Five qualities that lead to small town arts success

I was talking with a good friend of mine who ran a youth arts organization in Richmond, Virginia for a number of years and now does consulting work. He has enjoyed the podcast but he brought to my attention that it might be a good idea to release a podcast that is a recap of previous episodes and provides some clear instructions on what you can do right now, if you deliver the arts in a smaller community. I feel that I have collected enough intel over the last 9 months that now is a good time to share what I have learned. 

I have showcased a number of model organizations in our first few episodes. Common with all successful small community organizations are some specific qualities. I have identified 5 of them. In today’s episode, I will name them and explain them. 

Quality number 1: Successful small community arts organizations reflect with specificity the community they serve. Their identity is tightly entwined with the community itself (history, culture, landscape, and/or geographical). 

In Episode 1 we spoke with Appalshop in the Appalachian Mountains of Kentucky. Their name says it all. Their work ties back directly to what it means to live, work, and be from Appalachia. I imagine if they were the Letcher County Arts Center and their mission was general arts delivery, they would be significantly smaller and wouldn’t be able to galvanize their community to the degree that they do and they certainly wouldn’t access the level of national funding and attention they receive. 

In Episode 2 we spoke with the Wormfarm Institute in the farmlands of Wisconsin. Farm is literally in their name and the focus of their art work connects directly to the land and what that land produces. Their annual festival travels from farm to farm, utilizing the landscape as a backdrop. The festival also has a theme of fermentation and incorporates all that the area ferments. 

In Episode 3 I interviewed Roger Schmidt who leads Sitka Fine Arts Camp in Sitka, Alaska. Their identity is tightly connected to Alaska as they are identified as not just Sitka’s arts camp but Alaska’s. Being geographically isolated from the continental US, they use this as an advantage and not a disadvantage. They have been recognized by the state and nationally for their work to provide arts access to youth to our most northern state. It is baked into their purpose and business model. 

In Episode 4 we introduced you to Riverzedge in Rhode Island. They are located in Woonsocket and they specifically serve youth (which will come up again in our next essential quality). As a part of their mission and business model, they have a shop where they sell items made by the students they serve and employ. In this shop are Woonsocket and Rhode Island specific merchandise. They also have a program dedicated to public art that utilizes and enhances with specificity the city where they live. 

In Episode 8 once again we meet an organization whose name is tied to their location. Border Arts Corridor. This orgnizartion serves a US/Mexican border community, has their entire identity and purpose tied to the culture of that border community and all that that entails. 

Quality 2: The organizations address a real and tangible need or needs in the community. Their mission is not abstract or broad. The need they address is very clear. 

I often see arts organizations, because of both the subjective and abstract nature of the arts, take a broad approach to their identity and mission. This could feel like a good thing to do in a smaller community when you are wanting to cover all bases and be all things to all people. Vagueness will be the death of you. Vagueness doesn’t galvanize people. It doesn’t fundraise and it doesn’t sell admission. 

I have read a lot of mission statements that look something like this:  

“To produce the arts for our town and its surrounding counties because the arts are essential to a thriving community.”

Sounds nice enough. I like a thriving community. I like the arts. But what community? What arts? Why? 

Now let’s listen to Riverzedge’s mission statement:

“The mission of Riverzedge Arts is to use innovative applied and work-based learning strategies to teach art, design, and critical thinking to the youth of northern RI, providing our participants as well as our community with a path to economic and cultural sustainability.”

Hear the difference? The need they address is super clear. Their identity is clear. 

How about Appalshop which is much more encompassing. Now, there mission starts broad but then it narrows down into specific focus areas: 

It reads: 

“Our mission is to enlist the power of education, media, theater, music, and other arts to:

• document, disseminate, and revitalize the lasting traditions and contemporary creativity of Appalachia;

• tell stories the commercial cultural industries don’t tell, challenging stereotypes with Appalachian voices and visions;

• support communities’ efforts to achieve justice and equity and solve their own problems in their own ways;

• celebrate cultural diversity as a positive social value;

and participate in regional, national, and global dialogue toward these ends.”

When I read that… I understand who Appalshop is and the needs they address. With this approach, they become ESSENTIAL to their community. Not just a nice addition to their small community’s amenities but a critical part of their cultural infrastructure. 

Let’s look at Wormfarm Institutes mission: 

“Wormfarm cultivates connections between our rural and urban neighbors through art, food, and the land. We do this by investing in our cultureshed: This “cultureshed” includes 1. A region irrigated by streams of creators and producers, fed by deep pools of human and natural history and nourished by what is cultivated locally. 2. The efforts of artists, farmers, chefs, scholars, writers, performers and community organizers who contribute to a vital diverse local culture.”

So clear. 

