The Journal, Spring 2015

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KANSAS LEADERSHIP CENTER BOARD OF DIRECTORSDavid Lindstrom, Overland Park (Chair)Ed O’Malley, Wichita (President & CEO)Ron Holt, WichitaKaren Humphreys, WichitaSusan Kang, LawrenceCarolyn Kennett, ParsonsGreg Musil, Overland ParkReggie Robinson, TopekaConsuelo Sandoval, Garden CityClayton Tatro, Fort ScottFrank York, Ashland

WEB EDITIONhttp://issuu.com/kansasleadershipcenter

SUBSCRIPTIONS

Annual subscriptions available at klcjr.nl/amzsubscribe ($24.95 for four issues). Single issues available for $10 by emailing [email protected].

PERMISSIONSAbstracting is permitted with credit to the source. For other reprint, copying or reproduction permission contact Mike Matson at [email protected].

KANSAS LEADERSHIP CENTER325 East Douglas AvenueWichita, KS 67202316.712.4950www.kansasleadershipcenter.org

PHOTOGRAPHYJeff Tuttle Photography316.706.8529 jefftuttlephotography.com

ARTWORKJanice Burdinewww.burdineartbox.net

MANAGING EDITORChris [email protected]

GRAPHIC DESIGNNovella Brandhouse 816.868.9825 www.novellabrandhouse.com

©2015 Kansas Leadership Center

The Journal (Print edition: ISSN 2328-4366; Online edition: ISSN 2328-4374) is published quarterly by the Kansas Leadership Center, which receives core funding from the Kansas Health Foundation.

The Kansas Leadership Center equips people with the ability to make lasting change for the common good. KLC focuses on leadership being an activity, not a role or position. Open to anyone seeking to move the needle on tough challenges in the civic arena, KLC envisions more Kansans sharing responsibility for acting together in pursuit of the common good.

KLC MISSIONTo foster civic leadership for healthier Kansas communities

KLC VISIONTo be the center of excellence for civic leadership development

JOURNALTHE


“All children are artists.The problem is how to remainan artist once he grows up.”

– Pablo Picasso

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Welcome to the Journal

By President & CEO Ed O’Malley . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Dispatches from the Kansas Leadership Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

The Leadership Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Strokes of Genius

By Sarah Caldwell Hancock . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

State of Flux: The State of the Arts in Kansas

By Dawn Bormann Novascone . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Making Creativity your Business


When is Leadership an Art?

by Julia Fabris McBride . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Getting the Message to Stick

By Chris Green . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Carving a Niche

By Patsy Terrell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Molding a State of Makers and Doers


Featured Artist: Kansas: The Ellis Island for Black Pioneers

By Janice Burdine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Poem: What Makes This Wonderland:

By Laura Lee Washburn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

The Back Page

By Mark E. McCormick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

CONTRIBUTING EDITORSSarah Caldwell HancockMark McCormickDawn Bormann NovasconeLaura RoddyPatsy TerrellBrian Whepley

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COPY EDITORSBruce JanssenShannon Littlejohn

ILLUSTRATIONSPat Byrnes

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IT’S HOW YOU

PLAY THE GAMEWHEN DEALING WITH TOUGH ISSUES,

PROCESS MATTERS

There is usually a direct relationship between theprocess used to get results and the lasting effectof those results.

A few national examples:

• The Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) became law in a bitterly divisive political battle. It’s no wonder almost everything about it continues to be a bitterly divisive political battle.

• The No Child Left Behind Act became law with a substantial bipartisan majority. Originallycelebrated, the law has been seen as lacking ever since. But both political parties and two presidential administrations have been adjust-ing it and doing so more or less with the same bipartisan spirit of the original law.

A few Kansas examples:

• The school finance act of 1992 was a bitter fight that led to constant litigation and consternation among education stakeholders.

• The Kansas Economic Growth Act was an endeavor supported by conservatives, liberalsand moderates and has enjoyed general supportever since its adoption in 2004.

And a baseball example (I just can’t help myself):

• The slow, methodical process used to develop the current Kansas City Royals rosterlooks as if it will have lasting results. (K.C. went to the World Series last year and is 7-0 this season as I write this!)

This brings us to recent process issues in Kansas.The Wichita Eagle opined recently that the currentlegislative “process (related to school finance) inspires no confidence in state leaders’ ability orintention to write a fair, adequate school financeformula over the next two years.” We have no opinion about the school finance law per se, but we do have an opinion about the processKansans use to make decisions and create laws.

It’s our belief that if Kansans get better at theprocess of leadership, it will lead to stronger,more sustainable outcomes over the long haul.It’s not our place to take sides on policy issues,but we believe it’s our responsibility to helpKansans improve the processes by which theymake tough choices and tradeoffs.

The recent block grant approach to school fundingsigned into law gets points for creativity, but ourexperience suggests it will exacerbate the currenttensions and lead to more, not less, consternation.


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Why? The process by which it was crafted andpassed was rushed and contained little authenticengagement with all stakeholders.

Contrast that process with the process thestate is using to chart a new course for waterresources. On the water issue, engagementis high and stakeholder input is valued.

My guess is 10 years from now, the watereffort will be seen as successful, the blockgrant funding effort as leading to more strife.

What can we all learn from these examples?Here are some simple rules of process:

• If you are trying to exercise leadership – tomobilize people to make progress on dauntingchallenges – you need to be more of anadvocate for the process of engagementthan your preferred solution.

• The bigger, more controversial the topic,the more you want a substantial majority,made up of multiple perspectives, to bein support of the new direction.

• If you have authority, view your role as creatingthe conditions for collaboration among thekey stakeholders. Use your convening power.Bring people together who aren’t usuallytogether. Help people listen to one another.

Create the opportunity for people to learn thingsthey don’t know and then support them andrespect them as they modify their positionsbased on what they are learning.

None of us exercise leadership all of the time. Weall make mistakes. I’ve criticized the state’s work oneducation funding, but I surely have violated myown rules of process on matters now and again.

Exercising leadership is rare. It doesn’t happenoften. It’s a bit like baseball. Hit the ball threeout of 10 times and you go to the Hall of Fame.Exercise leadership three out of every 10opportunities and you are pretty special.

My sense is that when we strike out, or hit atowering “back, back, back” fly ball only to haveit grabbed on the warning track, it’s often becausewe failed to create a healthy process.

Ed O’MalleyPresident & CEOKansas Leadership Center

DISPATCHESFROM THE KANSAS LEADERSHIP CENTER

GETTING AN EDGE

What does it look like to have leadership trainingliterally at your fingertips? Your Leadership Edge:A KLC Experience is a new offering from theKansas Leadership Center that marries high-touch,in-person experiences with high-tech delivery.It is accessible anytime, anywhere.

Delivered through an innovative mix of webinars,cartoons, videos, articles and other forms of media,Your Leadership Edge keeps you connected tothe KLC principles and competencies. You workto learn them at your own pace and on your owntime. The experience is designed to help you learnhow to make progress on the tough challengesyou care the most about.

To learn more about the experience, visitwww.yourleadershipedge.com. For moreinformation about subscribing as an individualor signing up your organization, please contactAmanda Cebula at (316) 712-4955 [email protected].

SKILLS FOR TEACHING LEADERSHIP

The registration deadline for a first-of-its-kind multi-disciplinary conference for teachers of leadershipis fast approaching.

The Teaching Leadership Conference running fromJune 10-12 at the Kansas Leadership Center &Kansas Health Foundation Conference Center allowsteachers, coaches, facilitators, and consultants to learn

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YOUR LEADERSHIP EDGECAPTION CONTEST

Write a caption for this YourLeadership Edge cartoon about

distinguishing between technicaland adaptive work. Craft a witty,

pithy or insightful entry using KLCleadership ideas and submit it [email protected].

You’ll become eligible to wina special prize.


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new methods and enhance their skills. The cost forattending the conference is $300 and the applicationdeadline is May 15.

The conference features a keynote from Marty Linsky of Cambridge Leadership Associates and an interactive keynote by Deborah Helsing fromMinds at Work. Helsing works with Robert Keganand Lisa Lahey, authors of “Immunity to Change”and “How the Way We Talk Can Change the Way WeWork.” She directs a global coach training schoolbased on the Immunity to Change process, whichhelps people overcome barriers to growth and un-lock hidden potential.

Participants will be able to choose from four skill development tracks: (1) Teaching KLC Principles & Competencies, Part 1; (2) Coaching Foundations;(3) Case-in-Point Fundamentals; and (4) StrengtheningCommunity Leadership Programs.

A second multidisciplinary conference will be offeredOct. 7-9. It will feature an interactive keynote fromCarter and Teri McNamara of Authenticity Consulting.For more information or to register, please visit:klcjr.nl/tlconf.

SUMMER OFFERINGS

Even though it will be summertime soon, it doesn’tmean you have to take a vacation from cultivatingyour leadership skills.

KLC will be offering monthly opportunities forKansans from all of walks of life. The programs helpindividuals who want to add value to their efforts bygaining knowledge, skills and personal insight thatwill help them advance what they care about.

Sessions of KLC’s three-day experience “You. Lead. Now.” will run June 15-17, July 13-15 and Aug.17-19. Fall offerings are set for Sept. 14-16, Oct. 12-14 and Nov. 16-18.

If you are looking for a sustained program with intensive coaching and support, a session of “Lead for Change” will begin Aug. 3-6 and concludeOct. 20-22.

For more information, visit www.kansasleadershipcenter.org/programs.

WORKSHOPS UPDATE

Four opportunities remain for participants to develop specific leadership teaching skills at one-day workshops.

Upcoming sessions are: July 8, Team Coaching for Leadership Development; Aug. 12, Storytellingfor Teachers and Coaches; Sept. 9, Case-in-Point in the Classroom; Nov. 11, Facilitating LeadershipCoaching Circles.

The workshops are ideal for individuals using KLC’s leadership framework, although anyone with the passion and aptitude for developing others may attend.

The cost of each workshops is $100. For more infor-mation or to register, please visit: klcjr.nl/tlwrkshps

OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALUMNI

Continue learning and stay connected to leadershipideas – and other KLC alumni – through Konza gatherings and On the Balcony conference calls.

Konza gatherings provide an environment for alumnito continue their leadership learning and connectwith others in their community who have learned theKLC framework. Learn more about Konza gatheringsby visiting klcjr.nl/konzaclubs. You can find out aboutupcoming Konza events near you on KLC’s Facebookpage at klcjr.nl/konzaevents.

On the Balcony calls, monthly conversations aboutleadership for the common good, are hosted by KLC President and CEO Ed O’Malley. For more information, visit: klcjr.nl/onthebalcony.

Upcoming On the Balcony Sessions:

June 9, Make conscious choices; July 7, Inspire a collective purpose; Aug. 11, Leadership is risky;Sept. 8, Take the temperature; Oct. 6, Act experi-mentally; Nov. 10, Identify who needs to do thework; Dec. 1, Get used to uncertainty and conflict.


“The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life”by Twyla Tharp

“The Everyday Work of Art: Awakeningthe Extraordinary in Your Daily Life”by Eric Booth

What does being an artist or a creative person have to do with leadership?Plenty, as it turns out. Booth notes that artists manage their progress by“navigating as straight a course as possible” while tackling emotional,intellectual, metaphoric and practical extremes. This process will soundfamiliar to those acquainted with KLC’s leadership competencies, as willTharp’s emphasis on the necessity of developing creativity as a practiceand being prepared to take risks and engage in self-analysis. These easy-to-read books will help you think about where your creativity residesand, along with arts experiences, they will spark your observational skillsand help you explore many interpretations and perspectives.

“A Whole New Mind:Why Right-Brainers will rule the Future”by Daniel H. Pink

Pink’s central contention is that the age of left-brain-style, or L-directed,thinking is succumbing to an age that requires R-directed skills andsensibilities such as artistry, empathy, taking the long view and pursuingthe transcendent. He discusses the causes of this shift (abundance,Asia and automation) and why workers need to develop six aptitudes –design, story, symphony, empathy, play and meaning – instead of focusingon function, argument, logic and accumulation.

THE LEADERSHIP LIBRARYEXPLORING THE ARTS AND LEADERSHIP

None of the items listed here explore leadership in a conventional, direct, how-to way. Instead,they are concerned with creativity and learning, but they contain ideas that enhance leadershipcompetencies and demonstrate the value of engagement with the arts.

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“Visual Thinking Strategies: Using Art to deepen Learningacross School Disciplines”by Philip Yenawine

This book is brief and to the point but covers the bases of why Yenawine becameinterested in developing better art education processes for the Museum of ModernArt, how he did it by collaborating with cognitive researchers and the unexpectedlygrand results Visual Thinking Strategies can have in the classroom. Individualchapters discuss the method’s positive impacts across the curriculum and teachreaders to use the process effectively. Although the book is about elementary-school classrooms, the types of learning we want to encourage in children arethe same skills that help us address adaptive challenges.

“Mindset: The New Psychology of Success”by Carol S. Dweck

How well do you deal with difficulty? Anyone working on an adaptive challengewill acknowledge that the process is arduous. This book explains why someare able to continue to strive and improve when others hit the wall. Dweckargues that those with a growth mindset are able to stretch themselves and“stick to it,” even when things don’t go well. She rejects the idea of the naturalgenius and uses many in-depth examples, from Thomas Edison to Michael Jordan,to counter the common notion that high achievers possess native talent.

“How the Brain Learns”by David Sousa

An expert in educational neuroscience, Sousa translates research findingsinto usable information for educators and general readers. In a chapter called“The Brain and the Arts,” Sousa notes that the competencies of the arts helpstudents perceive relationships, entertain multiple solutions to a problem,make decisions in the absence of rules and use imagination as a sourceof content, among other things. Perhaps most relevant to those workingto become better at leadership are the “habits of mind” encouraged bythe arts, including better abilities to engage and persist, envision, express,observe, reflect, and stretch and explore.

Brainpickings.orgby Maria Popova

If you don’t feel up to a whole book, or if you’re looking for additionalsources that explore creativity, the arts, cognitive psychology, design andtheir connections to, well, just about every other discipline, this is a greatsite to read regularly or add to your social media feed. You can also subscribeto a weekly newsletter – a sample issue is available on the site. Popova,who describes herself as “a reader, writer, interestingness hunter-gathererand curious mind at large,” combs books, speeches and other media forinsightful nuggets and brings them together with commentary and unfailinglyartful illustrations, graphics and photography.

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D R A W I N G U P O N Y O U R

INNERARTISTWhen you hear the word leadership, the arts may not be whatfirst comes to mind. But once you start thinking a little moreabout it, it’s difficult not to see links between them.

Art, after all, is ultimately about connecting deeply and movingpeople to a new perspective. Leadership on difficult problemsessentially requires the same thing.

