Arizona Report

In November 2008, I was fortunate enough to travel across Arizona visiting cultural organisations throughout that great State. The project was part of a research sabbatical supported by HI~Arts and the Scottish Arts Council.

At this time of economic uncertainty and structural change within the cultural sector of Scotland, I found it very timely to gain an insight into US models of arts development – development that exists within the context of much lower levels of public subsidy for the arts.  And whilst that context presents challenges, it also presents many opportunities for enterprising arts organisations.

I found community and arts development workers in Arizona to be highly entrepreneurial – working to embed the positive impact that the arts can have across a wide range of funding agendas.  And many cultural organisations in Arizona have mutually beneficial relationships with commercial sector including both small independent traders and larger scale business, which in turn make them very market focused when it comes to development audiences.

HI~Arts has now published a formal report which pulls together my findings during the research sabbatical, whilst detailing some individual case studies of initiatives that I feel might hold a particular relevance for the Highlands and Islands and Scotland.  The report can be downloaded from this web page, and complements the more informal blog that I wrote during my time in Arizona.

I am very pleased to report a number of unexpected outcomes from my sabbatical which are helping to sustain and develop some of the relationships that were forged during my time in Arizona.  I am delighted that arts marketer Matt Lehrman from Phoenix, Arizona, will now be visiting Scotland during June, to speak at Glasgow Grows Audiences’ annual conference.  Matt will also be visiting the Highlands and Islands during his time in Scotland.

From the recommendations that I made during my time in the States, I am also pleased that Matt’s organisation Alliance for Audience has been working with a UK-based online ticketing consultant on a new intiative entitled Project Audience (www.projectaudience.org) which will create international partnerships to explore the use of new technologies in audience development.

Other exchanges are also in the pipeline, with Puppet Animation Scotland speaking to a puppeteer based in Arizona’s Sonoran Desert region, and with a key Arizona cultural development organisation discussing the possibility of visiting Moray to find out more about development of arts facilities at the Findhorn Foundation.  I will, of course, report on future developments – watch this space!

In the meantime, I hope that the report proves interesting to you.  There is much quality arts development work taking place in Arizona that deserves attention.  If you have any observations or questions about the report or my time in Arizona, I’d be very pleased for you to get in touch with me through this blog.