Finally, Border Arts Corridor which is simple but still clear: 

“Border Arts Corridor (BAC) is dedicated to cultivating arts and cultural programming that explores the complexities of the borderlands so that social borders will fall and bridges materialize.”

You know who they are and what they do in one sentence. 

Quality number 3: The organizations have a cause or call to action that galvanizes the community directly and beyond just financial support. 

I want to use Sitka Fine Arts camp as the example here although all of the organizations have rallying cries and calls to action. Often this occurs through festivals or large scale events. For Sitka it is their campus. Their home is an old college campus. The college itself closed and left the community with a sprawl of empty buildings. Over time, these buildings began to fall into disrepair and had become a cultural, economic, and visual blemish for the community. As their Executive Director Roger Schmidt articulated, it became a symbol of community decline. Sitka Fine Arts Camp operated in a different facility at the time of the college’s closure. They were approached to take over the grounds and buildings and convert them into a sprawling art campus. At the time, this move had its skeptics. What was so smart though was that through Roger’s unique leadership and gumption, building by building they began to turn the campus into an active and rejuvenated set of facilities. Many of its skeptics turned into supporters. Now the change did take some fundraising but because of the size of Sitka and the tight nit nature of their small community, revitalization also involved direct involvement of the community itself to repair, replace, and update the buildings much like a Habitat for Humanity project. This direct involvement, beyond financial assistance, created a deep relationship between the community and the organization. You can mow the grounds, repair flooring, paint a classroom… your work is a part of the change in a direct way. 

I love to share the story of their donor wall. It is very Alaskan and rugged. It is made up of wood from the surrounding forest and each wooden plaque is the same size. You get on the wall with any size donation. Everyone is valued equally and it sets a culture around participation and ownership. It also creates a broader social pressure to be engaged. It becomes embarrassing NOT to be on the wall. 

Quality number 4: The arts are valued financially and this is manifested in budgeting, labor, and delivery. 

So, all of the organizations I spoke with pay their artists and/or instructors. This was across the board. Value has to be placed on the labor and art is in fact work. My favorite small community trend is a desire for public art but asking for submissions from artists with no pay. The locale tries to sell the exposure and visibility of the project as the payment. I can tell you, I have watched artists get taken advantage of with projects like this and what happens; the cycle of undervaluing the art continues. Exposure does not lead to the artist's next paid gig. It just teaches the community they can get artistic labor for free. 

Communities can really undervalue the real skill and time it takes to create public art. Here in Lynchburg we have a very bizarre fountain in our river. It is just a slab of concrete with a pipe poking out of it. It shoots a rush of water hundred of feet into the air and resembles an industrial accident as the ED of our local children’s museum loves to point out. Visitors and many locals often wonder what it is and if it is on purpose. Sadly it is. So, how did we get a fountain that looks like an industrial accident? My understanding is that the original vision was that an artist would create something for this fountain. I am not sure of the history of the funding, but funding never manifested for an artist so now we simply have the exposed fountain mechanism with nothing to beautify or define it. I imagine this had to do with a lack of understanding that art has a cost and that cost wasn’t understood or planned for. I would argue the fountain now does the opposite of its intent. Instead of wowing and inspiring visitors it creates snickers and jokes. 

For this quality of valuing artistic labor, I want to use Riverzedge Arts as my prime example. The reason is that their organization could actually exist without paid artistic labor because they work with youth, most of whom are under the age of 18 and the nature of the work is educational. It would be easy to simply build a tuition model, generating a revenue line for the organization. If they did this though they wouldn’t be who they are and they wouldn’t have the relationship to the community they do. The organization’s focus is to work with young people from low-income families and underserved communities, providing them with opportunities to develop their creative and technical skills and in so doing the organization provides job training and career development services for young people who are interested in pursuing careers in the arts. So, they pay the students for their commissioned work that manifests in their public art, multi-media commissions such as videos and graphic design, and work that they create that is sold in the organization’s online shop that includes merchandise such as t-shirts and coffee mugs. On one level this is necessary for the students to participate. Many of these students' economic circumstances means they would need to be working part time jobs to help support their families if they were not participating in Riverzedge’s programs. Most importantly though, they are teaching their community that the arts are valuable and the skills associated with creative fields are a part of the labor force. Because it is valued, funding follows. 

Also, the staff of these successful organizations are paid and often provided benefits. In episode 3, Roger and I talked at length about the importance of providing his team in Sitka health insurance. As he said, you just have to do it. There is certainly the ethics of the matter but it is also a business strategy. Now, I went through a similar transition as Roger in providing health insurance for our staff here at the Academy in my first couple of years with the org and I am now in the process of implementing a retirement plan and 4% match for our team. It can be easy to look at your budget and see that the math may not add up in the present. Your payroll seems to be weighing you down and all you can think about is the dollars you have to raise and the tickets you have sell and the number of students you need to enroll to cover all these costs. Here is the thing though… it is an investment. Good employees will raise more money, will sell more tickets and will engage more students. If your team is good and they feel good this will project out into the community. If they feel undervalued or you simply employ (or in some cases not employ) who you can afford… I promise you your engagement will suffer. The arts are SO hard to deliver and the people who do it and do it well have value. 

