ArtPlace: Now that you are all coming to the end of
your ArtPlace grant periods take a moment to think over the past year. What
advice would you give to the new grantees? How would you encourage new grantees
to leverage their ArtPlace grants for maximum effect?
Friedman: Bringing
an array of great ideas to life due to ArtPlace funding has been a wonderful
experience for us. The ArtPlace grant has been a wonderful opportunity for us
to fund a whole lot of items that we never thought would ever be funded. Our projects
counted on several partnerships to go well. Many of those partnerships existed
prior to the ArtPlace award but were significantly impacted by the award. These
partnerships were critical to our successes and we are VERY fortunate that professional
bonds grew stronger as a result of the ArtPlace award. If these partnerships
had not worked out, the last year could have gone very differently and very
badly.
ArtPlace’s investment has helped bring together many different
grassroots arts efforts to a common neighborhood revitalization table. Organizations such as Arts Collinwood (street
art mural projects); Cleveland Rocks: Past,Present and Future (music
culture); Project Pop-up Galleries (utilizing
vacant and underused space) and Saving Cities (community development
through media) have been instrumental in making the neighborhood a unique place
to visit. While we have always
enjoyed a good partnership with these neighborhood leaders, ArtPlace has
enabled us to work even more collaboratively in advancing the neighborhood we
all love….and to take these efforts to extraordinary heights.
We really enjoy the analogy
that ArtPlace prepares our efforts for potential “escape velocity”. As we near
the end of the ArtPlace grant period, we are currently reviewing how high we
have risen in this time and our absolute amazement in how transformative this
award has been not only for the neighborhood but also for the capacity of the
organization. Our current reality is significantly different and better than it
would have been without ArtPlace. As such, we are envisioning organizational
priorities and future projects that are far more considerable.
Other words of advice would be to continuously acknowledge successful
projects and commend participants on jobs that are well done. Positive
reinforcement is definitely a plus and will encourage grantees to complete
projects in a timely manner, which works in your favor. Encouraging feedback and following up with
grantees can provide valuable information and can help you recognize successes
and where there’s room for improvements in the future. Last but not least, schedule PLENTY of time to
work on the reporting process. Maintaining
records from the start of the grant period will result in less headaches when
it's time to complete the reports. Best
of luck and congratulations to new and future ArtPlace grantees! Be prepared for blast-off!
