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The Arts & America's Bottom Line National Press Club January 23, 2018

State Arts Agencies in the Spotlight: Montana | Oklahoma | South Carolina | Tennessee Utah | West Virginia Overview: The stories below demonstrate the public value of investing in the arts, serving underrepresented and critical communities in states around the country.

These arts initiatives illustrate successful outcomes across a diverse range of arts programs creating opportunities for rural communities, supporting our veterans, meeting the needs of our aging population and providing a strong arts education model at a statewide level. It is important to note the collaboration between these programs and agencies including the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, in addition to the National Endowment for the Arts.

1. Montana Arts Council: Arts as a Business Montana Artrepreneur Program The Montana Artrepreneur Program (MAP) is an art-centered business development program designed to expand opportunities for rural artists, including members of Montana tribes. Through a certification program, coaching and training, participating artists build an Artrepreneur's Toolbox that hones their business and marketing practices. ¡

By providing more than 40 hours of college level instruction (four 10-hour workshops and up to six 2-hour interim sessions) over 8-10 months, the program provides the following support: o o o o

highlights 35 practical business tools demystifies the world of business facilitates trips to wholesale/retail markets and galleries affirms the title of "artist" as a credible profession

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Nearly 400 artists have participated. Those who participated sometime between 2009 and 2014 "report increased net sales of 397% with a 44% increase in out-of-state sales on average."

The program's philosophy is that a sustainable arts career is based on the following: o o o o

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advancing proficiency in one's chosen medium understanding and proactively engaging the arts community confidently articulating one's story and artistic purpose strategically seeking patrons for one's work

MAP is presented in partnership with Made in Montana, a program of the Montana Department of Commerce. Past programs have been funded in part by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation and the LINC Foundation.

Outcomes of the program can be found here.

2. Oklahoma Arts Council: Understanding What Our Veterans Need Arts and the Military Initiative The Oklahoma Arts Council (OAC) developed its arts and military pilot program with guidance from a statewide community survey it deployed in 2015. There were 400 respondents hailing from 86 cities in 51 counties. In its survey report, OAC reviews what it learned about the needs of military and veteran communities, the arts programs addressing them, and the level of constituent interest for additional arts and military opportunities. ·

Program history: o

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Early 2016: OAC launched its first pilot program, working with the Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs and a local partner, the Firehouse Art Center, to provide arts learning and engagement activities to the residents of the Oklahoma Veterans Center in Norman. The goal of the pilot is to demonstrate how public agencies, nonprofit organizations and community groups can best serve military and veteran communities through the arts.

October 2016: OAC and the Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs hosted the Oklahoma Arts and Military Summit. The event was designed to be a forum for staff from arts and veterans organizations, as well as teaching artists across the state, to network and learn how to better serve members of Oklahoma's military community through the arts.

2017: The work created by participants in 2016 was exhibited at the Governor's Gallery at the state capital.

2017: OAC published an evaluation report summarizing the first pilot's impact on participating veterans. It is based on an assessment conducted by a researcher from the Univey of Oklahoma's Knee Center for Strong Families at the Anne and Henry Zarrow School of Social Work.

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March 2017: A second pilot project was launched at the veterans' center in Lawton.

Complementing OAC's Arts & Military Program are its Arts Learning in Communities Grants, which can be used for arts instruction and engagement efforts for veterans.

Outcomes of the pilot program can be found here. (This study was qualitative. The goal of the pilot was to create a case study of a model program and best practices that could be replicated on a broader scale. To date, OAC has implemented these practices at a second pilot site with the Lawton Veterans Center, and numerous other agencies and organizations have incorporated these lessons learned into their practice.)

South Carolina Arts Commission: Rural Development Through Arts, Culture and Creative Placemaking Art of Community: Rural S.C. With financial support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Development Agency, the South Carolina Arts Commission (SCAC) launched this program in June 2016 to advance rural development through the arts, culture and creative placemaking. The program facilitated community-led planning and projects in six rural, underserved counties designated as Promise Zones by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. ·

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The teams undertaking the six projects each consisted of seven local residents with deep knowledge of their communities' assets and challenges as well as the skills, vision and capacity to address them. Each project was led by an SCAC liaison, known as a "maven," who recruited the other participating stakeholders.

