REFLECTIONS FROM THE CENTER OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY
In 2018, we happily accepted an invitation from colleagues at the Aspen Art Museum to collaborate on an ambitious proposal to the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The proposal was exciting to us because it centered on a bold but simple goal: Explore the possibilities for building community between rural arts organizations to improve opportunities for art experiences across their region. As the project’s research and evaluation team, our work has been to explore the perceptions of the organizations themselves, as well as how their institutional presence and collaborative efforts have been felt among the audiences they serve. Above all, we have had the unique privilege of being welcomed into a network of professionals from across Colorado’s Western Slope. While our role on the project has included close collaboration with our colleagues in Aspen on the launch and stewardship of the grant itself, the accomplishments, legacy, and ongoing plans of Rural Arts Connect belong to the organizational partners you’ll hear from in this guide, and we are proud to have served as a geographically distant but committed “critical friend” along the way. When we first began working on this project, we could not anticipate how much change would take place for all of us between our initial proposal submission in 2018 and now, in Summer 2022. As the project progressed, we saw the COVID-19 pandemic and significant political changes affect rural areas particularly acutely, both in Colorado and in our own state of Ohio. While these changes did at times hamper some of our colleagues’ best-laid plans and force unexpected and difficult transitions, it has also been immensely heartening to see the ways community and professional support can emerge and thrive in particularly challenging times. As we near the end of the funded grant, we celebrate the contributions of everyone connected to this work over the years. These efforts have given us renewed optimism about the resilience and creativity that can be found when we intentionally seek community and prioritize mutual benefit. In this spirit, the Rural Arts Connect (RAC) Leadership Network offers this resource guide to share the best of what we have learned together. In the pages that follow, you’ll find some of the Network’s most promising examples of collaborative programming, as well as some practical lessons learned from our partners. Together with all of our RAC colleagues, we invite you to try things, to adapt and remix things, to share alike, and to reach out.
Dolly Hayde + Justin Reeves Meyer COSI’s Center for Research and Evaluation
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