Picture this: your organization is closed to the public. You want to deeply connect with your community, but you don’t have direct access. You see the potential for more inclusive, relevant work… but you’re not sure how to achieve it in a world turned upside down.
Sound familiar?
Last month, we welcomed nine new organizations into the global OF/BY/FOR ALL Change Network. All these organizations are facing serious challenges and changes due to COVID-19. They are also looking for a path to a brighter, more inclusive future. So they joined the Change Network.
A Strategic Path Forward With Community
We honestly weren’t sure whether the spring 2020 Change Network cohort would happen at all. As an all-digital program, we knew it was technically possible, but we didn’t know if it was still relevant. We saw organizations pivoting right and left, and we wondered whether anyone would have the capacity to engage in an intensive institutional change program at this time. In the spirit of community-first design, we took a breath and asked spring applicants if and how they wanted to move forward. We were surprised by the response. Of the thirteen organizations that had signed up for the spring cohort, nine were eager to move forward right away. As one executive director put it, “it feels even more critical now for us to do this work with our community.”
All nine of these new Change Network members are using the OF/BY/FOR ALL Change Network as a strategic deep dive to help them deepen their commitment and connection with local communities. Many of them are already radically rethinking their work to meet the moment. There’s the Panamanian arts administrator who is bundling art with food for neighborhood families. The Dutch public librarians advocating for digital equity. The American media producers equipping neighbors to share personal stories. Members are rethinking audience, rethinking programs, rethinking everything in the direction of community relevance.
We collectively see the current climate as ripe for change that has been a long time coming. And in this sense of urgency, courage, and creativity, our spring cohort is forging ahead.
Embracing Change and Experimentation
We’re learning and growing alongside Change Network members in this work. The Change Network program is still young. It keeps evolving as we learn more from our members about what they see as most critical to advancing inclusive change at their institutions.
This spring 2020 cohort brings some unique characteristics:
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It is our most international group ever, with new members in the US, Canada, Panama, the Netherlands, and Poland.
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It includes three startup organizations that are striving to be of, by, and for their communities from their founding.
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Half the cohort are community-based but not facility-based. They serve their communities through media and public art projects that spread across their regions.
And we’re trying some new things:
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We’re layering in a set of concrete equity and inclusion concepts to animate every step of community involvement.
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We’re making the onboarding experience stronger so new members enter with clarity and confidence.
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We’re bringing in new content, conversations, and tools specific to the unique challenges we’re all facing due to COVID-19, especially as it relates to reimagining civic value and rethinking how we connect with communities under lockdown.
We’re excited about the direction of this new cohort (and the program at large), and how our newest members have responded to and engaged with these experiments and new content so far. New members have already started to write big visions for where they hope to go with their communities - and identifying some of the relationships and skills they will need to build to get there.
The program will keep growing and evolving with our next cohort, which will launch in September 2020. We’re accepting applications now for September and welcome any questions you might have if you are considering whether it’s a good fit for you.
A Growing Community
These nine organizations are only in the beginning of their 12 month journey of community transformation. They’ll be making change in their local communities - and alongside professional peers in a Change Network that is now 42 members strong.
Carolina Hausmann of Casa Santa Ana in Panama says of her organization’s participation in the spring cohort:
“We connect people through contemporary art and that can only be achieved by truly listening and being relevant to our community. Being part of the Change network is giving me the tools to achieve that.”
If you are seeking tools to pivot towards your community, we invite you to consider joining Carolina and the other members of the Change Network. Learn more and apply for our Fall Cohort, which starts this coming September.
Let’s Give a Round of Applause
We’re excited for the months ahead, and we’ll keep sharing stories of Change Network members as we go. In the meantime, please join us in celebrating the newest Change Network member organizations who are taking the plunge to become OF, BY, and FOR their communities:
Casa Santa Ana in Panama City, Panama
Casa Santa Ana is a non-profit foundation dedicated to generating social progress and innovative learning through contemporary art. Located in Panama City, we connect people and communities locally and globally through artistic practices.
de bblthk in Wageningen, Gelderland, Netherlands
De bblthk is a public library, that aims to promote the free movement of information, by exchanging cultural, educational and social views and ideas, in writing, digitally, orally, visually, musically and in gesture.
Fundacja Aardvark Arts in Wroclaw, Dolnoslaskie, Poland
Aardvark Arts is an independent non profit foundation exploring the intersection of arts, culture, education and technology.
MetroEast Community Media in Gresham, OR, USA
MetroEast invigorates civic engagement, inspires diverse voices, and strengthens community life through high quality, low-cost media training to the public and media support to schools, government, and non-profit organizations.
MEM - Centre des Mémoires Montréalaises in Montréal, QC, Canada
MEM - Centre des Mémoires Montréalaises is a history center which helps Montrealers and visitors understand and appreciate the city of Montréal and the diversity of its heritage, by showcasing the history of the people who lived and who still live in Montréal and how this history has shaped the urban environment.
poumpoumpop creative.S in Montreal, Canada
poumpoumpop creative.S is a cultural organization committed to Inclusive development and management, Participatory projects, and Dignity.
Public Media Network in Kalamazoo, MI, USA
Public Media Network is a dynamic community of individuals, special interest groups, nonprofit and government organizations who value the power of authentic voices in media.
Sloan Museum & Longway Planetarium in Flint, MI, USA
Together, Sloan Museum and Longway Planetarium serve more than 60,000 schoolchildren annually, providing standards-based classes in science and history.
South Jersey Cultural Alliance in Hammonton, NJ, USA
South Jersey Cultural Alliance was founded to bring art, history, and cultural organizations together with individual artists and creatives for everyone’s mutual benefit.