Advocacy, service and development to keep Wisconsin thriving creatively. We speak up for the arts for everyone, everywhere in Wisconsin because the arts matter.
Showing some love to another Arts Wisconsin member organization, The Flying Pig in Algoma, Wisonsin. Learn more about our stellar member organizations at http://www.artswisconsin.org/about/arts-wisconsin-membership-2014/
by Megan Larsen, UW-Stevens Point arts management senior & Arts Wisconsin intern
March came in like a lion and out like a lamb for this Arts Wisconsin intern! Want to know what a month of interning for a statewide advocacy and service organization entails? Here’s a recap of highlights.
Week One
March kicked-off with the first ever Big Share fundraiser hosted by Community Shares of Wisconsin. On Tuesday, March 3, Executive Director Anne Katz, Project Assistant Erin Carlson and I spent our day planted behind laptop screens at the Community Shares office -- managing Facebook and Twitter updates, prepping email messages, and graciously monitoring our growing donations while enjoying the comradery of Community Shares member organizations. We ended the day with a celebration at Plan B and watched in astonishment as the Big Share surpassed its collective fundraising goal of $180,000. Thank you to supporters from every corner of our state for rallying behind Arts Wisconsin’s cause. Due to your generosity and unwavering support during the Big Share, we raised over $2,000 to continue speaking up and working for the arts and creativity throughout the state.
Bright and early the next morning, Anne, Arts Wisconsin lobbyist Mary Panzer and I traveled to the Fox Valley. Anne and Mary are the queens of networking and taught me a thing or two about the art of conversation over the course of the day. Not to mention, I met with more mayors that day than I have over the past 22 years – thanks Mayor Dean Kaufert (Neenah) and Mayor Tim Hanna (Appleton) for speaking with us about the importance of arts in your respective communities!
Our day in the Fox Valley also included stops at Bergstrom-Mahler Museum of Glass, Fox Cities Performing Arts Center, Trout Museum of Art in the Fox Arts Building, and the Wisconsin Museum of International Wildlife. Our day culminated with an Arts Wisconsin community fundraiser graciously hosted by the Stephany, Bunk, and King families at the Bunks’ historic home in Appleton. Many fruitful conversations took place that left me encouraged and inspired about Wisconsin’s creative sector. It was a successful evening that can be measured in both the generous donations and supportive enthusiasm of those in attendance.
Week Two
The following week brought an abundance of Arts-Day-related duties. Monday, March 9 served as a prep day for the big event. Tuesday, March 10 included a pre-Arts Day workshop featuring insightful approaches to arts education from Laurie Fellenz of Madison Metropolitan School District and Dede Heid of Heid Music.
Wednesday, March 11 greeted us with a 6 a.m. call time as we prepared the space at Madison Public Library for Arts Day 2015. Running on coffee and adrenaline, I acted as door-woman until the library officially opened at 9 a.m. I had the pleasure of greeting many attendees, and the enthusiasm people exhibited when first entering the library enhanced my optimistic outlook for the day. The official programming began at 9 a.m. where over 200 attendees enjoyed performances, a presentation by Wisconsin’s new Poet Laureate Kimberly Blaeser and a rousing call-to-action by keynote speaker Randy Cohen of Americans for the Arts. Breakout sessions later in the morning included an Advocacy 101 workshop, panel discussions on the Creative Economy in action and more. By 3 p.m. the once saturated space was cleared and quiet which meant one thing – it was time to head home for a well-earned nap.
My favorite part about Arts Day was speaking with individuals from every corner of our state that are passionate about the work they do and love the communities they serve. Keep up the good work!
On Thursday, March 12, the Arts Wisconsin crew traveled to Milwaukee for a discussion on the Creative Economy in southwestern Wisconsin hosted by Arts Wisconsin in partnership with the Greater Milwaukee Committee, UPAF and Creative Alliance Milwaukee, held at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater. Randy Cohen again shared some strong arguments for creative sector support both locally and globally.
To top off the week, I had a mid-semester meeting on Friday, March 13 with Anne and my supervising professor Jim O’Connell to review my internship experience thus far. Friday afternoon included a post-event recap meeting with Anne and Erin. Finally, Friday evening I made the trek to my home “office” (a.k.a. my parents’ kitchen table) to prepare for my next slew of internship tasks.
