The Big We: A Creative Convening

Austin’s creative community has experienced a perfect storm of reductions or delays in Federal, State, and City funding; a lack of performance, rehearsal, and studio space; and little civic infrastructure to provide a safety net for artists, performers, and arts organizations when hard times fall. More than a few arts spaces and institutions have closed, some as old as 35 years, while arts organizations “hunker down” into silos, to keep producing their work on less while protecting what little they have.

After years of increasingly hard times, a group of ten Austin arts leaders from all genres began gathering informally to discuss how to manifest a more cohesive community among creatives. They asked, “How can we work together on a purpose greater than our differences?” “How can we create a meeting space that is expansive enough to encompass divergent opinions but focus on solutions that we create for ourselves?” The Creative Congress was born.

With the facilitation and sponsorship of A3 Art Alliance Austin, (a newly formed Local Arts Agency) they developed a plan to host a city-wide convening of artists, musicians, performers and others in the creative community to develop a more cohesive artistic community for the purposes of networking resources, opportunities, spaces and expertise; for creating solutions to our creative community’s issues through collaboration; and to gather plans, collaborative groups and leaders to create a self-defining Community Arts Plan.

WHO IS INVITED

ALL Austin-area artists, musicians, performers of all types, writers, electronic media artists, arts administrators, curators, technicians, board members, and philanthropists.

GOAL

Fostering collaboration between different sectors of Austin’s creative community, the convening will emphasize the importance of purposeful cross-pollination across art forms, networks, and cultural arts organizations to chart a self-defined course for our creative community.

ITINERARY

Friday, March 27

12:00pm THE BIG WE Convening Box Luncheon featuring “flash” keynote speakers from the creative community, each of whom has done something extraordinary to change the status quo

1:15pm Training sessions with Shana Merlin on “Open Space Technology” and Karen LaShelle, Executive Director of Austin Together on “The Art of Collaboration”

2:30pm Break

3:00pm Open Space Technology: “Pitch Sessions”

3:30pm-4:30pm Community Discussions – Session I

4:30pm-5:30pm Wrap-up Session

5:30pm Break

6:00pm Networking Mixer with dinner, music, beverages

8:00pm The Big We video + 3 more “flash” keynote speakers. Asaf Ronen from Austin Creative Alliance facilitates and provides Day 2 outline

9:00pm Adjourn

Saturday, March 28

9:00am Breakfast Gathering in the Ballroom with an Introduction to Open Space Technology with facilitator Shana Merlin

9:15am Open Space “Pitch Session #2”

10:15am-11:15am Community Discussion – Session 2

11:15pm-12:00pm Session 2 – Wrap-up discussions

12:00pm Adjourn