Last but not least, Quality number 5: The organizations have a direct and defined relationship with their board of directors. 

Now, the organization I spoke with did not share in the number of board members they had or the make up of their boards. Some boards have non artist community members with skills they bring to help support the organization such as lawyers, fundraisers, civic leaders etc. Some boards were only made up of artists and practitioners and some organizations had large boards and some very small boards. 

What they all shared though was a clear and established relationship to that board that was mutually understood and beneficial to all involved. I can’t express how important this is. It looks different for each org and each community but what is shared is there are established expectations for the board and from the board. It is active and not passive. If you are forming an organization or running one, it is important to establish clear roles, responsibilities, and goals for the board. If they are simply a group that gathers around a table to listen to reporting, you are not maximizing the potential for your organization. This group of people is responsible for the success of the organization and they need pathways to do so. Whether they are building a new roof in Sitka Alaska, drumming up commissioned artists to come to a farm in Wisconsin, or connecting you directly to your corporate community in Rhode Island, you must give them clear pathways to support you and clear means of measuring their success. 

So to review: 

Quality number 1: 

The organizations reflect with specificity the community they serve. Their identity is tightly entwined with the community itself.

Quality number 2: 

The organizations address a real and tangible need or needs in the community. Their mission is not abstract or broad. The need they address is very clear. 

Quality number 3: 

The organizations have a cause or call to action that galvanizes the community directly and beyond just financial support. 

Quality number 4: 

The organization values the arts financially and this is manifested in budgeting, labor, and delivery.

Quality number 5: 

The organization has a direct and defined relationship with their board of directors.

My advice is to enhance any of these things you are currently doing and to begin to address the others if you are not. This can be overwhelming with limited resources and community specific challenges, but if you make incremental changes in any of these areas, over time there will be results for the good. Successful arts delivery doesn’t happen overnight. One quality not mentioned is patience and knowing it is a long game. Don’t be discouraged and remember the efforts are worth the results. I will share that my own organization probably needs to overhaul its own mission and we are in the midst of addressing our board engagement. None of us is perfect. 

Thank you and keep up the good work and remember your community needs you! 

Border Arts Corridor: Douglas, AZ (pop. 16,531)/ Agua Prieta, Mexico (pop. 73,303)

I have spoken with a wide range of smaller community arts organizations since launching Small Town/Big Arts. I have interviewed leaders delivering the arts in the farmlands of Wisconsin, in the mountains of Kentucky and even on the Alaskan coast. In Season 1 Episode 8 we continue to examine the complex beauty of small town arts delivery in America when we speak with the leaders of a unique organization based in Arizona but whose mission operates transnationally.

Border Arts Corridor (BAC) was founded in 2015 as an arts organization located in Douglas, Arizona. BAC recognized a need for an arts organization dedicated to telling the narrative of those who create art within their unique border community.Since their founding, they have prioritized serving their dual communities of Douglas, AZ and Agua Prieta, Sonora in Mexico. They do so by creating art installations, workshops, and programming for individuals on both sides of the border.

What I love about BAC ( https://www.bacaz.org/ ) is that they like many of the success stories we share here has an identity intertwined into that of the community they serve. I don’t live in a border community but I hear a lot about the border as many of us do. The Mexican/American border is highly politicized and like anything that politics gets a hold of, the story is more complex and the people involved are like you and I in more ways than they are different. They have people to serve through the arts, artists to elevate, bureaucratic systems to navigate, and a message to share.

We all have local officials to navigate in our work but BAC can add custom and border officials to their list. By serving people and artists on either side of the border their work literally transcends a border. I pose the question, what is a border? To begin it is man made and it is much more fluid than any of us outside of a border community can really understand. BAC’s Artistic Director Martina Rendon mentioned that she may cross the border up to three or four times a day. She lives in Arizona but has family and friends on the Mexican side of the border in Agua Prieta (pop. 73,303). Agua Prieta is her community along with Douglas, AZ. This dual community may seem unique to many of us in the United States but completely normal for many living on the border. This means the work needs to operate with this border fluidity as well and in turn is a reflection of this reality. BAC’s work is executed on BOTH sides of the border.

