ASA Practicum

ARTS AND SOCIAL ACTION PROGRAM

UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO

DRAFT PROPOSAL

MAY, 7, 2013

Submitted by: Arts and Social Action Practicum ( Prof. Molly Sturges). Student program architects: Irene Loi, Noel Chilton….( all names)

All over the country,

Artists are coming out of their studios.

Playwrights are leaving their theatres.

Architects are stepping away from their drafting tables.

Artists of all kinds are engaging their communities, asking the hard questions,

and seeing how their chosen art forms can make a positive social

impact.

Mission

The UNM Arts and Social Action Program (ASAP) is an interdisciplinary program that cultivates students from a variety of fields with the tools, frameworks and experience they need to engage in meaningful creative social action. Through academic research, partnerships with professional practitioners, and hands-on experimentation, participants will create symbiotic, sustainable community projects of social benefit. ASAP participants form a critical component of a local and regional network of practitioners who forge vital community partnerships, and contribute to and evolving body of research and knowledge, and participate in annual convenings towards lasting and significant arts-based social change.

Guiding Principles

· We believe that art has the power to transform communities and create significant social change.

· We create an environment of inclusivity, respect and compassion in which we welcome diverse voices and perspectives.

· We acknowledge the value of individual and collective agency, and thus foment reciprocal empowerment.

· We strive for high standards of artistic merit and seek to express deeply resonating concepts that reach beyond the limitations of verbal languages.

· We insist on positive, ongoing relationships with practitioners, community groups, supporters, and individuals.

INDEX OF PROGRAM COMPONENTS:

Freshman Learning Community General Education Course

ASAP Professional Certificate Program (Non-Degree)

ASAP Fellowship

ASAP Social Media Network

ASAP Annual Convening

ASAP Research Journal ( with ALL)

ASAP Research Fellowship

Freshman Learning Community General Education Course

The objective of the course is to embark students on a journey that exposes them to an applied practice of collaborative social action and creative cultural leadership. Along the way, professors, professional practitioners, and peers provide insights from collaboration and facilitation theory and practical application, capacitating students to become powerful agents of cultural change.

Course Description:

Students gain exposure to collaborative arts leadership skills, preparing them to gain and appreciation, understand and implementation knowledge of arts and social action projects within the UNM community and beyond.

Each semester, an ASAP professor, an experienced practitioner, and four ASAP

graduate teaching assistants and/or graduate fellows lead teams of 60 students (3 groups of twenty), providing guest lectures and serving as mentors for student groups.

Potential practitioner co-facilitators include: Michelle Otero, Molly Sturges, Daniel Banks, Valerie Martinez, Chris Jonas, David Gallegos, Henry Rael, Chrissie Orr,

Edie Tsong. Elsa Mendez, Mindy Grossenberg and many more.

Sections of Intro to ASAP may be paired with a complimentary course as a

Freshman Learning Community or may affiliate with existing UNM Charter

Organizations.

Possible Learning Community pairings:

180 AMST Intro to American Studies

183 AMST Intro to Gender Studies

185 AMST Intro to Race, Class and Ethnicity

115 AFST Communication Across Cultures

115 CJ Communication Across Cultures

More at: http://www.unm.edu/~freshman/freshman-learning-communities/courses/index.html

Potential partnerships with UNM Charter Organizations: https://unm-community.symplicity.com/index.php?s=student_group&au=&ck=

Presentations and readings will explore the essential role that art plays in societies. Art has been long been and will continue to be an increasingly powerful medium for facilitating significant change by raising awareness of specific issues and by addressing them through creative social action and creating new and remembered ways of being together that supports healthy and inclusive communities. The diversity of backgrounds and disciplines ASAP students bring to the table will provide fertile ground for discussions and writings on developing strategies for applying community engagement skills to other fields of study, articulating lessons learned from practical experience, and formulating personal theories of creating change.

Professional Certificate Program (Non-Degree)

The objective of the certificate program is to train both UNM students and working professionals in core capacities necessary to engage communities successfully in creative projects. These projects are as diverse as the program’s participants and span theatre, dance, architecture, graphic design, painting, murals, pottery, printmaking, quilt-making—virtually any art form. Insert information here about multidisciplinarity nature of program (sciences, law, medicine, etc.) Their unifying factor is participatory art-making based on the convictions that everyone has the capability to collaborate in art-making, and that engaging in this process has the power to transform individuals and communities.Through learning how to facilitate this process effectively, graduates

will become social change leaders in their communities by employing the

arts.

