Leveraging Change: Increasing Access to Rural Arts Education

What is Leveraging Change?

Our long-term goal is to increase access to arts education in rural areas.

What makes the Berkshires like other rural areas?

● Shrinking population● Small schools● Economic

disadvantages● Geographic barriers

What distinguishes the Berkshires?

● Significant cultural assets

● Higher education institutions

● Tourism industry

Research: Original Conception to New Reality

•Research to identify promising practices and exemplars

•Scan of literature •Shift to interviews with

key stakeholdersPRO

JEC

T ST

EP 1

:R

ESEA

RC

H

Creative Youth Development Convening April 2015

Issues for Arts Education Access in the Berkshires

Insufficient:

• communication mechanisms

• regional focused collaboration

• Public transportation

Themes from the Literature/InterviewsChallenges• Geographic distance (getting from place to place for opportunities, for

training, for access to programs)• Poverty and lack of economic opportunity• Lack of access to funders/funding• Lack of public transportation• Out migration of youth• Out migration of industry• Technology challenges (lack of broadband)

Assets

• Rural Areas also have assets that set them apart from more urban areas• Strong relationships• Space• Environmental beauty and features • Unique contextual features

Promising PracticesThe creation of networks• Collective Impact focused• Built on local contexts (cultural, etc.)• Cross sector collaboration• Innovative backbone organizations (higher education, business, state

agencies, collectives)• Professional development as a method of relationship and capacity building• Development of leadership as a catalysts• Strong communication mechanisms to relevance

Build on rural assets • Environmental features• Strong relationships• Cultural context• ,Area offeringsPromote the facility and comfort with collecting and analyzing dataUse of Data• Understand trends • Advocate• Engaging multiple stakeholders in reviewing, understanding data

Rethinking the backbone organization in rural areas:

• Identifying single organizations with capacity to serve in this role can be challenging

• Networks need to share the work and make the commitment to “collaboration of a different kind”

• Collaborating backbone partners Should emerge from the specific context

Local as Lever for Larger Impact

“The Berkshires have terrific

assets. We need alignment.”

-Jake Eberwein, Graduate Dean, MCLAFormer Superintendent, Pittsfield MA

CO

MM

ON

AG

END

A

Leveraging Higher Education “C

olla

bora

ting”

B

AC

KB

ON

E O

RG

AN

IZAT

ION

MCLA’s Important Role in Communication

• Convenings• Student involvement

(blogs, etc.)• Creation of training

participant network• Connecting to other

Berkshire initiatives

CO

NTI

NU

OU

S C

OM

MU

NIC

ATIO

N

Convening & Connecting Stakeholders

• Teaching artists (Upcoming)

• Creative Youth Development Providers

• Professional Learning Network

• Berkshire Arts Education NetworkM

UTU

ALL

Y-R

EIN

FOR

CIN

G

AC

TIVI

TIES

Short-term indicators•Identification of baseline data

• Increased cross-sector collaboration in support of arts education in Berkshires

• Increase in convenings and communication about arts education

SHA

RED

M

EASU

REM

ENT

Long-term outcomes• Increase in access to arts education in

region• Increase in financial support for arts

education in the region.• Increased cross sector collaboration in

support of arts education.• Connect/share findings with rural arts

leaders

SHA

RED

M

EASU

REM

ENT

IdentifyingPilot Participants

• Invited participants–District level–Regional

PRO

JEC

T ST

EP 2

: PI

LOT

TRA

ININ

G

Activating Research in Pilot TrainingPR

OJE

CT

STEP

2:

PILO

T TR

AIN

ING

Theoretical Frames

• Design Thinking• Collective Impact• Arts partnership stages

of development• Asset-based arts

development

We have invited a select group of participants, including yourself, to explore cross-sector collaboration as a tool for increasing access to arts education in rural Berkshire County. Representatives of arts organizations, educational districts, transportation, business, and social services in the Berkshires have been invited to participate in this cross-sector exploration based on their experience with rural arts education or commitment to the region.

We will tap your expertise to:• activate strategies and develop a plan of action to leverage cross-sector approaches at the district and

regional levels in the Berkshires.• invite and engage multiple perspectives to understand the opportunities/challenges for advancing arts

education in rural Berkshire County• identify a variety of mechanisms for creating greater access to arts education in the rural Berkshires.

EMPATHIZE

DEFINE

IDEATE

PROTOTYPE

DESIGN THINKINGThe process:

TEST

Nonprofit Collaborations • Berkshire Nonprofit Business Network • Berkshire Nonprofit Solutions • 1Berkshire • Berkshire Initiative for Growth (BIG) • Berkshire Innovation Center (BIC) • Berkshire Funders Roundtable Children Youth and Family Support • Berkshire Priorities (Pittsfield Promise, Chapter one, Our Towns, Our Kids, Our

Future):• Face the Facts: Reduce Teen Pregnancy • Berkshire Youth Development Project • Berkshire Bridges Transformational Movement/Working Cities

Berkshire Strategic Work Group Countywide Initiatives and Associations

Education • Berkshire County Education Task Force • Berkshire County Superintendents Roundtable Health • Berkshire Opioid Abuse Prevention Collaborative: • County Health Initiative/ Berkshire Partnership for Health: • Berkshire Public Health Alliance

Berkshire Strategic Work Group Countywide Initiatives and Associations

Next Steps•White paper summarizing results•Presentations at regional gatherings•Seeking continued funding for

expansion of program

PRO

JEC

T ST

EP 3

: ID

ENTI

FYIN

G N

EXT

STEP

S

ReferencesBerkshire Population Declining Rapidlyhttp://www.iberkshires.com/story/45538/BRPC-Berkshire-Population-Declining-Rapidly.html

Collective Impact by John Kania & Mark Kramerhttp://www.uw.org/our-work/collective-impact-article.pdf

Local as Lever image of Berkshire County: http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=22285Design Thinking Image: http://createdu.org/design-thinking/

Map of Berkshire, MA: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6b/Map_of_Massachusetts_highlighting_Berkshire_County.svg/2976px-Map_of_Massachusetts_highlighting_Berkshire_County.svg.png

Change Just Ahead Image: https://rixxblog.wordpress.com/2014/03/10/change-is-inevitable/

Convening Stakeholders slide: http://www.artisteducators.org/

Collective Impact Images come from “Channeling Change: Making Collective Impact Work” Stanford Review.