Is Advocacy Important? a brown bag with Randy Cohen, Americans for the Arts

Join the Emerging Arts Professionals/SFBA on Tuesday, August 17th, from 12p-1p for “Is Advocacy Important?” a brown bag with your peers and Randy Cohen*, VP of Local Arts Advancement at Americans for the Arts (AFTA).

Tuesday, August 17th, 12:00p-1:00p
YAW Lounge, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
701 Mission Street at 3rd Street

Randy is in town from Washington, DC giving the keynote at Arts Forum  2010 at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in the evening, but wanted to touch base with us while he is here on the West Coast.

He has been traveling around the country for the last few months, discussing AFTA’s National Arts Index and this is an intimate opportunity to pick his brain conveniently scheduled during your lunch break.

What is the state of the national arts community? What economic trends are developing? Where does the Bay Area fit in? What is AFTA advocating for on a national level? In your opinion, where should local resources to support the arts go? Is advocacy even important? How could it be more effective?

Randy will talk about his current work and travels for the first 20 minutes and then we’ll open it up to discussion….your questions, statements and thoughts. And please bring your lunch.

Space is limited and we must submit a firm guest list to YBCA, so send your RSVP to nextgenerationsf@gmail.com by 11am on Monday, August 16th.

*Randy Cohen is among the most noted experts in the field of arts funding, research, policy, and using the arts to address community development issues. In January 2010, Randy released The National Arts Index, the first ever annual measure of the health and vitality of arts in the United States. He published the two premier economic studies of the arts industry—Arts & Economic Prosperity, the national impact study of nonprofit arts organizations and their audiences and Creative Industries, an annual mapping study of the nation’s 680,000 arts establishments and their employees. Randy led the development of the National Arts Policy Roundtable, an annual convening of leaders who focus on the advancement of American culture, launched in 2006 in partnership with Robert Redford and the Sundance Preserve. More here http://sites.google.com/site/artsforum2010/keynote-speaker

More on Arts Forum 2010 http://sites.google.com/site/artsforum2010/
“A forum to educate political candidates and the community about what the arts community does for us, and what you can do to help!”