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION:

The ASAP Certificate is a modular program which allows for flexibility in choosing options for completion. Courses may be taken for undergraduate or graduate credit through UNM, and workshops can be completed individually or in groups of three, which go toward completion of the certificate program (please see costs of certificate for more information). The aim of the program is the integration of research and

practicum, as evidenced by the following program design.

Part I: 4 UNM Courses

12 Credit Hours—Can be taken for undergraduate or graduate credit*

1. Community Arts Leadership Core Course (CALE 101)

2. Art Practices I or II (ARTS 125, ARTS 126)

Another Arts-Based Course (Department of Theatre & Dance,

Department of Architecture, Department of Art and Art History, Art &

Ecology Department, Music, etc. – Please see College of Fine Arts

course offerings per semester)

One Approved Core Course from the following: (Economy, Ecology,

Business, Psychology, Humanities – Please Speak with CAL coordinator for

approved list)

*These credit hours can be earned through other institutions, if transcripts are provided.

Part II: 5 Weekend Workshops

Two mandatory* Weekend Workshops for all program participants:

1. Creative Practice Toolkit

2. Community Dialogue Facilitation

Then choose 3 Weekend Workshops from the 9 elective workshops offered:

1. Grant-Writing

2. Conflict Resolution

3. Learning from Failure

4. Forming Intentional Partnerships

5. Making Project Budgets and Timelines

6. Understanding the History and Context of Community Arts Leadership

7. Understanding Community Arts Leadership in the American Southwest

8. “Working with Diverse Communities” (an existing Littleglobe workshop)

9. Technical/Online Resources and Skills (e.g., Electronic Art, Social Media, etc.)

*The mandatory workshops will be offered annually. Participation (at least) once in each is mandatory.

Part III: Professional Portfolio

For completion of the program, a Portfolio of documentation of community

arts projects must be presented and approved by both a university professor and a community arts practitioner. Therefore, work must integrate research and practice and be sound from both perspectives. If approved, graduates will complete the program not only with a strong portfolio of field work but also with two letters of recommendation—one from each program mentor (the university professor and the community arts practitioner).

Portfolios must include:

1. Documentation of Community Arts Projects

a. Original Artwork

b. Case Studies

c. Journal Entries

d. Photographs

e. Video

f. List of Active Community Partnerships

2. An Essay/Research Paper detailing what the participant learned in the program and how he/she will use it in the real world.

The program must be completed in three years or less to be eligible for the certificate.

*Students must achieve at least a 3.0 grade average or higher from required and

approved classes to be eligible for completion of the certificate.

Application Procedures

An application and interview is necessary for all who wish to be accepted to this unique certificate program. Application is open to University of New Mexico undergraduate students, graduate students, post-graduate students from UNM and other accredited institutions, as well as working professionals with a strong aptitude towards creative cultural change. The application is required for enrollment regardless of current enrollment within any

area of study at UNM.

UNM Undergraduate Students and Graduate Students:

Along with the formal application, currently enrolled UNM students must provide an official transcript of classes while at UNM. A minimum 3.0 cumulative grade point average or higher is recommended for consideration. Applicants may use existing credit towards certificate from previous study, if credit earned contributes to a 3.0 or higher

from the four required classes for completion.

Post Graduate Students:

Students who have recently graduated from UNM, or any other accredited

institution, may also apply for the certificate. Along with the formal application, a student must provide proof of completion of degree from his or her institution along with academic transcripts. A minimum 3.0 cumulative grade point average or higher is recommended for consideration. Applicants must also provide two letters of

recommendation from a professor, instructor, or working professional.

Working Professionals:

Individuals who are not currently enrolled in an institution and who do not possess at least a bachelors degree, but are interested in obtaining skills within a creative social context for their field of work, are still encouraged to apply. Applicants must fill out a formal application along with an essay of personal testament, commitment, and related work

towards a desire in the field of community arts leadership. Two letters of recommendation are required from applicant’s field of work or business for consideration.

Applications may be mailed to the Director of ASAP or submitted electronically as long as all components are present. All applications are required to submit a non-refundable $25 fee along with required materials to be considered.

