January 5, 2011

Washington: Arts Participation Leadership Initiative

The Washington State Arts Commission (WSAC) is offering a special series of learning events designed to help arts organizations understand and adapt to changing audiences and shifts in public arts participation.

Activating Your Audience was led by nationally recognized researcher and consultant Alan Brown of WolfBrown. A forum, two workshops and a webinar all focused on arts engagement and how arts organizations can respond to changing audience expectations. The presentation materials and workshop summary include insights about audience motivations and engagement strategies for the visual and performing arts.

Who’s New in Town? featured three workshops and a webinar addressing changing demographics and arts participation among diverse and immigrant audiences. Experts in cultural leadership, marketing and demography led discussions to help arts organizations develop work plans to reach ethnically diverse and new immigrant audiences. Materials include reports by featured presenters and a video of the forum.

These learning events are part of Washington’s Arts Participation Leadership Initiative, a collaboration between WSAC and The Wallace Foundation. Launched in 2009, this four-year initiative is helping Puget Sound arts organizations respond to changing patterns of public participation in the arts. In addition to establishing a learning community for arts organizations in the Seattle area, WSAC is making the materials and lessons learned from this initiative available to all Washington communities statewide. For additional information, contact WSAC Grants to Organizations Program Manager Mayumi Tsutakawa.