Mr. Randy Engstrom
Looking Forward: A View to Seattle
Posted by Jun 23, 2008 6 comments
Mr. Randy Engstrom
I can't help but view this whole conference experience through the lens of its arrival in my hometown next year. What will we do differently? What worked and what didn't? What does 'Metro Natural' mean? I really want to be able to show off the 'Authentic Seattle' character, but also be realistic about what we will be able to do...I didn't even make all of the sessions I wanted to this year, and I had far less responsibility than I will next time around.
I really enjoyed the presentation I just saw about uwishunu, and am totally blown away by how smart, savvy, and authentic that project seems to be. I hope they come to Seattle next year. I also really enjoyed the panel that Ra and Lisa from Illinois Arts Alliance hosted on succession planning; I did manage to step on a small land mine during that discussion when I suggested that hiring young, capable staff and training them up through the organization was a way to protect yourself from succession crisis...apparently it sounded like I was saying don't hire people over 35 (I wasn't). It made me think about a few things for next year:
-Multigenerational Leadership dialogue: It gets a little too 'us vs. them' for me...I think we would all be served by being able to hear and learn from each others stories, regardless of age or institution.
-Combined panels with Economic Development and Leadership: In both tracks it was sometimes hard to tell which was which. I think these two areas are closely linked (uwishunu is a good example).
-I have 3 staff under the age of 25, all running different aspects of our program...I'd like to put them on a panel next year and explore what works/doesn't work about distributed leadership, and what their view of organizational structure is. A lot of people wonder aloud what young people think/want; I suggest we ask them.
-Youth Voice: There is so much dialogue about arts education, but I haven't seen any youth as presenters. I think that would be really informative
-Sustainability: It appears that this is out theme, and I hope we can explore a wholistic view of the idea of sustainablility...Organizational, environmental, career, operating structure. I have some great ArtVenture ideas for the conference that adress this idea. I also think that susatainability naturally lends itself to crossover between tracks.
I'm just sayin'
I love the people from Tuscon!!!
See you next time...
Randy
Comments
Randy,
Back at you from the Old Pueblo!
Thank you for the critical analysis of your experiences observations and refection of this years’ conference and tracks.
I am in complete agreement with your take on Multi-Generational Leadership and most importantly Youth Voice which I think should have cross-over in the arts education, civic engagement and leadership tracks.
Love the holistic sustainability comment... lets also include integration of the Preserving Diverse Cultures Track, an awesome innovation this year however from my experiences, this years sessions just began to scratch the surface. Critical discussion on how in which we develop cultural policy, develop or utilize evaluation mechanism of cultural vitality and the concept of cultural stewardship should have a platform in each track.
I would like to see cultural diversity content address issues of historically under represented communities within the context of the economic impact of arts and culture, arts and cultural education, civic engagement and leadership contributing to panel discussions at large rather than in isolation.
Keep Tucson in the information loop as you and your constituency master mind the 2009 conference.
Randy - I followed all of you bloggers over the conference weekend and was especially interested in your observations for next year as influenced by your experience in Philadelphia. How can we have a confluence of voices in planning for AFTA in Seattle, and ensure that the conference reflects this year's experiences? With the Mayor's Office also responsible for planning the Alaska Yukon Centennial (June - October of 2009) how can the cultural community assist in planning and sharing the work load? I would love to see the Emerging Leaders group grab hold of a piece of the sustainability conversation, and I hope the larger community in the Northwest can model a more fruitful intergenerational conversation. So much food for thought! Thanks for your bulletins - and travel safe. Tina
see you soon .... might even be up there THIS summer. word up to m'boy fife too.
Randy, looking forward to future conversations about setting the bar for the leadership track.
More soon,
T
Randy,
We're really excited to help with the Seattle conference!
I'm totally on board with the Youth Voices idea, and I think we can be a great resource for bringing some of those youth to the table.
Let's keep in touch!
We love the "gente" from Seattle
TPAC