Certificate Program Costs

The cost of admittance is based on UNM class fees and administration. A standard $2,500 certificate fee is to be paid at the beginning of the certificate program. In addition to the certificate fee, workshop fees are paid separately due to the nature of many workshops being off campus. Participants can pay $1,500 up front (along with their flat rate fee) to pay for all five workshops, or they may pay for them separately at the rate of $400 per workshop over the course of the program, for a total of $2,000.

Financial aid may be available for students who qualify.

Actually,

we're going to go with a flat certificate fee of $750 for all

participants + the course fees (at UNM or elsewhere) as determined by

the educational institutions + the workshop fees (as above: $1,500 for all five up front, or $400 for each workshop individually as they take place).

Staffing

A Program Director, a coordinator, and a community oversight group consisting of community partners, practitioners and select students will oversees all applicants and

ultimate completion of certificate by final evaluation of portfolios. Along with these two leaders are professors, instructors, mentors, and practitioners who are dedicated to the needs and projects of all participants. Collaboration and teamwork are integral to completion of the certificate, which includes collaboration with the teachers and leaders

of this unique program. Therefore, the evaluation and letters of recommendation at the end of the program are expected to grow organically from professional relationships with mentors developed over the course of the program.

Critical Partnerships

Animating Democracy, NHCC, Community Voices, Littleglobe, Art Street, Academy for the Love of Learning (Lifesongs), Working Classroom (and more), Opportunity Agenda, Rockwood Leadership and many more to be created.

Examples of Existing Programs

Regina's Music Institute at UNM

http://music.unm.edu/department_areas/music_ed/nm_kodaly_inst/2012_nmki_brochure.pdf

Socially Engaged Art

http://www.spontaneousinterventions.org/statement/socially-engaged-artis-a-mess-worth-making

Design for Good

http://www.aiga.org/design-for-good/

Design for Social Change

http://impact.sva.edu/

Expressive Arts at Sofia University

http://www.nrogers.com/training.html

UNM Peace and Justice Studies Certificate

http://www.unm.edu/~peace/certificate.html

ADD MORE PROGRAMS THAT ARE CRITICALLY ENGAGED IN ACADEMIC DISCOURSE

ASAP Fellowship

The objective of the ASAP Fellowship is to provide UNM students the time, space and mentorship for emerging agents of change to deepen their arts and social action practice in innovative ways. Recipients come from a variety of disciplines, contributing unique

skills and perspectives to the creative collaborative work with peers, mentors, and community partners in which they engage during their year-long fellowship. The Fellowship is a critical bridge between the CFA and community partners and practioners and develops long-term partnerships towards concrete social change outcomes.

Description

ASAP offers 8 fellowships annually to undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate students who have proven proficiency in their artistic medium and in facilitating artistic community engagement.. Faculty from the CFA and ALL along with community arts practitioners mentor these fellows to ensure the enrichment of their skills in 1) cultural

leadership in general, 2) specific project design and execution, including budget planning, proposal writing for grants, professional management, facilitation and creative participatory skills, 3) contract development, including task delegation and collaborative intellectual

property acknowlegement, 4) teaching/mentoring students in the ASAP program.

Fellows, as advanced-level social action practitioners, are granted access to

equipment and space within each studio department within the College of

Fine Arts, so that they may effectively carry out their work. These fellows will also be granted a personal work/studio space off campus so that these change makers may more effectively meet and collaborate with community members.

Fellow Duties:

Fellows contribute up to 20 work study hours (including prep time) per week as teaching assistants and guest lecturers for the Intro to ASAP general education course and/or the ASAP Certificate Program. Fellows are compensated $15,000 per annum along with university health insurance.

Fellows facilitate a community art project in conjunction with at least one of UNM’s pre-selected organizations and with a social action practitioner. (Fellows may propose to work with a new organization with prior approval).

Fellows meet once a week for a Fellowship Seminar to discuss prospective projects, investigate critical topics, and cultivate a supportive community that addresses work and issues that arise.

At the end of the year, these agents of change contribute to the research journal and submit video to the Southwest ASAP Network Alliance Libraries. Journal entries and videos might articulate some of the following topics: 1) theory of change, 2) evaluation of the ASAP program in general, quantitative and qualitative assessment of the specific projects they realized 4) visions of their future plans to create change through arts and social action.

