WHAT: National Endowment for the Arts invites Lake Eden Arts Festival’s Executive Director to present at the National Council of the Arts meeting in Washington D.C.
WHEN: TOMORROW - Friday, October 29th 2010
Jennifer Pickering, Executive Director of Lake Eden Arts Festival (LEAF), will present at the National Council of the Arts meeting in Washington D.C. tomorrow. From over 1,400 outdoor arts festival organizations, LEAF | Lake Eden Arts Festival was one of only two organizations selected to speak at this prestigious meeting of the National Endowment for the Arts’ (NEA) advisory body, which meets three times annually. The meeting will be webcasted live from 9:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. on the NEA website.
The 171st meeting of the NEA’s advisory body will highlight the NEA’s latest report, Live from Your Neighborhood: A National Study of Outdoor Arts Festivals. The report examined 1,413 outdoor arts festivals in the country through surveys and case-studies. The study’s key findings indicate that outdoor arts festivals have diverse art forms and audiences, a commitment to quality programming, low or no-cost admission fees and integrate within their communities. The report also raises an important question for other arts organizations to ask: “What are festivals doing right and how can we replicate it?”
LEAF is a non-profit organization established to build community and enrich lives through the Arts – locally & globally – with festivals, events, mentoring, and educational programs.
Shouldn't we all be listening? I'll be tuned in -- lots to learn here -- how about you?
Does anyone here know anything about LEAF? This is a new organization to me.
Comments
I also felt it was pretty basic. The statistics are certainly important and it is good to have that info at our fingertips.
Certainly none of these are considered major Fine Art event. The focus seemed to be more on performing arts but then why an event like the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival was not considered as a case is beyond me (a solid music and art ranked event). The case selections were done randomly but the absence of a major art festival in their study is concerning, especially considering that 32% of the festivals they looked at considered Arts and Crafts a major component of their event:
The take away point for me is that NEA is now viewing street festivals as a valid event for the promotion of the arts in a community and in that I applaud them. This is a good first effort. As an aside, I found the follow chart to be particularly interesting in light of our discussions on the topic:
These are just a few tidbits from the study. Following Carla's link above, will generate the full report. I love the cover image of the report. Cheers, LeoI haven't had time to read it....tho' I note that it also includes music festivals, which are a different "breed" with different needs from visual arts festivals. It will be an interesting read.
Thanks Connie for bringing this to our attention.
Carla