Sedona AZ (November 2, 2016) – If you are a local artist, arts educator, or art lover, the Sedona Culture Collaborative wants to hear from you.
The group is hosting a public forum on November 10, 5-6:30 PM, where ideas from the arts community will be solicited to help shape the future of arts education in the Sedona area. The event will be held in Room 34 of the West Sedona campus of Yavapai College.
According to President Rob Adams, the former Mayor of Sedona, the Collaborative is a non-profit coalition of artists, arts organizations, educators, civic leaders, and arts supporters. Its mission, he says, is “to establish the Greater Sedona Area as an internationally recognized learning community for all visual and performing arts.”
To further that mission, the group has recently completed a first-of-its-kind survey of arts education in the greater Sedona area. The results of this survey will be unveiled at the forum.
A prior survey, conducted in 2015, revealed that a vast majority of respondents believe that Sedona would be “enriched through arts collaboration with the goal of creating enhanced and expanded arts education programming.”
The next step in the group’s mission was the latest survey. Its goal was to determine what arts education programming currently exists in Sedona. “After validating that our mission was broadly supported, we needed to understand what is currently offered in arts education in our area,” continues Adams. “No one knew what the big picture is. If we know what we have, we can determine where the overlaps, gaps, and opportunities are for growing and enhancing arts education.”
The forum will not only present the results of the latest survey, but will also include music and dance performances plus breakout discussions focusing on creating new visions for arts education in Sedona. “We expect a very enjoyable evening – one that’s entertaining and productive in equal measure,” said Jim Peterson, the Collaborative’s Vice President.
Russell Fox, the president of the Sedona Conservatory and the former conductor of the Verde Valley Sinfonietta, will facilitate the presentations.
Eric Holowacz, the Sedona Arts Center Director, will discuss ideas for artist interaction and collaboration. James Perey, Dean of the Verde Valley Campus of Yavapai College, and Dave Lykins, the Superintendent of the Sedona/Oak Creek School District, will speak about arts education in our school systems.
Respected local artists and educators will facilitate the breakout groups to generate ideas pertinent to their specific genres. These facilitators include Andrea Smith, Rick Gandolfo, John Soderberg, Jim Peterson, Steve Douglas, Winnie Muench, Elizabeth Oakes, Wendy Bialek, Pat Priolo, Shondra Jepperson, Dennis Ott and Ron Moler.
The ideas that are generated during the forum will be collated and prioritized into action plans that will be presented to the public at a future date.
“The Collaborative is an organization that facilitates dialogue and the incubation of ideas,” says Adams. “We have observed that many artists and educators are working in silos. When we start sharing ideas and working together toward common goals, that is when the magic happens.”
For more information, contact Jim Peterson at (928) 554-4340 or Rob Adams at (928) 639-3503.
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