SCAC provides a broad support network through an advisory committee consisting of experts from national organizations such as ArtPlace America, Art of the Rural, Rural LISC, and The National Consortium for Creative Placemaking as well as from state and regional entities including SouthArts and the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor Commission.

To learn more, contact SCAC Executive Director Ken May. Broad outcomes of the program: o

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Community cohesiveness: Working as teams, often not knowing one another previous to this initiative, has helped to begin new ways of knowing one another, working together, sharing what "home" means, and even creating a new sense of hope for the region in spite of difficult realities.

Cross-sector and peer learning; capacity building: Mavens and teams have been challenged with sharing compelling and urgent stories of their communities. They are ultimately being trained as "ambassadors of place," and will be available to speak with

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business developers and others who are looking at their community as a place to create a business or make other investments there.

Further, through grants workshops and training, applicants from the six-county region are submitting more competitive applications and beginning to receive new funding for their efforts. A case in point: of 17 grants applications to the South Carolina Humanities Council to host a national Smithsonian exhibit, four came from the six counties and two were accepted and noted as the top applications.

Arts in education investments and opportunities: New relationships with schools in the six counties, fostered by the mavens, have resulted in strategic placement of teaching artists and arts experiences in the schools and communities of the region.

These experiences are taking place both during and outside of the school day.

Greater awareness of the social determinants of health: An emphasis on "healthy communities" has led to new partnerships within the region. In particular, the South Carolina Office of Rural Health has become a strategic partner for the initiative. The Art of Community: Rural SC initiative was the winner of its inaugural award called "The Power of Rural."

¡ Specific outcomes of the program: Addressing challenges that are barriers to economic development, health and/or education, local citizens are beginning to practice their citizenship in new ways. Six local projects have been created by mavens and their teams to address the following issues in their communities: County Allendale Bamberg Barnwell Colleton Hampton Jasper

Issue_____________ Business retention Blight Youth/Education Health/Food Health Literacy

Maven_________ Lottie Lewis Yvette McDaniel Evelyn Coker Gary Brightwell Audrey Hopkins-Williams Johnny Davis

Allendale: Creation of "All Together Allendale" campaign to strengthen ties with local businesses, engage them in strategic thinking about the community and engage them in a promotion that bolsters awareness of local businesses and the importance of keeping business local.

Outcome: More than 25 businesses meet monthly to discuss strategies to serve customers well and network with one another. There is no chamberof-commerce-type organization in this community, so this campaign serves that purpose.

Denmark, Bamberg County: Development of a "pocket park" where rubble from a juke joint lies. This project addresses health of the community by removing blight and unsafe conditions alongside a commercial/residential corridor just blocks from Main Street. In place of the rubble and with a new design, the park will become a community

gathering place as well as engage neighbors in arts and culture activities planned for the park.

Outcome: A blighted lot has been cleared and programming for ongoing activities has helped create new energy and fostered a sense of community in a crime-and-drug-riddled neighborhood.

Blackville, Barnwell County: Creating new engagement and connection with the local student population and schools through the development of a mural project on a commercial building on Main Street. This project is also designed to help students become more aware of their local history and assets.

Outcome: A mural project (focused on the history of the town) has begun with corresponding planning to engage local students in a mural project at their school (that will focus on the future of their town).

Walterboro, Colleton County: Addressing the intersections of local food, business and art through the initial step of a video creation that also emphasizes health and well-being. A broad based community project, this effort also aims to increase awareness of resources that are available locally.

Outcome: A 12-minute video was created highlighting the variety of assets in the community.

Estill, Hampton County: Creating additional activities for children on the local Estill Walking Trail to increase use of the trail and lead to healthier citizens. Through strategic partnerships with organizations located nearby, the project will create new momentum and purpose for this community to work together—which also is a demonstration of a healthy community.

