Greetings. You are cordially invited to attend a round-table discussion on the state of the visual arts. You may attend one (or both) of the two meetings scheduled to talk on this topic. Both meetings will be conducted in the same round-table fashion. Please consider the following dates:

Saturday, June 4, 2011, 1 – 4 p.m.,     175 McKenzie Hall , University of Oregon Campus
Please RSVP (see below).

Visual Arts 'Leadership' Meeting

to Prep for a Visual Arts Summit

A Eugene/Lane County Visual Arts reality check –

There has been an increase in the number of discussions among arts professionals on the state of the visual arts, resulting in a growing sense of urgency in conducting a thorough examination of the infrastructure of our visual arts, and inventory of our public treasures.

Problems in 'River City'

 

In a community that has so much talent and experience in producing world-class festivals and cultural events, why do we NOT have a vibrant arts and culture industry? Why is the visual arts not adequately funded? What is missing from our cultural landscape?

What would it take to create, nurture, revive and sustain a visual arts/cultural industry? do members of the visual arts community want to talk further about addressing these and other issues.?

Notes from the Underground:

We held a meeting – Saturday, April 2, 2011, 11:45 a.m., Café Perugino, Eugene, OR

In Attendance: Mary Unruh, Robert Tomlinson, Jerry Ross, Robert Long, and Miriam Jordan.

The group met to talk about the above mentioned issues and plan for a time to bring other arts professionals together to strategize and mobilize a movement to bring to the attention of our community, the strain of the visual arts’ infrastructure, and solutions to quickly strengthen it.

Why a Visual Arts (VA) Summit?


· The leadership summit will lay the ground work for organizing a county-wide Visual Arts Summit on October 8th, 2011.

· The leadership summit will focus on creating a priority list (which could include the following:)

 

Leadership Meeting goals
  • Have a shared understanding of our current situation.
  • Form a steering committee to organize the October summit.
  • Define an Advocacy plan (City Council, ABAE, State level and community at large)
  • Establish a list of priorities (also, what is expected of the community?

Content may include:
  • Establishing an Arts District
  • Visual Arts Endowment
  • Visual Arts Leadership Council
  • City Hall
  • Eugene Art Museum
  • ·he Economics of Arts – Value of Arts in the Local Economy


We hope you will participate. Please RSVP your participation to Miriam!

Sincerely,


Miriam Alexis Jordan
M.S., Arts Management/UO
Arts Advocate,
jordanmaj@earthlink.net

Robert Long
POEM - Post Office Eugene Museum Group
rohilong@uoregon.edu
http://poempnw.wordpress.com/about/

Jerry Ross, Artist , pittore44@yahoo.com
http://jerryrosspittore.com

Mary Unruh, Executive Director at DIVA
mary@divanow.org