This issue of The Journal, planned by contributing editor SarahCaldwell Hancock, explores the connections between the artsand leadership in a number of different ways. Readers will havea chance to examine the state of the arts in Kansas and how thearts can help you lead more effectively, benefit local economiesand even help address a deeply entrenched social problem.

We take our inspiration for this issue from those who havelaid the foundation for the idea that leadership can be artistry.It is a concept that has gained currency through the work ofpeople such as Harvard University’s Ron Heifetz, a musicianhimself. He, Marty Linsky and their colleagues at CambridgeLeadership Associates have advanced the idea of leadershipbeing an improvisational and experimental art, which hasheavily influenced how KLC teaches leadership.

In her book about Heifetz’s approach to teaching leadership,Sharon Daloz Parks writes about the importance of acknowl-edging and elevating the artistic aspects of leadership to shift oursociety’s mindset. Leadership becomes not about the wieldingof power but mobilizing others in creating something new.

We hope the stories in this issue inspire more artistry in thepractice of leadership, regardless of whether you, the reader,can draw, paint or sculpt. To face down the biggest challengesfacing their state, Kansans will need courage, creativity andthe ability to connect with others in deep, meaningful andempathetic ways. Exactly the kinds of situations that maycall for the inner artist in all of us.

Chris GreenJournal managing editor

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H O W T H E A R T S T R A I N Y O U T O L E A D


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A friend’s favorite memory is taking his 9-year-olddaughter to the Art Institute of Chicago. She lookedcarefully at the paintings and listened to her dad talkabout what she was seeing, and she didn’t complaintoo much about all the walking and standing. Aftera few hours, she grinned widely, held her hands toher head, and (perhaps channeling Gary Larson’s“The Far Side”) said, “Dad, I think we should leavesoon, because my brain is full!”

I know how she felt, because I, too, feel my mindfilling to capacity when I visit a museum to lookat artwork, when I sing with the church choir orfill in for the usual accompanist, or when I attenda concert or play. My mind is full, but it’s not theusual jumble of to-do lists, work concerns, familyneeds and volunteer commitments. Instead, mythinking wanders from those well-trod cognitivepaths into areas that leave me with differentideas, renewed energy and new understandings.

You may identify more with my younger son.Despite my best efforts, he just doesn’t love artmuseums, especially large ones. My husband andI chuckle when we recall his dramatic sighing,moaning and whining, “Can we go to the beachnow?” as we made our way through the J. PaulGetty Museum, a large art museum in Los Angeles.(To be fair, he was not quite 7, and we had promiseda beach visit when we were finished.) He likesplaying the piano, though, and is in his secondyear of playing saxophone in the school band. Plus,he participates in a local summer theater programand draws endless cartoons in his treasured stack

of notebooks. I make sure he and his brother getto their lessons and have ample opportunity toexplore their own creative capacities and findinspiration in professional performances.

But what about us adults? Who is overseeing ourarts experiences? I know many adults who onlyrarely, if ever, attend an arts performance or exhibition(Sports and action movies don’t count!) and whoclaim to have neither the time nor inclinationto explore their creative sides or appreciate theartistic efforts of others.

What are these people missing? The ancient Greeksmight say they’re missing a chance to experiencecatharsis, the emotional cleansing and intellectualclarification that audience members experience afterseeing a play, especially a tragedy. A psychologistspecializing in stress relief might make a relatedpoint and say they’re neglecting to realize thatattending a music performance can reduce stress.Advocates for the visual arts might argue thatignoring the aesthetic realm means denyingan innate human capacity that lifts our spiritsand helps us understand ourselves.

All of that is probably true, but people who do notparticipate in the arts are also failing to capitalizeon a chance to boost the cognitive skills that canhelp them become more effective people. Educatorsand parents take great care to offer these transferableskills of the arts to children, but adults can alsobenefit, and those who want to make progresson adaptive challenges might benefit the most.

Arts experiences can enhance key abilitiesrequired to exercise leadership. But you

must find ways to seek them out.

BySarah Caldwell Hancock

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HOW THE ARTS BENEFIT EDUCATION

Cognitive researchers, neuroscientists and educatorshave long realized that the arts enrich educationand support brain development in children frompreschool through high school. Study after studyhas shown that the arts directly support learningin core subject areas. Visual arts, for example, fosterclose observation and consideration of multipleinterpretations, and help students analyze scientificimages. Music education facilitates understandingsof patterns and fractions that help in math class.Drama boosts literacy skills, story comprehensionand the quality of narrative writing. Arts-heavycurricula engage both students and teachers.

The arts also assist brain development. Musiclessons, for example, help students learn persever-ance, the necessity of practice and how to breaka large project into pieces to take gradual stepstoward success. These skills fall under the umbrellaof executive function, the complex frontal-lobeprocesses that conduct cognitive activity. Theseexecutive attention skills are linked to empathyand impulse control. A story from The WashingtonPost that made the social media rounds in January2015, for instance, cited a study that evaluated braindevelopment in more than 200 children who playedinstruments and found favorable effects on attentionand emotional control as well as more rapid corticalthickness maturation.

Brain scans offer another view of how the artshelp us learn. Studies have revealed that differentbrain networks are involved in visual arts, movementarts (dance) and music, and that experience in allof these areas during brain development forgesconnections that lead to growth and creativity.This cognitive growth occurs, according to manyresearchers, because the areas of the brain usedfor different activities overlap. Scientists and mathe-maticians, for example, share tools such as observationskills and understanding spatial movement with thearts, and musical training activates the same areas

of the brain as mathematical processing. The morea child builds the connections among these areas,the better he or she learns.

WHAT THE ARTS OFFER ADULTS

All of this explains why we should care about artseducation in schools, and why we should thankteachers who pay for art supplies out of their pocketsor use already squeezed instructional time and fieldtrip budgets to help students explore a local artmuseum, create a clay mug or perform a play. Ex-tending those opportunities to adults is crucial, too,because the arts can build the creativity and empathythat help us think like leaders and move others.

Consider what the world demands. In a 2010 IBMsurvey of more than 1,500 CEOs from 60 countriesand 33 industries, respondents named creativity themost desirable leadership competency and notedthat creative leadership needs to invite disruptiveinnovation, change enterprises to engage innovationand be comfortable with ambiguity. Doing these thingsrequires us to work with teams and understand howothers think and see the world, the workplace or theweekly staff meeting. Translated to the civic arena,individuals need to energize others, intervene skillfullyand manage themselves while diagnosing the situation.Sound familiar?

Arts offer a path to these skills because they requireus to cultivate observation and listening skills andto interpret what we are seeing and hearing. Andthere’s the rub: If you’ve ever argued about a movieor book, you know that no two people interpret artin the same way. If you truly engage with a work ofart, you will think about what you are seeing, hearingor reading, and you will adopt different points of viewand ways of thinking as you seek to build meaning.

Visualize this scenario: At Harvard Medical School,students participate in an arts-based pre-clinicalcourse called Training the Eye. Art educators facilitateactive, structured study of works of art along with

If you truly engage with a work of art, you will thinkabout what you are seeing, hearing or reading, and

you will adopt different points of view and waysof thinking as you seek to build meaning.


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medical imagery on topics such as “Line andSymmetry in the Cranial Nerve Examination” and“Texture and Pattern Recognition in DermatologicDiagnosis.” Students grow accustomed to sustainedperiods of looking at a piece of art and respondingto three simple questions: What’s going on in thispicture? What do you see that makes you say that?What more can you find? As they do so, they hearothers’ answers and build on them. Sometimesthey disagree and offer evidence that supportsa different interpretation.

Now imagine this very similar scenario: A group ofKansas third- and fourth-graders are sitting on thefloor, gathered around their teacher. The teacherstands beside a large poster of Norman Rockwell’s

“Freedom of Speech.” The teacher asks the studentsto look at the artwork. “What do you see here?”she asks. The students initially comment on the blueof the standing man’s shirt and the way the menflanking him are dressed. (They are wearing ties!)The teacher accepts each comment, paraphrasesit and points to the area of the painting to whichcommenters are referring. When comments becomea bit silly, she laughs with the students then calmlydirects them back to the image. She asks them tothink about a recent social studies lesson about theBill of Rights and their upcoming visit to the KansasCapitol. Student comments become more focused.Some see things others don’t see or disagree abouthow to interpret the looks on the faces of the peoplein the painting, but nearly all the students participate

Catherine Seitz facilitates a class discussion about art at Westmoreland Elementary School in northeast Kansas.Seitz teaches third and fourth grades and says using art helps students learn how to express themselves more effectively.


DISCUSSION GUIDEPRACTICING OBSERVATIONS AND INTERPRETATIONS

This story discusses Visual Thinking Strategies, a teaching method that uses art to help learners practice exploringmultiple interpretations and points of view. Practicing and expanding on the method can help us become betterat distinguishing between observations (the act of noticing) and interpretations (the act of assigning meaning)and aid the exercise of leadership. Turn to page 76. You will see “Kansas: The Ellis Island for Black Pioneers,” a workby featured artist Janice Burdine based on historical research. Discuss the following questions with a group:

What is going on in this image? What do you see that makes you say that?

Using one of your observations, try to make another interpretation about the meaning of what you see. Then, try to come up with a third. How many

different meanings can you create from a single observation?

What difficulties might the people represented in this image be facing? What tough issues might this artwork help us explore? Specifically point out what

you see in the painting that is leading you to make those interpretations.


in the discussion. Each time a student makes anobservation, the teacher asks, “What do you seethat makes you say that?” Students respond bydescribing visual evidence from the painting.

Both of these groups are using versions of VisualThinking Strategies. Philip Yenawine is a formerart educator at the Museum of Modern Art in NewYork City and co-founder of Visual Understandingin Education, a nonprofit research organization thattrains teachers to use the technique. He says thatwhen we think of art education, we often envisionstudio-based art: classrooms full of people paintingand drawing and manipulating clay. This practice ishelpful, and schools and art museums still work toprovide it, but most of us will never be artists. “If Ihad to count on my drawing skills to take me into theworld of art, it would be a pretty short trip,” he says.

Instead, those grade schoolers and medical studentsare using their sense of sight to build a deep andcrucial set of skills, with art providing the entrypoint. As they verbalize what they see and identifyevidence, they are learning to communicate andgaining the confidence to speak up in a group. Theyalso learn to entertain multiple interpretations of thepiece in front of them. Because they are in a safespace where the teacher/facilitator isn’t looking forone correct answer or diagnosis, they do not takeclassmates’ disagreements personally, but instead areopen to others’ ideas and evidence. They experienceteamwork and collaboration with peers, and theylearn how to approach a new topic.

In other words, they’re building empathy and creativity.

Karin DeSantis, a Seattle-area cognitive researcherwho helped develop Visual Thinking Strategies, saysa current high-tech industry buzzword is flexiblethinking, the ability “to constantly respond to newinformation and come up with your own opinionabout it quickly.” Discussing art with Visual ThinkingStrategies builds this capacity, because participantsare asked repeatedly to think about and react towhat is said. Using an older business cliché, DeSantisexplains that looking at what’s happening in an imageand grounding comments in what’s there is thinking“inside the box.” When participants speculate aboutmeaning, “outside-the-box thinking begins.” Growthoccurs when both kinds of thinking happen simulta-neously. “You think carefully about what you see,but also think ‘What could this be?’”

When properly facilitated, Visual Thinking Strategiesalso engages unusual voices and unpacks emotions.Teachers who use the technique indicate that itdraws in English-language learners, students withdisabilities and those typically disinclined to joindiscussions. The peer collaboration model meansthat the method is just as useful in a university oradult learning environment as it is in an elementaryschool. Discussing images offers a chance to learnwhat others are feeling. “It’s impossible with thearts not to integrate emotional content,” saysYenawine, and discussing such content leads tounderstanding what others feel.

“Empathy is a hard thing to teach,” Yenawine says.

PRESCRIBING A DOSE OF THE ARTS

Leadership is an inherently creative act. Just asthere is no paint-by-number for an artist, thereare no tidy tests for a leader. Both have to trust inthe process and the skills they build to take themthrough it. The Visual Thinking Strategies approachis an excellent example of how the arts presenta path to the cognitive habits that enhanceleadership competencies.

Those of us who have completed our formal educa-tions may feel we don’t have access to the arts inthe same way that we did when we were younger.We may have trouble finding time to dust off ourmusical instrument and practice, or we may notthink we are interested in visiting art museums.Like my son, we may rather head for the beach.But you’ll do yourself a favor if you write yourselfan arts prescription from time to time.

“You can’t teach thinking.People have to learn how to do it.

You can’t do it for them – youcan just help.All of this is

a matter of activating the brainto work, in tandem, with the tool we

use to communicate – language.”

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Visit an art museum or go to a play. Practice lookingand noticing, and take someone along who wants todiscuss what you see. Repeat. Use Visual ThinkingStrategies, either by educating yourself or seekingout a trained facilitator, as a way to encourage flexiblethinking while learning to observe closely and wonderproductively. You’ll reap other benefits, too.

As Yenawine puts it, art has “the capacity to readinto your mind through your eyes and ears, and intoyour heart, which is really your brain – your intellectand your emotions – to allow the fullest experienceof these things, and you feed your spirit.”

“We need to strive to integrate both sides of ourbrains,” he says. “The arts are the perfect placefor a combination of ideas and information andemotional content as well – things that reach into

our hearts. When you can compute this process,you feed yourself.”

Like my friend’s daughter, your brain will be full.

Sarah Caldwell Hancock is a contributing editor toThe Journal. She became interested in exploringhow the arts foster cognitive growth while persuadinguniversity students of the importance of their literatureand humanities courses and again while communicatingthe benefits of the visual arts through the Friendsof the Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art inManhattan, Kansas.

She thanks Beach director Linda Duke and senioreducator Kathrine Schlageck for their help in findingsources for this piece. She also thanks an amazing pianoteacher, Carol Kliewer, who taught her to persevere andmodeled how to live an artful life in rural Kansas.

LEARN MORE

“Preparing Students for the Next America: The Benefits of an Arts Education.”Published in 2013 by the Arts Education Partnership:

http://www.aep-arts.org.

“Learning, Arts, and the Brain: The Dana Consortium Report on Arts and Cognition.”Published in 2008 by The Dana Foundation:

http://www.dana.org/Publications/PublicationDetails.aspx?id=44422.

“Critical Evidence: How the ARTS Benefit Student Achievement,”by Sandra S. Ruppert. Published in 2006 by the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies.

“The Arts and Achievement in At-Risk Youth: Findings from Four Longitudinal Studies,”by James C. Catterall, Susan A. Dumais, and Gillian Hampden-Thompson.

Published in 2012 by the National Endowment for the Arts.

“Formal Art Observation Training Improves Medical Students’ Visual Diagnostic Skills,”by Sheila Naghshineh, Janet P. Hafler, Alexa R. Miller, et al.

Published in 2008 by the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

“Music Lessons Spur Emotional and Behavioral Growth in Children, a New Study Says,”by Amy Ellis Nutt.