When asking founder and board President Jenea Sanchez how they navigate work on both sides of an international boarder. “We make it work,” said Jenea. When running a non-profit organization you need and want a board of directors that is reflective of the community you serve. Jenea spoke to the fact that they want to someone on the board who represents the Agua Prieta side of the border. I asked what the legalities of this are (some living in Mexico serving on an American non-profit board). “It’s complicated,” said Jenea. There are dual citizens and American citizens living on the Mexican side of the border that they will target. It does complicate the circumstances and make up of this particular board seat, but they recognize the importance of that representation. The perspective and needs of the Agua Prieta are just important as those living in Douglas, AZ. I think anyone delivering the arts in a smaller community must have their board represent the community they serve, how ever that looks.

BAC’s work creates tangible connectivity across a metal fence. The fence divides the two communities they serve but the two communities are actually quite linked. They are linked culturally and economically. Their artist residency and Bi-national Arts Walk move back and forth across the border.

One of BAC's main projects is the Border Biennial, a large-scale exhibition that brings together artists from both sides of the border to showcase their work. The Border Biennial aims to break down stereotypes and promote understanding by highlighting the diverse perspectives and experiences of those who live and work along the border. The exhibition features a wide range of media, from painting and sculpture to photography and video installations.

Another project that BAC is involved in is the creation of public art installations that engage with local communities. These installations are often created in collaboration with local artists and residents and aim to reflect the unique culture and history of the area. One recent example is the "Migrant's Altar," a public art installation that honors the lives of migrants who have lost their lives trying to cross the border.

BAC also hosts educational programs and workshops to help young people develop their artistic skills and promote cultural exchange. These programs often focus on creating opportunities for youth to connect with their heritage and learn from artists and educators from both sides of the border.

Overall, BAC's projects aim to use the power of art to create meaningful connections between people from different communities and promote understanding and empathy along the border. I strongly encourage you to use them as an example of gumption and ingenuity. Even if you are not in a border community, their work is an example of how to connect deeply to your community and navigate the local politics and bureaucracy of your community.

Making the Impossible Possible: The story of Lynchburg’s (pop. 79,697) 30 million dollar dream.

A colleague of mine recently shared that he asked Chat GPT to write a case statement for a historic theatre in a small city. I did the same and here is part of what I got back:

“Investing in the restoration of the historic theatre in [City Name] is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to preserve an important part of the city's history, while also revitalizing the area and providing a host of economic and cultural benefits to the community. With a solid investment plan in place, and a commitment to sustainable and responsible operations, this theatre has the potential to become a cornerstone of the city's cultural scene for generations to come.”

Chat GPT is correct, but I can share from personal experience and observations of the wider American arts and community planning sectors that building belief around this statement can be difficult. In Season 1, Episode 6 and 7 of the Small Town Big Arts podcast, I speak with a group of key community leaders in Lynchburg, VA, where at the Academy Center of the Arts, we were able to build belief, raise funds, and complete a 30 million dollar construction project on a historic theatre originally built in 1905 and that closed in 1958. Proudly, we re-opened the theatre in 2018 after it had been closed for over 60 years.

Now, I want to pull out some of what Chat GPT put together in the above statement and dive in a bit. To begin, “Investing in the restoration of the historic theatre in [City Name] is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to preserve an important part of the city's history, while also revitalizing the area and providing a host of economic and cultural benefits to the community.” Easy enough, right? Well, if you are in a smaller community you know that building belief around all of this can be very difficult. This was the case for our project in Lynchburg. I joined the Academy Center of the Arts in 2015 and by that point the capital campaign to restore the theatre had been underway for 17 years. So clearly, it was very hard.

So what changed in the final three years of the campaign? In Season 1, Episode 6, a common theme arises from our conversation and this was community credibility. How does an organization gain credibility with its community? Well some of that depends on your community and its constituents but I do believe most communities share some common barriers to credibility. The first is trust. Whether we like it or not many in the arts are on the outside looking in when it comes to local politics, business development, real-estate development and financial investment. Of course, this is a broad statement and I know there are exceptions but the Academy was not. Sackett Wood, a former Academy Board President said that often he heard back from potential donors that the project was a “boondoggle.” (Noun meaning: work or activity that is wasteful or pointless but gives the appearance of having value.) So how did the Academy’s theatre go from being a “boondoggle” in the eyes of the community to having credibility? Well, it was incremental but it was by building a board that included individuals with two important qualities. The first was strong community reputations outside the field of the arts and second was expertise that would aid the project directly.

One by one, servant leaders in the community were recruited to take on critical parts of the fundraising, construction management, historic tax credit acquisition, and financial planning. This didn’t happen over night but as more joined the project, momentum was built and more and more joined. As more community leaders with strong reputations outside of the arts joined the project, the belief from the corporate, government, and private donor sectors increased. The project went from being a “boondoggle” to being a viable project. In 2018 fundraising completed and the theatre was restored with zero debt… and the servant leaders had fun and grew a deep connection to the Academy as an organization.

