Advocating for the Arts
At the Creative Conversations event last night, we were treated to a delightful panel on advocacy that included Gretchen Johnston (Washington State Arts Alliance), Denee McCloud (Central District Forum for Arts & Ideas), Richard Andrews (Henry Art Gallery) and James Keblas (Office of Film and Music).
One of the more interesting nuggets I took away was an anecdote by Mr. Andrews, who used to be Seattle's public art program director. He recalled speaking to a constituent on the phone who was upset about a work of public art in his community. "Do you support the library?" Andrew asked. "Yeah," the man reluctantly admitted. "Well, you might not read geology books, but you probably agree that the library needs to have them, right?" That calmed the man down.
Gretchen Johnson also shared some insight that was worth heeding: there's a difference between advocating for an issue and lobbying or electioneering, which are more tightly regulated. It's important for nonprofit arts groups to advocate: the squeaky wheel gets the grease.