, there is little feeling of responsibility for nurturing our cultural
institutions. Most conspicuous is the lack of sustained leadership in support of
the arts.
Yet, a desire to make something happen is emerging. Arizona's leadership is
worried about the intellectual fabric of our communities; the residents of these
communities are looking for roots. The arts can lend those roots to
strengthening a sense of community and history.
It is recognized that the arts make a significant contribution to the quality
of life in Arizona communities. They contribute to a sense of community pride.
They provide opportunities for citizens to see and be inspired by the work of
quality artists in concert halls, theatres, museums and the outdoors. The arts
provide vocational opportunities for citizens to participate in the arts by
painting scenery or studying pottery making. The arts provide a valuable
learning opportunity for students as part of a quality education. Citizens can
volunteer as members of boards of directors of arts organizations and be
involved in shaping the vision for the arts.
As well, the arts contribute to the overall image of Arizona. The arts affect
Arizona's ability to attract new business to the state and to increase tourism.
The arts are critical to downtown revitalization and activity. More and more the
quality of a community's cultural resources is a consideration by corporations
in their relocation decisions.
From September to November 1986, the Arts Commission conducted interviews
with a cross-section of Arizona leaders representing all segments of the
community. Public, private and civic leaders as well as representatives of the
arts community from throughout the state generously contributed their insights
and knowledge. The interview was designed to discuss with community leaders the
strengths and weaknesses of the arts in the state. The project was developed in
cooperation with Partners for Livable Places, a Washington, D.C. based nonprofit
organization with expertise in quality of life and economic development issues.
Arizona: The Arts in Partnership documents the perceptions and
recommendations of the leaders who were interviewed and is organized into three
sections. Section I outlines an action plan for the Commission in conjunction
with other partners and describes the 20 year history of the Arizona Commission
on the Arts. Section II explores the arts as a resource — to strengthen the
educational experience, to promote the cultural assets of our ethnically diverse
state, to enhance the built environment, to stimulate our economy and to
generate tourism. Section III describes the partnerships that can effectively
make this happen. Each chapter describes selected Arizona projects which can
serve as models to other organizations and communities. Supplemental brochures
identify a selection of arts programs in both rural and metropolitan areas of
the state.A draft report was presented by Robert McNulty of Partners for Livable
Places at the statewide conference, Entrepreneurship in the Arts on February 27,
1987. The conference sponsored by the Arizona Commission on the Arts and
Arizonans for Cultural Development, the statewide arts advocacy organization,
attracted an audience of over 150 arts and community leaders who had an
opportunity to review and comment on the draft plan.
This report was used as part of the research document for the Arizona
Academy's 50th Town Hall called Culture and Values in Arizona Life. The Town
Hall brought together 141 community leaders to discuss how to increase support
for arts and cultural activities in the state.
The Arizona Commission on the Arts is dedicated to making quality arts
opportunities available to the citizens of Arizona. The intention of the Arts
Commission in preparing this plan is to identify opportunities for partnerships
which will:
-
identify and promote the quality and diversity of arts
activities in Arizona;
-
raise the profile of the arts inside and outside
Arizona;
-
demonstrate how the arts as part of the infrastructure
are integral to the health and vitality of our communities;
-
identify how the arts can be part of the package
representing Arizona's assets used to attract new business and tourists.
The Arizona Commission on the Arts will take a leadership role in stimulating
the collective creativity of the Arizona citizens toward integration of the arts
into their communities.
Arizona: The Arts in Partnership 1987-1990 is available from the Arizona
Commission on the Arts.
1988 - ARIZONA ARTS TRUST FUND
The Arizona Arts Trust Fund was created in June, 1989, by the Arizona State
Legislature with the support of Governor Rose Mofford in recognition of the
contribution of the arts to economic development and quality of life in Arizona.
The establishment of the Trust Fund, which will contribute approximately one
million dollars to the arts annually, is a milestone in the funding history of
the Arizona Commission on the Arts. It came about through the cooperation and
leadership of the Governor, bipartisan leaders in both houses of the Arizona
State Legislature, members of the corporate community, the arts community,
Arizonans for Cultural Development and Arizona Commission on the Arts.
The Trust Fund is administered by the Arizona Commission on the Arts and is
funded by an increase of fifteen dollars in the annual corporate filing fee paid
by for-profit corporations in Arizona. The purpose of the Trust Fund 1s "to
advance and to foster the arts in Arizona..."
Criteria for funding under the Arizona Arts Trust Fund is:
-
Artistic quality of the organization's program.
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Ability of the organization's programs to serve the
needs of the community, including efforts to reach artists and audiences in
the ethnic communities.
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Managerial/administrative ability of the organization
to carry out arts programming.
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Appropriateness of the organization's budget to carry
out its proposed programs.
-
History of the organization in producing or presenting
the arts.
Consideration will be given to organizations which serve persons with
handicaps, ethnic populations and rural areas.
In addition, recipient arts organizations must show evidence that their
governing boards include members of racial or ethnic minorities, or have adopted
and are implementing an affirmative action program to assure ethnic and minority
participation on their boards.
In 1989-90, arts organizations participating in the Arts Commission's
Organization Development Program I, II and III and those receiving Basic Aid
grants were funded by the Arizona Arts Trust Fund.
1989 - ARTS EDUCATION
"We need to help our children move toward
civilization. As we stand on the threshold of the 21st century, we are
concerned, and rightly so, with the quality of the education of young Americans
and whether it is preparing them for the challenges of the future. " - Frank
Hodsoll, Chairman, National Endowment for the Arts
This was a significant year for Arts Education in Arizona. The Arizona
Commission on the Arts and the Arizona Department of Education completed a major
joint research project, the First Statewide Survey on the Status of Arts
Education in Arizona Public Schools, 1988. Subsequently, a retreat was held in
Sedona attended by educators, arts administrators and community leaders from
around the state who discussed the survey findings and issued a consensus
statement, The Oak Creek Accord, a five-year plan for the future growth and
direction of arts education in Arizona.
The First Statewide Survey on the Status of Arts Education in Arizona Public
Schools documents the needs of arts education in Arizona. In addition to dance,
music, drama/theater and visual arts, it included creative writing and
traditional/ethnic arts. The survey was mailed to 209 Arizona public school
district superintendents in January, 1988. The responding districts serve 73% of
Arizona elementary, junior and high school students and represent a
cross-section in district size and ethnic diversity.
The survey reveals that fewer than 31% of all reporting districts in Arizona
include the arts in their district mission or goal statements. When they do,
music (33%) and visual arts (26%) appear most frequently; dance (3%) appears
least frequently. Funding and implementation of one year plans exist for music
and visual arts in 36% of the reporting districts, 21% of the districts have a
one-year plan for drama/theatre. Fewer than 10% of the reporting senior high
school districts cited a graduation requirement that involves the fine arts.
Superintendents listed budget and curriculum as the most critical immediate and
long range needs related to the improvement of arts instruction in their
districts.
The findings from the survey were announced by Arizona Superintendent of
Public Instruction, C. Diane Bishop to 450 education leaders at the Arizona
School Boards Association/Arizona School Administrators Association Conference.
Featured speaker for the conference was Chairman Frank Hodsoll who addressed a
national report on arts education, Toward Civilization, published by the
National Endowment for the Arts in May, 1988.