Going back to Chat GPT: “With a solid investment plan in place, and a commitment to sustainable and responsible operations, this theatre has the potential to become a cornerstone of the city's cultural scene for generations to come.” As the team of servant leaders grew, so did cultural changes to the institution. When I arrived at the Academy in 2015, the financials were in shambles and there was a culture of austerity built on years of faulty strategic plans. It was the project itself, both the fundraising and the construction that changed the organization, helping it meet the moment of the building we were about to occupy. As an organization we were pushed to the meet the moment and rise to the level of those that were supporting the project. Our finance committee meetings became transparent and pro-active, our strategic planning had be savvy and researched to answer the questions of tax credit investors, local government, and local corporations investing in the project, and our programming had to live up to what we said it would be, a wide ranging inclusive catalogue that provided real economic impact to our developing downtown.

In our fifth year of operating the theatre (with over 2 years of pandemic interruptions) we are in a place where our trust in the community has grown and we have in place effective board governance. We also have a skilled and dedicated staff and comprehensive strategic planning process. We are not out of the woods yet, but know the path to long term health. Referencing Chat GPT, “this theatre has the potential to become a cornerstone of the city's cultural scene for generations to come.” To meet that potential we will need a considerably endowment. Today our endowment sits at about 2.5 million. I firmly believe that if our institution is going to remain resilient for decades to come, we will need to see that endowment grow by about 10 million dollars. Not easy, but we now have the community trust and the vision to see a path there. This is all thanks to our small community “boondoggle” and making the impossible, possible.

I also imagine that the subject of endowment growth will be featured on Small Town Big Arts sometime in the near future…

“Artist Thrive” is here to help.

Artists Thrive is an initiative that began in 2016 when a group of arts professionals and artists produced the first draft of a field-wide assessment rubric. Through multiple rounds of feedback, Artists Thrive was publicly launched in 2017. Artists Thrive is driven by a leadership team of artists and diverse collaborators from different sectors and communities across the country and is supported by the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation.

The Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation has a focus on supporting artist careers. Their website states, “Since 2002, EHTF directly expanded career opportunities for artists by increasing access to business development expertise, entrepreneurial skills, and related professional practice and career supports.” Through Artist Thrive, the foundation aims to identify the things that help artists pursue their vision and to enable communities to benefit from the arts in all aspects of life. Resources and tools within Artists Thrive help artists, arts organizations, and other groups that work with artists collaborate and craft meaningful stories about why art-making matters. 

Why is this important? Well, I wish that people and communities all inherently understood the importance of arts organizations and artists in a community but sadly we often have to make the “case” for their importance. Let me frank though, the organizations and stories that we have focused on through our blog and podcast are successful because they are valuable to their communities. This means the case that they make to funders and partners is understood, felt, and very very true. What Artists Thrive provides are invaluable tools to help guide you down a path of creating community value while also providing you metrics and narratives to articulate that value back to new and existing constituents.

Artist Thrive draws heavy inspiration from “The Social Profit Handbook” by David Grant. He states, “If you measure what you value, people will value what you measure.” A common theme I am finding with successful small town organizations is that they have clearly identified true value they can provide their community and that value is understood by the community and funders. Artist Thrive has a set of tools to send you on this path.

Artist Thrive also holds an annual summit which I strongly encourage you to engage with. Artists, arts leaders, educators and funders from across the country come together annually, in-person and online, to collaborate, gain inspiration, engage and align.

They have re-opened registration for those interested in joining thier community.  New registrants have access to all the on-demand content, session recordings, art breaks, and all the new opportunities that will continue to roll out through the virtual portal. 

To learn more, visit: https://www.artiststhrive.org/

Riverzedge Arts: Woonsocket, RI (pop. 43,000)

Woonsocket, Rhode Island is home to Riverzedge Arts. The community resides in Providence County, Rhode Island with a population of about 43,000 according to the 2020 census. It is Rhode Island's northernmost city and lies directly south of the Massachusetts state line and constitutes as a part of the Providence metropolitan area with a population of 1.5 million, which makes the locale unique from some of the other organizations we have spoken with. The client base, many of whom are economically challenged youth, don’t have access to the larger metropolitan areas because of transportation and income barriers and must have significant services in their immediate locale. Riverzedge’s adult workforce is also drawn from a larger geographic area. There are positives and negatives with this but it serves as another interesting example of how a small community can serve the realities of their community while also drawing on skilled labor from beyond their borders.

Riverzedge was formed in 2002 by artists, youth development professionals and community leaders concerned about patterns of violence among disaffected youth in the wake of the Columbine shootings. Riverzedge is built on the philosophy that art is a powerful force for social change, and that creative entrepreneurship through the arts is a productive and life-changing opportunity for teens. Riverzedge has garnered national attention and awards for the academic success and artistic achievements of their youth, and for their consistent performance and innovative approaches to youth development. In November 2013, The Wallace Foundation cited Riverzedge as one of 8 exemplary organizations nationwide in their research on out-of-school time arts programs for low-income urban teens. Riverzedge also was awarded a President’s Council on the Arts and the Humanities National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award in 2010.