Outcomes: New amenities (benches and plantings) were added to the park; with the new emphasis, more community members are programming events in the park—including the local police department working within the community to organize a music series.

Ridgeland, Jasper County: Creating an art park adjacent to a new local heritage center to encourage learning and engagement from the local community. Through a range of education, business and community partnerships, the development of this new outdoor space is imagined as a starting place to engage a variety of local residents to expand their creative thinking as well as presentation abilities.

Outcomes: With an emphasis on literacy (27% unable to read in the county), this new art park focuses on words and stories and is programming events with literacy-related activities as one of the components. Also, an artist-led community mural project (using the words of local residents) was designed and completed at the park.

4. Tennessee Arts Commission: Connecting Seniors with Creative Experiences Creative Aging TN

Through this program, the Tennessee Arts Commission—in partnership with the Tennessee Department of Health and the Tennessee Commission on Aging and Disability—is awarding grants (up to $5,000) that support creative aging and connect older adults with creative experiences in their communities. ·

The program promotes the following outcomes for older adults: o

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Health & Wellness (e.g., music programs that help improve the cognitive skills of people with memory loss, or dance programs which can improve balance and gait in people with conditions that affect motor abilities) Lifelong Learning and Engagement (e.g., using theatrical training to improve cognitive skills, or using storytelling with peers to increase social and emotional engagement) Increased Positive Attitudes/Perceptions about Aging (e.g., older adults taking a hobby and turning it into a crafts business with mentorship of young craftsmen, or older adults becoming teaching artists and teaching young people how to write/speak poetry as a way of expressing themselves) Connecting Older Adults to their Communities (e.g., multigenerational creative writing programs where the knowledge/wisdom of older adults is shared with young people, or establishing a docent program for older adults at an art gallery)

· Eligible applicants: nonprofits and local/regional government agencies. · Outcomes of this initiative: The Creative Aging grants were awarded based on every applicant's ability to demonstrate and achieve results in four major outcome areas: o o o o

health and wellness lifelong learning and engagement increased positive attitudes/perceptions about aging connecting older adults to their communities

In other words, those grants funded had to demonstrate their programs' ability to impact seniors in at least one outcome area if not more. Their ranking and the amount of money given were based on the degree to which they could demonstrate this.

Metrics on the success of the grant program will be available after the evaluations are submitted by end of the fiscal year (June 30, 2018).

5. Utah Division of Arts & Museums: Preparing Leaders in Communities Change Leader Program This is a professional development program for arts professionals.

Participants attend a three-day immersive institute with instruction on assessing environments and the communication and facilitation skills

necessary to implement change. Following the institute, Change Leaders practice these skills by completing a certification project. These certified Change Leaders form a network of leaders that share a common language, mentor each other, and convene through leadership circles and conferences. ·

The program has an adjunct grant program—Change Leader Random Acts of Art—that awards funding (up to $500) to encourage creative engagement in communities spearheaded by Change Leaders. These projects may do the following: o o

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support local civic engagement using arts as a medium and/or artists as active participants illustrate the impact of arts and artists in meeting social or community needs/opportunities through small projects that are not part of regular programming assist Change Leaders in building value and increasing connections within their respective communities strengthen and raise awareness of the arts and the Change Leader network through media and public relations

Outcomes of this initiative can be found here. This brochure has the most recent (2014) results. A supplemental information sheet with updated outcomes is included in this press folder.

6. West Virginia Commission on the Arts: Statewide Arts Education Model for Success VH1 Save The Music Foundation Grants The West Virginia Division of Culture and History and the VH1 Save The Music Foundation have partnered with West Virginia school districts to build sustainable instrumental music programs by providing grants of brand-new musical instruments to public elementary and middle schools. ·

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On average, these programs are valued at $35,000 in musical instruments and also include ongoing program management and other relevant materials.

Outcomes of this initiative: West Virginia is the largest and first statewide effort undertaken by the VH1 The Music Foundation. In seven years, this partnership has put 3,192 musical instruments worth more than $2 million in 84 schools in 55 counties.