Later, Bishop and Hodsoll spoke to over one hundred arts and community
leaders. Superintendent Bishop said the findings of the survey are significant
to the future of arts education in Arizona and that the Arizona Department of
Education will continue to work with the Arts Commission. Together the agencies
will initiate a broad based planning process using the survey information to
identify priorities and develop strategies to improve the quality of arts
education across the state. Chairman Hodsoll said how pleased he was to hear the
Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction publicly support arts education and
pointed out, that in his experience, this was rare.
During his brief visit to Arizona, Chairman Hodsoll also met with a class of
students at Apache Junction High School where he discussed with the students,
"What is Art." And he and Superintendent Bishop were interviewed by Horizon host
Michael Grant on KAET-TV.
Continuing their joint effort toward developing the arts in education, the
Arizona Commission on the Arts and the Arizona Department of Education held
eighteen meetings throughout the year with representatives from Arizona
community colleges, universities and education organizations to study ways to
make the arts basic to every person's education. Each group examined the
Findings of the First Statewide Survey on the Status of Arts Education in
Arizona Public Schools and appointed one member to represent them at a retreat
where priorities for action would be identified.
The Arts Education Survey Retreat was held in June, 1989, in Sedona, attended
by representatives of twenty-three organizations in education and the arts. The
retreat was facilitated by Steve Kaagan, formerly Commissioner of Education in
Vermont. It was sponsored by the Arizona Commission on the Arts, the Arizona
Department of Education and the Arizona Alliance for Arts Education.
Participants at the retreat issued a consensus statement, The Oak Creek Accord,
which outlined five-year goals and strategies for achieving them. It called for
a task force to follow through on the recommendations of the retreat.
Accordingly, an Arts Education Task Force was appointed by Superintendent
Bishop and Marvin Cohen, chairman of the Arizona Commission on the Arts to
develop strategies that build on existing Arizona School Board mandates and
noteworthy local programs already operative. In August, 1989, the State School
Board passed a requirement of one credit of fine arts or vocational education
for high school graduation. The Task Force will be comprised of one member each
from the Arizona Department of Education, Arizona State Board of Education,
Arizona Commission on the Arts, Arizona Board of Regents, Arizona School Boards
Association, Arizona School Administrators Association, Arizona State
Legislature, the corporate community, the arts education field, universities and
parents. In the next three years, the Arts Education Task Force will take a
leadership role in forming the future course of arts education for students in
Arizona, focusing on the importance of the arts to basic education.
1990 - INCREASED
SUPPORT FOR INDIVIDUAL ARTISTS
Support and services for Arizona artists is the basic premise of all
programs, services and funding of the Arizona Commission on the Arts and has
been since its beginning in 1976. Whether it's funding arts organizations which
employ artists, running statewide programs which employ artists or providing
services to artists, the bottom line is the individual artist. Traveling
Exhibitions, the Commission's oldest program, tours the works of Arizona's
artists. Artists in Residence provides work for over eighty artists annually at
schools, libraries, museums and community center throughout Arizona. Art in
Arizona Towns places performing and visual artists in rural communities for
residencies and performances. Art in Public Places grants funds for the
commissioning of artists to produce works of art for public spaces. Bicultural
Arts arranges artist exchanges between Mexico and Arizona. Professional
Development grants help artists attend out-of-state conferences. The Visual
Artists Slide Bank, a resource of slides and resumes of artists, is used by
architectural and design firms, galleries, corporations, cities and towns and
the general public to locate professional artists. In addition, the Arts
Commission awards Artists Fellowships and, this year for the first time, awarded
Artist Projects grants and sponsored an Arizona Artist Conference.
In October 1988, the Arizona Commission on the Arts, as a member of a
seven-state consortium, received a three-year challenge grant from the National
Endowment for the Arts, administered by the New York Foundation on the Arts, for
support of the individual artist. The Arts Commission researched strategies for
expanding its fellowship program and developed a survey that went to 440 Arizona
artists and former fellowship recipients seeking input on how to best serve the
individual artist. A total of 124 artists responded. A focus group of artists
representing each arts discipline met in February 1989, to discuss the survey
results and to make recommendations to the Commission.
Recommendations adopted by the Commission increase the number of fellowship
awards in each category, divide the funding in proportion to the number of
applications per category and allow flexibility in the amount of each awards.
The artists committee additionally recommended a new program of project support
for individual artists.
Today, the Artists Fellowship program awards fellowships in three disciplines
annually. Visual arts fellowships rotate among three-dimensional art,
two-dimensional art and photography/film/video. Performing arts fellowships
rotate among choreography, playwriting and music composition. Creative writing
fellowships rotate between fiction and poetry. Recipients include artists whose
professional careers have been accelerated after receiving a fellowship-increase
in number of exhibitions, gallery acceptances, books published and public
recognition.
Over the years the Artists Fellowship program has received private and public
support. Corporate and business support has been received from B. Dalton
Bookseller, Dayton-Hudson Corporation, Salt River Project, The Hand and the
Spirit Crafts Gallery, Ramada Inns and Phelps Dodge. Public support comes from
the Arizona State Legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts. A special
fund was established in 1981 by Kathleen Kadon-Desmond in memory of her husband,
writer Bill Desmond. The Bill Desmond Writers Fellowship Fund of the Arizona
Community Foundation supports the Commission's creative writing fellowships.
Artist Projects is a new program to support individual artists in all
disciplines for project-related costs. The program helps the artist(s) bring to
fruition what has been only an idea or dream. Artist(s) must propose a project
or phase of a project which can be realized within the requested budget and
completed within the proposed timeline. Particularly encouraged are projects
that allow the artist(s) increased time to research and develop ideas or new
works; that stretch the artist's work or seek to advance the artform; that bear
relevance to the artist's community; that involve interdisciplinary
collaborations with other artists or non-artists. An Artist Project is a
one-time award.
If the depth and variety of projects chosen in this initial year is any
indication of what can be expected in future years, then Artist Projects will
prove to be of inestimable value to Arizona artists and to the communities they
live in and contribute to. The artists chosen to receive an Artist Project award
in 1990 and a description of their projects are outlined below.
Rikki Francisco, a traditional basket weaver from Sacaton, will produce a
large Pima olla measuring eighteen inches in height and twelve inches in
diameter. Ollas are large, wide mouthed vessels traditionally used for storage
and have not been made among the Pima for many years. Commenting on her project,
Rikki Francisco said, "The art of basket making has been in my family a long
time. I learned to make baskets from my mother, who was taught by her mother.
The art has been handed down from generation to generation. It will be a
challenge for me to create a large olla and at the same time I will be helping
to bring back this lost basket form."
Zarco Guerrero, sculptor/maskmaker from Mesa, will travel to rural Indian
villages in Mexico to research the Tarascan masks of Michoacan, the Diablito
masks and Tiascala masks. His study of ancient surviving mask archetypes will be
undertaken with the intent of carving ritual and ceremonial objects and to see
these come to life in dance and theater performances. He will document through
photography and writing the symbolism behind the masks, the process of carving,
the tools used and the use of the masks.
