The Dawson Research Internship
2007: ''Professional Presenters and the Amateur Arts''
For the Dawson Initiative presentation at Arts Presenters' 50th annual national conference in January 2007, the steering committee selected a topic of increasing interest to the cultural and funding communities: the potential connection or reconnection of professional performing arts organizations with amateur or non-professional artists. The session summary appears below, along with links to the publications and organizations discussed in the presentation. A briefing summary of the project will be posted soon.
FOCUS ON RESEARCH:
PROFESSIONAL PRESENTERS AND THE AMATEUR ARTS
presented Sunday, January 21, 2007
With new technologies and renewed passion, Americans are making art and expressive works in a thousand different ways -- knitting circles, community ensembles, web-based songwriter networks, ''weekend warrior'' musicians, webloggers, photographers, ethnic dance and handicraft groups, filmmakers, podcasters, poetry slammers, hip-hop and scratch artists, and on and on. Some aspire to and surpass professional standards. Others engage for the rush and joy of creating something new. Join a team of graduate students and special guests as we explore the role and relevance of professional arts presenters in this emerging world of participatory practice. Are these amateur art-makers competitors to the arts presenter or powerful new partners in advancing a community's expressive life? This second-annual effort of the Bill Dawson Research Internship Fund will honor Bill's life and work by connecting emerging trends to professional practice and by stretching what you think you know about your work.
Research team: Leigh Henderson, Joanne Jacobson, Jara Kern, Maggie Marquardt; Advisor/Session Moderator: Andrew Taylor, Director, Bolz Center for Arts Administration; Session Respondents: Bill Ivey, Director, Curb Center for Art, Enterprise and Public Policy, Vanderbilt University; James O'Connell, Jr., Executive Director, Performing Arts Foundation, Wausau, WI
REFERENCED PUBLICATIONS
- ''The Pro-Am Revolution: How enthusiasts are changing our economy and society,'' by Charles Leadbeater and Paul Miller, DEMOS, 2004
- ''America's Performing Art: A Study of Choruses, Choral Singers, and Their Impact,'' Chorus America, 2003
- ''Informal Arts: Finding Cohesion, Capacity and Other Cultural Benefits in Unexpected Places,'' by Alaka Wali, Rebecca Severson, Mario Longoni, Center for Arts Policy, Columbia College, Chicago, 2002
- Immigrant Participatory Arts: An Insight into Community-Building in Silicon Valley, by Pia Moriarty, Cultural Initiatives Silicon Valley, 2004
- There's Nothing Informal About It: Participatory arts within the cultural ecology of Silicon Valley, by Maribel Alvarez, Cultural Initiatives Silicon Valley, 2005 (available through the Cultural Initiatives web site)
- Engaging Art: The Next Great Transformation of America's Cultural Life, co-edited by Bill Ivey and Steven Tepper, Routledge, expected publication in Spring 2007
FEATURED ORGANIZATIONS
