PLENARIES
Ideas and Inspiration
Organized around pressing community development topics, and exploring the interdependence between sectors, our all-star panelists drawn from across the country will address key issues in the field and how the arts can support greater impact.
MONDAY, MAY 15
WELCOME & KICKOFF
Time: 4:00 PM - 4:15 PM
Presenter: Jamie Bennett
ONE COUNTRY, INDIVISIBLE
Time: 4:15 PM - 5:30 PM
Presenters: Josephine Ramirez, Maurice Jones, Christopher Masingill
Despite the widening gulfs between rich and poor, rural and urban, there are common interests, needs, and opportunities that connect us. Though extreme and opposing positions suggest a clear divide, rural and urban communities are not as monolithic as they may seem. We live on a spectrum, and remain connected by regional geographies and economies. More than ever, leaders in all contexts are looking for creative partnerships and solutions. What are the arts and cultural strategies that will support workforce development, and equip people with 21st Century job skills?
TUESDAY, MAY 16
SEATTLE, A LABORATORY OF ARTS, CULTURE, AND EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT
Time: 8:00 AM - 9:30 AM
Presenters: Robert Feldstein, Doris Koo, Vivian Phillips, Michael Seiwerath
Artists, arts activities, and cultural organizations across Seattle are helping advance equitable and impactful community development efforts. Leaders in the city believe that arts and culture are essential for creating a healthy and sustainable future for all residents. What are the challenges and rewards of planning that involves community members in the decisions shaping their neighborhoods?
ONE WANTS A TELLER IN A TIME LIKE THIS
Time: 11:30 AM - 12:45 PM
Presenters: Elizabeth Alexander, Ping Chong + Company
Elizabeth Alexander, poet and Ford Foundation director of Creativity and Free Expression, hosts a performance and discussion with the cast of Ping Chong + Company’s Beyond Sacred (excerpt). The interview-based theater production explores the diverse experiences of four young Muslim-Americans. The performers vary in many ways, but share the common experience of coming of age in the United States at a time of rising fear of and violence towards Muslims.
SHELTER, HOUSING, AND HOME
Time: 3:45 PM - 4:45 PM
Presenters: Regina Smith, Ellen Baxter, Nicole Caruth, Kaki Dimock
Almost 20 years ago communities around the country pledged to end homelessness within a decade. Today, the number of people experiencing homelessness in the United States has climbed to over 550,000. One quarter are children. What efforts have succeeded, and why have others failed? How are arts and cultural strategies influencing the perceptions of homelessness, creating homes, and offering solutions to this crisis? Three of ArtPlace’s National Creative Placemaking Fund partners share their insights and work.
HONORING THE AUTHENTIC IDENTITY OF OUR PASTS, WELCOMING OUR FUTURES
Time: 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Presenters: Jamie Bennett, Rick Goodemann, Carol Gore, Dean Matsubyashi
Increasingly, place-based strategies for investment and development center on building on the “authentic identity” of communities. In reality, most communities have multiple identities that were originally shaped by their indigenous populations and have been since added to by generations of immigration and migration. Three of ArtPlace’s Community Development Investments partners will share their work deploying arts and cultural strategies as they navigate the ever-present tension between preservation and growth that comes with honoring a community’s cultural heritages, investing in its present residents, and welcoming its future populations.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 17
SIGHT UNSEEN: BRINGING THE ENVIRONMENT TO LIFE
Time: 8:00 AM - 9:30 AM
Presenters: Brady Walkinshaw, Dede Taylor, Lehua Simon, Burt Lauderdale
Environmental issues are often seen as distant and abstract. Can arts and culture strategies help us make them salient and concrete? Arts and culture, as primary ways we make our beliefs visible, and teach and reflect our values and customs, can be powerful drivers of transformative change. In communities where land, shared water sources and sustainable economies are at risk, it is important to understand the best tools to change beliefs and provide solutions. Artists are connecting people emotionally and personally to their environments; sparking visceral experiences and creating shared visions of a more sustainable future.
MAKING CHANGE HAPPEN: YOU'RE MORE POWERFUL THAN YOU THINK
Time: 11:55 PM - 12:35 PM
Presenter: Eric Liu
This is an age of epic political turbulence in America. Old hierarchies and institutions are collapsing. All the “givens” of civic life are no longer given. From the fracturing of the major political parties, to the spread of bottom-up movements like Black Lives Matter and $15 Now, citizens across the country and across the political spectrum are reclaiming power. It is no longer the exclusive domain of CEOs, political elites, and insiders from either political party. And the question that today’s rising citizens have to face is: Are you ready? Do you understand power? And if you want to make change in the world, do you know how? Eric Liu is the founder and CEO of Citizen University and the author of several books. Eric served as a White House speechwriter and policy adviser for President Bill Clinton. He is a regular columnist for CNN.com and a correspondent for TheAtlantic.com.