Fellows present their journal submissions, project videos and assessments at the annual Regional ASAP Network Convening.

REGIONAL NETWORK

ASAP will establish a regional network of established and emerging practitioners that will support dialogue within the field and promote the field in a broader context. This will be achieved through the following components:

ASAP Journal (With Arts Learning Laboratory)

The annual ASAP Journal will compile the work and research of artists and other professionals engaged in creative social practices with a focus on the UNM Arts Learning Laboratory project. The journal will serve as a platform to communicate ASAP’s work and promote the field, and will act as the home publication for the regional network of practitioners. It disseminates the work and research of ASAP participants as well as practitioners outside of ASAP. Content will

include documentation of practitioners’ experiences in the field; research and opinion on art and social practice from scholars, professionals, and practitioners from diverse fields; and current developments in the field. It also provides a space to communicate the history, evolution, and future potential of art as an agent ofsocial change and engages with scholars and the general public.

Research

In order to affirm that research is a vital part of the arts, and to understand art’s history and its fundamental role in human society, include note here about art as catalyst for social action and talk about creative forms of political engagement ASAP will perform research to be recorded in the annual journal, to establish a relationship with the broader academic world, and to further the innovative work of the program. Through collaboration with field specialists, developments of experimental artistic methods,

documentation of work, we create a space for dialogue and exploration in the field.

Research will be directed by a ASAP Professor of Practice and undertaken by ASAP participants and fellows.

ASAP Social Media Network

To strengthen a regional network of practitioners and to foster free communication between practitioners, the ASAP Network creates an online link between ASAP participants, the regional community of practitioners,and the broader art world. The ASAP Network will allow practitioners to create profiles that include portfolios and contact information; it will showcase the work of ASAP participants and regional practitioners; it will be an online hub for program information and news; it will promote the program, the journal, and annual gathering; and it will share content across other social media platforms to communicate a broader online audience. lots of colons in above paragraph

ASAP Network Features:

· Blog to feature news, events, and work; the most important features will be shown on the front page

· Online version of the Journal

· Searchable gallery of work

· Practitioner profiles that include artist bios/statements, a section of the online gallery that features just the practitioner’s work, contact info, and links to all blog articles that have featured or have been written by the practitioner

· Profiles of community partners and organizations who are engaged with the field; these profiles include contact info and links to relevant blog articles

· Searchable directory of all profiles on the Network

· A library of research resources with connections to UNM Libraries, the

· Center for Southwest Research and the Arts Learning Laboratory

· Capacity to host webinars and post podcasts to broadcast ASAP workshops and allow people to connect with ASAP

· Links to ASAP on other social media websites; the network will only have its own Facebook page to showcase a curated selection of work and blog articles

· Information about ASAP and resources for potential students

Annual Convening

Students,staff, faculty, fellows and interns of the Creative Cultural Leadership Program (replace with final title) and the Arts Learning Laboratory bring their ideas and enthusiasm to the Annual Convening. In an inclusive atmosphere of thoughtful exchange, participants share aspects of their research and experimentation in areas such as Arts in Medicine,Land Arts, Dance, Social Practice, Intermedia, Community Engagement,

and Cultural Leadership. Also sciences and other programs of study, interdisciplinarity.

These often intimate offerings of successes and failures provide a plethora of learning opportunities and a sense of community among practitioners of art forms that are often overlooked. This newly formed community can emerge from the convening with the methods, contacts, and motivation they need to continue making meaningful strides in their respective fields.

Lessons to be learned from: The Voice Foundation's Annual Symposium: http://www.voicefoundation.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=57&Itemid=1

Here, voice therapists, otolaryngologists, singing teachers, acting voice teachers, professional voice users, and others interested in the central theme of voice come together once a year to share insights and findings from practice and research.

LOGISTICS

Funding

• UNM Freshman Learning Communities (FLCs) partnership. The ASAP General Education Core Course,

• taught in tandem with another Freshman level course, is an engaging way

• to get young students excited about and aware of the possibilities

• created by arts and social action early on in their college careers.

