Wednesday, September 09, 2009
manager minutes
Were a lovely way to introduce each member of the group and give them literally a minute to say the highlight of their year professionally and personally, if desired. New managers spoke passionately about their plans and beliefs, or accomplishments; returning managers shared various things they were proud of from the last year. Format was up to the manager: we had singing, a letter from one alien to another, a duet poem, and dancing, along with straight reporting. Everyone was called on randomly. The purpose was to give everyone their moment in the sun, and spark conversation. Managers who received PD Dough had an extra minute to talk about their project.
ae pdi day 2--morning
We started the day at the restored Fargo Theatre, which houses a fabulous restored Mighty Wurlitzer organ. A gentleman who is involved in making and fixing these organs treated us to a concert--rising from below the stage on a lift as he played to display an organ with 4 tiers of keyboard and at least 50 buttons--and information about the organ. The executive director then told us about the theatre, which had a varied history but is currently thriving and recently built a second, smaller theatre in an adjacent building so they could both have movies and other arts programming.
After Sarah's keynote (more on that later), we went to Trollwood, a new arts school campus on the Minnesota side of the border. The gorgeous amphitheatre served as the venue for a ground session with the artist Spirit that included call and response singing and movement in the fresh, warm air. During it we looked at the woods and saw deer and other wildlife. We concluded the morning with more Manager Minutes (more on those later, too!).
After Sarah's keynote (more on that later), we went to Trollwood, a new arts school campus on the Minnesota side of the border. The gorgeous amphitheatre served as the venue for a ground session with the artist Spirit that included call and response singing and movement in the fresh, warm air. During it we looked at the woods and saw deer and other wildlife. We concluded the morning with more Manager Minutes (more on those later, too!).
ae pdi eve reception
The reception started out with creative time to decoupage "reliquaries" for the seeds we had brought. This also turned into great networking time--creating, chatting and drinking wine. The reliquaries are old cans which have half of one side folded back. Using modge podge and the wide variety of materials, they are decorated into beautiful cans for seeds. This is part of a larger public art project which will be ongoing for the next year.
Next we were fortunate to hear the Full Circle Drummers (Native American group from the Circle of Nations school) play and sing.The circle included a woman singer and a very engaging one year-old boy who participated by exploring the drum sticks and clinging to daddy's knee during the singing. A great example of participation and inclusion of kids from a very young age.
Jan, the director of the ND Council on the Arts, gave us a lovely welcome.
Dinner included a very interesting carmel dessert which had overhardened and resulted in hilarious creativity as everyone tried to taste it! Some problem-solving included: submerging in hot coffee, abandonment, hammering with a knife, and attempting to break it with teeth!
Next we were fortunate to hear the Full Circle Drummers (Native American group from the Circle of Nations school) play and sing.The circle included a woman singer and a very engaging one year-old boy who participated by exploring the drum sticks and clinging to daddy's knee during the singing. A great example of participation and inclusion of kids from a very young age.
Jan, the director of the ND Council on the Arts, gave us a lovely welcome.
Dinner included a very interesting carmel dessert which had overhardened and resulted in hilarious creativity as everyone tried to taste it! Some problem-solving included: submerging in hot coffee, abandonment, hammering with a knife, and attempting to break it with teeth!
arts education pdi day 1
Day 1 started with a new managers orientation and moved to art making and dinner. These notes fron Diana Green, Alabama:
New Managers Orientation
Began with an overview from Nancy Daugherty, Carmen Boston and Sarah Cunningham concerning the NEA-NASAA partnership. It included history of the current structure for professional development, emphasizing that ours is the only group in the state arts agency world that receives extra funds for professional development. The advisory committee allows us to take ownership of the design of that work.
Sarah explained the partnership grant process that each state goes through every three years and informed everyone of the opportunity to hear the review process in DC. It is a tiered review process which allows review of the education section by a panel of peers before the application goes to the panel of record (made up mostly of EDs, DDs and board members) which makes final recommendations. It is an important opportunity to inform EDs of the importance of education programming.
