Monday, July 14, 2014
Creative Workforce Fellowship Session: What to Expect
It started with a quiet announcement, that Cuyahoga county's Creative Workforce Fellowship was to be temporarily suspended, pending a review by the funder. Few noticed, until Belt Mag founder and editor-in-chief Anne Trubek started a minor ruckus online and on her Facebook wall. She eventually deleted the Facebook post, but not before generating a little news coverage from the Plain Dealer's Steve Litt and a promise from the City Club to host an informal gathering of stakeholders, funders and program administrators to discuss what's going on and the possibilities for the future of the fellowship. The fellowship, by the way, offers $20,000 to individual artists and writers each year since 2009.
So, who should be here? And what should they expect? And what can you do to inform yourself before you get here?
All are welcome, and folks in the arts community ought to find this particularly compelling and worthwhile. I expect past fellows will be present in force, but this is a public program, so anyone who cares about how public dollars are spent in support of the arts has a stake here.
Tom Schorgl of CPAC and Karen Gahl-Mills of CAC will be here, representing their organizations. Each will start with a brief explanation of where we are in this process, how we got here, and how they expect the process to unfold. I'll ask some questions to help clarify and illuminate anything that might be muddy and then we'll open it up to feedback and questions from everyone who joins us. (Unlike most City Club programs, we will welcome statements and ideas and notions--not just questions.)
Here are some of the things on my mind:
• Where is the most effective point for advocates to have their voices heard?
• What are all the possibilities for the future of this program?
• What are the parts of the CPAC evaluation that are most relevant?
• What's the impact of the program on the fellows? On the community?
I'm sure you have questions, too. Bring them with you, or leave them in the comments section here!
And if you want to prep for the event, check out all the links above, and also this report, which started it all.
Photo credit: Zygote Press
