Here is a selection from the ArtsAccess Project’s “Community Arts & the Museum: A Handbook for Institutions Interested in Community Arts” (download in PDF (7.45MB)
How Can Good Programs Be Sustained?
“Programs endure when sustainability is built in from the beginning. Research suggests that the following five steps help ensure the ongoing success of your important programs:
- Work hard to ensure the continuity of program leadership and staff.
- Build public awareness of your program. Develop a short but engaging “elevator” conversation to describe your project’s impact to potential funders, community elders and corporations. How does this work influence the lives of its participants and the larger community? Use it every chance you get.
- Budget funds to support the search for ongoing funding from the very beginning. This would include monies and time budgeted both to demonstrate impact (evaluation) and to heighten the visibility of the program to attract new funding sources. Think of funders as an equal partner in the process, along with the museum, the community group
and the artist. - Engage staff from across your organization (and your partner organization) in both program activities and public relations events to build cross-organizational understanding of the program and support for it.
- Build documentation into your projects from the beginning.”
-The handbook was compiled and edited by Tara Turner and Judith Koke. This selection is posted with permission from Judith Koke; Deputy Director, Education and Public Programming at Art Gallery of Ontario
“This handbook is the legacy of the ArtsAccess project, a four year partnership between the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, the Thunder Bay Art Gallery, and the Woodland Cultural Center…This handbook is for anyone, artist, museum or community organization – interested in creating a community art project.” (from the AGO’s Art Matters Blog)