David Lee Guss, photographer/filmmaker from Tucson, will continue his
patriotism photography, including Bicentennial documentation through 1991,
concluding his twenty-seven year project on "Patriotism in America." He will
make master prints of his finest images and fashion a photographic essay
spanning 1964-1991, a time span which represents some of America's most
turbulent years since the Civil War. The images personify the American people's
feeling about themselves and their country.
Victor Masayesva, filmmaker from Hotevilla, will research and develop a
computer-assisted story board videotape which will be the basis for shooting
"500 Years after Coyote Discovered Columbus," a fifteen minute Native American
coyote tale. Using a mixture of live footage and computer animation to reflect
aspects of reality and illusion in the context of contemporary Native American
experience, it will be a character study on the dual nature (pro and con) of the
Native American trickster and his vital role in contemporary Native American
communities fighting for their land, water and aboriginal rights 500 years after
Columbus.
Greg Steinke, composer from Tucson, will spend an intensive week working with
Japanese/American poet Lawson Inada from Ashland, Oregon and photographer Joan
Myers from Santa Fe, at the sites of Japanese/American internment and/or
relocation camps in Poston, Gila, Mayer and Leupp, Arizona. They will recreate a
week similar to that of one Japanese/American from assembly center to relocation
center to citizen isolation camp. Their research will involve exploration,
photography, discovery and discussion of written, photographed and composed
components in preparation for a multimedia work, "Concentrated Images," a
statement in words, images and music about the internment camp experience of the
Japanese/Americans during World War II.
Kurt Weiser, Tempe ceramist, will spend the summer working at Umdang Ceramic,
a village pottery in Dankwean, Thailand. Pottery has been produced for seven
hundred years in Dankwean, a village of several thousand people with thirty to
forty independent family potteries producing traditional work. About fifteen
years ago a number of Thai ceramic artists moved to Dankwean and set up studios.
Umdang Ceramic was one of the first and has become the most successful not only
to carry on the traditional work, using the same materials and many of the
techniques but also to introduce experimentation and exploration within the
framework of traditional Thai ceramics. Potters from many countries work at
Umdang Ceramic. Weiser, discussing his project, said, "I think that it's
important for artists to stretch themselves into new areas. I know that it will
challenge me and allow me to see my work and my place in ceramics from a
different perspective."
Professional Development grants are awarded throughout the year to help
artists attend out-of-state conferences and seminars which keep them abreast of
developments in their field and contribute to their professional growth. This
knowledge is shared with other Arizona artists. In 1989-90, thirty-seven artists
were assisted to attend a range of conferences and workshops, from the National
Association for Preservation and Perpetuation of Storytelling to Yellow Bay
Writers' Workshop, the Guitar Foundation of American Conference and the Atlatl
Native Network Conference.
The first Arizona Artists Conference was held on the campus of Northern
Arizona University in Flagstaff August 11-13, 1989. The conference was about
process and creativity and provided an opportunity for artists to crossover into
another discipline, showcase their own work and hear nationally known artists.
Over 200 artists spent the three days in interdisciplinary participatory
sessions led by teams of Arizona artists. The conference ended on a high note
with "performances" showcasing the creativity of each session.
The first Arizona Artists Conference was an acknowledged success by all
participants. The conference was a cooperative effort by the Flagstaff Arts
Council with the City of Flagstaff Tourism Fund, Phoenix Arts Commission,
Scottsdale Cultural Council, Tempe Arts Council, Tucson/Pima Arts Council,
Arizona Commission on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.
The services the Commission offers to artists assists them in making a living
as an artist. The Arts Resource Center is a library of publications on the
business of the arts, e.g. marketing, contracts, taxes, copyright, health
hazards of working with art materials, setting up a gallery, pricing of artwork,
and information about emergency loans, artists' colonies and workshops,
insurance (medical, disability, life), national artists organizations.
The Artists Guide to Programs, published annually by the Commission, carries
information about every program available to Arizona artists including deadlines
and application procedures for these programs.
The Arizona Commission on the Arts is the agency of resource on the state
level for Arizona artists. Any artist may request to be added to the
Commission's mailing list to receive the Bulletin and other special mailings of
interest to them as an Arizona artist.
The Arizona Commission on the Arts will continue to serve the Arizona artist
refining and structuring its programs, services and funding to respond to the
needs of its constituent artists.
1991 - ARIZONA TRIBAL MUSEUMS
PROGRAM
Arizona is rich in Native American heritage with a history of its Native
Peoples that dates back thousands of years. The diversity within the Native
American population, which is the third largest in the United States, is
strikingly apparent in the fifteen Native American cultures represented in
Arizona - Apache, Chemehuevi, Cocopah, Havasupai, Hopi, Hualapai, Maricopa,
Mohave, Navajo, Paiute, Pima, Quechan, Tohono O'odham, Yaqui and Zuni.
Native Americans are the State's most rural population; more than a fourth of
the state is American Indian reservations, most of which are far from the two
major urban centers. In addition, the tribes are geographically distant from one
another and without a viable communication network. Each Native American
community has its own traditions of language, social structure, rituals and
material culture. Historically, these cultural traditions have been passed on
through the clan, but social, economic and political changes have forced these
communities to search for new ways to maintain their culture and pass on their
traditions.
Recognizing the Native American peoples' contribution to Arizona and the
nation, the Arizona Commission on the Arts initiated the Tribal Museum Program,
in cooperation with ATLATL, a national Native American arts service organization
based in Phoenix, and with the Arizona State Museum in Tucson. The Tribal Museum
Program is designed to help tribal communities preserve and care for their
cultural heritage; provide access to resources and expertise in the care of
their collections.
The stimulus to form the Tribal Museum Program came from the efforts of the
Ak-Chin Tribe in central Arizona who were working with the Smithsonian to
develop an ecomuseum. The Ak-Chin is not alone in struggling to preserve the
integrity of their identity. Their experience in developing their museum is
typical of the changes and tensions facing Arizona's tribal communities. Many of
the same forces are at work in other tribal communities, and like the Ak-Chin,
many feel an urgency to reconnect their communities, especially the younger
generations, with their land, customs, history and language.
The Ak-Chin's rich cultural heritage is slowly fading and the community
fragmenting, as the tribe's language is displaced by English; traditional
activities, such as gathering basket materials, are disrupted by modern farm
technology and land use; and the tribe's isolation, which has insulated its
cultural identity from its larger neighbors, is eroded by participation in the
marketplace.
The need to find a new way to preserve their traditions and their past arose
after 700 boxes of artifacts were discovered at several sites on Ak-Chin land.
This discovery alerted the Ak-Chin people to a heritage they knew virtually
nothing about. The artifacts were placed in a federal repository in Tucson until
the Ak-Chin could develop a place of their own to house them - an ecomuseum, a
non-traditional museum. The underlying idea of an ecomuseum is that it is not a
place apart from the community, rather it is a community cultural center in
which the identity, value and spirit is a reflection of its community. It is a
museum without walls, one that reacts and interacts with the activities of the
land and its peoples and encourages their participation. It is a living tribal
vessel connecting past and present.
To help them develop their ecomuseum, the Smithsonian arranged for Ak-Chin
tribal members to visit other tribal museums; one of the visits was to an
ecomuseum in Quebec, Canada. Subsequently, tribal members from Quebec were
invited to visit the Ak-Chin community and the Arts Commission was asked to
identify other places the visitors should see. The visit offered the Arts
Commission the opportunity to bring the Arizona tribes together to welcome the
visitors from Canada and tell them about their programs and plans for tribal
museums.
