Artists in City/Town Hall

Funding, capacity, and sustainability in artist-municipal partnerships

Tuesday, October 15, 3:40pm – 5:00pm

Organized and moderated by Pam Korza, co-director, Animating Democracy, Americans for the Arts; and Deborah Fisher, executive director, A Blade of Grass.

Presented by Lyz Crane, deputy director, ArtPlace America; Sarah Lovan, program officer, McKnight Foundation; Ben Stone, director, Transportation for America, Smart Growth America; and Pauline Kanako Kamiyama, deputy director of Civic Art, City of Santa Fe Arts Commission.

Cities and towns are partnering with artists to bring new capacities to municipal government that innovate approaches to internal needs, community goals, and making government activities more participatory and equitable. While municipal government and departments are investing to some degree from their own coffers, external funders such as ArtPlace America, the National Endowment for the Arts, Our Town, and Art Works, have been key in resourcing artist-municipal partnership initiatives alongside local funders. National intermediaries and local art agencies, which are often municipal agencies, are also serving as key partners, not only raising and granting funds from public and private sources for these purposes, but also managing and playing key intermediary roles between artists and municipal entities. In this session, funders and intermediaries share how artists are contributing fresh and effective approaches to government work and municipal goals. Presenters will describe the structure and funding behind their artist-municipal partnership models, as well as the importance of capacity building that supports artists and municipal partners with the knowledge and skills to navigate different ways of working and municipal systems. Participants will also tackle the question of whether and how these partnerships can be sustained without external funding incentives.