A Call for Best Practices: Arts and Cultural Institutions Reaching Out to Older Adult and Immigrant Audiences
Feature Your Program in National Publication!
Partners for Livable Communities offers a unique opportunity to have your Story for Change featured in a national publication: a compendium of best practices dedicated to increasing the visibility of organizations and their innovative programs to new audiences nationally and worldwide. How is your arts and cultural institution relating to the changing audiences in your community: specifically the rapidly growing older adults (55+), and immigrants?
Click Here to Download the Submission Form
About:
The population in all parts of the country is changing—and changing rapidly. The rising tide of immigrants and older adults present a timely opportunity for communities, and their arts and cultural institutions, to rethink and retool their outreach. Partners for Livable Communities (Partners) observed this trend in our recent report Culture Connects All, which received visibility among funders, political leaders, and stake holders in communities across the country. The report provided a lens into six cities and 20 arts institutions exhibiting unique programs, or services, for older adults and/or immigrants.
Now, we are creating a broader compendium of Best Practices, or Stories for Change, to expand on our report. We will feature stories from arts and cultural institutions that have expanded beyond their traditional mandates, and outside their four walls, to reach out to the immigrant and older adult populations in their communities. We define arts and cultural institutions broadly: from community-based arts organizations, museums, libraries, and opera, to open space organizations, public parks, botanical gardens, and historical societies.
The Contest:
Ten Best Practices will be featured in the publication, and for a limited time on Partners’ website. The phenomenal work of your organization will be showcased as part of the publication’s wide distribution: hard and electronic copies both nationally and internationally will reach new funders, national networks, membership organizations and even trade associations beyond the field of arts and culture, to advance outreach and employ new strategies for engagement.
Stories should describe one, or up to two, initiatives or programs conducted by the arts and cultural institution; the story may represent the work of multiple partners, (we encourage this!) but must have the arts institution at its core. The story may also describe a general operating strategy, such as: new transportation options offered regularly to the community, bilingual presenting, arts programming conducted in a non-traditional setting, and more. Stories should be dynamic, pointed, and readable, and should describe why this work is important to both the arts institution and to the community. The reader should gain a clear understanding of the program, the key players involved, the resources used, and even a glimpse into the trials and successes of developing the program.
Partners will review all submissions until November 30th, 2011 at 5 PM (EST). Best Practices must be submitted electronically, using the template available for download. Stories not submitted in this template will not be reviewed. One month following submissions, Partners will announce the ten Best Practices to earn a feature in the report. The final report will be made available through a limited print run of 500 copies and through free download on the web.
The Stories for Change Contest is made possible through support by MetLife Foundation, and through the great work of arts and cultural organizations across the country that believe in the power of the arts to create lasting change in their communities.
Why This Work is Important
For the past 15 years, Partners has focused on the arts and culture as an integral part of the livable community. The arts offer innovative methods for community and economic development, assisting to unite and meet the needs of diverse and vulnerable populations. Arts institutions have the unique ability to reach-out to diverse community groups to participate in their programming, and have found unexpected partners with traditional institutions. Through these partnerships, arts groups have infused their outreach strategies and programming to resonate with the greater community, addressing the assets and resources, as well as new challenges, presented by changing audiences.
Contact Liz Bieber This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , 202-887-5990 x104 with questions.