The first meeting, initiated by ATLATL and the Arts Commission, brought
together fifty-six participants from fourteen Arizona tribes who discussed their
programs, dreams and frustrations. Of primary concern was the lack of access in
their communities to information that would help their museums fulfill their
missions. These issues and interest in learning about new trends and
technologies in the museum field; the struggle to balance the pressures of
economic development and tourism with the need for cultural preservation; and
professional development opportunities, became the focus of the Tribal Museum
Program funded by the National Endowment for the Arts.
To provide the assistance needed by the tribal communities, the Arizona State
Museum, in cooperation with the Arizona Commission on the Arts, undertook to
survey and identify the needs of the existing tribal museums and those tribal
groups that didn't have a museum, but had specific cultural preservation needs.
Based on this information the Arizona State Museum developed programs for
different levels of museum training in the Native American communities and
determined the need for consultant services to tribal museums.
The Arts Commission worked with existing tribal museums and cultural
committees from communities that demonstrated support for developing a museum to
prioritize the areas where each needed assistance. This ranged from collections
management to programming. The decision on the type of consultation and
consultant was made by the museums/cultural committees and when possible
consultants were selected from the Native American community. Awards for
consultants went directly to the tribal museums and it was the museum's
responsibility to arrange for the consultation. Some museums like the Hoo-hoogam
Ki Museum on the Salt River Pima Reservation used a consultant to help develop a
volunteer auxiliary and a board for the museum. Says Doreen Duncan, "we were
looking to do some educational programming with the tribe to get them more
involved with the museum and we plan to use these volunteers as teachers for
basketry, pottery and other types of classes."
Still others, like the Yavapai-Prescott Tribe, asked the Arts Commission to
help them with the design component in building their new Yavapai Indian
Heritage Center. The staff from the Heritage Center met with an architectural
consultant who helped them create a five-year plan for building their museum.
Since the consultancy, the Yavapai-Prescott Tribe has been awarded an Arts
Commission design grant to implement the plan. This master plan will allow for
realistic development of a center to perpetuate the cultural heritage of the
Tribe and encourage economic development of the Tribal community.
A long-term goal of the Arts Commission is integrating the professional
development of the tribal museums into other agency programs, such as the design
grant to the Yavapai-Prescott Tribe or the Arts in Education grant awarded to
the Ak-Chin. In particular, the Arts Commission hopes that as the tribal museums
develop they will become involved in the agency's multi-year Organization
Development Program, which is designed to assist organizations with
administrative and organizational skills. Thus far, the Hopi Cultural Center
Museum at Second Mesa on the Hopi Reservation and the Fort Yuma Quechan Museum
in Yuma have been selected to participate in the program.
The Tribal Museum Program continues to offer a forum for tribal
representatives to discuss common issues. These meetings are held at different
locations and each meeting showcases a different museum or tribal cultural
center. The success of the meetings can be attributed to the role tribal museums
play as presenters and in the planning and running of the meetings. The topical
breadth of the meetings is evident by the diversity of the Native American
presenters:
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Bonita Stevens, curator registrar at Colorado River
Indian Tribes Museum
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Margaret Archuleta, fine arts curator for the Heard
Museum
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Emory Sekaquapetwa, Hopi Dictionary Project, University
of Arizona
-
James Luna, contemporary Native American artist
-
Dr. Rina Swentzell, Santa Clara Pueblo Historic
Preservation Project
-
Dr. Fernando Escalante, Yaqui Family Literacy Program
-
John Crouch, Native American videographer, University
of Arizona
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Victor Masayesva, Hopi videographer
-
Susan Guyette, planning director for Santa Fe Community
Development
In addition to these presentations, the twenty-five to seventy participants
at each meeting discussed a range of issues from the nuts and bolts of museum
management to repatriation with cultural mores and governance with tribal
council support. Weldon Johnson of the Colorado River Indian Tribes Museum
states this last issue succinctly, "A challenge for the museum is trying to
structure ways to insure preservation through tribal government. For example,
developing a tribal ordinance that includes policies and procedures to protect
sites on the reservation."
The meetings built a sense of community and empowerment which contributed to
a development of trust. Informal networks of support evolved resulting in
resource exchanges among the participants. The Arts Commission encouraged tribal
museum staff, through professional development grants, to attend out-of-state
conferences; the information gathered and contacts made at these conferences
shared with the other tribal museums.
In 1990, as a direct outgrowth of the success of the tribal museum meetings,
Arizona hosted the Western Museums Association Conference, at which the Ak-Chin
tribe, the Smithsonian Institution and the Arts Commission presented a workshop
on the development of the ecomuseum and the collaborative efforts of the tribal
communities with ATLATL, the Arizona State Museum and the Arts Commission to
support the development of tribal museums.
The Ak-Chin Him-Dak opened in June, 1991, the first nationally recognized
ecomuseum in the United States-a tribute to the culture of the Tribe and
emblematic of the efforts of Arizona's tribal communities to ensure the
continuity of their culture. Him-Dak means "the way of life." "The Him-Dak is
here for the Elders of our community to bring what they know to the young
people, then the young people will know how to carry on the O'odham way of
life," explained Teresa Valisto, museum technician. Members of the tribe also
are enrolled in college degree programs so that they will be able to staff and
manage their ecomuseum. The museum and its future curators will be a vital link
in handing down tribal traditions to the next generation.
The Tribal Museum Program is launched; its emphasis on self-determination and
cooperation stimulated trust and sharing, which spawned a strong network among
the tribal museums across the state. The Tribal Museum Program will continue to
assist the museums in their endeavors to preserve the cultural heritage of the
Native Peoples in Arizona.
1992 - ARIZONA DANCE ON TOUR
In the past three years, Arizona hosted outstanding national dance artists as
one of only fourteen states selected for the Dance on Tour program of the
National Endowment for the Arts. Arizona Dance on Tour has brought dancers Brian
Jeffery, Tim O'Slynne and Mary Ward of Chicago's XSIGHT! Performance Group,
Chicago choreographer Sam Watson, New York City solo dance artist Robert Small,
Dennis Spaight, co-artistic director of Oregon Ballet Theatre in Portland,
Eugene Ballet Company from Oregon and Lewitzky Dance Company of Los Angeles.
These dancers and companies challenged Arizona dancers and audiences;
providing professional development for the dancers; expanding audience awareness
of dance as an artform.
Each year, the planning for Arizona Dance on Tour is done in partnership with
Arizona presenters and dance companies. As active partners the planning group
shapes the residencies of the visiting dance artists to gain maximum benefit
from the program. Building enjoyment of and support for dance in Arizona is a
long term energetic on-going cooperative effort.
The first year of Arizona Dance on Tour Arizona dance companies selected
out-of-state choreographers to create new work for their companies. The
choreographers and the dance companies they worked with are listed below.
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Tim O'Slynne and Brian Jeffery XSIGHT! Performance
Group (Chicago)
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Mary Ward XSIGHT! Performance Group
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Robert Small, solo dance artist (New York City)
-
Dennis Spaight, co-artistic director Oregon Ballet
Theatre
-
Sam Watson, Chicago choreographer Mary Ward, XSIGHT!