Published in 2015 by The Washington Post.

“The Role of the Visual Arts in Enhancing the Learning Process,”by Christopher W. Tyler and Lora T. Likova.

Published in 2012 by Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.

An excellent source of information about K-12 education, including arts education, is edutopia.org.

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W H A T ’ S T H E S T A T E O F T H E A R T S I N K A N S A S ?

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IN A CHANGING LANDSCAPE ,

T H E S TAT E ’ S A RT C O M M U N I T Y

H A S B E E N A D A P T I N G

W I T H T H E H E L P

O F A C A N - D O M I N D S E T.HOWEVER , IN THE AFTERMATH OF

A CONTROVERSY OVER STATE FUNDING

OF THE ARTS , T IMES ARE LEANER

AND THE ENV IRONMENT IS TOUGHER .

W H AT K I N D O F L E A D E R S H I P

W I L L I T TA K E T O H E L P T H E A RT S

G R O W A N D C H A N G E T O

P R O S P E R I N T O T H E F U T U R E ?

ByDawn Bormann Novascone

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Tucked behind a barbed-wire fence, a group of LansingCorrectional Facility inmates quietly begin to harmonize.

Hush, hush. Somebody’s calling my name.

Inside a prison chapel, the minimum-custody inmates whomake up the East Hill Singers repeat stanzas again andagain until songs are up to the professional conductor’s highstandards. They work in what could easily be consideredthe bleakest location in Kansas. They conduct tasks – acceptcriticism, laugh at mistakes and beam with joy after nailinga complex piece of music – that some of the men haven’tbeen able to accomplish in their entire lives but for the choir.Their voices are far from perfect, but that’s hardly the point.

If there’s an example of the powerful influence of the artson one’s soul, it might be at its finest hour inside these prisonwalls. The East Hill Singers, now in their 20th year, have helpedhundreds of men who are about to exit the penal system andreturn to society. Yet the choir and many other artistic groupsin the state have had to weather serious financial uncertaintyand dramatic change. After large cutbacks to state grants andan overall drop in private donations, the group has survivedwith volunteer labor (including some from prison administrators),small grants, goodwill donations from the public and a heftydose of Kansas determination.

The choir is a tiny slice of the state’s art scene, but it illustratesjust how eclectic, impactful and fragile the arts can be withinKansas. In many respects, it also shows how scrappy theartistic community can be when solving a problem. Timewill tell if there are limits to that can-do spirit.

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Anthony Seymour (top and left), an inmateat the Lansing Correctional Facility, practices

with the East Hill Singers men’s chorusinside the prison’s chapel; Larry Haynes sits

in his bunk at the prison. He says that hisparticipation in the East Hill Singers allowsothers to view him as a human being, not a

criminal; Jacob Waldrup harmonizes withother inmates during a practice session lastyear. The East Hill Singers, a men’s chorus

made up of minimum security inmates,is now in its 20th year. It has helpedhundreds of men return to society.

24.

Art has always been an integral part of the state’sculture. Tucked away in some of the most unlikelylocations, Kansas artists are creating works that in-spire communities and individuals to great change.Throughout the state, Kansans are engaged in artfor employment, cultural engagement, education,community improvement, stress relief, economicdevelopment, tourism and much more.

Ask just about any Kansas arts supporter to describethe creative scene and they’ll point to a small townthat’s lost funding, artists who have left the stateentirely and schools struggling to pay for cultural fieldtrips. But they’ll also highlight powerful successessuch as the Symphony in the Flint Hills – an eventthat draws 7,000 people to the tallgrass prairie – asa way to show just how effective art can be whengiven the chance. The event began as a grass-rootsidea when one woman wanted to celebrate herbirthday, but it’s become a state treasure, thanksin part to a strategic infusion of state dollars. Somewonder what kind of support would be available now.

The recent past looms large for many in anydiscussion of the arts in Kansas. The state’s artscommunity has been adapting after funding lossesfrom the state that came after the economic down-turn had started to curtail private and local grants.Some advocates have moved on, but others stillfeel a great sense of loss from changes in howthe state funds the arts. Some critics still see littlereason to fund the arts over other worthy priorities.Plenty of uncertainty remains, especially with stategovernment facing fiscal challenges. Those issues

could easily spill over to affect local units of govern-ment, too, creating further pressure on the fragilemix of financial support sustaining the arts inKansas. In what ways will the arts have to adaptin Kansas in order to thrive in the years to come?

TALKING THE LANGUAGE

Kansas became the center of a national art debatein 2011 after Gov. Sam Brownback shocked artssupporters by wiping out funding for the KansasArts Commission. (He initially had sought to eliminatethe commission entirely and replace it with a non-profit foundation, but the Kansas Senate blockedhis executive order). The state’s art agency wentfrom a $1.57 million budget in 2011 to zero in 2012.

“Do you want to be known for the state that’santi-art? Because it’s a terrible marketing ploy,”art commissioner Larry Meeker recalls sayingin a letter he fired off to the governor.

Brownback wanted to prioritize spending in toughtimes and urged private donors to keep the artsvibrant in Kansas. But private funders didn’t pickup the slack. The state lost more than $1 million inmatching federal and private grants from sourcessuch as the National Endowment for the Arts. Thesudden move produced a backlash. The commission’sdefunding had a big impact because it had turnedits small budget into matching grants available inall 105 counties. It also had been a central guidingresource to turn to whenever artists, civic groups

ART HAS ALWAYSBEEN AN INTEGRALPART OF THESTATE’S CULTURE.

Matin


and nonprofits were stuck. Losing money was onething, but some felt blindsided because they abruptlylost an agency that offered professional direction attheir time of greatest need. Rural communities werehit especially hard, because many rural art councilsdidn’t employ savvy grant writers or marketingprofessionals to help make up the funding.

“It was more than money. It was about providingthem with professional development and otherresources across the state,” says Hays MayorHenry Schwaller, who has served on the newand previous art commissions.

Public outcry stirred change. The following year,Brownback agreed to launch a retooled state artsprogram called the Kansas Creative Arts IndustriesCommission. It’s part of the commerce departmentand has a new mission. The new agency essentiallyscrapped most of the old programs.

State officials say the agency wants to help artistsand artistic groups pay for program-based needsrather than pay for general operating expenses,which was one part of the former arts commission.As such, grants are distributed to programs thatdrive economic development, be it through tourism,job growth or otherwise. Grants are considered one-time funds to kick start a project rather than annualdisbursements. It just makes sense, state officialssaid, as state revenue drops and officials prioritizewhat they see as core functions of government.“If we were going to have state funding for the

arts, then it needed to also be focused on creatingjobs and economic development and communitydevelopment,” says Dan Lara, Kansas Departmentof Commerce spokesman.

Some arts supporters see such thinking as short-sighted. It’s hard to pin down what the state’s artisticcommunity contributes to economic development.How do you quantify a program that inspires, say,the state’s next Gordon Parks?

But Meeker, now the chairman of the Kansas CreativeArts Industries Commission, thinks that it’s essentialfor artists and arts groups to point out their value tolawmakers. Years after firing off that letter, Meekerworries that some arts organizations haven’t adaptedto the state’s new reality.

“I’ve often told arts groups (that) when we go tolegislators, our credibility wouldn’t be hurt a bit ifwe just went with a big Greenpeace button on ourshirt as well. Because we’re here for a handout,”Meeker says.

Art clearly contributes to economic development,he says, so why not tell businesses how it com-plements their goals? “We need more credibility,”he says. “And we need to talk the language ofeconomic development.”

There’s also a strain of thinking that argues artorganizations can learn how to thrive in the absenceof government funding by forcing themselves to

Members of the East Hill Singers performat the Plymouth Congregational Churchin Lawrence in a concert last November.


innovate and find creative ways of providing programs andservices. Nearly two decades ago, the Harvard BusinessReview argued in an article that strategic collaborations withother nonprofits, community groups and businesses couldrepresent a way forward for the arts to achieve mutual gainsin difficult fiscal times. But even that story relied on examplesfrom large urban centers such as Chicago and St. Louis.

THE NEW NORMAL

The Creative Arts Industries Commission was funded ata $700,000 level in 2013 but dropped to $200,000 for 2014and 2015. It was enough to return some matching federaland private dollars to the state. The state brought in atleast $560,800 in 2014 and $430,000 for 2015 in additionalgrants. Peter Jasso, executive director of the commission,is optimistic about his agency’s new mission and itsprogress. It has created new guidelines and new grantprograms and has handed out grants to several rural andsuburban arts programs from Overland Park to Wamego.The agency, he says, is determined to help the arts thrivein Kansas communities.

When the arts funding controversy came up duringBrownback’s heated gubernatorial campaign, someCreative Arts Industries commissioners also spokeup to defend the new agency’s progress.

“Every time a proposal comes, we look at it and askourselves: ‘Is this creating an economic opportunityfor the community, and would this go on without us?’”commissioner Connie McLean said during the campaign.She indicated that the agency was “in step with theeconomy and where the Legislature is.”

Meeker thinks the state agency is making progress with limiteddollars. He understands that the change hasn’t been easy.But he thinks it’s the right step. “We only make progresswhen we sit down and work together,” Meeker says.

Rural communities are hurting, he acknowledged.Although the commission is responding to those circum-stances, it likely won’t change its policies about fundingsalaries or offering long-term, recurring grants to the samegroup. Such an approach would be pointless given the fund-ing realities.

“We don’t have much money to be able to sustainanything,” Meeker says.

The choir of inmates, clad in blue shirts, and community volunteers, includingsome former East Hill Singers, come together four times a year for concertsoutside the prison walls; John Gilmore (left) and Maurice Perry (right) performalongside Ben Denham (center photo) during an East Hill Singers performancein Lawrence; The group’s performances include singing of religious andpopular music as well as choreography. Kirk Carson, the director of musicfor a Prairie Village church, is the group’s conductor and artistic director.

Schwaller says the new agency has a long way to gobefore it catches up with the work of the previousagency. The state once offered substantial statewidetraining to help nonprofits expand their missions andhelp artists grow their businesses. That professionaldirection, he says, is missing now.

Schwaller thinks the new agency is so busy handingout grants for short-term gains that it has largelyoverlooked long-term strategies that would promoteeconomic development, too.

“We’re not thinking about three to five years fromnow,” he says. “We’re thinking about what it’s goingto look like next week.”

And the idea that arts organizations are scrappieror more efficient in the face of cuts?

“I don’t know how scrappy they can be if they’rein a town of 2,000,” he says.

Many rural arts agencies are barely hanging on,he says. Although state funding made up a smallportion of the resources for many of them, it oftenpaid for one or more employees, who in turn leda team of volunteers.

“At least half of them or three-quarters of them havefound ways to survive again by reducing paid staff, bycutting programs or blending programs together. Howsustainable that is in the long term? I don’t know,”he says.

In a few cases, organizations and festivals have ceasedoperations. Others report struggling to continue servingeveryone they’ve helped previously, especiallygroups such as low-income children and teens whocan’t do much to help an organization’s bottom line.

In Lincoln, a city of 1,200 in north-central Kansas,the arts center is down, but not out, says directorJoyce Harlow. It went from 2.5 employees to onepart-time person – Harlow. She cut the budgetthrough attrition and now shoulders much of thework herself, working a full-time shift on a part-timesalary. She now depends on volunteers to makeseveral programs happen, including summer artsessions for Lincoln youth.

She wonders how the center would function if sheonly worked a few hours a week. Who would helpvisitors navigate traveling art exhibits and who wouldlook for funding sources to pay the bills? The centerstopped some programs to preserve others. Whilethe center’s supporters work to find creative waysto bring back some of what they offered , it’s unlikelyto be as much as it was before.

"We’ve been here 22 years, and I expect that we’llcontinue to be here," she says.

DOING IT ON YOUR OWN

Critics of government funding for the arts oftenpoint out that they aren’t opposed to the arts,

The Arts in Prison proposed 2015 budgetfigures show just how delicate fundingis for many nonprofit art groups. Thebulk of its revenues come from annualfundraisers from private donors or groups.Some of the money comes from passingthe hat at concerts. Arts in Prison worksat a state-owned facility but proposedno government funding in 2015.

28.


per se, but that government shouldn’t be in thebusiness of paying for it. Individuals should becompelled to pay taxes only to fund the essentialfunctions of government, especially protectingpeople’s rights. Taxpayers shouldn’t be forcedto pay for art they disagree with, and artistsshouldn’t be hemmed into creating the kind of artgovernment wants – and pays them – to create.

Former Kansas budget director Steve Andersonoriginally proposed defunding the Kansas ArtsCommission, and he says he’d do it again. Backthen, Anderson was immediately greeted withan onslaught of angry arts supporters, includingsome who carried a coffin outside his officeto represent the death of the arts in Kansas.

The real problem, he said, is that the issue becameso emotionally charged so quickly that it was difficultfor him to argue his point: that government shouldfund only essential services. Art, he believes, doesnot fit that definition.

“I could have moved approximately 42 children fromthe developmentally disabled waiting list” for services,he says. “We proposed doing that with the funding,and we weren’t able to do it because clearly they foughtus and won. I would make the argument that it’s takingmoney away from essential services of government.”

A libertarian strain of thinking can run strong in Kansas,even within communities that support the arts. Manyagencies operate independently and prefer to keepit that way. They don’t want the state meddling andmessing up a good thing.

Applying for state grants is a cumbersome task filledwith red tape that turns some artists, volunteers andcivic groups off, says Marci Penner, executive directorof the Kansas Sampler Foundation, which is dedicatedto preserving and growing rural culture in Kansas.

Artists will regularly tell her, “I want to do it our way.”Or “We’re just going to make it work.” Pennerpointed out that grass-roots groups in CottonwoodFalls have held jam sessions for more than a decade.The music brings in visitors and is a tourist attractionin its own right. “They never depended on artsmoney. They just did it themselves,” Penner says.

But such efforts can fall apart quickly. For instance,even those legendary jam sessions nearly haltedwhen two vital people retired.

“Seventy-five percent of the cities in Kansas arevolunteer-led. There’s not an economic developmentdirector. There’s not a paid chamber person,”Penner says.

More professional guidance could help bridge thoselosses, organize local efforts and help those effortskeep from being crippled when one crucial volunteerleaves or local funding sources are tapped out.“Most places are just doing it within the community.That might work for a little while, but I think thatwill get harder and harder,” Penner says.

There’s also the symbolism. The loss of fundingsends a message about how much Kansas valuesthe arts. As Penner notes, people often take theircues about what’s important from authority figures.

EVEN AS THE RECENT PAST CONTINUES TOLOOM LARGE IN THE STATE’S DISCUSSION

ABOUT ARTS, THE NEXT BIG ADAPTIVECHALLENGE FACING THE ARTS IN KANSAS

MAY ALREADY BE TAKING SHAPE.

29.


