Tuesday, December 6, 2016, 2:00pm EST / 11:00am PST
- Alexis Frasz, Researcher, Helicon Collaborative
- F. Javier Torres, Director of National Grantmaking, ArtPlace America
Session 11 of the 2016 Web Conference Series.
Web conferences are free to the staff and board of GIA member organizations. The fee for nonmembers is $35.
A recording of this presentation is available here.
Despite the global nature of the environmental challenges we face today, the effects of climate change and related environmental issues are experienced on the local level, by people in places. Creative place-based approaches to addressing sustainability will be critical moving forward. Artists and culture already play a valuable role in helping solve problems and design new, more sustainable futures, and there is substantial potential for expanding this work. How can funders think about strategies to support creative place-based work that addresses environmental sustainability? We will hear from Alexis Frasz about Helicon Collaborative’s research on how culture is supporting environmental efforts in communities across the country and from F. Javier Torres on how ArtPlace America is connecting art with environment in its creative placemaking work.
Alexis Frasz has worked as a researcher, creative strategist and consultant in the arts and cultural sector for over a decade. Since 2007 she has been a lead researcher and strategist with Helicon Collaborative, an organization seeking to elevate the role of culture in making communities better places for all people – more vital, sustainable and just. She currently leads strategic initiatives on the role of culture in environmental sustainability, cultural equity, and reclaiming the role of beauty in individual and societal health. Alexis serves on the board of Food Shift, a Bay Area nonprofit organization working to end food waste and hunger, and is on the advisory committee for the Headlands Center for the Arts. She has a degree in cultural anthropology from Princeton University and has pursued Masters level studies in Chinese Medicine.
F. Javier Torres is director of national grantmaking, ArtPlace America. Prior to joining ArtPlace America, he was senior program officer at The Boston Foundation. While there, he was responsible for the re-articulation and implementation of the Foundation’s sector strategy and for leveraging national arts investments and philanthropy for Boston. Prior to his role at the Foundation, F. Javier was the director of Villa Victoria Center for the Arts, a program of Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción. He led the implementation of a strategic business plan that improved the operational, programmatic, and financial health of their arts programs and he guided the rebranding of the program that supported diversification of funding and deepening the impact of programs through community outreach and audience development. He is the board chair for the Boston Cultural Council.