-
Sam Watson, Chicago choreographer
-
Center Dance Ensemble Phoenix
-
Desert Dance Theatre Tempe
-
a ludwig co: dance theatre Tempe
-
Ballet Arts Foundation Tucson
-
Tenth Street Danceworks Tucson
-
Orts Theatre of Dance Tucson
The guest artists choreographed new works, conducted classes, gave
lecture/demonstrations and participated in other audience development
activities. The residencies concluded with a performances by guest artists and
local companies, in Tucson sponsored by the University of Arizona Office of
Cultural Affairs, and in Phoenix sponsored by the Herberger Theater Center.
Arizona Dance on Tour Year I challenged Arizona dancers to create something
new and experimental. Working with the guest artists allowed Arizona dance
companies to experiment artistically and "stretch" their existing repertoire. As
Frances Smith Cohen, artistic director of Center Dance Ensemble, said of her
company's work with the out-of-state artists, "Working with other artists
allowed my dancers to expand their range of technique; this brought the
experimental quality into focus."
Modern dance audiences were exposed to inventive and exciting works during
rehearsals and performances. The guest artists worked with students at the
University of Arizona and Arizona State University, in schools with pre-school,
elementary and high school students and presented performance/discussions for
the public which included senior citizens. XSIGHT! presented mini-performances
in several venues during Downtown Saturday Night in Tucson. The guest artists
truly reached out to the community.
Bear, Beaver, Wolf and Raven-the great totems of the Northwest Coast
Indians—spun their tales in the Eugene Ballet Company's "Children of the Raven"
during the second year of Arizona Dance on Tour. Native American storyteller Ed
Edmo narrated; the storyteller is a vital figure in Native American culture who
helps preserve legends from extinction. In "Raven," the legend was told in the
traditional, complementary manner, first in spoken word, then in dance
form.Based on a richly woven tapestry of Indian legends from the Pacific
Northwest Coast tribes, "Raven" featured animal crests from the totem poles of
the Tschimin, Haida and Kwakiuti tribes. The dance style for "Raven," an
original piece choreographed by Toni Pimble, artistic director of the Company,
utilizes contemporary movement and props to create various effects. Dominating
the striking set, designed by Native American artist Lawney Reyes, was in
immense, raven-topped totem pole that bore the crests of Bear, Beaver, Wolf and
Raven. Totem poles, canoes and house beams were prominent fixtures.
Eugene Ballet was in residence in Page, Prescott, Safford/Thatcher, Lake
Havasu City and Yuma. "Raven" electrified these rural communities. One attendee
was so impressed with the Ballet's performance that he wrote a letter of praise
and enclosed a $500 check to the presenting organization. In another instance, a
family who hosted two male dancers and storyteller Ed Edmo have become devoted
dance fans. Previously, they attended the "Nutcracker" with their grandchildren
but were not fans of dance.
The Ballet's three-day residencies included dance and storytelling workshops,
informal performances and lecture/demonstrations in schools, parks, nursing
homes, senior citizen centers, outdoor arenas and a formal concert. Attendance
at the Arizona Dance on Tour events in the five communities was 15,938, an
impressive audience for dance in rural Arizona.
One performance of "Children of the Raven" was presented at the Herberger
Theater Center in downtown Phoenix.
In addition, during the second year, Arizona Dance on Tour sponsored
residencies and performances by Arizona dance companies in the rural
communities: Orts Theatre of Dance in Safford/Thatcher, Tenth Street Danceworks
in Page, a ludwig co: dance theatre in Lake Havasu City and Desert Dance Theatre
in Prescott.
Arizona Dance on Tour's third year sought to expand audiences for dance in
several ways while giving a guest company needed time and space to create a new
work. Working primarily with the Scottsdale Cultural Council and Ballet Arizona,
the Arts Commission brought the Lewitzky Dance Company of Los Angeles to present
"Episodes in Dance: The Lewitzky Project," a month-long residency beginning in
June 1992.
Bella Lewitzky, pioneer of modern dance, is hailed internationally as a
leader in modern dance choreography and is an eloquent advocate for the arts.
She founded the Dance Theater of Los Angeles in 1946 with Lester Horton and
formed the Lewitzky Dance Theater in 1966. She performed with the Company until
just ten years ago and continues to choreograph at least one piece a year. She
is an educator, artist and champion of freedom of expression.
During the residency Ms. Lewitzky created a new work that premiered, along
with an evening of company repertoire, at Scottsdale Center for the Arts. The
new work, "Episode #3: The Outsider," is based on an Asian in America and her
feelings of exclusion from society. The new work was set on four dancers and is
an episode in a much larger work.
The public had the opportunity to participate in the Lewitzky residency in
many ways additional to concert attendance. For a limited time Ms. Lewitzky
opened the rehearsal room to observers to allow insight into the creative
process behind the development of new choreography. Observers were able to track
the growth of the new piece and to briefly talk with Ms. Lewitzky about the
process. Groups from the Arizona dance community were invited to observe the
warm up: Wolf Trap teachers, dancers, dance teachers and visual artists
interested in dance. At the close of the class, Ms. Lewitzky addressed the
public and answered questions.
Throughout the residency Ms. Lewitzky was generous with her time. On five
occasions she joined select groups for lunch to speak to them before going into
her rehearsal. These special gatherings included legislators, arts advocates,
Scottsdale Cultural Council and Arizona Arts Commission board members, Business
Volunteers for the Arts and corporate contributors.
Company members presented a lecture/demonstration for the public at the
Herberger Theater Center. At the Scottsdale Center for the Arts the Company
presented master classes in intermediate level modern dance technique; a weekend
long seminar in technical theatre, dance production and touring; and a unique
opportunity to work with Ms. Lewitzky in a "Craft of Choreography" course which
took place three times a week for three weeks and resulted in a Choreographers
Showcase presented by the participants at the Scottsdale Center for the Arts.
Dance forms in the Choreographers Showcase ran the gamut from flamenco to
classical ballet.
The Lewitzky Dance Company began its Arizona residency in Tucson where they
presented classes in advanced and intermediate modern dance technique and a
workshop for composers taught by Larry Attaway, the company's resident composer.
During the residency in Scottsdale, the Company spent time in the East and West
Valleys conducting workshops through the West Valley Fine Arts Council and Mesa
Arts Center.
An important component of the third year project was the setting of the new
work on Ballet Arizona. Ballet Arizona dancers worked alongside the Lewitzky
dancers to learn the new piece which is now a part of their repertoire. Ballet
Arizona and the Lewitzky Company worked closely during the residency, with the
Ballet providing extra rehearsal space when necessary and technical assistance
during the lecture/demonstration.
In addition, the five rural presenters who participated in Arizona Dance on
Tour the second year were invited to attend the American Dance Festival/West in
Utah in August 1992. There they were introduced to new dance forms, dance
training and philosophy and had a chance to explore dance presentation
facilities. Ms. Lewitzky returned to Arizona in December 1992, accompanied by
Betsy Brininger of the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts in
California, to visit the five rural communities and talk with arts leaders about
dance as an artform and creative programming and marketing.