Riverzedge is creating the next generation of entrepreneurs in Rhode Island through workforce development programs. Now, this may not be what you would initially associate with an arts organization but perhaps you should. Through training (students are paid for their work) in graphic design, multi-media, screening printing and public art design and execution, youth of Woonsocket, RI are instilled with workforce skills while also finding community and a positive outlet for expression and exploration. The model involves an Artistic Director and trained instructors who mentors a team of youth who execute multiple creative projects for the private and public sectors. To top it off, these projects provide earned revenue for the organization. Riverzedge works with clients to design and create merchandise and apparel, execute public art projects, design logos and marketing materials, and create multi-media services through photography and video work.

To begin, this youth workforce is not only improving the lives of the youth but also improve the lives of the wider community. The services they execute are at a significantly reduced price point for their clients, lowering cost barriers for many running small businesses, non-profit organizations or government departments in Woonsocket. Second, the organization’s focus on public art as a part of their services is improving the aesthetics of Downtown Woonsocket, which is a community that struggles with blight and poverty. Finally, they are building civic and community pride in Woonsocket by making merchandise that celebrates the city and the state of Rhode Island.

As a business model their set up is brilliant. The value their youth workforce development provides is worthy of private and public grant funds. The clear effectiveness of their programs also provides them a 65% retention rate with annual individual donors. At the same time, they are able to pay their youth (and staff) for their time because the work they do provides real dollars for the institution through commissions, service fees and merchandise sales. It is an example of how a non-profit business model can truly combine their workforce and mission delivery into a symbiotic relationship.

I really encourage you to visit their website and learn more. They are truly making big art in small town America.

http://riverzedgearts.org/

Sitka Fine Arts Camp: Sitka, AK (pop. 8,500)

The Sitka Fine Arts Camp was founded in 1973 to provide isolated Alaskan communities with little or no youth arts programs exposure and training in the arts. Because of remoteness and low population density, Alaskan youth are at a severe disadvantage in access to high quality arts. For the majority of their students, SFAC continues to be the only opportunity they have in the State to work with and learn from professional artists. Building from its original mission, SFAC has become a nationally acclaimed program. They serve approximately 1,000 students annually from Alaska and throughout the world.

In 2011, SFAC was gifted the historic Sheldon Jackson College Campus. This college campus had been closed for four years and was in a state of complete disrepair. SFAC has since overseen one of the most extraordinary grassroots volunteer stories in our country: the revitalization of this National Historic Landmark. Between 2011 and 2015 one thousand volunteers (one ninth of Sitka’s population) logged over 45,000 volunteer hours rebuilding the campus, demonstrating unprecedented community support and giving the Sitka Fine Arts Camp a permanent home. Strong volunteerism and donor support continue, demonstrating the value that Sitka Fine Arts Camp holds for their state.

We have a lot to learn from Sitka Fine Arts Camp and their leader, Roger Schmidt (listen our interview with Roger, Episode 3 of our podcast series). The first is the importance of the value an organization provides its community. The second is a lesson in community buy in and how to galvanize a community around a cause.

Value:

What Sitka Fine Arts Camp has done so well is to constantly evaluate the value they provide their community because without that value they don’t survive. Their mission and their services must mean something significant to those they serve. They do this by truly being responsive to their students and constituents as opposed to simply providing what they think is valuable. Now, sometimes the value the institution understands and the value the students and constituents understand line up but SFAC has always evolved with what the community and the market tells them. If classes or performances they present are not engaged with, they discontinue or change their approach. They don’t blame the community for not engaging nor do they solely blame their marketing efforts.

They have also, existing in a very small community, looked to where their value extends beyond their town border. They have found a space where they are serving state wide needs and not just Sitka needs. Because of the remote nature of much of Alaska, the ability to engage in the arts as a youth is limited. They can fulfill a need the entire state has by providing arts access to all Alaskan youth and this positions them well for geographically wide engagement in tuition based programs and also propels their charitable giving, which comes from the entire state and not just the town of Sitka.

Galvanization:

The story of Sitka’s home on the former Sheldon Jackson College campus is a story in three parts. 1. How the arts can address community decline, represented in abandoned spaces. 2. Organizational growth in small communities (and perhaps in any community) can benefit from slow and deliberate growth. 3. Having something the community can constantly be directly involved in (in this case, renovating and restoring campus buildings) is extremely beneficial for engagement, support, and longevity.

1. In my podcast interview with Roger (Episode 3), Roger talks about how big structures tide to institutions like Sheldon Jackson College become a symbol for communities. They tell a story. Is this community thriving or declining? When the college closed and the campus was boarded up and regular maintenance stopped, the campus became a symbol of town decline. It was an arts organization that came in and changed that narrative. Through the arts, this community symbol illustrates to the rest of the world, a thriving community and not a declining one.

