Introduction

There is surprisingly little literature on what makes great community art leaders. While many books have been written about great playwrights, great artists, amazing dancers and inspiring community leaders, stories of the great artist choosing to focus on community art are few. Keeping that in mind, the multitude of blogs, stories and reports about successful community arts projects can be a source of inspiration and guidance.

Community arts projects can range in size from three people gathering at a local community centre for weekly poetry writing to a city-wide event where hundreds of people participate or create art at the same time. This course will focus on smaller scale projects – those working with groups of less than 50. Many of the principles are the same, no matter what the project size.

This course covers the following information:

• Qualities of artistic leaders
• Art project development models and examples
• Managing staff and volunteers
• Media relations
• Special event management basics

At the end of this course you should be able to:

• Know the skills required of artistic leaders
• Identify which of the required skills you currently possess and which you need to develop
• Identify the four most common models of art project development and their advantages and challenges
• Know common ways to recruit, manage and retain volunteers and staff for your project
• Know the different ways to promote your project using traditional and new media
• Understand event planning basics and how to determine what event is right for your project