Each year Arizona Dance on Tour has taken a slightly different form. The
first year brought out-of-state dance artists to work with Arizona companies on
new work for presentation in joint concerts in Tucson and Phoenix. Audience
development activities were conducted. The second year, Eugene Ballet toured
five rural communities and presented one performance in Phoenix. Marketing
consultancies were provided to the rural communities. The third year brought the
Lewitzky Company to Scottsdale in June for a one month residency, rural
presenters attended the American Dance Festival West and Ms. Lewitzky returnee
to Arizona in December to work with the five rural communities on programming
and marketing. Arizona Dance on Tour will bring the Lewitzky Company back to
Arizona in 1993 for a tour of five rural communities and Tucson.
Arizona Dance on Tour is progressing towards its goals. There is increased
commitment in rural areas to the presentation of local and national dance
companies and renewed commitment to dance on the part of major urban presenters.
1993 - COMMUNITY
CULTURAL ASSESSMENT PROJECT
"Cultural Assessment and Planning is based upon the
premise that members of a community can define their cultural identity and can
plan for quality of life amenities in just the way cities have long planned for
streets and zoning; and more recently for historic preservation and downtown
redevelopment." - Craig Dreeszen, Arts Extension Services, University of
Massachusetts
The Community Cultural Assessment Project is a response to many Arizona
communities interest in a planning process which would strengthen growing
cultural activities and increase communication between city government, arts
groups and the community-at-large. A cultural assessment considers a community's
strengths and potential growth within the framework of cultural development.
Culture, different in each community, shapes daily life. The assessment process
helps communities define and focus on strengths and growth potential within the
framework of cultural development. It examines current cultural resources within
a community, types of art events community members would attend and support, how
the arts overall could be strengthened, nurtured and supported and how new or
additional arts programs could be integrated into the schools.
The Community Cultural Assessment Project began in 1987; the project expanded
in scope in 1989 as a result of a three-year grant from the Locals Program at
the National Endowment for the Arts. Funds were designated to assist local arts
agencies with professional staff development and on-going consultant assistance,
once they had conducted a cultural assessment.
Craig Dreeszen of Arts Extension Service, University of Massachusetts,
conducted the cultural assessments. Mr. Dreeszen also developed the Arts
Commission's Peer Consulting Program. The Peer Consultants are Arizona arts
professionals especially trained to do consultations in broad areas of the
business of the arts for Arizona local arts agencies, arts organization and
communities. The Peer Consultants will conduct future community cultural
assessments.
Several communities participated in the Cultural Assessment Project:
Avondale, Bisbee, Casa Grande, Eagar, Flagstaff, Glendale, Goodyear, Holbrook,
Lake Havasu City, Litchfield Park, Mesa, Page, Payson, Peoria, Prescott, Sierra
Vista, Yuma, Taylor, Tempe, Litchfield Park, Payson, Goodyear, Mesa, Sedona,
Sierra Vista, Snowflake, Tempe, Winslow, Yuma. The process is flexible and
adaptable to specific needs of a community. Each cultural assessment produced
different results; for example, Sedona, Tempe, Sierra Vista and Yuma hired
fulltime managers for their Arts Commissions.
Before the cultural assessment, community leaders were targeted for
interviews and community support was cultivated for the project. The press was
involved and as many people as possible were informed about the assessment and
their participation encouraged. Once the assessment began numerous meetings were
arranged with key community members such as the Chamber of Commerce leaders,
city staff, education leaders, individual artists, leaders from minority/ethnic
cultures within/nearby the community, local arts organizations, local media,
mayor and council members and private and corporate funders. Each meeting was
short—maximum forty-five minutes—and involved a group of people.To define a
culture, unique to each community's heritage, resources and blend of ethnic and
racial populations, is a challenging task. Time is needed to reflect, to ask
questions and to learn. When examining a community's culture all other issues
must be placed in a broader context. Then a community's cultural resources
become building blocks for every aspect of community development, from schools
to Main Street re-development, from social services to tourism. Focusing on
cultural needs can have the effect of transforming and revitalizing programs and
organizations throughout the community.
Many Arizona communities share the challenge of maintaining an enviable
quality of life and sense of identity as they double and re-double in
population. Cultural development can play a major role in maintaining a small
town feeling while planning to weave the arts into the fabric of community life.
Artists and arts advocates share with their neighbors a concern to maintain as
much as possible of the community's ambience. This concern presents numerous
opportunities for productive collaborations between the arts and other
organizations concerned with growth in their community—local arts agencies
working with Chambers of Commerce, city departments of parks and recreation or
leisure services, school districts and service clubs. In some communities this
can mean integrating the arts into the restoration of a revitalized downtown; or
capitalizing on a diverse population to develop a rich cultural life for all
groups.In several Arizona communities the potential impact of existing cultural
activity is not fully realized. The cultural assessment can help to focus not
only on the needs of the community, but also on how existing arts, business,
economic development and hospitality organizations can work together to coalesce
what is already there, and to pinpoint where there are gaps to be filled—such as
a need for cultural facilities or arts activities for teenagers or access to a
wider range of arts activities.Cultural assessments were carried out with
twenty-eight communities, ranging from urban Tempe, with a major university, to
the rural isolated and insulated communities of Snowflake and Taylor; from
Sierra Vista and Winslow with their broad cultural diversity, to the close knit
homogenous community of Litchfield Park.
The cultural assessment process is not a quick fix for surface problems.
Rather it pushes a community to uncover underlying issues—to consider policies,
structures and financial support for cultural development. It is important that
a community review the cultural assessment and through a public process set
priorities which can develop into an action plan. Everyone who participated in
the interviews and the community-at-large should be encouraged to become
involved. The arts community in each participating town has the opportunity to
contribute to the community's overall development through planning for and
implementing policies that enhance their community's quality of life.
1994 - THE ANTI-DRUG
A.P.P.L.E. CORPS
By Rose McBride, Anti-Drug A.P.P.L.E. Corps
Coordinator, Arizona Commission on the Arts.
It's three o'clock on a Wednesday afternoon, and the final school bell has
rung. Do you know where your children are?
If your children are students at Cottonwood Elementary School in Casa Grande,
Arizona, they're in the school cafeteria, learning about African folk tales,
dance and music. "These guys have never played an African drum before," says
guest artist Keith Johnson, referring to two boys who are busily teaching the
drumbeats they've learned to their after-school classmates, "but they've
practiced enough in the last couple of days that they can teach the others a
simple beat. And that makes them leaders in this group of kids." As participants
in an after-school program run by the town's Parks and Recreation Department,
the grade-schoolers are spending two weeks with Johnson in an Anti-Drug
A.P.P.L.E. Corps residency.
As a special program of the Arizona Commission on the Arts, the A.P.P.L.E
Corps provides grants to after-school programs in schools, community centers,
and parks and recreation programs across the state to fund guest artist
residencies. Its prevailing purpose is to facilitate and support programs that
help Arizona's children, families and communities reject drugs. The A.P.P.L.E.
