This handbook guides those who design, conduct or host programs that provide artists in residence in various community settings - schools, parks and recreation centers, religious organizations, correctional facilities, public housing communities, hospitals and hospices.

This handbook offers simple advice for anyone designing, conducting or hosting an arts program in a community setting. It is written with the assumption that every program will develop differently, adapting itself to a different set of concerns, different resources, and different people. No two projects will be alike. However, just as art provides insights into our worlds through the experiences of others, The Community Artist Training Handbook offers assistance by describing the challenges, problems and solutions of community arts programs I've discovered while working alongside many dedicated artists and program supporters.

This handbook contains the experience and counsel of the extraordinary program developers around the country whom I interviewed in writing this guide. An additional contribution is made by Kathleen Gaffney, founder and director of Arts genesis, who permitted the publication of selections from her book-in-progress. Her writing on artist selection and preparation is presented as a different perspective to provide a more complete picture for you, the arts program developers and practitioners.

The handbook structure is based on my perception that the greatest difficulty artists and arts administrators face is not in establishing rapport with a community audience, but in marrying the arts to a community institution. The arts and artists, as archetypes, are typically perceived as anti-bureaucratic. This guide takes the attitude that social institutions designed to enhance the welfare of American citizens can be assisted in their missions by our cultural institutions and cultural agents - artists. It seeks to help those artists prepare and plan to work in community settings by examining specific issues that seem to recur in sites where community arts programs are implemented. It also looks at the various ways arts organizations have addressed these issues in the training of community artists. [p. 6]

CONTENTS

• About the Institute for Community Development and the Arts.
• Foreword by William E. Strickland, Jr.
• Introduction.
  • Developing an Artist Residency:
  • Contact.
  • The Artists and Staff.
  • Planning and Implementation.
• Settings:
  • Schools.
  • Parks and Recreation Centers.
  • Religious Organizations.
  • Public Housing Authorities.
  • Juvenile Probation Programs, Alternative Schools and Correctional Facilities.
  • Hospitals and Hospices.
• Selecting Artists - Grady Hillman:
  • Artistic Ability.
  • Communications Skills.
  • Caring and Commitment.
  • Flexibility.
• Artist Selection and Assessment - Kathleen Gaffney:
  • Arts in Everything.
  • Not for Everyone.
  • Recruitment Process.
  • Artist Motivations.
  • Placement.
• Preparing and Supporting the Artist - Grady Hillman:
  • Orientation.
  • On-going Training and Mentoring.
  • Retaining Artists.
• Preparing and Supporting the Artists - Kathleen Gaffney:
  • Plan a Training Day.
  • Train Artists to Train Others.
  • Field Training Less Experienced Artists.
  • Participants' Needs Come First.
  • A Sense of the Population.
  • Outline Necessary Qualities.
  • Reward and Retreat.
• Staff Preparations - Grady Hillman.
• Residency Content - Kathleen Gaffney:
  • Begin With the End in Mind.
  • Process.
  • Prepare to Troubleshoot.
  • Beginnings and Endings.
  • Goals and Outcomes.
  • Residency Themes.
• Case Studies of Artist Training: Examples from Six Categories:
  • Schools: Urban smARTS - San Antonio,Texas.
  • Parks and Recreation: Children of the Future - Columbus, Ohio.
  • Religious Institutions: Young Producers Workshop, Our Lady's Family Center - Austin, Texas.
• Juvenile Probation Program: YouthArt & Community Initiative - Idaho.
• Public Housing: The Rainier Vista Arts Program - Seattle, Washington.
• Hospice: The Connecticut Hospice - Branford, Connecticut.
• Appendix A: Multiple Intelligence Theory for Artists - Kathleen Gaffney:
  • Linguistic Intelligence.
  • Logical Mathematical Intelligence.
  • Musical Intelligence.
  • Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence.
  • Spatial Intelligence.
  • Interpersonal Intelligence.
  • Interpersonal Intelligence.
• Appendix B: Resources:
  • Publications.
  • Organizations.
  • Contacts for Programs Profiled.
• About Americans for the Arts.
• About the handbook.
• Acknowledgments.

This handbook guides those who design, conduct or host programs that provide artists in residence in various community settings - schools, parks and recreation centers, religious organizations, correctional facilities, public housing communities, hospitals and hospices. This handbook offers simple advice for anyone designing, conducting or hosting an arts program in a community setting. It is written with the assumption that every program will develop differently, adapting itself to a different set of concerns, different resources, and different people. No two projects will be alike. However, just as art provides insights into our worlds through the experiences of others, The Community Artist Training Handbook offers assistance by describing the challenges, problems and solutions of community arts programs.