Weeks Three & Four
As Anne and Erin traveled to Washington D.C. for National Arts Advocacy Day, I finalized their schedule of congressional appointments for March 24 on Capitol Hill. Each scheduler for Wisconsin’s representatives that I corresponded with was kind and helpful; however, it sure takes extreme organization and last-minute flexibility to schedule meetings with all 10 state representatives in one day! This was hands-on experience at its best.
The month ended with tasks related to Anne’s work anniversary (20 years as Arts Wisconsin’s Executive Director – what an accomplishment!) including social media, graphic design and videography projects. Compared to the event preparations at the beginning of March, these tasks were more low-key. As I said, in like a lion and out like a lamb.
This April has brought new intern responsibilities with additional opportunities to learn and grow. I am continually amazed at the diverse scope of work Arts Wisconsin takes on. With the passionate dedication of Executive Director Anne Katz, unwavering support of the Board of Directors, continual commitment from member organizations paired with stellar employees and volunteers, this well-oiled machine called Arts Wisconsin serves the state well.
Holy smokes, I’ve been Executive Director of Arts Wisconsin for 20 years as of April 1.
When I started this job in 1995, the organization was called the Wisconsin Assembly of Local Arts Agencies (WALAA, pronounced WA-LAH; our very first newsletter was called “Voila!” Really.). WALAA came to be when the Wisconsin Arts Board called together a group of Wisconsin local arts leaders to advance the state’s great tradition of grassroots arts involvement. Inspired by the Wisconsin Idea and leaders like Professor Robert Gard, who was Director of the UW-Madison’s Office of Community Arts Development (based in the Ag School, by the way, which shows impressive vision from the university leaders of the time) in the mid part of the last century, WALAA focused primarily on networking, service, and technical assistance with local arts agencies.
In 2015, the work is about the creative economy, creative placemaking and asset-based community development. I use the word “creativity” more than I use the word “arts.” But Arts Wisconsin's mission, vision and purpose are what WALAA started out with – that the arts are fundamental to the lives of the people of Wisconsin, to ensure access to the arts for everyone, everywhere in the state, and to advance the arts for Wisconsin’s economic, educational and civic success.
I came into the job with a lifelong involvement and a solid background in the arts and in community engagement and outreach, and I thought I knew something about community cultural development. (I guess that’s why they hired me in the first place, huh?!). I was excited to be involved with this new organization and ready to make a difference.
What I’ve learned over twenty years could fill a book. I’ve learned about the mechanics of organizational systems and business management, fundraising, contract negotiation, conference planning, accounting,websites, spreadsheets, regulations, policies.
I’ve learned about politics and power, human nature, the psychology of change, about how personalities and politics shape events and ideas, how to build community, how intangible, global forces affect our daily lives.
Most importantly, I’ve learned about people - the creative, infuriating, endearing,wonderful, resourceful people making the arts happen on the local level and making the job worthwhile. I’ve been inspired by the many board members, staff, interns, partners, members and constituents, supporters and leaders I’ve had the privilege of working with. I’ve learned about human interaction with the arts and creativity, the creative instinct that is inherent in every person and can’t be stifled no matter how difficult the circumstances; that the arts encompass something bigger than a work of art or a performance. My job is not about determining “who is an artist” or “what is art.” (Please, don’t make me have that conversation.) It’s about helping that creative spirit come alive in every corner of the state.
From the beginning, this job has been all about:
Partnerships, collaborations, and networks – working together towards common goals, on any level, is the only way change happens.
Connecting the arts to local and global economic,educational and civic infrastructure and issues, while nurturing creativity and artistic expression to define humanity and society - the fundamental reason that the arts are essential
Ensuring that Wisconsin and all of its communities stay “ahead of the curve” artistically, civicly, organizationally, technologically, and other ways, in a rapidly evolving world
Building on the past with new pathways to individual,organizational and collective innovative and entrepreneurial capacity that lasts
Defining what we mean by “arts sector” and “arts experience”in a world increasingly shaped by globally accessible online and electronic creative systems. When I started this job, I worked primarily with nonprofit arts councils, organizations that provide a variety of arts experiences in their communities. I still work with those organizations as a primary focus. The nonprofit model is what we have known and is still relevant, but now, there new business models and new public and private partners enabling arts, cultural and creative experiences. We are in a time of great change, and it seems that we are madly scrambling to keep up with it all.