Corps is a partnership of Artists, Private enterprise. Prosecutors, Law
enforcement officials and Educators. These partners are unified by the belief
that experiences in the arts are opportunities to build confidence, self-esteem
and pride, providing children and adults with productive activities that
strengthen the resolve to turn away from substance abuse. During its five-year
history, the A.P.P.L.E. Corps has reached nearly 33,000 students, educators,
after-school program staff and parents across the state of Arizona. It is
currently funded by the State and Regional Program of the National Endowment for
the Arts and the Maricopa County Attorney's Office.
Developing New Partners
The origin of this unique partnership dates to 1989. At that time, the
lobbying efforts of the statewide arts advocacy organization, Arizonans for
Cultural Development, and the Arizona Commission on the Arts resulted in the
establishment of an increased fee for profit-making corporations filing annually
with the Arizona Corporation Commission. The fees created the Arizona Arts Trust
Fund, a fund of approximately one million dollars annually, which in addition to
the state appropriation to the Arts Commission was dedicated solely to the
Arizona arts community.
Immediately after the Fund was established, a strong movement began in the
Arizona State Legislature to divert the arts money to non-arts programs that
addressed crime prevention. Although not previously allied with the arts
community nor responsible for the administration of the Fund, the Maricopa
County Attorney, Richard M. Romley, spontaneously stepped forward to speak out
against shifting the money away from arts-based programs to crime prevention
programs.
"After studying the issue I decided not to support the transfer of these
monies to law enforcement." Said Romley, in his recent testimony before the
United States House of Representatives Sub-committee on funding for the National
Endowment for the Arts. "In view of my position as a prosecutor, my opposition
to transferring more money to law enforcement surprised some. However, I
believed then, as I do today, that if we abandon the positive contributions of
art to our society in order to fight the drug war, then the drug dealers have
won again. They should not be permitted to take from our community that which is
good."
Romley initiated a lobbying effort and eventually persuaded state legislators
not to divert the Arizona Arts Trust Fund to non-arts programs. His leadership
also opened the door for two diverse groups – the arts community and law
enforcement - to come together and explore solutions to the extraordinarily
complex problem of drug abuse. During early brainstorming sessions, several
mutual beliefs surfaced: that unusual, creative partnerships were required to
address issues of drug abuse, and that the arts had special qualities that could
be applied to such partnerships. Resolving to seek additional community input,
representatives from the Maricopa County Attorney's Office, Arizonans for
Cultural Development and the Arizona Commission on the Arts approached the
Phoenix Police Department, the Arizona Department of Education, local artists,
arts organizations and arts agencies. This varied cross-section nonetheless
shared common ground. With the gathering of these proponents, the A.P.P.L.E.
Corps was formed - a partnership based on the premise that drug problems pose a
serious threat to the community and that creative solutions from all parts of
the community would be necessary to create change.Recognizing a New Constituency
Initially, the A.P.P.L.E. Corps functioned as a resource listing of arts
groups across the state offering programs with an anti-drug message for
school-age audiences. When the Arizona Department of Education announced that
schools would be permitted to use drug prevention funds for arts events, it soon
became clear that the demand for anti-drug arts programming would exceed the
availability of such offerings. In his role as County Attorney, Romley had
direct access to the Maricopa County Anti-Racketeering Revolving Fund (or RICO
fund), which is derived from assets seized from drug dealers. Demonstrating his
commitment to the A.P.P.L.E. Corps, Romley awarded $20,000 from the RICO Fund to
the Arizona Commission on the Arts to re-grant to arts organizations for the
development of programs with anti-drug themes. Immediately afterward, Romley
further strengthened the partnership between the arts and law enforcement by
successfully advocating that the legislative language on the uses of RICO funds
be broadened to include prevention programs.
While researching new outlets for serving Arizona's youth through the
A.P.P.L.E. Corps, the Arts Commission became aware of the increasing number of
quality after-school programs across the state, which often lacked both arts
programming and the opportunity to receive arts funding. Further, after-school
programs were operating in a variety of community-based settings, such as
YMCA's, Boys and Girls Clubs', and parks and recreation centers, but were not
participating in any of the Commission's funding programs. Since they operate
during hours when children are often not supervised, the connection with
potentially at-risk youth was clear. "Today, all kids are at-risk, some to a
higher degree than others because of environmental factors such as poverty,
crime and abuse." says Linda Siciliano, child care director at Phoenix's South
Mountain YMCA, "but the kids who are most at-risk are those who are alone
after-school. Teen sex, drug use, gang activity - these things are most
prevalent when the school day ends and there's nothing else to do." According to
Pam Willier, Recreation Coordinator for the Phoenix Parks, Recreation and
Library Department, "One of the problems facing kids is the abundance of free
time, especially after school. One of the things we try to do is fill that time
with positive activities - and that doesn't mean just volleyball and basketball.
The arts should be a part of it, too, and can really hook a kid and steer him
into a positive direction." With these considerations in mind, the Arts
Commission identified after-school programs as ideal candidates for a new
funding program. Subsequently, grants were sought and received from the National
Endowment for the Arts and the Maricopa County RICO fund to develop a program
that would connect after-school programs statewide with artists and arts
organizations.
Getting Started
After-school program directors immediately responded with excitement. Recalls
Gwen Worthington, Community Education Director of Phoenix's Creighton School
District, "My first thought was thatfinally we would have an opportunity - and
the means - to enrich our after-school program through the arts, in a way that
addressed our specific needs. Other grant programs were not as accessible to us,
because they were limited to a regular school day schedule. But learning
continues throughout the day."
Eligible applicants, who were defined as established after-school programs
affiliated with parks and recreation programs, neighborhood centers, boys and
girls clubs or school districts, were encouraged to apply to the Arts Commission
through a competitive process. Funding priority would be given to sites with
limited access to arts programming, sites with youth populations at a high risk
for drug abuse and gang involvement, or sites located in rural communities.
Applicants also had to demonstrate their administrative capability to complete
the project, that their projects focused primarily on increasing staff skills in
the arts and working directly with children, and that they had worked
collaboratively with the guest artist in planning the project.
The Residency Design - Achieving Goals Through Multiple
Activities
To date, 78 A.P.P.L.E. Corps grants have been awarded. Since some grantees
choose to use their funds at more than one site, a total of 174 separate
after-school programs will have participated in residencies by the end of the
1994-95 school year. Projects have featured diverse artists and disciplines,
with a wide variety of structures. In each of the projects, after-school program
directors selected artists from the Commission's Artist Roster. After-school
program directors and artists collaborate to develop short-term residencies
featuring three types of activities: staff training, workshops for children and
professional presentations of the artists' work for the community.
In training sessions with after-school staff, artists concentrate on
increasing skills in the chosen arts discipline, using videotapes, slide shows,
lesson plans and the same hands-on activities that will be presented during
workshops with children. The benefits of the arts in building communication
skills, promoting creativity and encouraging self-expression - all tools in drug
prevention - are also emphasized. "I particularly liked the hands-on experiences
the staff received as they made their own puppets and experienced success at
creating something of their own design," said Nancy Kiser, After-school Program
Director Phoenix's Alhambra School District in response to a puppetry residency,
"I believe that they have found a creativeness and resourcefulness that they did
not realize they possessed." Helping after-school staff to develop skills and
ideas for using the arts to work with kids during and more importantly, after
the project is the primary goal. "The beauty of this program is in the staff
training," says Gwen Worthington, "After-school programs have a very high
student turnover from the beginning to the end of each year, so a project that
includes exciting, lively experiences specifically for staff really has an
impact. Maybe it's not seen immediately, but the artist's influence is
long-lasting and pervasive. We could never have trained our staff in the way
that the artists have."
