LEAD ING 2012 CONFERENCE CREATIVE LY MINNEAPOLIS, MN SEP 6–8 NATIONAL ALLIANCE FOR MEDIA ARTS + CULTURE NATIONAL ALLIANCE FOR MEDIA ARTS + CULTURE LEAD ING 2012 CONFERENCE CREATIVE LY MINNEAPOLIS, MN SEP 6–8 We wish to inspire, illuminate, and activate you so that you can return to your communities reinvigorated. As a network, we flourish on the exchangeNATIONAL ALLIANCE FOR MEDIA ARTS of + CULTURE ideas and on collaboration. NATIONAL ALLIANCE FOR MEDIA ARTS + CULTURE TABLE OF CONTENTS Welcome 2 Credits 6 Official Proclamation Letter 7 General Information 9 Awards 10 Plenary Sessions 16 Locally Sourced Events 20 Expo 26 Schedule at a Glance 28 Documentary Screening Program 30 Schedule in Detail and Map 35 1 WELCOME! In 2010, NAMAC took The Twin Cities have long been at the forefront of cre- on issues of devel- ative placemaking. Through municipal and regional oping leadership planning, philanthropic initiatives, and public–private and building orga- partnerships, Minneapolis and St. Paul serve as re- nizational capac- gional models for community building, integrating the ity across the me- arts into community life. We look to the way the Twin dia arts field in our Cities’ cultural landscape continues to be shaped by publication Lead- policies that support artists’ live-work neighborhoods; ing Creatively. Now, private and corporate foundations funding both artists with our National and innovative community projects; and waves of im- Conference, Lead- migrants who bring vital energy and ideas to the cul- ing Creatively, we’re tural environment. The recent voter-approved Minne- bringing this work sota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund legislates new up to date and ex- tax revenues for clean water, parks and recreation tending it for today’s challenges. More than a decade facilities, as well as arts and cultural heritage, en- of leadership work has taught us that artists increas- suring capital for statewide creative placemaking over ingly lead our member organizations. Recognizing that the next 25 years. These initiatives hold great promise, many of the original founders of media arts organiza- inspiring all of us in our separate communities to fos- tions were artists as well, we wanted to explore this ter creative, cultural change that stays rooted in our reemergence. And where better to do it than at our humanity. national conference? We last convened as a field in 2009, a year into a new More and more, artists have stepped into organiza- administration in Washington. Hopes then were high tional leadership — in policymaking, programming, and that finally our input would be heard on telecommu- administrative roles. This is true for many of our mem- nications policy, federal funding, and the role of the ber organizations, as well as for NAMAC itself. We’ve arts in America, contributing to a more just Fed- seen throughout the creative sector how artists have eral government. We reconvene noting how little has become a driving force in fieldwide planning, organi- changed. Funding remains scarce, policies continue to zational development, public policy input and the cre- be shaped by private industry interests, and the arts ation of political action agendas. Related to this, the are frequently caught in the political crosshairs (wit- entrepreneurial creativity, skills, and experience that ness, for example, the Smithsonian’s removal of Da- professional artists apply to their own small business- vid Wojnarowicz’s A Fire in My Belly after conservative es often translate well into creative sector leadership Congressional pressure was brought to bear). But let’s positions. While many artists are bringing their busi- remember that we have victories to celebrate. Perhaps ness expertise to organizational boards and staffs, as most notable this year was the elimination of dually a whole we rarely take the time to consider the impact restrictive bills in Congress—the Stop Online Piracy of artist-leaders on our sector. Leading Creatively al- Act (SOPA) in the House and the Protect Intellectual lows us to pause and examine how artists are leading, Property Act (PIPA) in the Senate. innovating, and changing the way our organizations thrive in these challenging times. Recognizing the importance of policy work in our sector, Leading Creatively sprinkles policy speakers National arts policy has increasingly focused over the across various panels. Our hope is to remind you of the last decade on “creative placemaking.” Tracing its ori- interdependency of government policy and the work we gins to Richard Florida’s controversial book The Rise do in our ever-evolving digital environment — and how of thew Creative Class, this subject has led to a tug- this may touch your organizations in ways you have not of-war among various discourses. On one side is the yet considered. This conference offers us the oppor- voice of economic development, which seeks to use tunity to explore these broad themes — as well as the cultural organizations as anchors of economic revi- time to drill down on the consequences rippling out talization for economically underperforming or de- from them. We wish to inspire, illuminate, and activate pressed areas, both urban and rural. On the other you so that you can return to your communities rein- side is bottom-up placemaking, in which communi- vigorated. As a network, we flourish on the exchange ties work collaboratively to ensure the heterogeneity of ideas and on collaboration. Use this time to engage, of neighborhoods — economical, cultural and residen- envision and thrive! n tial — while working through the arts to achieve social justice ends like workforce development or telecom- munications equity. Between these poles exist many JACK WALSH / EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR variations and examples that integrate both modes. 