MORE ON THE WEB:

View more photographs

of the East Hill Singers

and hear their music

in this online video:

klcjr.nl/easthillsing

“In the case of art, it felt like the governor’s adminis-tration – though they would argue this point – it stillfeels like they made a judgment about arts in Kansasto say that it wasn’t as important. And so that tricklesdown,” she says. “And I do believe, I think that(Brownback) thought he could find a better way.We lost (national grant) money for a while, and itjust put a damper on things to at least perceivethat art wasn’t valued.”

HOLDING TO PURPOSE

The state’s new reality can be difficult for programsthat were once hailed by the state as great communityboosters, volunteer models and part of a public-private partnership. Many picked up services thathad once been offered by the state.

“We are holding on by our fingernails,” acknowledgesLeigh Lynch, Arts in Prisons executive director. “Welost funding when the arts commission was closed.We lost opportunities for development when the artscommission closed.”

At Arts in Prison, which organizes the East Hill Singers,the mission is basic: Give inmates a positive outlet toexpress themselves, and they’ll gain skills and learnteamwork to reconnect more effectively with theircommunities upon release. Prison officials have longpraised Arts in Prisons for its work to meaningfullyengage inmates in classes such as the visual arts,poetry, literature and even yoga.

The choir consists of inmates and communityvolunteers who come together four times a yearfor public concerts outside prison walls. Thegroup is a beloved guest at several large JohnsonCounty churches. Between songs, inmates offerpersonal narratives. “Art nurtures a creative sensein you. People use art to express themselves. Theyuse art to grow,” says inmate Larry Haynes.

At a concert, he’s not just a criminal. He’s a man.“They just see the East Hill Singers,” he says ofthe public.

Arts in Prisons has leveraged every dime to stayafloat. Its operating expenses have gone from$200,000 with three employees to $109,000 with

one full-time director and a part-time employee.The program has scraped by, but deeply dedicatedvolunteers wonder: Should it have to?

The program pays quantifiable dividends for thestate with lower recidivism rates. The group claimsan 18 percent recidivism rate compared with anoverall recidivism rate of more than 30 percent forthe state, Lynch says.

State funding was never the sole revenue source,but it was recurring. When the Creative Arts IndustriesCommission was created, Lynch didn’t immediatelyfind a grant she was qualified to receive. That mightchange, though, as the state agency continues totweak its grant programs and address concerns fromartistic groups throughout the state.

But the funding will never be recurring, whichworries volunteers and prison officials.

Meeker agrees that the program is likely a goodexample of how art can save the state money anddeserves funding, but he wonders why the CreativeArts Industries Commission should suffer shamefor not funding it year after year. Why not theprison system?

“That to me shouldn’t come back to the artscommission for funding,” he says. “That shouldgo back to the prison systems, just as hiring aguard or anything else does.”

Prison administrators at Lansing faced cuts of theirown but have worked hard to keep the program going.When a massive budget crisis hit the prison yearsago, the warden and high-ranking employees volun-teered their free time to provide security for concerts.Without concerts, the program was doomed, becauseit largely survives on free-will offerings between songsets. But even private funding has lagged.

The nonprofit has already stripped services that wereonce offered to 11 correctional facilities. It’s downto the Lansing Correctional Facility.

“We decided we were at a point where we had topick and choose what we were going to be able todo,” Lynch says.

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“It was more than money.It was about providingthem with professionaldevelopment and other

resources across the state.”

HENRY SCHWALLERHays Mayor

“We need more credibility,and we need to talk

the language ofeconomic development.”

LARRY MEEKER

“I would make theargument that it’s

taking money awayfrom essential services

of government.”

STEVE ANDERSON

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WHAT’S THE STATE OF THE ARTS IN YOUR COMMUNITY?S IX QUEST IONS FOR SHAP ING THE FUTURE

1.What is working well with the arts in your community?

2.When you think about the future of the arts in your

community, what concerns you the most?

3.What big, lofty things would you like to see happen

related to the arts in your community?

4.Examine the gap between reality and what you would like to see happen.

What makes progress on the arts difficult in your community?

5.What are the different perspectives or viewpoints you see

related to the arts in your community?

6.What kind of leadership would it take to close the gap between reality

and aspiration for the arts in your community? Think beyond justtechnical fixes (funding, forming new organizations, etc.) and explore

what dynamics you might work with others to change.

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DISCUSSION GUIDE

How would you diagnose the situation facing the state’s artscommunity in 2015? What has and hasn’t changed since 2011?

How would you diagnose the situation from the perspective of otherstakeholders in the story, such as the governor, Legislature and general

public? What are their values, loyalties and potential losses?

What examples of leadership do you see emerging in this story?What additional opportunities for leadership do you see?

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Like arts organizations across the state, Arts in Prisonhas shifted its thinking to seek out new funding sources.It has expanded its mission to explicitly state a targetedfocus on reducing recidivism. It was always part ofthe organization’s effort, volunteers said, so why notput it in writing to pull in more dollars? The programoffers résumé tips and mentoring programs designedto ease the transition after inmates are released.Lynch says she’s careful to make sure the programmaintains an arts-focused approach, but she haskept an open mind to preserve core programs.They’re regularly learning how to evolve.

Some think that adaption is exactly what musthappen in leaner times. But there are others whowonder how many programs like Arts in Prisonare being lost as the state looks to save moneyin the short term.

INNOVATIVE FUNDING AND IDEAS

The Creative Arts Industries Commission is learning,too. Jasso says it is fine-tuning communicationefforts to get the word out about the agency.Officials held a listening tour throughout thestate early on, and he’d like to do it again.

Jasso wants to sees the agency become a commu-nications hub so communities can share ideas thatcould be modeled elsewhere. He wants to makesure the grant programs are clear.

Lynch, for one, says the changes have helped.She has identified a grant that Arts in Prison coulduse to help its mission. Maintaining flexibility isthe key to expanding in the short term, severalarts supporters say.

Funding shortages have forced everyone to thinkdifferently and consider how to move forward. Artsadvocates will still seek new funding opportunitiesand dream up new ideas. Many artists and artsagencies throughout the state have already startedto reinvent themselves. There’s no other choice.

“It’s like when you come in at the end of the seasonand cut all the weeds,” says Steve Curtis, director ofcommunity building and engagement with CommunityHousing of Wyandotte County, which uses art tofacilitate youth and community programs in impover-ished neighborhoods. “They’ll come back up. Theymight come up differently.”

Would it be possible to create any other systemin Kansas that could help sustain the arts on astatewide scale? Most arts supporters interviewedby The Journal don’t think so.

The National Endowment for the Arts sets specificeligibility requirements for the state arts agencies itpartners with, including having designated staff andthe financial support of state government. Advocatesfear the NEA would never offer matching grants toa private group at the same level as a state agency.Even Anderson, the former state budget director,agrees that the NEA would never welcome stategovernment bowing out of the equation. But, hecounters, why not?

Others argue that the state’s role is essential giventhe delicate nature of many arts groups. Replacingstate funding with private dollars was tried and failed,they say. Philanthropic donors prefer to pay for acancer wing, one supporter insisted, rather thanthe light bill for an arts program in rural Kansas.

The heat surrounding the issue is clearly muchlower than it was four years ago. A new status quois in place and some wonder if anyone really “won”the debate over arts funding in 2011. But the state’scontinued push for smaller government might yetraise the heat on both supporters and skepticsof government funding for the arts.

The issue could again become a flashpoint for intensedebate about the role of government and the valueof the arts. But it could also offer the opportunity tomore collaboratively put big questions on the tablefor discussion.

How will the people of Kansas sustain the arts intothe future? What should state government’s role beand how can it be best supplemented? What shouldarts organizations, grant makers, private donors andcommunities be responsible for? What creativesolutions will be required to see that good ideasreceive a chance and that effective initiatives canbe sustained over the long term?

Even as the recent past continues to loom large inthe state’s discussion about arts, the next big adap-tive challenge facing the arts in Kansas may alreadybe taking shape.

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SMALL STEPSImpactful arts endeavors don’t have to be big orelaborate. With a little cash and ingenuity, arts

entrepreneurs such as Steve Curtis in Kansas City,Kansas, draw community members together through art.

ByDawn Bormann Novascone

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Steve Curtis, director of community buildingand engagement with Community Housingof Wyandotte County, sits in the Epic ArtsClay Studio in Kansas City, Kansas, which hehelped create with $3,000 of his own money.


38.

Sometimes all you need to advance the arts inKansas is a resourceful spirit and a few dollars inthe bank. And you don’t necessarily need to bea full-time arts advocate to do it.

In Kansas, unusual suspects such as Steve Curtis,director of community building and engagement withCommunity Housing of Wyandotte County, are usinginventive approaches to accomplish objectives likeusing art to facilitate youth and community programsin impoverished neighborhoods.

Community Housing, which usually helps rebuildneighborhoods and homes, practically stumbledacross the chance to launch Epic Clay Studio,a ceramic studio, in a long vacant downtownKansas City, Kansas, storefront.

The studio got off to an inauspicious start whenCommunity Housing was asked by another nonprofit,Accessible Arts, to store surplus pottery wheels anda kiln in an empty building it owned. The previoustenant, a barbecue joint, had closed years earlier.Retailers weren’t exactly beating down the door,so the favor was easy.

The housing agency sent Curtis to meet with Acces-sible Arts to take a look at the equipment. He startedasking questions. Why simply store the equipment?The community was desperate for a gathering place.The building was there. The equipment was there. Itwouldn’t enhance the tax base, but what did anyonehave to lose if they opened a clay studio and offereddiscounted classes?

Curtis gathered local artists for help, pitched in$3,000 of his own money and recruited volunteersto prepare the building, which sits in the StrawberryHill neighborhood of Kansas City, Kansas, just acrossthe Kansas River from Kansas City, Missouri.

That was 2011. Years later, the studio lights still glow.An air conditioner has been added, classes continueto grow, and an energy-efficient kiln is in use.

Epic Clay is not an isolated example. Artists continuedevising innovative ways to fund art projects. In

Lawrence, for instance, a group of artists havelaunched a subscription service for locally producedart. Many other communities are piecing togethersmall grants to make incremental steps. A muralproject in Topeka is using a crowd-funding websiteand other donations to raise the $10,000 neededto paint at three new locations.

Such efforts are emerging at the state level, too.The state’s arts agency, the Kansas Creative ArtsIndustries Commission, has been offering a KansasArts License Plate to help raise funds to invest inthe arts. Vehicle owners pay an annual $50 feethat goes to funding arts programs in Kansas.

‘JUST DO SOMETHING’

It’s easy to look back and say Epic Clay was an easy,innovative idea. It was hardly that simple. The lightbill nearly curtailed the entire project. Curtis, the hus-band of Democratic state Rep. Pam Curtis, eventu-ally found a local nonprofit that would pay it if Epiccould provide a financial literacy component.“What are you talking about? We’re a clay studio,”Curtis says, still laughing years later.

Studio artists eventually hatched an idea – Finance101 for Artists. A University of Missouri-Kansas Cityfaculty member presented a professional developmentclass to about 15 local artists, and the lights remainedon at the studio that year.

The studio has proven popular with a diverse groupof young and adult students from the surroundinglow-income neighborhood, special-needs studentsfrom the Kansas City, Kansas, school district andthe nearby Kansas State School for the Blind, andresidents throughout the metro area.

The ideas didn’t stop there. Curtis received a$9,000 grant to beautify and conduct programmingin a park adjacent to the clay studio. The Art Squad,a four-person youth group that Curtis helped form,is dreaming up ideas to entice the community to thenew space. The squad envisions the smell of bratswafting through the air to entice families into the


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space. There will be art classes, of course. Andmaybe a pie baking competition judged by thefirefighters stationed down the block.

FINDING RESOURCES

Curtis, like others in Kansas, is constantly on the huntfor unusual grants that might blend with the needsof his community. He started with a basic Googlesearch of “money for arts” and zero knowledgeof what might be out there. Early on, he foundmoney to abate graffiti and used that to form theArt Squad, which paints murals on privately ownedgarages marred with graffiti. He uses the money forpaint supplies, solar-powered motion detector lightsand small stipends for the young artists. The artistsand the homeowners came up with the mural idea.The Art Squad started looking for other opportunitiesto help. They offered art classes to all ages at arecently revitalized park, which had been considereddangerous and off-limits for years to anyone butcriminals. Soon the group was joined by walkingclubs eager to use the park.

The Art Squad is working to integrate art into an urbanfarm created by the housing agency and volunteersto feed a neighborhood. It also spied a school nearbyand submitted a grant to beautify the area from theviewpoint of a child walking to school.

Curtis says his next project will likely take him intoan entirely new financial experience, crowd funding,which allows the community to contribute online.The housing agency needs a reliable truck (aestheticsare unimportant) to haul supplies to the farm on aregular basis to give his personal vehicle a break.As for the advice he’d give to other would-be artsentrepreneurs, Curtis says supporting the arts andlaunching new ideas don’t need to involve grandioseplans for museums and art galleries. He suggestsstarting small. Most of his endeavors start with $3,000or less that he contributes from his wallet to establishwhat some in the business community might calla proof of concept. He leverages that effort to findother grants that help launch long-term sustainability.

“No one wants to give you money when you don’thave something up and going,” he says.

Artists are creative problem-solvers. Take advantageof that and let them solve community problems,he says. Use art to draw people together in anonthreatening way. Ask community memberswhat they want, listen and enlist them to help.And perhaps most important, don’t be afraid to fail.

“Just do something,” Curtis says.

DISCUSSION GUIDE

Steve Curtis is an example of arts leadership coming from a nontraditional place,a community organizer with Community Housing of Wyandotte County. It happenedbecause of a connecting interest between the housing agency and an arts group.

Think about your own leadership challenge.Who might have connecting interests with you on that challenge?

Brainstorm the names of five people or groups you might wantto connect with that you have not yet reached out to.

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M a k i n g

c r e a t i v i t y

y o u r

b u s i n e s s

By Sarah Caldwell Hancock

JournalReleasePartB_Layout 1 4/29/15 1:30 PM Page 1

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Creativity is “trending” these days.

Here’s why it’s important to your success –

at home, at work and in the civic realm –

and how you can improve

your own practice of it.


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Popular culture is awash in references to the act ofbringing fresh ideas to life. An issue of The Atlanticmagazine I encountered last summer, for example,contained numerous articles on the subject.

One could read about the neuroscience of creativity,the synergy of creative partnerships (Beatles JohnLennon and Paul McCartney had a stormy yetproductive relationship), the process followed byhighly successful creative people. Don’t neglect theone about using a Home Depot paint gun to spraynacho cheese powder on a taco shell and “FiveCreative Solutions,” a brief description of innovativeways to solve persistent problems, such as growingmeat in a lab to overcome the inefficiencies facedby animal husbandry. The magazine was more thaninteresting enough to get me through my 45-minuteslog on the elliptical machine at my gym.