Illuminating peoples’ lives and their stories. Community development work is all about relationships, especially when it comes to leading and dealing with change. I often wish I had a degree in psychology so I could understand people better, since we are such complicated creatures, sometimes acting in defiance of our best interests.
There are a few “truisms” that I seem to repeat over, and over, and over again, in this work. One of my guiding mottos, especially in the past few years, is based on what Winston Churchill said about Britain’s role in World War II: “never, never, never give up.” What really makes things happen is the individual and collective mindset that there are no barriers that can’t be overcome with the right attitude and a whole lot of patience, persistence and passion. Defining what success means, and finding common ground, is an ongoing process, one that is entirely maddening/engaging/fascinating/satisfying.
I’ve had the great privilege to travel to every corner of the state as part of the job. I'm glad that fate deposited me here, and that I've been able to get to know Wisconsin and its people, communities, heritage, and arts and culture really, really well. As I often say, I can tell you where the best pie and ice cream are, anywhere in the state. I believe that a visitor should honor culinary offerings as well as cultural while traveling!
I’ve been lucky to find a calling that reflects my values and satisfies my soul, and to be part of an exciting “ongoing conversation” for Wisconsin, its people,and its communities. When I started this job, I was a local arts administrator. After twenty years, I’m a community activist who works through the arts and creativity, to help people, organizations and communities realize their dreams, and to bind those dreams into a statewide whole. This job has been an exploration personally and professionally, connecting dots, people, communities, information and resources. Even after twenty years, I learn something new every day about people or situations or issues, in good, bad and certainly very interesting ways. These learning moments make me think, laugh,exalt, ponder, seethe and feel a sense of wonder, depending on the situation,that there is still so much to learn.
Grateful for the friends and experiences along the way, and looking forward to the work ahead.
by Erin Carlson, Arts Wisconsin Programming Assistant
On March 24 I was a member of the Wisconsin delegation to this year's National Arts Advocacy Day in Washington, DC. Having just help coordinate Wisconsin’s Arts Day two weeks before, it was an exciting experience to be one of several hundred delegates participating in this national arts advocacy summit. One of the things I discovered was that the scale of advocacy - and everything - in DC is much grander than in Wisconsin.
Everything in DC is grand, from the tall chandelier ridden ceilings to business cards embossed with gold. The distances between legislative offices can be measure in elevator rides and underground tunnels rather than wings and flights of stairs. Even the basements have larger than life nude marble statues!
It is easy to let the grandeur intimidate you. Here are some of the things I learned that helped fight the intimidation factor:
1) Give yourself travel time – Nothing throws me off my game like being late. Capitol Hill is made of many different buildings that all have oddly numbered floors, unhelpful maps and tunnels that connect buildings. All of these things make it easy to get lost. Be kind to yourself and schedule travel time between appointments.
2) Travel light – Carrying large purses, coats and excess papers gets cumbersome when moving in and out of meetings. Bring as few things as you possibly can. Then make everything easy to access. Make your hand outs easy to grab. If are part of a group with name tags, keep your business cards in the plastic case for easy access. The more streamlined your stuff is, the more time you have to focus on building the relationships you came for.
3) Prepare several versions of what you want to say – Going in, I had prepared what I wanted to say for several different audiences. What I forgot to do was schedule for several different lengths of time. At some of my meetings I had three minutes to talk, and others I had fifteen. I wish I had prepared for both.
4) You share a culture with your legislators – DC’s main cultural expression tends towards PATRIOTISM!, complete with eagles, stars and marble columns. Even chain restaurants can be spotted with patriotic wall paper. But if you look around your legislators’ offices you will spot crasins, cheese heads and model tractors. If you are proud of your Wisconsin culture, you already have common ground.
5) You don’t need to be perfect to have an impact – You just need a good story. It’s necessary to have some facts to back it up, but you’re talking to real people. One story they can relate to is enough to help them understand you and be inspired.
Despite its intimidating grandeur, there were many wonderful things about DC. Walking into the sunlit hall of Kennedy Center for the Arts surrounded by hundreds of people hungry to see our nation transformed by the arts left me hopeful for our future. Every one of the twelve kind strangers who pointed me in the right direction when I was lost inside the House buildings reminded me how people, as a whole, want to help each other. And finding out that Rep. Moore is a poet like me, writing to make sense of the world around her, reminded me that the arts wind their way through every part of our lives. Regardless of our differences, the arts are the thread that runs between us.