Mentors and new managers spent some time talking to each other - eploring each others programs and possible questions. Some of the questions included:
More later!
New Managers Orientation
Began with an overview from Nancy Daugherty, Carmen Boston and Sarah Cunningham concerning the NEA-NASAA partnership. It included history of the current structure for professional development, emphasizing that ours is the only group in the state arts agency world that receives extra funds for professional development. The advisory committee allows us to take ownership of the design of that work.
Sarah explained the partnership grant process that each state goes through every three years and informed everyone of the opportunity to hear the review process in DC. It is a tiered review process which allows review of the education section by a panel of peers before the application goes to the panel of record (made up mostly of EDs, DDs and board members) which makes final recommendations. It is an important opportunity to inform EDs of the importance of education programming.
Mentors and new managers spent some time talking to each other - eploring each others programs and possible questions. Some of the questions included:
- how to communicate to rural communities
- how to demystify the grant process for schools
- finding time to develop an IPDP
- how to use the listserv
More later!
Sunday, May 10, 2009
St. Louis
St. Louis is so green, and not so hot and muggy this time of year. I am enjoying the relative humidity and green leafyness of it all. Iris are out in full bloom...mine are barely up at home.
My father has a "new" house--that is, it's been built for 2 years but he has only lived in it since January. I hadn't seen it before, but it is directly behind the monster house he had before. The new one is more beautiful and better laid out--not so overwhelmingly large. The old one had a great room which practically echoed; this one has the same idea but on a much smaller scale.
So far, a very cultural weekend. Fantastic symphony (St Louis Symphony Orchestra doing Beethoven's 9th), the Met's HD feed of La Cenerentola (otherwise known as Cinderella) and two art museums. St Louis Art Museum had a Ming Dynasty show; St Louis University Art Museum had a show of artwork from the Tsars of Russia and a show about Marcel Duchamp and his interest in chess. Apparently he was big into chess, and the world tournament for chess is in St. L this week.
We've also done quite a lot of cooking. I did most of the baking, fun fun. I learned to make konifa, a traditional Egyptian dessert, and made goreeba, one of my all time favorite cookies. They spread a bit more than they should of, but otherwise are perfect. The konifa turned out to die for. I will have to make that at home.
Hoping to see SB, my oldest friend in the world, this week. I haven't seen her or talked to her much in a long time. Our paths have gone very different directions. She is an orthodox Jew, which is not particularly an issue, but has changed her life quite a bit. Anyway, for whatever reason, we don't keep in close touch, but I do love to see her.
On another note, why does my space bar make a squeaky noise? This is a new computer.
So I added my blog feed to FB. Maybe that will force me to keep up with it a little more.
My father has a "new" house--that is, it's been built for 2 years but he has only lived in it since January. I hadn't seen it before, but it is directly behind the monster house he had before. The new one is more beautiful and better laid out--not so overwhelmingly large. The old one had a great room which practically echoed; this one has the same idea but on a much smaller scale.
So far, a very cultural weekend. Fantastic symphony (St Louis Symphony Orchestra doing Beethoven's 9th), the Met's HD feed of La Cenerentola (otherwise known as Cinderella) and two art museums. St Louis Art Museum had a Ming Dynasty show; St Louis University Art Museum had a show of artwork from the Tsars of Russia and a show about Marcel Duchamp and his interest in chess. Apparently he was big into chess, and the world tournament for chess is in St. L this week.
We've also done quite a lot of cooking. I did most of the baking, fun fun. I learned to make konifa, a traditional Egyptian dessert, and made goreeba, one of my all time favorite cookies. They spread a bit more than they should of, but otherwise are perfect. The konifa turned out to die for. I will have to make that at home.
Hoping to see SB, my oldest friend in the world, this week. I haven't seen her or talked to her much in a long time. Our paths have gone very different directions. She is an orthodox Jew, which is not particularly an issue, but has changed her life quite a bit. Anyway, for whatever reason, we don't keep in close touch, but I do love to see her.
On another note, why does my space bar make a squeaky noise? This is a new computer.
So I added my blog feed to FB. Maybe that will force me to keep up with it a little more.
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