Ms. Elisabeth Dorman

Welcome to Innovations in State Arts Advocacy Blog Salon!

Posted by Ms. Elisabeth Dorman, Apr 11, 2016 0 comments


Ms. Elisabeth Dorman

Who are the players in statewide arts advocacy you might ask?

Betty Plumb (Executive Director, South Carolina Arts Alliance) speaks with arts advocatesText book speaking, state arts advocacy leaders and their organizations are the primary source of advocacy promoting arts and arts education friendly policy from state governments. Many statewide arts advocacy leaders belong to Americans for the Arts’ State Arts Action Network (SAAN), so you may also hear them referred to as SAAN members.

Most statewide arts advocacy organization’s issue priority is advocating for more state arts agency funding, which in turn is granted out to local arts, educational, and/or cultural organizations across the state to provide greater arts and arts education access to its state’s citizens.

Statewide arts advocacy leaders are the face that lawmakers see at the state capitol day-to-day as the champion and protector of the arts, culture, and arts education. They serve as the bridge between elected officials and grassroots arts advocates. As SAAN Council Vice Chair and Maryland Citizens for the Arts Executive Director John Schratwieser once described his role: “As a statewide arts advocacy director, my job is not to convince the lawmaker, it’s to put the right constituents with the right story in front of the lawmaker, and let the story speak for itself.”                                                                    John Schratwieser with Maryland First Lady Yumi Hogan

This blog salon seeks to walk you through the role of statewide arts advocacy organizations and to feature the many “hats” statewide arts advocacy leaders may wear in promoting the arts, culture, and arts education in their state—as well as the new and innovative programs and initiatives they are leading.

  • On Monday, April 11, we’ll start from a more broad level of what the SAAN is and what is statewide arts advocacy.
  • Tuesday, April 12 will explore impactful statewide arts advocacy campaigns;
  • Wednesday, April 13 will highlight key statewide arts advocacy programs.
  • On Thursday, April 14, you will learn about innovative, strategic partnerships that a statewide arts advocacy organization leverages;
  • And Friday, April 15 will discuss statewide leaders’ reflections on the field as well as thoughts on the future of statewide arts advocacy organizations’ roles.

I would like to give a huge thank you to all of the bloggers for this blog salon and the impactful work they are doing in their states and communities. I invite all readers to interact with each blogger in the comments section on the ARTSblog platform; let’s have a two-way dialogue!

Happy reading!

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