April 1, 2015 is a big day for Arts Wisconsin and our Executive Director Anne Katz. For 20 years, Anne has worked tirelessly to advocate for the arts and creativity for everyone, everywhere in Wisconsin.
The past 20 years in Wisconsin have presented relentless challenges and exciting triumphs for the arts industry. With Anne at the helm of Arts Wisconsin, Wisconsin’s creative sector has been in great hands.
Randy Cohen: Vice President of Research & Policy at Americans for the Arts
During Arts Day 2015 on March 11, 2015, we sat down with Randy Cohen, Vice President of Research and Policy at Americans for the Arts, to talk about the current state of arts and creativity in Wisconsin and the United States.
* Randy, tell us something about yourself.
“My artistic training and degree is in the theater. I also worked in medical research at Stanford University and for Scripps Clinic & Research Foundation. The science people always wondered what I was doing in the arts and vice versa. To me, there was never much difference between the two. Add a couple years at the NEA during the culture wars and somehow that brew has prepared for what is now 24 years at Americans for the Arts.”
* What are your areas of expertise and scope of work at Americans for the Arts?
“I run the research and policy area at Americans for the Arts. In short, this means I deliver the information tools that people need to make the case for the arts. We all need a full quiver of case-making arrows that communicate the value of the arts and a vibrant cultural community. That is, an investment in the arts provides not just cultural benefits, but also improves our communities socially, educationally, and economically.”
* What about your work keeps you passionate about arts advocacy?
“Building healthier communities through the arts . . . how lucky am I to have a job with an outcome like that? As arts advocates, we are on the right side of what needs to be done in this country. While the battles to maintain arts funding and keep the arts in the schools seem endless, I am heartened by our ability to keep changing minds—to help people see the arts as a potent tool that makes our kids, our communities, and our country better.”
* What are the national issues and themes concerning the arts that people in Wisconsin should be paying attention to right now?
“Keeping the arts in the schools is a huge issue everywhere.”
“Arts producers need to keep a keen eye on the changing way our public is consuming the arts. They are seeking more personal involvement through self-creation, to access and consume the arts through technology, and experience the arts in a broader range of venues—in our schools, libraries, hospitals, and public art in the built environment. We need to make the arts unavoidable in our communities, to bring the art to the people and not just wait for the people to come to the art.”
“Nearly 50 percent of the nation’s hospitals have active arts and music programs for patients, their families, and even for care-givers. As the population grows and ages, the arts will play an increasingly important role in our health and well being. Related, the arts are used by the military to promote troop force and family readiness, resilience, retention, and for the successful reintegration of veterans into family and community life. Read more on the National Initiative on Arts & Health in the Military.”
* What are three things people who care about Wisconsin's future can do as advocates for the arts?
Take Action! One person can start a movement. No pushback from the arts community is low-hanging fruit for budget cutters. Pack your city council chambers with arts supporters. And, don’t forget to include your secret weapon—arts, music, and poetry. Make it a public hearing nobody will forget.”
“Talk the talk (Three questions make you a lean, mean, arts advocacy fighting machine!)
What’s your message? Be sure your quiver of case-making arrows for the arts is full. You need to deliver a range of compelling messages to decision makers about the value of the arts. Have a personal story and some research to back up each point.
Who gets your message? Who are the decision makers that affects your work. We all have authorizers or somebody’s behavior that needs to be changed. Target that person and give them no peace!
Who delivers your message? We are surrounded by people waiting to be asked and guided to speak about the value of the arts. Business leaders, educators, parents, students, police chiefs, and even other politicians.”
You really don’t want to miss the biggest day of the year for the arts in Wisconsin on March 11, 2015, made possible by our generous Arts Day 2015 sponsors. Here are 10 reasons why you should join colleagues and friends, new and old, who care about Wisconsin’s future on the biggest day for the arts in our state:
The Creative Economy Development Initiative is a new matching grant program to be administered by the Wisconsin Arts Board to grow Wisconsin’s creative economy. This bill will be front of the State Legislature during the 2015-2017 starting in January 2015 and will be a leading topic of Arts Day 2015!
It’s critically important that people who care about Wisconsin and all of its communities tell their stories about the power, benefit, public value, and impact of the arts. Come to Arts Day to demonstrate that Wisconsin should invest in the arts, culture, creativity and innovation – all essential to success in our rapidly changing world. Make sure your state representatives and decision-makers know why they should make the investment of the tax-payers’ hard-earned dollars.