2. Roger also talks about his determination to avoid debt as they took on the responsibility of renovating their new campus home. Because of this, the organization took on the renovation one plywood piece, one window pain, and one building at a time. The organization had time to keep pace as they scaled up their operations and services.

3. Finally, Roger jokingly said that in some ways the renovation of buildings have become their mission. Obviously their mission is to serve Alaskan youth through the arts, but there is a lesson to be learned in creating direct community involvement in tangible projects to keep a community engaged, involved and supportive. Taking on the restoration of an abandon college campus, a historic landmark and town symbol, has been a tool for community involvement, understanding, and connectivity. Volunteers continue to give their time to restoration, repairs, and grounds upkeep. This is extraordinarily powerful.

To learn more about Sitka Fine Arts Camp, visit their website at:

https://www.fineartscamp.org/

Wormfarm Institute: Sauk County, WI (pop. 65,000)

I had the honor of meeting Donna Neuwirth through the National Arts Strategies Chief Executive Program in 2014. Donna is the founder and Executive Director of Wormfarm Institute in Sauk County, Wisconsin (pop. 65,000 ). If you have heard of Wormfarm Institute that is because they are a national leader in rural creative placemaking. They have received NEA Our Town funding as well as an ArtPlace America grant (two of the most prestigious awards for creative placemaking). They describe themselves as “an evolving laboratory of the arts and ecology and fertile ground for creative work.” Their work explores the links between urban and rural communities within and beyond the food chain, creating opportunities for cross-sector collaboration. They have brought together farming, conservation, and the arts in a beautiful way. Their goal; to “rekindle the cultural and enhance the economic possibilities of our region while celebrating its unique natural and human history.”

If you don’t know about Wormfarm Institute and you are delivering the arts in a smaller community, you must. They are a fantastic model of how to approach artistic work work in a rural setting. The approach as Donna stated in our podcast episode is one of “abundance” and not scarcity. It can be easy to fall into a scarcity mindset when producing the arts in a smaller community. One can get pulled into a narrative that there are limited resources to produce work and that there are fewer people to engage with the work. Wormfarm Institute at its core has embraced what it has lots of. This includes beautiful landscapes, local agriculture, and a unique location and by embracing who they are and what they do have their annual Farm/Art DTour attracts 22,000 people to rural Sauk County each year.

Also at their core is bringing together the rural and the urban. I think this is an important model for those who are providing the arts in smaller communities. The reasons for this are many.

1. Cultural Value. We are at a moment when the divide that exists between rural and urban communities is dangerous. This divide is being exploited by politicians and media outlets for fleeting power and money but is not good for the longterm health of our country. The arts are a fantastic means to create meaningful engagement and force all of us to reevaluate our perceptions of those from other cultures (which I think exists unfairly on BOTH sides of the political spectrum. Donna mentioned the idea of being in the “radical middle”). A mission built on closing this dangerous cultural divide provides meaningful value to our society.

2. Inspiration. Urban artists and audiences will be inspired and rejuvenated by rural settings. Urban life is hard. Rural communities provide a respite from the everyday hustle, noise and energy of living in a city. People want to escape, breath, and unplug from their everyday. You are living in an important asset, not just for your local community but to those from the outside. These outsiders could be visiting artists or visiting audiences and serve as a boost to you and your local economy.

3. Funding. So much of our funding comes from the value we provide those who are providing the funds. If your mission serves both your locale and those in major urban markets, your funding sources just expanded. To my first two points, your mission of arts delivery could be serving a larger cause of bridging cultural divides and could draw the engagement of artists, audiences and funders from outside your own community.

All in all, please visit the Wormfarm Institute’s website and explore. Above all, visit them and attend their inspiring Farm/Art DTour. Their use of fermentation as a metaphor for the transformative qualities of the arts and agriculture is truly inspiring.

Appalshop: Letcher County, KY (pop. 22,000)

*As a preface to this post and the podcast interview, the day after our interview with Alex, Letcher County was struck by major floods that made national news. Appalshop was flooded and major damage occurred to their facility and archives. It was devastating to learn. The staff and team are okay and are in the process of recovery but their community suffered greatly. What was most admirable about their response was how it was focused on the larger community they serve and not on themselves. They released information both for the community and those outside the community to aid them in navigating the damage and devastation. Do consider supporting them and the Letcher County community:

https://appalshop.org/news/appalachian-flood-support-resources

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In our first podcast (release Friday, August 12th) we interviewed Appalshop Executive Director, Alex Gibson. I am a huge fan of Appalshop and it was deliberate that this organization was the first to be featured on the podcast. They are a perfect model of an organization meeting the needs of their community and establishing significant value to those they serve. They are also unique in that they receive 70% of their operating revenue through grant sources. This means their programs have value to foundations and government that move beyond their locale.

