grace

… filling in the negative space with positively everything

Resilience: How To Build Sustainable Communities

Critical Mass at Heroes' Square, Budapest, Apr...
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Resilience is emerging as the seminal skill for leaders as more economies slide towards recession. The American Psychological Association, which has studied resilience closely since the terrorist attacks of 9/11, defines it as the ability to adapt well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, and from sources of stress such as work pressures, health, family or relationship problems.

A resilient person is not only able to handle such experiences in the moment, but also to bounce back afterward. The good news is that leaders can develop resilience by managing their thoughts, behaviours and actions.

- Resilience: How to Build a Personal Strategy for Survival by Gill Corkindale in Harvard Business Blog

This weekend, the University of Houston Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts and Blaffer Gallery presented a conference titled Systems of Sustainability: Art, Innovation, Action (SOS). Described as part arts festival, part academic symposium, SOS centered on exploring and discussing creative enterprise as an integral tool for cultural growth and social change, with presentations given by people whose creative works simultaneously elevated the human spirit and the human condition by successfully addressing social problems.

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ArtCamp Houston - The Dialogue Begins

Last fall, a certain guy - “Il Douche” - said some things that painted a distorted landscape of Houston’s arts community. He cherry-picked items, took them out of context, and presented them as indicative of massive mismanagement of “your money”…even though it wasn’t. “Your” money. It’s tourists’ money. It’s the money visitors like me spend when we go to Houston to enjoy its art and cultural offerings, and stay overnight. It’s Hotel Occupancy Tax money.

A few of us were wary of the effects this misinformation would have on the general public: Would it curb - or stop - public support of the arts in Houston? Would arts organizations and venues be squeezed or shut down? Would people lose their jobs? Would artists still be able to perform, exhibit, create, …eat?

It was a great opportunity for the arts community to spin the situation positively and speak out in one voice to advocate for GREATER support for the arts: if arts organizations had more money, they could afford to hire in-house accountants and/or dedicated administrators to do greater diligence in holding grantees accountable to their grant stipulations. As it is, arts organizations are already strapped to provide services for their members, constituents, audiences and stakeholders; to do development and fundraising; to do marketing and promotions; to coordinate events; and to just manage day-to-day operations.

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What’s Happening with the Houston Arts Alliance

Here’s a YouTube playlist of the Houston Arts Alliance’s Townhall meeting in January - including projects and services updates from Jonathan Glus, Joe Wilson, Jerome Vielman, Helen Lessick, and Richard Graber - and artist videos taken for HAA’s “Art the Heart of Houston” campaign:

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