And it’s not just magazines. The new-releases sectionin bookstores are filled with titles concerned withinnovations and creativity. “Creativity Inc.” “TheInnovators.” “Agile Innovation.” “How We Got toNow.” There are more than a dozen TED Talks aloneabout creativity, not to mention classes, seminarsand online tutorials.

Everyone, it seems, wants to think more deeplyabout how to better engage our creative impulsesand infuse creativity into our organizational and civiccultures. But how much do we really know aboutcreativity? Is it a skill that can be taught? An innatecompetency that can be cultivated? A bit of both?

LEARNING THE ART OF CREATIVITY

The search for bolstering creativity isn’t limited to artclasses or writing workshops. It’s also permeatingteaching at business schools, where it’s found ahome among finance, spreadsheets and management.

Business schools are betting that creativity can betaught and be the engine that drives innovation, acrucial ingredient in U.S. competitiveness in the global

economy. Top business schools offer entrepreneurshipprograms, and many of them include coursework increativity and design thinking in an effort to booststudents’ capacity for innovation. The Kansas StateUniversity College of Business Administration, for one,offers both a major and a minor in entrepreneurship.

Chad Jackson, director of the K-State Center for theAdvancement of Entrepreneurship, says the centerwas established in 2009 after a group of alumni andcommunity entrepreneurs gathered and said K-Statewas behind the curve in one of the fastest-growingprograms in the country. A cross-campus ideacompetition called K-State Launch drew manyparticipants who wanted to develop ideas andbusiness plans and compete for seed money prizes.

The program has helped start 34 businesses andfacilitated university approval of a minor in entrepre-neurship in 2012. Each year, 40 students are selectedfor the minor, but demand has been overwhelming:After sending one email that first year, Jacksonreceived 160 applications in 48 hours. The minorrequires three courses and two electives and isdesigned to be flexible and interdisciplinary. Oneof the required courses, Exploring Creativity, isoffered in the English department.

Jackson says he is frequently asked aboutentrepreneurship. “People often say it can’t betaught, that it’s something you’re born with,” hesays, but “research has shown over and over againthat is wrong. All the great management researchersand scientists have shown it’s a process. Like anyprocess, it can be taught.” Jackson notes that creativityis also a process: a framework can be taught initially,then supported with exercises and experiences thathelp people learn to be creative.

Cultivating creativity is crucial to developingentrepreneurs, Jackson adds, because “you haveto be able to think creatively and do things differentlythan they’ve been done and tap into that side ofyour thinking to be truly successful.” He says thenuts-and-bolts side of developing a business is a

C R E A T I V I T Y

I S H A V I N G A M O M E N T


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traditional path of learning that comes naturally tomany students, whereas creativity is new to them.

Deborah Murray, an Exploring Creativity instructor,agrees. One of the most challenging aspects forstudents is interactivity. “You can’t just sit backand absorb,” she says, “and you have to be willingto make a fool of yourself.”

The first day of class includes exercises based onlooking foolish, taking risks and curiosity, qualitiesMurray says are required to develop creativity. Thecourse requires students to read and discuss theoriesof creativity; write a book review; attend arts activitiesor performances; maintain a “sketchbook” withexploratory exercises, writing, drawings and otherpieces that meet creative goals; and complete acreative project. All of these activities foster deepthinking in students about meaning, life goals,connections among fields of study, and the roleof ideas and creative practice.

Zach Manuel, a senior in interior architecture andproduct design, and Rebecca Jenkins, a junior insociology and economics, are former students ofMurray’s who have profited in different ways fromtheir semester exploring creativity. Manuel says thatas he finished his first year of architecture, he fearedhis school’s critique process. “You’re either right or

you’re wrong when you’re showing your stuff to yourteacher. You’re afraid when talking to them in critiques;it’s hard to be creative because you’re afraid you willbe wrong.” He says the creativity course helped himlearn to risk failure and take good things away from it.Now he’s on the product-design track, which treasuresoriginal thinking and requires fresh approaches. Hisportfolio has earned him internship interviews withthree product-design firms in Minneapolis.

Jenkins says she sees more connections as a resultof her experience in the class. “I’ve been very inten-tional about finding ways to put squares into circles,where before I had compartments,” she says. She isfocusing on bringing together her interests in theater,civic engagement and economics to create a social-issues dialogue “theater day” in which participantsare presented with a problem like socioeconomicinequities in education and then explore thoughtsand solutions through drama.

Both Manuel and Jenkins say they benefited fromrealizing the importance of creativity in their lives.Manuel says the practice of keeping a journalbroadened his horizon of inspiration, and Jenkinsrediscovered how her love of theater could helpher thoughts in other areas be more “systematicand inspired” by sustaining a creative practice.

Kansas State University students Kati Krieg,Danny Neely, Meg Anderson and Beth Bowmanperform before an audience at the student unionfor K-State’s On the Spot improvisation comedyteam. Creative activities such as performingimprov comedy can help individuals developskills that will serve them in their working lives.


DISCUSSION GUIDEActing Experimentally

Identify a leadership challenge you would like to explore. It can be one that you are facingor a story in this magazine about a challenge that someone else is facing.

What experiments do you imagine have been attemptedon this challenge thus far? What have the results been?

Generate a list of at least 10 experiments that could be attempted on this challenge.Give yourself permission to be unrealistic or ridiculous, as well as practical and realistic.

Imagine what the results of each experiment could be. You might see thepossibility for multiple results from the same experiment. Identify the low-risk

experiments most likely to produce the greatest gain on the challenge.

IMPROVISING SUCCESS

If a creativity class seems too conventional, youmight be ready for the approach a friend of minehas taken. She’s an editor and writer for a technoogy-centered company and feels uncomfortable withpublic speaking, but a supervisor’s departure lefther to fill in at webcasts and industry events. Shetried some public speaking clubs but found themtoo formulaic, so she enrolled in an improvisationclass on the advice of a friend.

That friend, Avi Jacobson, is a communicationsconsultant for Wells Fargo in San Francisco. Hesays he isn’t naturally adventurous. Despite abackground in classical music performance, conduct-ing and singing, plus a current interest in acting, hesays he has to remind himself “to step out of thebox.” Working in a structured corporate environmentengenders reliance on protocol and agendas, butan improv class Jacobson took a decade ago at atheater now known as BATS Improv taught himto escape that way of thinking, and he encouragesothers to take the plunge.

Improvisation is essentially a live exercise in creativity,while on stage with other people. The first thing improvteaches is that everything is an offer: every line, everymistake, every hilarious situation or action from anotheractor. Unlike real life, in which we might meet others’ideas with “Yes, but …,” improv trains actors to reactwith “Yes, AND …” as a way to accept and build onthoughts expressed on stage. Training yourself to acceptnew ideas and situations brings other competenciesthat are useful in everyday environments.

“As an improviser, you’re responsible all the timefor how you present yourself to the audience andresponding to the other actors,” Jacobson explains.“Your job is to make your scene partner look good.If you’re not concentrating on yourself, you’re on ateam – you’re constantly raising the bar.” He notesthat in business meetings, you might have good ideas,but if you’re not building on the thoughts of others,you won’t get very far. Instead, he says, you strive to“leverage your own skills in a way that brings out thebest in everyone else on the team.” Jacobson sayshe has become adept at identifying others’ workplacestrengths and feeding them the right material tomove the team forward and get the work done.

Another skill improvisers learn is to revive a stalescene on stage by doing something unexpected to

inject energy. Your character can have a heart attack,make a blubbering confession or start speaking intongues, but the important thing is to take bold action.Although you would never fake a heart attack in ameeting, you might find yourself in a stagnant situationin your job and ask, “What can I do to get my bossto look at me in a different way? Or what can I do tomotivate this person?” Jacobson says improv helpedhim learn to make bold choices to move things forward.

My friend has been through a few weeks of improvexercises and finds them fun and challenging. She’sstill processing, but her Facebook posts indicate thatshe’s enjoying the ride.

FINDING WHAT MATTERS

As you’re making bold choices and moving yourteam forward, improvising and exercising creativityalso helps you cut through the noise and decidewhat’s important.

Murray says that one of the crucial lessons of hercourse is figuring out “what matters and what doesn’tto you personally,” and that part of that processnecessitates displaying your vulnerabilities. “Whilenot having my personal life at the front of the classroomall the time, I’ve been able to say to my students,‘I’ve submitted poetry to six journals and receivedthree rejections just this week!’ Or ‘I’m having troubleconcentrating because my mother isn’t well,’” she says.

This fosters a safe environment for creative exerciseand translates into the civic arena. “If you’re not willingto be a human being and respect that others are humanbeings, you’re never going to get out of your respectivecorners in your shouting match,” Murray says.

Vulnerability and empathy help students cultivatethe flexible thinking skills the world requires. Jacksonsums it up best when he describes some students’attitudes as they come to college. He says students,especially those who are the first generation in theirfamilies to attend college, expect it to be like technicalschool and give them very specific skill sets. Ofcourse, that is not the reality students encounter.“What I say is, I want to help you learn to solveproblems we don’t even know exist today. The worldis changing so fast that we don’t know what you’llrun up against in your career,” he says. “We wantyou to be able to think effectively – we want youto solve those problems.”

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f u e l y o u r o w n

c r e a t i v i t y

MAYBE YOUR COLLEGE DAYS ARE OVER, AN IMPROV CLASS ISN’T

AN OPTION IN YOUR COMMUNITY AND YOU DON’T WANT TO READ ENTIRE BOOKS

ON THE SUBJECT. WHAT CAN YOU DO? HERE ARE SOME IDEAS.

Attend performing arts events that are outside your usual experience.Not a regular at the ballet? Give it a try.

Pay attention to what you wonder about and how you feel as you watch it.

Start a creativity/idea journal.Jot down those thoughts that occurred to you while you were brushing your teeth

or grocery shopping. Interesting places you want to visit, books you’d like to read or funny memories are a great place to begin. Don’t worry if they aren’t big ideas. You don’t have

to show any of your thoughts to anyone – they’re just for you.

Disrupt your routine.You could do this in a major way by taking a long trip to an exotic location, or you could make smaller strides such as trying a new ethnic cuisine or even rearranging your office so your desk is facing another direction. Sometimes new perspectives are literal.

Gather with others to form a “creativity studio,” which is something like a book club for creative pursuits.

You can discuss a book one month, attend an art exhibit another, share craft interests or have a local artist visit and show some work. For best results, keep your group to a manageable

size (maybe five or six people) and invite members outside your usual social circle.

Use online inspiration boards to feed your interests in a relaxing, low-pressure environment.

Look for things that appeal to you, but do so mindfully: Take time to wonder why you like that paint color, that classic car or that drink recipe.

Unplug.It’s no accident that almost every book or article you’ll read about creativity mentions the need to get away from our devices. Go for a walk outside, take time to connect with

a friend face to face and set aside time to let your mind wander.

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44.

W H E NI S

L E A D E R S H I PA N

ART?

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–Willa Cather, “The Song of the Lark”

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40.50.

When is leadership an art?

Not very often.

Painting is an art. Theater is an art. Poetry is an art.Artists live on the edge of society. They may put offsettling down, delay or deny themselves a familylife, avoid home-ownership or neglect retirementfunds all for the sake of art. Most would say it isworth it. They wouldn’t have it any other way. Still,it’s not easy. And on behalf of every artist who hasever struggled for the sake of beauty and meaningand truth, I hesitate to trivialize the word art.

Be honest. When you hear the word artist, do youthink of someone who just finished up a degree inleadership studies? You do not. You think of Vincentvan Gogh alone in his room with a bloody ear. Youthink of Billie Holiday, her soulful voice and untimelydeath. The Kansas City Rep’s insightful productionof “Our Town.” Or a young and buoyant MusicTheatre Wichita cast, holding hands and beamingacknowledgment for a standing ovation.

If we say leadership is an art, what other arts wouldwe need to acknowledge? The art of massage? Theart of friendship? The art of war? The art of shaving?(Google the “art of” and see for yourself what popsup.) The audacity! Where does it end, I ask you?Leadership is an important task. Sometimes it’sthe work of a lifetime. It’s an honor or a challenge.It takes skills. It takes compassion. It takes empathy.It takes vision. It takes relationships. It takesdisciplined attention to purpose. Above all, perhaps,it takes patience.

Nonetheless, sensible people insist on referringto the art of leadership. Respect for them requiresme to give the matter a bit more thought.

I’ve been reading Willa Cather’s “The Song of theLark.” It’s about a 19th-century woman born of theGreat Plains who becomes a world-famous operasinger. She’s a country girl whose talents compelher to leave her home, a lonely woman who managesto draw energy from a deep sense of where she’sfrom, the beauty of her birthplace and the authenticityof the people who nurtured her growing up. I beganthis column with a quotation from the book.

In those sentences, Cather makes the best case Ican muster for calling leadership an art. Leadership,like art, demands truthfulness. If you wish to lead,you must tell yourself the truth about your motives.You must be honest about what you are willing todo to make a difference. You must assess everysituation with as much clarity as you can muster.You must name the elephants or fan the flame ofconflicting viewpoints so it burns bright enoughfor everyone to see. You must look people in theeye and tell them, truthfully, that you cannot makeprogress alone. You must be willing to authenticallyand deeply acknowledge to yourself that othersmatter. You must be willing to hear and hold multipletruths from multiple people and patiently weavethem together to create a new and better reality.

Leadership is about processes that lead to improvedproducts, healthier communities, more meaningfullives. The better and more inclusive the process, themore sustainable the outcomes. Leadership is aboutbuilding connections among people and ideas forthe sake of making a difference. And, yes, it requirescreativity and social and emotional intelligence todo it well. Visual and performing artists connectwith people on the frequency of heart, soul, emotionand values. The best of them use paint, song, script,sculpted marble or some other medium to revealtruth and generate insights that enhance our senseof what it is to be human.

ART ISN’T A TERM TO BE THROWN AROUND

LOOSELY. BUT IN RETROSPECT, WE CAN SOMETIMES

SEE LEADERSHIP ASCENDING TO ARTISTRY.

ByBy Julia Fabris McBride


41.51.

Those of us who wish to raise leadership to thelevel of art have a different medium at our disposal.We have the KLC framework. We have a set of fiveprinciples that remind us that anyone can lead if theyare purposeful, actively engage others and willinglytake risks. We have a set of four competencies thatremind us that leadership happens at the edges –when we stretch ourselves by listening differentlyand speaking more consciously, and when throughour actions we compel others to let go of old habits,adapt and grow. The KLC principles and competenciesgive us guideposts to identify what leadership is –and they help keep us honest about what leadershipis not.

Blogger Seth Godin provides similar guidepostsabout art: “It’s easy to keep track of what art is bywhat it is not. It’s not following a manual, readinga ‘Dummies’ book, looking for a map. It tends tobe people who work with a compass instead, whohave an understanding of true north and are willingto solve a problem in an interesting way.”

