https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPg1z98hxm0
Creative Santa Fe presented The Future of Art: A Disruptive Futures Dialogue on March 13 and 14th, 2019 from 6:00-8:00 PM. This event engaged the community and local art institutions in conversation about the opportunities and challenges we face as we look into the future of the arts in Santa Fe. Vital Spaces, a new organization whose mission is to revitalize Santa Fe’s creative culture by filling temporarily vacant Santa Fe real estate with art, hosted the event at their first temporary location at 220 Otero Street in downtown Santa Fe.
The 2017 Culture Track Report, created by international cultural consulting firm La Placa Cohen, revealed that over the past few years, the very definition of culture has undergone a profound global shift. Audiences are demanding fun, interaction, and relevance in their lives and their cultural experiences in a way that is entirely unprecedented in modern history. This catalytic shift changes the way that art is presented and experienced, and brings up important questions about the future of art and culture in society. Santa Fe is at the very crossroads of this transition. How will we, as a community, respond to and evolve with this shifting cultural climate?
This event consisted of highly participatory small group discussions led by trained facilitators, in addition to activities that engaged attendees in meaningful dialogue, problem solving, and civic action toward envisioning a vibrant arts future in Santa Fe. All of the responses to activities and discussions were recorded and organized into a program summary.
Click here to read the program summary including findings and next steps.
One of the questions facilitators asked their groups was “What are some new projects we can initiate now to support our arts community?” Over 220 short term project ideas were identified in response. From the recorded responses, a few core project ideas emerged such as the need for more networking opportunities for the local arts community. Our organization shared the program findings with partners across the community interested in building collaborative, responsive programming. The resulting programs, including Creative Mingle and Art + Experience, are listed below.
We are excited to announce that will be building the successes of The Future of Art program into a 2020 Disruptive Futures Dialogue. This will include large and small scale programs taking place throughout Santa Fe. Feel free to contact our team if you are interested in learning more or collaborating on next steps.
The Future of Art: Next Steps
Creative Mingle: An Arts Networking Event
In partnership with the Santa Fe Opera
The Future of Art program audiences were asked the question “What are some new projects we can initiate now to support our arts community?” Attendees identified over 220 ideas in response, – the majority addressing the need for more arts networking opportunities in Santa Fe. Creative Santa Fe responded to this finding with the Creative Mingle: An Arts Networking Event program. The objective of this event series is to network the Santa Fe arts community through fun, engaging, free public nightlife events hosted in collaboration with arts parters across the city, ideally facilitating new conversation, collaborations, and opportunities for attendees.
The first two events of the series in partnership with the Santa Fe Opera and the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum were a smashing success. After the Creative Mingle events attendees reported:
• An average of 6 new connections were made per person.
• 45% reported that they discovered a new organization or business.
• 32% found a new collaborator.
In 2020 Creative Santa Fe will be focusing the series on unique areas of the arts community to spark positive impacts within topics such as wellness, social justice, indigenous futurisms, and nightlife.
Art + Experience: An Interactive Potluck Dinner
In partnership with the Coe Center for the Arts
The Future of Art program survey was distributed throughout the city in February 2019 to identify the top factors that draw participation in the arts. From the list potential factors provided, the option ‘Experiencing New Things’ ranked highest, being identified as a driving factor in 60% of all survey responses. being identified as a key factor in 60% of all survey responses. This finding supports La Placa Cohen’s 2017 Culture Track Report which identified that ‘play and experience’ are the top factors drawing arts and culture participation nationally.
Recognizing this growing national and hyper-local trend, the Ralph T. Coe Center for the Arts and Creative Santa Fe partnered to host a community discussion about art and experience on Thursday, June 20th and Tuesday, June 25th from 6:00 – 8:00 pm. These conversations focused on new thinking about the role of the arts in our daily lives, a generational shift regarding how the arts are valued, and how to remove barriers to participation. Click the event link to read about the key takeaways from this collaboration.
