Update/Reflection
The first round of judging for Fall 2013 ArtWeek submissions is just winding down with over 30 submissions for Fall ArtWeek 2013. Over the next several weeks successful applicants are confirming their partnerships and event details, the ArtWeek website is being designed to launch the week of September 9, and media partners and campaigns are being finalized. It is exciting to see that the initial round of events reflect a variety of neighborhoods, partnerships, genres, and experiences. Even better, about half are free!
Recent Wins
This week we made a major announcement – ArtWeek now has a title sponsor! Here is an excerpt from the press release:
“Citi Performing Arts Center is pleased to announce that Highland Street Foundation will be the title sponsor of ArtWeek Boston, a new initiative set to launch in September of 2013. Highland Street Foundation has a strong interest in providing educational and enriching experiences for families and children, across Massachusetts. The foundation views ArtWeek as a unique opportunity to expand its commitment to the arts while increasing accessibility to a broad and diverse range of audiences.
….During the Fall ArtWeek, audiences can experience a “Magic of Mozart” free family day with Boston Lyric Opera, Zoo New England and Handel and Haydn Society at the Boston Public Library, pop-up theatre performances by Fiddlehead Theatre in Dorchester, or the “Play Me, I’m Yours” festival hosted by the Celebrity Series of Boston, a free, week-long interactive piano extravaganza happening throughout Boston’s neighborhoods. These creative experiences and more will span across disciplines and represent a broad range of arts organizations with many events free to the public…. The Highland Street Foundation focuses its efforts on providing access and opportunities in the area of education, housing, mentorship, health care, environment and the arts. Blake Jordan, Executive Director of Highland Street stated that “ArtWeek Boston is an innovative initiative that will help spotlight the rich cultural offerings within our community. We are excited about the opportunity to attract those who don’t normally engage in these types of experiences, particularly children and families. We’ve had great success bringing in new audiences to museums through our Free Fun Fridays program and we look forward to similar results with ArtWeek.” Click here to read the full release …..
Insight/Provocation
In the last month, we successfully recruited and trained our first panel of judges who represented a variety of perspectives including tourism, arts service organizations, media-related professionals, and artists. Having thoughtful judges who took the time to write insightful comments during this initial round has been extraordinarily helpful as Spring planning is already underway. We deliberately recruited judges who represented a variety of sectors, ages, and interests and that was reflected in their comments and feedback. What we didn’t anticipate was the range of reactions to each single event. Some proposals received “two thumbs” up from judges with one perspective, but at the same time didn’t resonate with other judges. This was especially true with the more niche-oriented events, and/or ones with a fee. It was a timely reminder that what defines an exciting art and/or cultural experience is different for different people, and that one should be mindful when judging anything when art and culture are involved. Ultimately, the hope is that ArtWeek will represent an ever-growing range of events that appeal to ALL segments of the general public, whatever their definition of art is!
Want to follow ArtWeek’s progress? See below:
www.citicenter.org/artweek
www.facebook.com/artweekboston
www.twitter.com/artweekboston