The two sets of guideposts, the one about leadershipand the other about art, overlap. Both leadership andart require experimentation. There is no map to guideyou in the pursuit of leadership on the deep, dauntingchallenges or complex, golden opportunities in frontof you. If you want to lead, you must define yourown true north and be willing to approach yourendeavor in new and interesting ways.

When it comes to challenges that really matter, therecan be no “Leadership for Dummies.” There is no

map. You will be making it up as you go along. I don’tknow whether leadership is for dummies. But I knowit’s not for the faint of heart.

There has been at least one occasion in my life (asI’m sure there has been in yours) when I set a goal,thought things through, calculated the risks, heldto purpose, experimented beyond my comfort zone,spoke from the heart, engaged others and builtbridges between factions, eventually accomplishingsomething that took leadership. If you’d asked mein the middle of it, though, I would not have calledwhat I was doing leadership, and I certainly wouldnot have called it art. I’d have said that my effortswere probably necessary, alternately fun and annoying,and quite possibly futile. Looking back, I’d tell youthat what I and others accomplished through combinedacts of leadership was satisfying beyond measure.

Sometimes, in retrospect, a series of successfulacts of leadership by multiple people, taken together,ascends to the level of art: A group makes progressnot through flamboyant exploits or overt artistrybut through experimentation, commitment, learningand engagement.

Leadership, then, is an art. But it’s an art that existsonly in hindsight.

Julia Fabris McBride is the vice president of the KansasLeadership Center. She is a graduate of London’s RoyalAcademy of Dramatic Art and for 20 years created andperformed theater in Chicago. She and her husband,sculptor Bill McBride, moved to Matfield Green in 2006.

GETTINGTHEMESSAGETOSTICKWhat role can art play in makingprogress on a difficult social problem?A group in Kansas City has harnessedits talents in support of effortsto reduce violence in its community.

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The idea for the Artists for Life Project sprangfrom Darryl Chamberlain, a self-taught KansasCity artist who helped organize a group of areaAfrican American artists wanting to spreadan anti-violence message.


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PEERING THROUGH SHATTERED GLASS,A MAN IN A HOODED RED SWEATSHIRT AIMS A GUN.

THE TEXT ABOVE THE IMAGE SCREAMS IN LARGE BEIGE TYPE:

“ARE YOU L I S T EN ING?”IN SLIGHTLY SMALLER PRINT BELOW:

“THE MURDER RATE IN KANSAS CITY IS 1.5 TIMES GREATER THAN CHICAGO!”

ByChris Green

In just a glance, this provocative, in-your-face pieceof art created by Kansas City, Kansas, artist GeorgeMayfield delivered an unambiguous message when itwas put on display in the community last year. WhileChicago often grabs the headlines, it was in KansasCity, Missouri, where you were statistically morelikely to die in an act of violence.

For Mayfield, the artwork represented a way to grabpeople’s attention and come face to face with anissue they’d probably rather not think about. “A lot ofpeople are desensitized to what you hear a lot abouton the news,” Mayfield says. “It just goes right overyou unless it hits home in your family and neighbor-hood. I think sometimes when you can see (the art),it just gets your emotions going a bit, and that’s whatit is supposed to do. Evoke some kind of emotion.”

In a year in which Kansas City groups, includingthe police department and a collaboration of lawenforcement groups called the Kansas City NoViolence Alliance (KCNoVA), mounted intense effortsto reduce violent crime in their community’s urbancore, art such as Mayfield’s became a way to contributeto the cause. Through the Artists for Life Project,Mayfield and more than a dozen other African-

American artists created artwork designed topromote discussions aimed at reducing handgunviolence in the Kansas City metro area.

The driving idea behind the group’s project wasthat visual art is more than just something to look at.It can help a community make progress on a difficultsocial problem by encouraging people to stop, thinkand make changes in their behavior.

The framed creations from Artists for Life wound upon display in community reception halls and galleriesin Missouri and Kansas. The exhibit traveled as far asthe Brown v. Board National Historic Site in Topeka,where the works were displayed for two months andseen – and commented on – by hundreds from allover the country. But the reach of Artists for Lifewent well beyond gallery walls.

Community activists distributed 200 poster-sizedcopies of the artworks to churches, businesses andother locations across Kansas City so people couldsee the works as they went about their everydaylives. The posters also started appearing at publicevents. They became the backdrop for a televisionnews conference about violent tragedies plaguing

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the city. They’re now even winding up on publicationsbeing printed by KC NoVA to continue pushing theanti-violence message further into the community.The display of the Artists for Life posters has over-lapped a year in which Kansas City saw a historicdrop in violence, closing the gap with Chicago.After averaging more than 100 murders per yearfrom 2008 to 2013, the city saw 77 in 2014, thelowest total in nearly 50 years.

‘MAKE IT STICKY’

The idea for the Artists for Life Project sprang fromDarryl Chamberlain, a 57-year-old self-taught artistwho moved back to the Kansas City area in 2004after living away from his hometown for 32 years.The death of a 12-year-old girl in Chicago in 2013provided the inspiration for Chamberlain, whofrequently uses art to teach children about African-American history, to take action.

Hadiya Pendleton was shot to death just a week afterperforming at an event for President Barack Obama’sinauguration. The girl’s death weighed on Chamberlainbecause it was difficult to hear about a young girl goingfrom the “highest high to the lowest low” in such ashort period of time. He quickly realized that such atragedy easily could have happened closer to home.

Chamberlain attended a presentation about a programcalled Rocket Grants, which had been launched in2009 by the Charlotte Street Foundation, a KansasCity, Missouri, arts group, and the Spencer Museumof Art at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, withfunding from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the VisualArts. It seeks to encourage and support “innovative,public-oriented art in nontraditional spaces.”

Chamberlain started thinking about what could bedone with the resources provided by such a program.He began meeting with a group of people he knew

from The Light in the Other Room, a collaboration ofnearly a dozen Kansas City-based African-Americanartists that Chamberlain was a part of.

Not everyone Chamberlain talked to, though, wasenamored of the idea of using art as a way to spreadan anti-violence message. The issue was difficult forpeople to talk about. Some couldn’t see the outcomehe envisioned with the posters, Chamberlain says,even as group members sketched out ideas andthought about potential audiences.

"There were some artists that did not feel that itwould be effective,” Chamberlain says. “Somethought it would be effective, but it was not theircup of tea. Some were with us from the beginning."

But Chamberlain says skepticism from some quartersabout the project only made the effort stronger. Ithelped the group keep things in perspective and thinkcarefully about what the artwork should say, so thatit might have a real impact. "You need somebody thatkeeps your feet on the ground," Chamberlain says.Artists for Life received a grant from Rocket Grants

Kansas City Homicides Per Year


in March 2014 that paid for the printing of the 200posters that were distributed throughout Kansas City.Fifteen artists joined Chamberlain and Mayfield inthe collaboration. The list of collaborators includedan up-and-coming young artist, Martice Smith II, anda Baltimore artist, Dion Pollard, inspired by the effort.Other artists involved were Erlene Flowers, BonnyeBrown, Lonnie Powell, Anthony High, Kim Cole, KeithShepherd, Margaretre Gillespie, Yvette Williams,Ben Mercer, Sherman Boyd IV, Edwin Presswood,Veronica Sublette and Cpl. Gregory Powell of theLiberty (Missouri) Police Department.

The works created in the group ranged in tonefrom highly provocative depictions warning aboutthe negative consequences of violence to positivemessages encouraging the safeguarding of the livesof children, the teaching of respect for life and theseeking of friendship. One poster declares, “AfricanAmerican culture is … music, art, dance, poetry”and “not guns!”

The artists targeted their work to reach specificaudiences. Some pieces were aimed at the peoplelikely to perpetrate violence. Others sought to reachchildren, parents and the community at-large. Theidea behind engaging these audiences with visualart was that it would be more attention-getting andmemorable than words or slogans could ever be alone."We hope the posters make it sticky," Chamberlainsays of the anti-violence message.

A JOB NOT YET DONE

Chamberlain says the group has been encouragedby the drop in the murder rate in Kansas City butthinks that the community still has significant workto do. Seventy-seven homicides is too many. "Ourjob is not done,” Chamberlain says. “We're stillin the danger zone."

As for the contribution that Artists for Life made tothe effort to reduce gun violence, Chamberlain saysthat’s nearly impossible to know. What’s importantis that the posters have helped put an anti-violencemessage front and center for more individuals. "I thinkit's got people thinking,” Chamberlain says. “Peopleare thinking about their roles on some personal level."

And there’s evidence that messaging can play a vitalrole in curtailing violence. For instance, in Chicago, anorganization called Cure Violence is having successby treating violence as if it were an epidemic outbreakof infectious disease. The group trains violence inter-rupters and outreach workers to prevent shootingsby cooling down and mediating conflicts. It also hasoutreach workers to identify and treat those mostat risk to violence.

But it’s the third plank of the group’s strategy –“mobilize the community to change norms”– thatshares some of the same purposes as the Artistsfor Life effort. Cure Violence works to respond toevery shooting, organize the community and spreadpositive norms that violence is not acceptable. Itseeks to amplify the message that violence isn’ta normal part of daily life and that it’s a behaviorthat can be changed.

The challenge of spreading positive norms is an issuethat resonates well outside the city limits of KansasCity, Missouri. While the homicide rates in the urbancenters of Kansas are significantly lower than that ofKansas City, Missouri, those places aren’t immunefrom the problem. In fact, Kansas tied for the nation’s21st-highest black homicide victimization rate in 2012(down from No. 7 in 2011), according to a report fromthe Violence Policy Center, a gun control advocacygroup. Missouri ranked No. 1 with a homicide rateamong black victims of 34.98 per 100,000 people.

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(From left to right) GeorgeMayfield, Darryl Chamberlain,

Yvette Williams, GregoryPowell and Erlene Flowerswere among the 17 artists

who contributed to theArtists for Life Project.

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Whether broader violence-prevention efforts in KansasCity can continue to push the homicide rate downwardis an open question. What has happened in KansasCity actually mirrors trends sweeping other majorcities across the country. Trying to pin down definitivereasons for this decline in crime and violence is difficult.

Criminologists told The Washington Post this year thata variety of factors, including improved communitypolicing strategies, have been contributing to thedrop nationwide. Other factors at play included prisonsentences keeping criminals behind bars longer,a changing drug market and aging populations thatcommit fewer crimes. “While local efforts maycontribute, that the pattern is widespread tends tosuggest global factors, not so much local initiatives,”James Alan Fox, a crime statistics expert and professorat Northeastern University, told The Post.

But Janae Gaston-Bowers, a community activist wholed a team of people that distributed the Artists for Lifeposters around Kansas City, says she’s seen the impactthat the poster can have on individuals who see them.

Bowers, a writer and poet, attended the Artists forLife Project’s public debut with her family in KansasCity last year and was impressed by the artwork. Shecontacted Chamberlain to get some of the postersto share at different events and was impressed with

how the images got people talking. She ended upbecoming a community coordinator of sorts forplacing the posters around the city.

One place where she’s seen the artwork makea difference is at Genesis School, a Kansas City,Missouri, K-8 school that lies in the 64130 ZIP code,an eight-square-mile area dubbed the “murderfactory” from a 2009 series in The Kansas CityStar. A lot of children live in places where shootingsare not uncommon, and several students havelost family members to handgun violence.

When Bowers took the works of the Artists forLife Project to the school, she says it helped givestudents a way to talk about their own experiencesand inspired them to write essays, songs and raps.“It made them think that there is hope for them andthat there are people who care about their futureand people who care whether they live or die,”Bowers says.

The important thing now, she says, is that thecommunity continues to harness the power ofart to help shape people’s thinking, behavior andattitudes for the better. “This is something that’sgoing to be continued,” Bowers says. “It’s notjust an event here or an event there.”

DISCUSSION GUIDEEnergizing Others Against Violence

What voices do you see being engaged in this story? Which of these voices would you considerto be unusual? What makes engaging unusual voices challenging in this situation?

Starting where people are is an important part of exercising leadership. How wouldyou assess the efforts of Artists for Life to start where people are in this story?

When you think about challenges within your own community or organization, what unusual voices mightneed to be engaged to make progress? How could you more effectively start where they are?

An Artists for Life poster hangs in thewindow of Brenda’s Thriftway Cleaners

at 39th Street and Indiana Avenue.

The group’s works ranged in tone fromhighly provocative depictions warning

of the negative consequences of violence topositive messages about respect for life.


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T H E F O R M U L A F O R B U I L D I N G A V I B R A N T A RT S E C O N O M Y

VA R I E S W I D E LY F R O M C O M M U N I T Y T O C O M M U N I T Y I N K A N S A S .

B U T W H E T H E R Y O U ’ R E I N A L A R G E C I T Y O R A S M A L L T O W N ,

T H E B E N E F I T S G O W E L L B E Y O N D J U S T D O L L A R S A N D C E N T S .

BY

PATSY TERRELL

CARVINGA

NICHE


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Bonnie Cameron practices in herMain Street music studio known asThe Living Room in Hoxie, a city ofabout 1,200 in northwest Kansas.

Cameron returned to her hometownfrom Germany, where she had beenperforming as a professional opera

singer, to teach the arts.

More than half a million visitors have gone to theWalnut Valley Festival in the past four decades.Every third weekend in September, the populationof Winfield more than doubles as approximately13,000 people arrive for the five-day acoustic musicevent. Those visitors have an economic impact onthe community that it otherwise wouldn’t see: Allthe town’s hotel rooms are booked, and restaurantsand shops order extra products and hire extra help.The festival has been estimated to pump as muchas $12 million into the town each year.

The Walnut Valley Festival also features its owndistinct culture. The campground swells with musiclovers as people stream into town. Stages springup among the tents and campers, and instrumentcases are the accessory of choice, because almosteveryone brings at least one musical instrument tojam by the campfire or to play on the campgroundstages. The four official stages host well-knownprofessionals as well as up-and-comers.

Sarah Werner, CEO of the Winfield Area Chamberof Commerce, says the festival gives the town morethan just money. “It’s one of the things we’re knownfor. Not only does it contribute to the communityin terms of financial impact, but it contributes tothe culture of our town.”

As communities become more and more interestedin how to distinguish themselves, having a uniqueevent is a tremendous benefit. That culture attractsvisitors who are likely to leave their money behind.Some studies show that the creation of a vibrant artseconomy can provide meaningful financial benefits fora community. A 2007 study found that nonprofit artsand culture organizations spent $80 million throughout

Kansas, drawing in audiences who spent another$73.2 million attending those events (excludingthe cost of admission).

The numbers can be even bigger in metropolitanareas. The advocacy group Americans for the Artsfound that arts and culture events created an eco-nomic impact of $273.1 million for the Kansas Cityarea and supported 8,346 full-time-equivalent jobs.