As Wisconsin’s statewide arts service, advocacy and development organization, Arts Wisconsin works hard to keep up to date on what’s happening arts, arts education and creative economy-wise throughout the state. From Eagle River to Potosi, from Kenosha to Superior, communities are finding new ways to revitalize local and regional economies, transform education, enliven communities and engage residents. In many cases, community-based arts and creativity are at the heart of these efforts. Arts Day is a great opportunity to bring together a collective energy and action to demonstrate the statewide power of the arts.
True, effective advocacy is ongoing, locally-based and comes from the heart. Especially during budget season, many other causes are advocating for their specific agendas. If you don’t promote your cause and your work, those other causes will get the attention and the funding...
The Arts Day keynote speaker Randy Cohen is one of the country’s most important experts on arts policy, research and engagement. He’s got facts, figures, and stories to inspire and inform you and your work.
Wisconsin’s new Poet Laureate Kimberly Blaeser will be with us at the Legislative Breakfast in one of her first appearances in the position.
You’ll get even more inspiration and information from all the activities happening that day. Leaders from around the state will tell the stories, successes and challenges of the creative economy at work in their communities.
We know you’re ridiculously busy, but every once in a while you’ve got to take a break from the daily routine and get recharged and rejuvenated in a different setting. That’s what Arts Day is all about!
Arts Day is an outstanding example of statewide cooperation and partnership, with an impressive list of sponsors ranging from Ward-Brodt Music of Madison to the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets. Click here for the list of very generous Arts Day 2015 sponsors.
Sure, FaceBook and Twitter are useful tools for connecting and promoting but nothing can replace actual human interaction. Arts Day is all about connecting with old friends and meeting new ones, live and in person.
Qe could go on and on – there are so many reasons why you should be in Madison for Arts Day. Mark your calendars for Arts Day 2015 and register today. See you in Madison on March 11!
Grandview & Pecatonica Educational Charitable Foundation
By Megan Larsen
The Pecatonica Educational Charitable (PEC) Foundation in Hollandale, WI is a volunteer group comprised of local residents and community leaders. Along with fostering partnerships with local schools, providing grants, awarding scholarships and conducting arts workshops, the PEC Foundation operates and maintains Grandview. Rick Rolfsmeyer serves on the Board of Directors and is the last founding board member at the PEC Foundation.
Rick believes that the PEC Foundation and Grandview present “a hub of creativity for the common rural person. A place where there isn’t fear of doing something weird, but a realization that weird is fun. And fun for everybody, not just arts folks. Everyone has an artist within.”
Grandview, a concrete sculpture park created by Austrian immigrant Nick Engelbert from 1930s-1950s, is a historic site, a tourist attraction, an educational institution and a space that cultivates an arts environment. After Engelbert passed away in 1962, his property, decorated with over 40 sculptures, fell to ruin.
In the 1990s, the Kohler Foundation acquired Engelbert’s Grandview and gifted it to the PEC Foundation (an organization specifically created in 1997 to receive and operate Grandview). Over the past 18 years, both the PEC Foundation and Grandview have grown to accommodate tourists and visitors as well as the arts in Wisconsin’s southwest region.
For Rick, working with the PEC Foundation and Grandview directly ties into his personal interests. “I’m a rural community developer,” Rick said when asked why he continues to volunteer his time to the PEC Foundation after 18 years as a board member. “To me, many places like Grandview really show the heart and soul of rural Wisconsin.”
“I love that a dairy farmer expressed himself through the arts. Engelbert was a common immigrant but arts became so important to him so he created a community site that allowed him to express his heart and soul,” he added.
However, the upkeep of Engelbert’s creative community site does present some challenges to the PEC Foundation. At Grandview, 60% of Engelbert’s original statues have been restored but 40% still need to be restored. In the past, Grandview has hired accredited conservators to take care of sculpture restoration and maintenance. Hiring qualified conservators can get costly, so Grandview restoration efforts progress at a slower pace than what the sculptures’ durability demand. A majority of Grandview’s art is located outside and faces huge temperature changes, nasty storms and brutal winters.
For example, Grandview’s Snow White sculpture lost two of her seven dwarves. Fortunately, the PEC Foundation’s latest fundraising effort raised enough money to cover restoration costs and the project to restore the two dwarves will commence soon.