Artists also work directly with the children, in workshops which don't
necessarily focus on anti-drug themes, but which do use the experience of making
art as a vehicle for practicing cooperation, finding alternate solutions to
conflicts, and increasing pride, self-esteem and confidence. "We wanted the kids
to realize that they have talents and abilities and a valuable contribution to
make," said Downtown Phoenix YMCA Executive Director Lisa Druin on her project
with muralist Martin Moreno, "It's a strategy to build their self-esteem and
self-confidence so they won't feel like there's nothing better for them to do
than get involved in drugs and other forms of anti-social behavior." The
resulting mural from the YMCA project is now on display in the cafeteria of
Phoenix's Wilson Elementary School. It is painted on three four-by-eight foot
panels, and depicts shadowy figures of children rising above images of
pollution, crime and poverty. "I've always wanted to paint a mural," said Jose
Lopez, an eight-grader who volunteered his skills to help the grade-schoolers
who participated in the residency. "This was the only chance I'd ever have."
A.P.P.L.E. Corps projects must also include a professional presentation of
the artist's work, and project directors have been very creative in showcasing
their guest artists. Residents of Page, a rural community on the edge of Navajo
Indian Reservation, had the opportunity to visit the town's only art gallery
during a two-week exhibition of Navajo rugs and jewelry crafted by artist Nanaba
Aragon, who presented a residency at Page Middle School. The Scottsdale
Recreation Division, in preparation for a project with muralist Martin Moreno,
held a public meeting for residents living adjacent to the site where a large
outdoor mural was to be painted. Moreno discussed the history of mural art,
presented a slide lecture of his own work, and described the process through
which the mural would be developed. Once a magnet for spray-paint vandals, the
wall on which the mural was painted remains graffiti-free more than a year after
its completion.
A Challenge With Rewards
Artists have universally found that working in after-school programs is a
challenging endeavor – with many rewards. "It was a totally new experience,
working with the South Tucson Youth Center and the children involved in the
after-school program," said Leon Myron, a Native American artist whose
residency, sponsored by the Tucson Parks and Recreation Department, taught
grade-schoolers about traditional Hopi Kachina-doll carving. "They really got me
thinking about how we as artists can give more of ourselves and help change
kids' attitudes about themselves - and about other cultures."Since many of the
projects focus on art-forms that have specific ethnic and cultural origins,
participating students have the chance to learn about another culture first-hand
- a valuable experience in developing respect for others.
Tucson musician Chuck Koesters, who worked with his wife, dancer Anne Bunker,
in a residency with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Tucson, adds, "Most of the
students we worked with were fairly young, and most expressed a real fear of
gangs and drugs. In a community ravaged by gangs and drugs, children have to
'grow up' or 'harden' to survive. I feel our project gave our students a chance
at self-expression that could free them, if only for a moment, of the pressure
from their environment and show them that there is opportunity in choosing a
different way of acting and reacting."
After-school programs have evolved over the last ten years to meet the
changing needs of the family, according to Renee Chambers, community education
director of Madison School District in Phoenix. That means accommodating a wider
age range of kids, allowing for flexible scheduling and attendance and
understanding that the kids have already had a full day of structured classroom
work by the time they get to work with the artist. Still, says mask-maker Maria
Luisa Ruiz, "These kids are wonderful kids. They need after-school activities to
keep them busy, where they can share ideas and interact with each other in a
safe setting. You have to be able to relate to them and become their friend and
respect their traditions." Adds Chambers, "The love that the artist has for his
work is absolutely contagious, and the kids pick up on that when they're working
together." And participating artists have indeed responded by re-evaluating
their ideas and adapting their methods of bringing art to children.
Although A.P.P.L.E. Corps is still a pilot project, participating
after-school directors attest to the impact that arts programming has had on the
kids served by their programs. As Pam Willier says, "The arts have a very
therapuetic value that can help kids communicate their state of mind. It gives
them a chance to express things going on in their lives in a powerful and
unusual way." Project directors have also found that kids are attracted to
after-school programs in larger numbers when an arts project is underway.
Reports Laura Fredericks, project director at Page Middle School, "It was so
great to see the number of kids who wanted to be here instead of on the streets.
Half of our kids were reservation kids, who may never have had this
opportunity." Noreen Wernick, Community Education Director of Sunnyslope
Extended Day Program in Phoenix recognized this benefit as well: "We had many
more children in our program during the residency. Therefore, many more were
with us rather than home alone. This unique opportunity provided new exposure
and opened new doors for our Extended Day program."
Future Directions
After-school programs, whether offered through school districts, parks and
recreation departments, or other community organizations, are here to stay. As
professionals in an increasing and evolving industry, after-school program
directors are continuously fine-tuning their offerings to reflect the changing
needs of the families they're trying to serve. In spite of this, money continues
to be tight. "After-school programs do not typically have funding," says Renee
Chambers, "and that means we have to be very creative in finding new
partnerships, like the one with the Arizona Commission on the Arts, in order to
offer better programs each year."
The dedication of after-school program directors to present quality arts
opportunities to the kids whom they serve cannot be ignored, nor can the
anecdotal evidence that the arts do have an impact on participating youth. "The
Arizona Commission on the Arts is committed to this program. We have reached new
constituents: both students and after-school staffs. This program has challenged
artists to adapt their presentations to non-traditional settings. Based on the
response from the first three years of activity in after-school programs, we
will find the resources for the A.P.P.L.E. Corps to continue," says Shelley
Cohn, the Arts Commission's Executive Director.
"Gangs and drugs are people's attempt to plug the holes of our society and to
reduce the pain of low self-esteem and poverty," Chuck Koesters adds, "It will
be a long process to fill the holes with art instead. But one big advantage is
in the ability of the arts to improve self-esteem and self-worth, through the
students' realization that they can produce something of beauty." Gwen
Worthington agrees, "Anything that enriches a child's life has value, and the
arts, in particular, get through to the soul of a child."
1995 - ARIZONA THEATRE
CONFERENCES 1984-1995
"Write about what you know." - Horton Foote
It was a magic weekend for the 140 theatre professionals from throughout who
attended the 1995 Arizona Theatre Conference in Tucson the first part of June.
The magic was Horton Foote, Pulitzer Prize winning playwright. A man of gentle
elegance and unstinting energy, Foote electrified the conference as he guided
Arizona directors, playwrights, actors and actresses through discussions,
auditions and staged readings of his play The Roads to Home. Known worldwide for
his work in film and on Broadway, the prolific Foote, now 79, is the author of
over forty plays and screen scripts and numerous works for television, spanning
a half century. His Pulitzer Prize winning play. The Young Man from Atlanta, was
produced by the Off Off Broadway company, Signature Theater. His many credits
include film versions of Of Mice and Men starring John Malkovich and To Kill a
Mockingbird directed by Alan Pakula, for which he won an Academy Award. His Trip
to Bountiful opened on Broadway in 1953 starring Lillian Gish and Eva Marie
Saint, and the 1952 Broadway production of The Chase starred Jose Ferr
