Building Arts Participation in Rural America

Tuesday, October 20, 3:30 pm – 5:00 pm

Organized by Cinda Holt, business development specialist, Montana Arts Council.

Presented by Cinda Holt; Mary Trudel, senior communications officer, Wallace Foundation

This session focuses on case studies of seven Montana arts organizations that received multi-year funding from the Montana Arts Council through the Wallace Foundation’s START initiative for building arts participation. The lessons learned, both successes and failures, are illuminating to those who want examples of challenges facing rural arts organizations, or those in smaller communities, who are trying to strengthen their supporters and audiences. The organizations used the Wallace funded RAND publication “A New Framework for Building Participation in the Arts,” as the basis for their work. In addition, the presentation includes the Montana Arts Council’s “lessons learned” in building public value for the arts. This is a result of the agency’s participation in the Wallace Foundation-sponsored professional development/executive sessions that were offered by the faculty of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

Related Links:

A New Framework for Building Participation in the Arts (.pdf)