Looking to the future, Grandview continues to offer services to the community through the fostering of an inclusive arts environment. On February 17, 2015, Grandview will be dedicating a statue to a community elementary school through a residency by Madison artist Dan Slick.
For more information on upcoming events, visit www.nicksgrandview.com.
Portage County Executive Patty Dreier was the keynote speaker at Arts Wisconsin’s annual Local Arts Conference, presented December 4, 2014 in the beautiful new Mid-State Technical College campus in Stevens Point, WI. Ms. Dreier spoke about her lifelong involvement in the arts and her enthusiastic support of creative economy development throughout the county.
Portage County is a model for this kind of 21st century development, with supportive elected officials and a proactive civic, arts, business and education community working in partnership for positive change that benefits everyone in the county.
Below are excerpts from Ms. Dreier’s presentation at the conference. We appreciate her great work and advocacy for her constituents.
“Grow” upon the concept of “arts” and expand it to encompass all that is creative in moving our community and world forward—we now call it “the creative industry” to help us align with more traditional business sector measures and language.
This is no “fluffy” thing; this is serious, down to earth economic/community development which is core to our quality of life.
Portage County is on a leading edge of defining and accounting for our creative industry.
Portage County was one of two counties to feature the creative industry as our economic development “story” for a visit of the governor’s senior staff asking for us to focus on economic development“feathers in our caps.”
Our Arts Alliance is growing in its capacities and leadership and strength to lift up a focused effort around measuring the power and value of our creative industry. (About 1000 jobs in Portage County; Greg Wright mentioned it was valued so far at $3.7 million and that was only measuring the budgets of the creative industry members, not the multipliers/tourist aspect, yet).
Perhaps now more than ever before, we need to honor and boost our creative industry because it is about innovation and problem solving and beauty and entrepreneurship and peace, “yes, peace.” Helping people and communities recognize and achieve balance, helping them honor the spirit of creativity and innovation, ensuring they have access to the beauty that is at the center of the arts and creative economy, is about helping individuals and communities grow more compassionate. (And if there is anything our world needs more of now, it is compassion.) Our creative industry moves us beyond our narrow individual points of view and leads us to capture a bigger picture and find better balance.
The creative industry is amazing for the way it plays it both ways (has dual realities): It both opens our minds and focuses our minds. It invigorates and it calms. It gives something to the greater good while it serves deeply the individual creator’s spirit. It smoothes the rough edges of our community and economy, while it cuts straight to the soul. Sometimes it disturbs or awakens and sometimes it can bring peace and can heal us.
In Portage County, we are leading on studying and defining this industry that we call “creative.”
We are working to integrate…figuring out how to work together, capture synergies, transcend our silos and bring them into one cluster—giving them collective power.
That’s exactly what the arts and creative industry do: they bring people together, attract young professionals, help us achieve Portage County’s vision (Portage County: A cohesively centered vibrant community.)—a vibrant community with a spirit, with a “center.”
Our challenge remains: How to help others see and understand the value. There are still some who haven’t seen the light of a creative industry to be recognized as part of our economic fabric—at least equal to (and frankly better than?) “smokestack” types of economic development. The arts help retain young professionals, they attract other businesses, they are essential for communities to be desirable places to live and develop.
The message of our creative industry is an appropriate message for this time of year: This industry is about giving more than receiving. It builds human capital—capital that is essential for healthy communities to be and grow.
WE ARE IN THE BUSINESS OF BUILDING HEALTHY COMMUNITIES.
Without innovators, we cannot keep up with or survive in this changing world.
Without clustering our creative industry, we cannot focus our multi-talented and diverse powers. We won’t be able to do as well to raise awareness so that we can boost recognition of the value of this sector and so that more people/businesses will be able to see themselves as members of this industry (redefining themselves).
As we cluster, we empower more individuals and organizations and businesses and entrepreneurs to take it to the wonderful limit that we knowas the sky.
The creative industry deserves respect and support for its many values and contributions and the fact that it is essential to community health and well-being.
Come with the power of the people behind you—representing hundreds of people, numerous organization, millions of dollars as you tally your “force.” Use language that officials can understand and not just an emotional appeal.
Involve community leaders by giving them parts to play in local events. Leverage the strengths of their peers in asking them to get involved if you aren’t being successful in gaining their participation.
Work to integrate yourself into government structures (e.g.,economic development committees; county websites, etc).
areudirty
yousharknotpass
janainaart
baratheonpilled
annaxmalina