2 WELCOME! Leading Creatively, the NAMAC 2012 national confer- These issues are all the more resonant for the artists, ence, has emerged as a remarkable expression of the producers, and makers among us who find themselves sector-wide leadership of a diverse, engaged, and ac- in leadership positions, with their creative vision put complished community. to the test by the mundane realities of organizational and project management. One’s high-flying hopes for That community is you — the NAMAC membership. You innovative programming and transformative initiatives are makers, advocates, strategists, resource manag- can all too quickly be brought to ground level by bud- ers, academics, educators, philanthropists. You are get limits, organizational capacity, and whether one’s from established institutions and DIY collaboratives. board, staff, and volunteers want to play along. You are working on your own — independently — and in partnerships both proximal and virtual. Yet it is at that moment of landfall, so to speak, that creativity comes more fully into play — not because Whoever and wherever you are — you are leading cre- it’s fun or interesting, but because one has no choice. atively, and defining the cutting edge of the media and Faced with limited resources or intractable circum- visual-arts fields, by taking innovative risks, exploring stances, what’s the workaround, the lateral strategy? new opportunities, and excelling in your practice at a How does one cut the Gordian Knot? time of historic change from the local to the global. The term “leading creatively” is neither a zen koan nor You are building new networks based on peer relation- an oxymoron, but it can certainly lead to speculation: ships rather than hierarchies. You are exploring new What do you mean by that? How does it work, and what methods for teaching and learning. You are reconfig- do you get for it? uring your staff structure and business operations in the face of economic decline and technological ad- You’re here to tell us exactly that — you and all your vances. You are uprooting your organization and put- peers. Thank you for speaking and sharing, thank you ting money down on new types of community-based, for listening and learning — and welcome to Leading partnership-driven placemaking projects. Your entire Creatively. n production studio now fits on a smartphone. Your tra- ditional audiences for Friday night screenings and JOSH WILSON / CONFERENCE PRODUCER performances are diminishing; instead, you’ve noticed a spike in people downloading YouTube videos and showing up for lunch-hour art events during the work week. You raised more money from an experimental crowdfunding project than from your spring individu- al-donor campaign. Your interns proposed an alterna- tive social-media campaign that had higher impacts than your previous six weeks of Facebook status up- dates combined. You are surfing the wave, taking the risks, consulting with peers at every level of your work and life, and ap- plying this experience and knowledge to your strategic and tactical responses to widespread change. You are leading creatively. In an era of decentralizing media technologies, “crowdsourcing” has become a persistent, compel- ling buzzword. Yet “the crowd” is too often seen as an agglomeration of latent resources ripe for ex- ploitation — something to use for fundraising, or to propagate your message virally — rather than as a stakeholder community brimming with innovation and leadership. Perhaps part of “leading creatively” is cultivating one’s own alertness to innovation and opportunity wherever it’s happening — and then doing something to support it. 3 WELCOME TO MINNEAPOLIS It is with great plea- HOST COMMITTEE sure that I welcome We would like to extend a special you to my adopted thanks to our Host Committee; these hometowns, the Twin organizations have gone above and Cities of Minnesota. beyond welcoming NAMAC to the Twin It has been over 10 Cities: years since NAMAC last came to the Mid- Ange Hwang / Asian Media Access west. In that time, the cultural com- Tim Domke / CTV North Suburbs munities of the Twin Cities have adapted Jack Becker / Forecast Public Art to and taken advan- tage of new tools, Tim Peterson / Franklin Art Works practices, and technologies, while holding on to core Jane Minton / IFP Minnesota Center traditions that form our quirky identity.