• Course fees

• Certificate fees

• Summer workshop fees

• Annual gathering fees

• Internal grants

• External grants

• Fundraising events

◦ Alumni organizations

◦ Community support (dinners)

Timeline

1. Phases

1. Initial Development

2. Presentation to department, decisions made

3. Fundraising (ongoing)

4. Organization, advertisement, independent study student hired

5. Faculty search

6. Core Class organization, development, and implementation

7. Coordinator search

8. Certiﬁcate organization, development, and implementation

9. Fellowship organization, development, and implementation

10. Community Workshop organization, development, and implementation

11. Journal & Regional gathering organization, development, and implementation

2. Timeline

1. Spring 2013

1. Initial development

2. Initial proposal to CFA

2. Summer 2013

1. Build institutional support for the program

3. Fall 2013

1. Independent study student overseen by Molly Sturges chosen to continue development of program

1. Educational Components

1. Certificate/Fellowship/Core Course

2. Identifying list of opportunities for future students

1. Local

2. National

3. Identifying grant opportunities

2. Grant writing

3. Continue development of educational components

4. Continue to build foundational network with partners on campus

5. Begin making professional alliances both nationally and regionally

6. ASAP Director/Professor of Practice search & hire

4. Spring 2014

1. ASAP Director/Professor of Practice develops course and works in community

2. Coordinator search & hire

3. Course listing sent to department

4. Branding/Marketing/Advertising

5. Visit classes to recruit students

5. Summer 2014

1. Loose ends & completion of paperwork, etc.

6. Fall 2014

1. Coordinator starts

2. Implementation of freshman-level core course with faculty and outside practitioner

3. Begin planning Journal & Regional Gathering

4. Begin planning Summer 2015 Community Workshop

5. Begin development of Fellowship (both academic and arts evaluation)

6. Begin development of social media plan

7. Spring 2015

1. Continue implementation of Journal & Regional Gathering

2. Complete development of Fellowship

3. Begin to advertise Fellowship

4. Social media launch

8. Summer 2015

1. Community Workshops

2. Award Fellowship

9. Fall 2015

1. Fellowship and Certificate begins

2. Fellowship in arts evaluation begins (research)

3. Regional gathering

4. Journal launch

Staffing

Arts and Social Action Director/Professor of Practice

ALL faculty and other key faculty contributors

ASAP Full-time Coordinator

ASAP Fellows

Community Practitioners (Adjunct)

General CFA administrative and IT support

* Add second Professor of Practice in 2015

REFERENCES

Resources

Books and Articles

• Arts & Civic Engagement Toolkit PDF

• Education for Socially Engaged Art

• Guidebook of Alternative Nows

• One Place After Another: Site-Specific Art & Locational Identity

• Claire Bishop: The Social Turn: Collaboration and it’s Discontents

• Living as Form

• Viktor Frankl - Man's Search for Meaning

• NYTimes Article - Outside the Citadel

• Out of the Spiritual Closet

• Grant writing Help

Video and Multi-Media

• TED Talks

◦ John Maeda: Talk on Redesigning Leadership

◦ Ben Cameron: "The True Power of the Performing Arts"

◦ Thelma Golden: "How art gives shape to cultural change"

◦ JR: “TED Prize Wish: Use Art to turn the World Inside Out”

• Other

◦ Rethinking Art with Social Practice http://kboo.fm/node/28218

Potential Local Partners

Animating

Democracy, Littleglobe, Art Street, Academy for the Love of Learning,

Working Classroom, Opportunity Agenda, 516 ARTS, Kimo Theater,

Off-Center, Agricultura

Complementary Programs

CCA's Center for Art & Public LIfe

University of California Santa Cruz Public Art Program

Otis College of Art and Design MFA in Public Practice and

BFA major in Community Arts Engagement

Portland State University’s Art and Social Practice MFA

Eugene Lang College Civic Engagement Program

Macalester College Civic Engagement Center

St. Olaf College Civic Engagement Institute

University of Pennsylvania, School of Social Policy & Practice

Northwestern University's Civic Engagement Certificate Program

Merrimack College

Center for Community Learning - UCLA

FUNDING PLAN (UPCOMING FALL 2013)

ASA Practicum - UNM

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Grant

More projects

Friday, May 10, 2013

Final packet

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

A wonderful article!

Thursday, April 25, 2013

4/24 Daniel Banks: Leaving a Community Notes

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Notes from workshop with Daniel Banks 4/24

Monday, April 22, 2013

Arts and Social Action Network (Social Media)