EMPOWERMENT
EAP seeks to support and strengthen individuals and groups in order to help them pursue their own goals and aspirations.
Launched in 2010 the EAP Fellowship program looks to the future by bringing together insightful and energetic arts and culture leadership and emerging models in a convergence of participatory practice and action learning. Since it’s inception, the program has regularly evolved and adapted to be responsive to the needs and culture of workers in the field, integrating learnings and input from each cohort.
What began as a hands-on training fellowship for arts administrators, became a collective exploration into personal and professional development with the 2015 introduction by co-founder Ebony McKinney of four Affinity Topics—Cultural Equity, Creative City, Regenerative Practices, and Arts & Capital—and the shift from departmental teams (marketing, programming, finance) to Affinity-based project teams. Individual sessions involved research and discussion of each topic with corresponding curriculum and interactive learning. Since then, Team Projects shift between affinity-based projects and programs, allowing for more hands-on experience producing and managing convenings, publications, workshops, and collaborating with partner organizations.
In 2021, we adapted the format to incorporate intergenerational work and to better fit the realities of our new world, especially as we continue to navigate social upheaval and the global pandemic and recovery. The cohort now meets for shorter sessions more often, and focuses more deeply each year on one of our four Affinity Topics: Cultural Equity, Creative City, Regenerative Practices, and Arts & Capital.
The new horizon of creative leadership requires new competencies, skills, and sensitivities that are adaptive, engaging, and relevant. The program aims to introduce an alternative model for professional development that balances traditional structure with increased creativity and experimentation. Over the course of nine months, the Fellowship is designed to enrich and expand the professional skill-sets of emerging and mid-level leaders working in the Bay Area’s arts & culture field.
Structure
The Fellowship is structured around three key goals for personal and Professional Development
Knowing Yourself: Personal Reflection and Development
The first few sessions focus on internal understanding of who you are, where you are, and what you need and have to offer. This reflection will be done with:
- A personal vision statement
- Network/asset mapping
- Peer coaching
Knowing the Field: Exploring the Context of Our Work
We will then explore the terrain in which we work and develop strategies to successfully operate within the larger arts ecosystem in the Bay Area through sessions dedicated to our Affinity Areas:
- Creative City
- Cultural Equity
- Arts & Enterprise
- Regenerative Practices
Working Together: Building Skills & Models for Collaboration and Leadership
Fellows will form Project Teams to get hands-on practice being collaborative leaders, build your skill around a program format, and receive mentorship from partners and EAP leadership. Projects include:
- Producing a conference
- Managing a re-granting program
- Producing community-specific public programs
- Contributing to an industry publication
Projects
Team projects are key to hands-on practice being collaborative leaders, building skills, and receiving mentorship.
In 2017, EAP launched a new format for team projects: each of four teams work within existing EAP programs to create unique intersections, strengthen partnerships, and raise the voices of the cohort and the network. Project timelines are partially determined by EAP’s annual programming calendar, and the scope of a team’s involvement in the project is up to the team members. Each project has varying milestones across the nine months.
NOTE: Because of the special nature of Cohort X, projects will be linked to our Affinity Topics, rather than EAP program.
EMERGENCE: our annual network convening that creates space for discussions and explorations into the most exciting, challenging, and urgent issues impacting the local arts and culture field. Team members work with Emergence Creative Director to create unique aspects and experiences within the convening, build a reader and creative archive, and promote and produce the event.
Ideal for Fellows interested in: planning conferences/convenings, industry conversations, coming up with new models for conferences, larger budget projects, working with contractors.
Time commitment: This project will peak between March and June, in prep and in hosting the June convening.
MADE: A project incubator in which selected proposals receive up to $1,500 and network support to execute a proposed project that plays or experiments with models or improvements of arts administration. MADE also is launching the Ebony McKinney Arts Leadership Award in 2018. Team members will work to bring in proposals from a diverse and inclusive cross section of arts admins, join and manage the jury process, and work with awardees to highlight the projects at Emergence.
Ideal for Fellows interested in: program development, arts and enterprise, project management, re-granting, application review and selection, project implementation, and design process.
Time commitment: This project peeks between January and March (proposal review and selection).
EMERGE MAGAZINE: A cross-discipline, pan-arts industry publication highlighting individual stories and solutions of cultural workers and arts leaders. Team members will join the editorial committee and work with the Editor in Chief to create a supplement (of any format) for the annual publication. Members will also have the opportunity to work with editors to create content for the main publication.
Ideal for Fellows interested in: sector research, interviewing leaders, writing about themes or projects, learning about print and online publication.
Time Commitment: This project is best for those who like to work remotely; team members are required to attend quarterly editorial meetings; hours are equally dispersed across the program length, with the publication launching at Emergence in June.
ENGAGEMENT: Creating public programs through partnerships that engage our network and the public and integrate the creative process back into industry learning and professional development. Team members will work with a community partner to create a unique program or series that lives at the intersection of arts administration and the partner organization’s mission.
Ideal for Fellows interested in: developing collaborative public facing programs (workshops, roundtables, art actions, etc), establishing and stewarding partnerships with organizations/collectives that engage a diverse range of fields, identities, and experiences of art and culture in the Bay Area.
Time Commitment: Engagement programs take place between February and April. The hours for this team are dispersed across the nine months.
Past Projects
Since EAP’s inception, team projects have been the core of the learning process and the key to building a strong network of alumni. The nature of the projects has shifted several times to respond to the growing organization and the pressing topics of the arts and culture sector.
Some past project examples: The Creative City | Arts and Enterprise | Cultural Equity + Regenerative Practices