Of course, in the big picture, the arts are just asmall part of the state’s overall economic activity($762 million or 0.53 percent in 2013). The number ofpeople working in arts, entertainment and recreationin Kansas (15,500) is much smaller than other industries,such as health care and social assistance (168,600),manufacturing (162,800) and retail (144,100). But thesector has been a growing slice of the workforce,with jobs increasing 12.3 percent from 2011 to 2013,according to state figures.

It’s also hard to peg a number to the intangible benefits,such as enhanced community identity and vibrancy,that Winfield (population 12,300 in the 2010 Census)and even some smaller communities receive.

HOW IT HAPPENS

But how exactly does a community begin developing avibrant arts economy? The answer varies considerablyfrom place to place. But people – individuals who stepup to start something special or work with others tocreate it – are crucial to the formula for success.

The Walnut Valley Festival didn’t start out hostingmultiple international competitions and drawing people

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from all 50 states and many foreign countries likeit does now. One family’s leadership and ability toengage the community made all the difference.

In the 1960s, local instrument maker Stuart Mossmanwas making the rounds of music festivals to sellhis wares. He and a colleague thought it would begreat to have a local festival and decided to approachbusinesses about putting up the money to create one.Bob Redford, who owned an insurance company, wasthe first person they approached. He liked the idea,thought it was a good investment and decided to makethe entire outlay himself. It took about a decade forthe festival to get into the black, and it required goingto the bank for a loan after the first year to pay off theinitial festival and get money to operate the next year.But the Redford family persevered.

Rex Flottman, media director of the Walnut ValleyFestival, says the festival owes part of its successto the small-town bankers who kept it going in thoseearly years. “It would be really difficult to start some-thing like this today,” he says. “You could with enoughcapital, but getting people to tie up that kind of moneyon a risky proposition like that … it would be tough.”

The Redfords also engaged others to help createsystems to grow and nurture the event. Thecommunity stepped up in a big way: Each festivalrequires 400 to 600 employees, and Flottman saysthere aren’t too many people in Winfield who haven’tbeen involved in some way. “We’re partners,” hesays. “It would be real hard to accomplish somethinglike this without that help. You’ve got to have acommunity behind you.”

However, having one person with a missionand the drive to mobilize a community can’t beunderestimated. In Hoxie, Bonnie Cameron isteaching music to students as young as 5 and asold as 77. A professional opera singer, Cameronand her husband returned to her hometown fromGermany, where she had been performing. Familyties brought her back, but she’s found a cause tochampion. “The arts had almost completely died inHoxie,” she says. Schools can’t afford much in theway of arts programs, and families are often sobusy that they don’t make time for music lessons.

“We’ve got to put the responsibility on the communityto make sure the kids still have that opportunity evenif they’re not getting it in school,” Cameron explains.“I try to be a realist, not an idealist. I feel like it’ssomething that won’t be resuscitated in the schoolsfor a long time.”

The community has been receptive. Cameron currentlyhas about 50 private students, and about 60 peopleparticipated in a summer theater production. She alsoconducts a community choir and hosts arts events –dance recitals, voice recitals, plays and small concerts– at her Main Street studio, known as The LivingRoom. Her efforts have brought together adults aswell as young people for performances and eventsas both performers and audience members. “I hopeI’m helping give the community something tobroaden horizons,” she says.

Jodi Kennedy Rogers and her two girls haveparticipated in all three of Cameron’s summerproductions, and the daughters also take privatevoice lessons. Rogers says it has been a “true

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FROM LEFT: Mary Kay, an art instructorat Bethany College, says that the artshelp foster empathy; Camryn Gourley,Emma Schamberger, Allie Gourley,Elyssa Rucker, Emily Bainter and AdleighZiegler practice improvisation in oneof Bonnie Cameron’s arts classes.Cameron currently teaches 50 privatestudents, conducts a community choirand hosts recitals, plays and smallconcerts in her studio.

The Dewayn Brothers, a bluegrass bandfrom Emporia, performs at the Walnut ValleyFestival in Winfield last year. The festivalofficially started in 1972 and survived withthe help of small-town bankers who keptthe festival going in its early days. Morethan a half million people have attendedthe festival over the past four decades.


DISCUSSION GUIDELeadership Starts With You and Must Engage Others

Where do you see individuals taking the initiative to lead in this story?What challenges do they face?

To what extent do you see the effective engagement of others in this story?What are the consequences of ineffective engagement?

How would you assess your own ability to take the initiative and engage others ona leadership challenge? Where are your strengths and where do you fall short?

blessing” for the kids to have the opportunityand she can see a difference in them. “It’s ahuge learning experience for them to be ableto get up and have the confidence to performin front of people,” Rogers says.

Rogers says it has also been interesting to learnabout her fellow townspeople. “You discover howmuch talent there is in the community that youdidn’t realize,” she says. “Especially for a smallcommunity, where we all know each other, welearned we didn’t really know each other.” Byseeing a new side of individuals, one gets a newperspective of the whole town.

“We're a very small community, so every littlebit counts,” Rogers says. She is thankful for theopportunities Cameron is bringing to Hoxie. “Somany of us are helping her to achieve her goalsbecause we can see what a positive influenceher studio is on our community,” she says.

BUILDING STABILITY

But the situation in Hoxie also points out a potentialdifficulty. What if the person who is the driving forcedecides to leave for some reason? What happensthen? Can the event or business survive?

In Peabody, the Main Street Program flourishedunder a director who had a lot of charisma, accordingto Marilyn Jones. The town hosted everything fromChristmas music to historical tours. “She had somany good ideas,” Jones says. But the director

left, a business that owned 13 buildings in townpulled out and the political future of the Main StreetProgram changed. “If one person makes it and thatperson goes, then there’s a big void,” Jones says.

But down the road in Cottonwood Falls, transitionis afoot. For more than 15 years, the Emma ChaseCafé hosted live music jams on Friday nights, firstin the street outside the café and then in a nearbybuilding. Sue and Monty Smith decided to close therestaurant in late 2014, but the music is continuing.

A number of things happened to make that possible.First the Smiths told people their intention to retirefar enough in advance that there was some timeto plan. The musicians who had played there weremotivated enough to keep it going. “Coordinatingthe music continuation just sort of fell into my lap,”performer Annie Wilson says. “I recognized this assomething that has been a big draw to our communityand really put us on the map statewide, but wasgoing to simply end unless somebody did some-thing. Nobody else stepped up, and it didn’t seemlike anything was going to happen, so I startedto get involved.”

She got advice from the Smiths and after meetingsand negotiations learned that the city building they’dbeen using for indoor performances would be available.It’s occupied by an arts and crafts co-op, Prairie Past-Times, that the Smiths also started and managed.

The artists have organized on their own to keepgoing and are partnering with the musicians for theFriday night music. The city has stepped in to do


.-

some building repairs. In addition, the new restaurantowners at Keller Feed & Wine Co. are welcomingthe musicians back for outdoor performances whenthe weather allows.

Rent for the building is paid through donations.The Smiths offered continued use of their soundsystem, and some other volunteers have steppedup to help. Wilson prepared a guide with detailedphotos and directions of all the logistics of settingup, breaking down, opening and closing.

“Granted, there are many ifs in our current setup,”Wilson says. “We are depending completely on theviability of Prairie PastTimes and Keller Feed & WineCo. We just have to hold our breath, think positiveand hope everything works out – just about likeeverything else we do in life!”

MORE THAN MONEY: THE SMALL-TOWN PAYOFF

As small communities struggle for population, thearts might be an opportunity.

Lucas is one example. The Garden of Eden bringspeople from around the world to see S.P. Dinsmoor’sdistinctive home and sculpture garden populated withgrotesque concrete animals, spindly trees, humanfigures, an angel and other inhabitants that depicthis vision of modern life in 1907 to 1928, the yearshis creation took shape. The site’s unusual visionmotivated the Kohler Foundation, a Wisconsin-basedfoundation that has long supported the arts andeducation, to restore it along with the Miller’s Parkmuseum and art gallery. This huge investmentprovided jobs in the community, and one of the

people who worked on the project decided tomake his home in Lucas.

“We made a significant investment in the Gardenof Eden, but we do not share financial information,”says Terri Yoho, director of the Kohler Foundation.“While in Lucas, we employed several local peopleand we purchased as much as we could locally, asis our regular practice when working out of the area.”

Erika Nelson, an artist who lives in Lucas and is on theboard of the nonprofit that owns the site, says thearts are just one part of the economic fabric of Lucas.“The arts are one piston in a multicylinder engine,so they do help drive the town. But as with anythingin a rural community, it can’t be the entire source.”

That engine’s performance is enhanced, however,when the arts inject new energy into the community.Cameron, in Hoxie, believes music is giving studentstools they can use the rest of their lives, tools thatmight not be available otherwise. “I can already tella difference in them, in how they speak to adults,how they speak to their teachers. They are learninghow to use their voices, how to present themselvesand how to handle themselves in various situations,”she says.

Creative expression allows people to see the worlddifferently, says Mary Kay, an art instructor at BethanyCollege in Lindsborg. “Being able to imagine intoother people's ways of thinking. The only way to beable to do that is to let go of yourself and step backso you see and can understand how other peoplework – to be empathetic. An artist can't make itif they're not empathetic. You have to be willingto step into another point of view,” she explains.

FROM LEFT: Shanda McDonald, aShawnee, Oklahoma, musician, playsthe fiddle in the Pecan Grove campgroundat the Walnut Valley Festival last year;The interior of the men’s room at Lucas’Bowl Plaza is decorated with toy cars.Community members constructed thefacility in 2008 because of a lack of publicrestrooms for visitors to a town of about400 people. It was voted the second-bestrestroom in the country in a competitionlast year; Lucas was designated the“Grassroots Art Capital of Kansas” in 1996.

Mary Kay paints in her Lindsborg studio,a converted elementary school outsideof town. Kay says there are similaritiesbetween the processes of art andcommunity leadership


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Kay, who lives in and works out of a convertedschoolhouse, doesn’t hesitate to make theconnection between the processes of art andthe processes of community leadership. Artistsnaturally adopt alternative viewpoints, she says,and effective leadership does, too. “For leadershipto be very good, it has to be very creative. Youuse what materials you have to put togethernew combinations to get a variety of expression.”

The need for creative expression doesn’t wink outof existence at the edge of the city. Nelson movedto Lucas after buying her house over the phone whileshe was in Arizona. Cameron says that, although livingin a small town isn’t always easy, she knows she isan example to young people there. “I can’t teach mystudents it’s OK to live in a small community if Icomplain that I can’t do everything here,” she says.“If they think they’re limited, they’ll never try things.”

On the plus side, in some ways, a small-townenvironment makes it easier for Cameron to dowhat she’s doing. “Because it’s such a tight-knitcommunity, the information is more accessible.I know if I lived in a larger city, my prices wouldbe different and not everyone would have access– only the more privileged kids.”

ENCOURAGING ARTISTS

While the benefits of a strong arts presence rolloff the tongues of art supporters, not everyonein every community shares that enthusiasm. Somedon’t believe the benefits are real, some thinkthey’re too long term when there are more pressingissues to deal with and some think the arts shouldbe privately supported.

Few want to come out and say the arts aren’timportant, but when looking at where to investscarce dollars, it’s easy for critics to question thevalue of the arts when there are potholes to fix,schools to be supported and jobs to be cultivated.In these times when “no taxes” is a common cryamong politicians, it’s hard to imagine a way to findpublic money for all the things a community wants,including the arts.

Sometimes the arts end up falling by the wayside.In 2006, the Arts Council of Topeka closed its down-town office and laid off its staff after the City Councileliminated its funding. The cut was part of an effort

to reduce property tax rates in the city, and aid for theagency was shifted to a crime prevention program.

This year, members of the Sedgwick CountyCommission signaled they might rethink whetherto continue funding the arts.

The arts can bounce back from such setbacks.In Topeka, for instance, a nonprofit organization,ARTSConnect, was founded to try to fill the void,aiding efforts such as First Friday Artwalks andthe Topeka Mural Project.

A first step is tapping resources that are alreadyavailable. “You can augment a town, make it morefriendly, but there also has to be an existing component,a base layer, a wellspring from which to draw,” Nelsonsays. Lindsborg, like Lucas, had a history of being anactive arts community with its ties to Birger Sandzenand Lester Raymer.

Some communities have buildings that can becomegathering places. The Stiefel Theatre for the PerformingArts in Salina, the Fox Theatre in Hutchinson and theGranada Theatre in Emporia are all examples of beautifulvenues that were restored through community effortsand now host a variety of events. In other cases,benefactors are inspired to leave legacies. TheBowlus Fine Arts Center in Iola, the Deines CulturalCenter in Russell and the Baker Arts Center in Liberalare all products of local individuals who wantedto provide for the future. Each offers opportunitiesfor cultural enrichment for their communities.

Famous sons and daughters also provide arts launchpads. Fort Scott Community College has its GordonParks Museum, and Independence has the WilliamInge Center. In Hutchinson, poet William Staffordis honored as part of a large mural downtown, andhis son has visited multiple times.

When communities lack history or resources, driverslike the Redfords in Winfield and Cameron in Hoxiecan provide the needed energy. Wherever it comesfrom, it results in a town where citizens feel involved.Jim Richardson, a National Geographic photographerwho makes his home in Lindsborg, and Kay both saythat their town embraces anyone who wants tomake something – from professionals to hobbyists.

“Everybody has a voice. That's profoundly important,”Kay says. “It doesn't matter what you're making –you're making something.”


Erika Nelson, a Lucas artist, stands outsidethe Garden of Eden, a distinctive home andsculpture garden that recently underwent

restoration. Nelson, who serves on the boardoverseeing the site, says the arts can help

small communities prosper.

M O L D I N G

A S T A T E

O F

M A K E R S

A N D

D O E R S

Caroyln Kubis works in the Epic Arts pottery studio in Kansas City, Kansas.

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BySarah Caldwell Hancock

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The arts certainly aren’t everyone’s cup of tea. Or the No. 1 priority. The demands of our society call for people to pursue excellence in science, technology,engineering, math, business, medicine, social services,philanthropy, politics and countless other careers and callings.

The arts do have a place, though. More people could benefit from tapping into the artistic parts of themselves more often and from seeing the arts innovate and prosper.

Helping people be aware and understand the value of the arts is a leadership challenge. It’s one that two people who’ve exercised leadership in the arts – Philip Yenawine and Saralyn Reece Hardy – can relate to, and their experiences provide a kind of map to navigate this challenging terrain.

Yenawine, who currently lives in Massachusetts, became a museum educator in the late 1960s because he thought art was an important marker of humanity and that it was necessary to our lives.The field of museum education as we know it was new, and he helped build it from lectures in an auditorium to the engaging, sometimes raucousschool class visits or small-group hands-on activitieswe may think of now. He served as director of education at the Museum of Modern Art in New York from 1983 to 1993. During this time, museumtrustees asked if art education programs were working, so Yenawine and his staff conducted a thorough review and evaluation.

