Sedona AZ (June 9, 2016) – The Sedona Arts and Culture Collaborative is on a mission: “to establish the Greater Sedona Area as an internationally recognized learning community for arts and culture education.” The group, composed of artists, non-profit organizations, educators, civic leaders and arts supporters is focused on enhancing and growing arts education programming in the Greater Sedona area.
The Collaborative hosted a forum on April 21st 2016 to create awareness of the mission and to share the results of a survey that was conducted in 2015. Rob Adams, a former Mayor of Sedona is the chairperson. Adams states, “While I was the Mayor, I repeatedly heard the arts community complain that Sedona was not living up to the city vision statement that describes our community as a city that is animated by the arts. I also noticed that artists and arts organizations were essentially working in silos and not sharing information. I decided to create an organization that would facilitate dialogue and collaboration between artists. I believe that if we work together, we can be much more successful in achieving goals that will benefit the arts community and our greater communities as well.”
An “incubator team” was created in 2014 to determine a common goal that the arts community would collectively support. After a year of discussions, the team determined that the best strategy for “growing” the arts was through greatly enhanced opportunities for arts education, both in the school districts and the public sectors.
In order to determine the level of support in the arts community for developing arts education programming, the Collaborative created and distributed a survey in 2015. The survey was then sent out to approximately 120 artists and/or arts organizations.
RESULTS: Approximately 80 responses were received. To the delight of the Collaborative, almost 100% of the respondents agreed that Sedona would be “enriched through arts collaboration with the goal of creating enhanced and expanded arts education programming.”Encouraged by finding a goal that is widely supported, the Collaborative has created a second survey to research and determine the arts education classes/programming that currently exists in the Greater Sedona area. “Nobody knows what the big picture is,” says Adams. “There are many arts classes and programs, but there has never been a compilation of all of the arts education opportunities in our community.”
The new survey, about to be completed and distributed, will be sent out via email to an extensive list of artists and arts supporters in the near future. Anyone who offers an arts education class/program, but does not receive a survey via email is encouraged to visit the Collaborative website at sedonaculturecollaborative.org. One click will direct you to the survey website. “It is critical that all artists/organizations who offer educational programming respond to this survey”, continues Adams. “We want to get an accurate picture of what is offered in the greater Sedona area. We will then collate this information and determine where opportunities exist for additional or enhanced arts education programming.”
Once all of the information is gathered and collated, the Collaborative will facilitate another forum to present the results of this survey. Participants in the forum will then be encouraged to participate in a discussion that will focus on prioritizing action plans that will grow arts education programming. People interested in becoming involved are encouraged to let us know how to reach you.
“The Collaborative is an organization that facilitates dialogue and incubation of ideas”, says Adams. If the arts community truly wants Sedona to be a city that is animated by the arts, the arts community needs to come together and help make that happen. If each of us takes a role in moving toward our mission, there is no doubt that we can be successful. United, we can flourish!”