New York Creative Economy - Previous Events

2007: Communication and Collaboration: Continuing the Conversation

In April of 2007, coordinators of the New York State Council on the Arts' Decentralization program (NYSCA's DEC program) met at Blue Mountain Lake in the Adirondacks for their annual retreat. This year's retreat was entitled, "Communication and Collaboration: Continuing the Conversation."

Susan Monagan, of the New York Creative Economy team was invited by Megan White, NYSCA's Director of State and Local Partnerships to present "The Creative Economy Practitioner's Toolkit: Taking Advantage of Campus and Community Resources." A few of the DEC coordinators present at the conference had been interviewees when the original data characterizing artistic collaborations between campuses and their communities was collected in 2004. Monagan, therefore, had the unique and gratifying experience of reporting findings back to the research subjects and inviting their reflection and comments.

Other conference sessions included "Technology and the Grantmaking Process" and "Ask the Lawyer" with Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts. Conference-goers were also treated to a sampling of films funded by NYSCA and "Gullah Ring Shout," led by dancer, dance scholar, and DEC coordinator, Angela Fatou Gittens.

From the NYSCA website:

The purpose of Decentralization (DEC) is to foster the continuing development of local cultural resources responsive to community needs. These needs are articulated by the DEC site in a community cultural plan. DEC helps to ensure access to arts and culture in each of the 62 counties of New York State, including areas that are geographically isolated, economically disadvantaged, and ethnically diverse.

For more information, see NYSCA's Decentralization Web page.