Ideas for Cultivating a Thriving Arts Ecosystem

2024 Arts Leadership Symposium at Seattle University (photo by Em Wheeler)

On March 2, 2024, Seattle University hosted the energizing Arts Leadership Symposium called Cultivating a Thriving Arts Ecosystem. This gathering brought together artists, audiences, curators, media, producers, scholars, and others invested in the creative economy. As the incoming Director of the Arts Leadership MFA and BA programs and a co-organizer of the event, I was delighted to welcome nearly 100 colleagues who shared and discussed strategies for creating impactful cultural experiences in the Pacific Northwest and beyond.

Seven key ideas from the symposium continue to resonate with me:

1. Build Bridges, Not Silos: Move beyond supporting single institutions and cultivate collaboration across arts organizations and artists.
2. Intergenerational Conversations: Encourage dialogue and knowledge exchange between generations to share ideas and insights. ️
3. Collective Imagination: Uplift our creative strengths to imagine, then realize, a more equitable and sustainable arts sector.
4. Beyond Products, Towards Process: Shift the focus from isolated events to nurture ongoing relationships and collaborative artistic processes.
5. Navigate Change: Adapt and evolve as we traverse an ever-changing world.
6. Understand Systems: Analyze how individuals and organizations function within existing structures and how they actualize positive change.
7. A Cultural Commons: View the cultural sector as a shared resource, a collective environment, rather than a space of isolated entities.

These ideas offer actionable steps to promote the health of arts ecosystems both locally and globally. Share your thoughts in the comments below.

What resonates most with you from these seven ideas?