What they found was disheartening. Simply put, having experts talk to groups about artwork and deliver information about artists, techniques andmodern art didn’t work. “Understanding of modernart didn’t change. People didn’t move toward self-sufficiency. Teachers weren’t able to do the lessonsthey tried, and kids didn’t learn anything. The news wasreally bleak,” Yenawine says. “From an educationalstandpoint, it was a waste.”

One of the trustees introduced Yenawine to AbigailHousen, a cognitive researcher who was interested in aesthetic development. Her research in the 1970shad shown that viewers understand works of art in predictable patterns, which Housen identified as the five stages of aesthetic development. She didn’t necessarily plan to use her ideas to develop a curriculum, but Yenawine convinced her that herdata could help develop a teaching method that could rescue art education.

Researcher Karin DeSantis helped the team develop anapproach that used a tightly scripted set of questions– “What’s going on in this image?” “What do yousee that makes you say that?” “What more can youfind?” – and a trained facilitator to guide viewersthrough carefully selected artworks.

“It started out much more complicated – we tried to do too much too fast,” Yenawine recalls. “As we watched teachers teach what we gave them and students learn, we simplified and simplified and realized how long stage change takes. We

Advancing the arts can be difficult work.

Saralyn Reece Hardy, the Mar-ilyn Stokstad Director of the

Spencer Museum of Art at theUniversity of Kansas, speakswith Todd Haralson during a

KU Veterans Network event atthe museum in February.

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Joel Escarpita

had ‘aha’s’ all along, but perhaps one of the biggestwas when the first teacher said, ‘You know, kids are arguing with evidence in other classes.’”

With that comment, Visual Thinking Strategies wasborn as a way to teach visual literacy in schools alongwith classroom behaviors such as listening to othersand disagreeing without anger, after which true collaboration and critical thinking quickly followed.

Not everyone immediately saw the value of VisualThinking Strategies, but it has gained credibility overtime. Yenawine, Housen and DeSantis created a teachingmethod that has enhanced not only art education, butalso the creative thinking skills of students of all agesand even the diagnostic skills of medical students.

FIVE LESSONS TO LIVE BY

Saralyn Reece Hardy became director of the SpencerMuseum of Art at the University of Kansas in Lawrencein 2005, the latest in a string of positions she has heldin the arts. She had also been director of the Salina ArtCenter and director of museums and visual arts at theNational Endowment for the Arts in Washington, D.C.

Her experiences include working to establish andsustain an arts organization on the local level and policymaking on the national level, plus building onher interest in contemporary art, all of which havegiven her a unique perspective on the challenges and rewards in the arts.

Her primary interest at the Spencer is thinking about the museum as a setting for “new forms of investigation” of what she calls the “big, tough, divided issues” such as immigration, health, communitydevelopment and economic disparity. “The idea that I might be able to stimulate a richer conversationaround that with these amazing works of art thatcarry such power is very inspiring to me,” she says.

Yenawine and Reece Hardy didn’t set out to modelwhat the arts need to do to survive in Kansas andaround the country, but they provide great examplesof how to do it. Here are some lessons we can learnfrom their stories.

1.Confront what doesn’t work.

Yenawine had to face the difficult truth that love ofand knowledge about modern art wasn’t translatinginto successful art education. It just wasn’t doing whatit was supposed to do. Reece Hardy says institutionshave to work to become outward-looking rather thaninward-looking places and to think strategically aboutpartnerships that can enlarge the field by connectingthe arts to other disciplines.

2.Listen and collaborate.

Reece Hardy says a necessary step is to take thetime to “learn someone else’s language” rather than “living inside your own understanding.” In the

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context of a research university, it means the art museum needs to reach out to mathematics, physicsand marketing, for instance, or offer broader perspec-tives by bringing in international artists in residence.In the rest of the state, it means connecting to community and becoming familiar with the manyplaces in Kansas that are “wonderful and special.”“Artists and people all over Kansas feel like my community,” she explains.

3.Communicate value.

Reece Hardy notes that those in the arts need to become better at talking about what they offer. “We need fierce defenders of arts in its singularityand things only it can do, that dimension to experi-ence that is only explained by a poetic expression.You can’t really explain it away,” she says. She adds

that art reaches across disciplines and is relevant and meaningful to agriculture and social questions,for example, and that art can be “continuously useful” in finding connections.

4.Work across factions.

Reece Hardy also has plenty of experience navigatingdissent. During her time in Salina, she learned to work with those who didn’t view the arts as a community priority. “I grew to love the people who disagree the most,” she says. “Truly living in a community means that you’re not segregatedinto interest groups – you need to sit by someonewho’s quite different from you and share what about conceptual art is interesting to you, for example, and (have him or her) say, ‘Well, I don’t get it’ and have that conversation in a respectful way.”

Jim Richardson, pictured in Scotland, is a Kansas-based photojournalist known for his photography in National Geographic magazine and depictions of rural Kansas life.He and his wife, Kathy, openedthe Small World Gallery in Lindsborg in 2002. See story on p. 58. (photo courtesy of Jim Richardson)


DISCUSSION GUIDE

This story identifies five key ways for arts advocates to broaden their reach in Kansas. To what extent do you believe these approaches are relevant

to your own leadership work on the issues that you care about?

5.Retain enthusiasm and capacity for wonder.

Reece Hardy speaks eloquently about the role of thearts and how contemporary art helps us understandhow we bring meaning to our lives and the lives ofothers. She has kept sight of what brought her to art in the first place.

As we’ve seen in this issue of The Journal, the arts inKansas do many things: They enrich our communitiesby adding economic vitality and quality of life. They bringpeople together in new ways. They foster empathy,critical thinking and creativity by helping us see con-nections and build meaning through the eyes of others.They help children and adults alike develop cognitivehabits that better prepare them to lead. They inspire us.

The arts face many difficulties, and budgetary and political realities present adaptive challenges for the arts in our state. But Kansans have a history of making progress under difficult circumstances.

Another of the great benefits of the arts is how theyhelp us preserve, remember and honor the state’sheritage while helping shape what we will become in the future. “Staying in it for the long haul is aKansas value, because we’re connected to seasonsand are a little closer to the land,” Reece Hardy says,and the arts are good at asking difficult questionsabout the pace of change and the role of tradition.

“The beloved family farm image that we have ofKansas that is so much a part of our heritage: Wehave to figure out who we are now. … One of the opportunity gaps is clinging to a past that can’t comeback in the face of massive change,” she explains.The arts can cultivate the capacity to honor the past,navigate massive change and contribute to necessaryglobal, state and local dialogues.

We are ultimately a state of makersand doers, including people whoquilt, weld, knit, crochet, build,sculpt, grow, paint, write, photograph,beautify and repair. We are musicians,crafters, woodworkers, gardenersand dancers. Our ancestors trod a road full of hardship as theyscratched livings from the prairie,building towns, farms and ranchesfrom nothing with hard work and perseverance. Along the way, they kept their eyes on the starsby expressing themselves and en-hancing everyday life with artistry.

Kansans should recognize and connect with thestate’s heritage by tapping into that independentspirit of creation and innovation in their daily lives.

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“KANSAS: THE ELLIS ISLANDFOR BLACK PIONEERS”BY JANICE BURDINE

The end of the Civil War offered the promise of freedom to African Americans in the South. Butfreed slaves continued to face the grim realities of political, economic and social oppression. Inhopes of seeing the promise of freedom fulfilled, thousands of them came to Kansas, inspired, inpart, by the opportunity to homestead and the state’s association with the abolitionist John Brown.

The Exodusters, a name that references the biblical exodus from Egypt, became the first largewave of black migration after the war, with an estimated 60,000 traveling to Kansas, Oklahomaand Colorado. Their journey to Kansas, a hopeful but often arduous one, is chronicled in a piece of art by Janice Burdine of Wichita, which was recently put on display in the Smoky Hills Room of the Kansas Leadership Center & Kansas Health Foundation Conference Center in Wichita.

“This was really our Ellis Island,” Burdine says. “For the freedmen, Kansas has been a special place.”

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FEATURED ARTIST

Janice Burdine was born in Boley,Oklahoma, and reared in Wichita.She received her bachelor’s degreein art education from WichitaState University, and a master’sdegree in art education and counseling certification from Emporia State University. She is a lifelong educator who has worked as an illustrator,printmaker, author and activist for change through education.

Burdine, a retired high school art teacher and counselor, painted a scene of about a dozen Exodustersmaking their way to their new homes. The image, based on Burdine’s historical research, is splitup across six separate panels. The work makes use of “negative space painting,” in which theartist uses the black background of the canvas to portray the travelers. Each individual in the sceneis distinctive. There’s a man driving a wagon whose face cannot be seen. The young man besidehim is the group’s protector. The viewer makes eye contact with a baby being carried. A dog isthere to sound the alarm for danger. A little girl sits on the back of the wagon beside a boy. Sheholds a flower symbolizing the “rebirth of all those dreams that have come to life with the kids in the back,” Burdine says.

For Burdine, the story of the Kansas Exodusters is a story of civic leadership from the annals of history. They fled racial violence and oppression but could not escape it entirely in Kansas. Their travels were difficult and most arrived with very little money. But they settled and built upcommunities in rural areas and cities. Some of their communities, such as Nicodemus, a NationalHistoric Site in northwest Kansas, and the Tennessee Town neighborhood in Topeka, remain with us.

The story of the Exodusters shows how Kansas has long been a place that has symbolized hope.But it’s also a reminder that the journey to freedom and equality is challenging and difficult, andthe road to get there is one that spans not only miles, but generations.

WHAT MAKES THIS WONDERLAND:BY LAURA LEE WASHBURN

Laura Lee Washburn is the director of creative writing at Pittsburg State University and the author of “This Good WarmPlace: 10th Anniversary Expanded Edition” (March Street) and “Watching the Contortionists” (Palanquin ChapbookPrize). Her poetry has appeared in such journals as “Cavalier Literary Couture,” “The Carolina Quarterly,” “Ninth Letter,” “The Sun,” “Red Rock Review,” and “Valparaiso Review.” Born in Virginia Beach, Virginia, she has also lived and worked in Arizona and in Missouri. She is married to the writer Roland Sodowsky.

that cat purring in the window while she watches you outside on the street,and when you hear her purr,and the dog smelling what dogs smell in the echinacea,everyone’s slow steady breath without effort,clear eyes and stars in the corners of eyes,the whole world of Borrowers and beasties,dog Knuckles and uncles and umbrellas for twosomes,spools, and cigar boxes, picturescut from magazines, double-sidedtape, fresh water or salt water pearlscalling to the ants talking amongst the sunflowers,even the wheat whispering your names,the rabbit that nibbles cloverand takes two steps away from the dog,the boy and the girl forever,the girl and the girl forever,indelible love, a slight breezeagainst the flag or the sail of the heart,baseball in Kauffman afterseventh inning stretch, the old bardlaughing in the green evening park,pinafores, ticket stubs, pastaal dente, butter cream icingon three layers of cake, a slow walk of an eveningfrom the yellow house outwardwhile holding hands holding the lead,and pinprick lantern lights, the firefly moon,over yonder a low growl, bay, owl hoot,train sound, the bejeweled elephantslumbering in the distance like bees,the promises you make and the promises you keep.

FEATURED POEM

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THE BACK PAGE ART GIVES US A WINDOW TO INCONVENIENT TRUTHS

Americans aren’t simply in denial about racism, we havesubconscious defense mechanisms that stall efforts toaddress it. Gunnar Myrdal, the Swedish economist andNobel laureate, said as much in his groundbreaking 1944study “American Dilemma: The Negro Problem andModern Democracy.”

Our inability or unwillingness to adequately address inequality means we’ve allowed this issue to smolder. Iterupts every few months, spewing Fergusons, TrayvonMartins, Paula Deens or secretly recorded fraternity songs.

But in that void, the arts – namely the Harlem Renaissanceand Kansans who helped shape it – have given the discussion space, language, power and direction. Artistshave shouted what society has whispered or neglectedto articulate.

The Harlem Renaissance marked the beginning of the“New Negro Movement,” intended to elevate the blackcondition from social disillusionment to racial pride viaprotest and affirmation.

Some of the movement’s brightest lights – Gordon Parks,Oscar Micheaux, Gwendolyn Brooks and Langston Hughes– hailed from Kansas.

Consider Hughes’ poem “Mother to Son” where he discusses progress’ difficulties:

“Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.It’s had tacks in it,And splinters, and boards torn up.”

Hughes, raised in Lawrence, describes how the mothersomehow managed to climb.

“So, boy, don’t you turn back.Don’t you set down on the steps, cause you finds it’s kinder hard.”

In Brooks’ poem “The Pool Players. Seven at the Golden Shovel,” the Topeka native offers a glimpse of urban fatalism.

“We real cool. WeLeft school. We Lurk late. We Strike straight. We Sing sin. WeThin gin. We Jazz June. We Die soon.”

In “American Denial,” a PBS documentary on Myrdal’swork, researchers said Myrdal said the so-called Negroproblem was actually an American civilization problem.

“It’s anything but a Negro problem,” cultural sociologistSudhir Venkatesh said in the documentary. “It’s a conditionproduced fundamentally by exclusion, racism and dis-crimination, and the unequal distribution of resources.”

Myrdal’s work sold 100,000 copies. Lawyers cited it in thelandmark Brown v. Topeka Board of Education school-desegregation case. It laid the groundwork for subsequentintegration efforts.

The Harlem Renaissance had a similar, though wider reach.From it, people donned a new identity and summonedprofound courage.

Confronting the challenges of the civil rights movement –facing barbed wire-wound baseball bats in Selma, Alabama,50 years ago – might have been impossible but for the Renaissance’s inspiration and social consciousness.

That tradition endures through the work of The KansasAfrican American Museum’s Queen Mother and benefac-tor, Dr. Samella Lewis; James Pate’s ”Kin Killin’ Kin” anti-gang exhibition touring the country (the museumwants to bring it to Wichita); and culture-conscious hip-hop such as Public Enemy.

African Americans have engaged the arts for generationsin a quest for liberation. In this work, we find the littlehopes and tragedies about who we are and who wearen’t as Americans.

Myrdal’s dilemma still haunts us.

But in the arts, we have a forum to discuss vividly thetough interpretations and inconvenient truths societymight have us ignore; to dismantle carefully constructedstories we tell ourselves about America and equality.

Mark E. McCormick is the executive director of The Kansas African American Museum in Wichita.


“Creativity is not just for artists. It’s for businesspeople looking for a new way to close a sale; it’s for engineers trying to solve a problem;it’s for parents who want their children to see the world in more than one way.”

– Twyla Tharp dancer, choreographer and author


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Documents

The Journal, Spring 2015