Their mission is to enlist the power of education, media, theater, music, and other arts to:

● document, disseminate, and revitalize the lasting traditions and contemporary creativity of Appalachia;

● tell stories the commercial cultural industries don’t tell, challenging stereotypes with Appalachian voices and visions;

● support communities’ efforts to achieve justice and equity and solve their own problems in their own ways;

● celebrate cultural diversity as a positive social value;

● and participate in regional, national, and global dialogue toward these ends.

Appalshop operates a radio station, a theater, a public art gallery, a record label, an archive, a filmmaking institute, a reproductive justice program, a community development program, and an incredible array of other initiatives, all in a renovated warehouse in downtown Whitesburg, Kentucky.

In 2019 Appalshop installed the largest net-metered renewable energy system in their region and helped community partners install their own. They installed a Letcher County walking trail, supported a music education camp for girls and gender nonconforming teens, and created a community fund for small businesses like Black Sheep Brick Oven Bakery.

The location’s the thing: Amherst County, VA (pop. 33,000)

I have been thinking a lot about what the opening blog should cover on my new endeavor, Small Town/Big Arts.

Where I want to start is with the story of a theatre company I founded in 2006, the Endstation Theatre Company. The company was incorporated and initially based in Amherst County, VA (pop 32,000). This decision was done out of convenience rather than out of a deep desire to serve the residents of Amherst County. At the time, the company made up of recent and eager Florida State University graduates, needed a home base with a scene shop and rehearsal space. Amherst was my childhood home and my father was on the theatre faculty at Sweet Briar College which happened to be in the county. Because we had free access to the campus amenities, our initial thought was that we would rehearse and build our work in and on the campus but tour our theatrical work beyond the county’s borders. At the time, I had little to no intention of specifically serving the community where we were incorporated. Our location was merely a means to an end.

After the first year of touring a production (which was exhausting and logistically difficult) the notion of having a permanent home became more attractive. Knowing that our rehearsal and production resources were at Sweet Briar College, we started to think of how we might produce theatre on the campus and end our touring approach. From here we launched an annual summer theatre festival on the college grounds.

Serving as the Artistic Director, I started to ask myself the question of how we would attract audiences to this new venture. Because I grew up in Amherst County, I was aware of community’s culture and history but was also aware that a professional theatre festival had never existed in the county and we were going to need to build an audience that did not exist yet. With our first season we launched two shows. The first was an original play about Hurricane Camille that tragically impacted neighboring Nelson County in 1969 and a site specific Romeo and Juliet staged outside and on the front of a historic building on the Sweet Briar College campus. With this first season, we found enough success to continue on because audiences were engaged in something that felt relevant to them. The festival grew each year, built a loyal fan base, and remained on the campus for 8 years. Endstation Theatre Company (which I am no longer associated with, but remain personally close to some of the artists) continued to grow and is still producing a summer festival but now on the Randolph College Campus in neighboring Lynchburg, VA (pop. 90,000).

That first summer season became the model for the company during my entire tenure. The formula was basic and was based on a simple question; What value could we provide the community that would also feel true to our artistic mission and aims? We didn’t simply think about what we wanted to do as artists but thought about what we could do to provide real value to Amherst County and its surrounding region (with specificity). I know if we had simply produced my favorite playwrights and created theatre with subject matters that modeled my previous life as an artist in Philadelphia, we would have failed. We knew we loved original work and we knew we loved site specific theatre. We could remain true to this and harness these loves to put a spotlight on Central Virginia, exciting the residents of our community. With this approach in mind, we started a playwriting laboratory that produced original plays about and for Central Virginia and also staged imaginative outdoor site specific work with recognizable titles that highlighted and embraced the beauty of the Sweet Briar College campus and later the region itself.

With this localized approach, the community connected to our work and in turn they felt it was about and for them. Our board had great pride in representing us, supporting us, and engaging with our work. Our revenue (earned and charitable) grew each year and in 2012 we were honored by Virginians for the Arts with the “Rising Star” award. Not only were we recognized locally but those in Richmond and throughout the larger state recognized what we were doing was special.

Producing the arts for smaller communities can be tough. Often the resources are scarce (human and financial) and the supply and demand side of the work can feel upside down. Our slogan for Endstation in those early days of serving Amherst was drawn from a Washington Post article about the company in 2011. The reporter stated, “at Endstation, the location’s the thing.” I loved this. Even a journalist from outside saw that we took pride in where we were and who we were serving. I also knew that our long term viability was built on the value the community saw in our mission and presence and for our future success we had to reinforce, replenish, and build upon this value.

So, what real value can you provide your community that is true to your mission and goals?