It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all - in which case, you fail by default.
~J.K. Rowling
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
Old structure on the left, emerging structure on the right.
Support the Arts by supporting the Artist!
Dear friends and family of C4 Atlanta,
We have come a long way in the past few months and wouldn’t have been able to do it without your collective advice, support and love.
We are about to begin the next stage in our work, and we are emailing to ask for your help in writing the next chapter of our story by making a donation to support our first major public project.
On October 23rd, we will be offering our very first seminar called ‘Entrepreneurship in the Arts’ which will be taught by entrepreneur/artist Kamal Sinclair. This is the very first of our professional development programming for Artists, and we are extremely excited for all the sustainable projects this seminar will help participating artists launch! For an example of the kinds of stories that have come out of this seminar in the past, check out Tori Tinsley’s story on the C4 Atlanta blog.
We are asking for your donation in order to pay for things like liability insurance, course materials, space, etc. Many of these are one time start-up costs that once paid for will enable us to offer more affordable professional development to artists in the Atlanta region throughout 2011.
You can donate easily via the paypal widget on our the C4 Atlanta website located here: http://blog.c4atlanta.org/entrepreneurship-in-the-arts/fundraising/
A number of the artists participating in ‘Entrepreneurship in the Arts’ are raising funds in order to pay for the cost of tuition. Over the next week we will be profiling them on our blog, and you can help support their individual efforts by donating through our Artist Gallery: http://blog.c4atlanta.org/artist-gallery/
We will be adding more artists over the next week, so keep coming back to find out more about the lives and careers your donation will help transform.
Thanks for your continued support, and we hope to share the successes of these artists with all of you soon!
The C4 Atlanta Action Team, Joe, Jessyca, and Lyre
Oslo Innovation Clinic Offers Treatment for Ideas
A clinic that doesn’t treat people; rather, it treats ideas. Brilliant! I love it!
The Challenge of Business Model Innovation
This was shared via the APASO (Association of Performing Arts Service Organizations) group. Great read for service organizations.
Losing job opens new doors to strengthen the arts in Atlanta
Joe Winter’s (C4 Atlanta) guest column on Maria Saporta’s blog: SaportaReport.
Throughout history, almost every culture has had art, music, dance, architecture, poetry, storytelling, pottery, and sculpture. The desire to create is not limited by beliefs, nationality, creed, educational background, or era. The urge resides in all of us…[it] is not limited to the arts, but can encompass all of life, from the mundane to the profound.
Robert Fritz
Ian David Moss: How does mapping a community’s cultural assets benefit the arts and culture field?
I have been reading, and pontificating on, systems thinking. Not looking at just one piece of a system, but looking at the whole. The book that has been my nightly devotional about systems thinking: The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of the Learning Organization by Peter M. Senge.
Example after example, Peter demonstrates the importance of looking at the forest instead of a single tree. In one example, Peter tells the story of a technology company that, despite increasing sales staff and pouring money into marketing efforts, went from top dog to bankrupt. It was the inattention to customer service that was the company’s demise. The technology company, to paraphrase Peter M. Senge, became their own worst competitor. Seems simple, but if we are only looking at one piece at a time, the simple can be missed. Sometimes the entire system is flawed.
My co-worker pointed me to this link. It is a piece I see missing in Atlanta’s arts and culture: understanding the system, or the macro picture. We cannot move forward until we know, as a community, as a system, where we stand now, and how we all fit together.
Take a very brief moment to view this video.
The Laugh that Binds
Hey all,
Spencer and I are performing again with our wonderful friends and team, Your Mom’s Mom. 8pm @ Relapse Theatre in Midtown.
I love humor. I mean, who doesn’t? And we all have a different sense of what is funny. But humor has gotten me through some really difficult times in my life. After my mom passed away, my sister and I stayed up ALL night drinking and talking about my mom’s life, her legacy. There were sad moments of course…but what got us through that night was the ability to laugh about the times that were not sad.
My husband and I are very close. One thing that makes us really close us is that we share the same brain. Seriously. I know what is going to make him laugh. And he, well, he cracks me up every day and evening. My kids have even adopted a love for inside jokes, a love for hearty laughter, and a slightly skewed perspective on life. It is what binds us.
I love playing with Your Mom’s Mom, not because we are the best damn improvisers (although we aren’t too shabby most of the time), but because we laugh.
GAMES
If you watch a YMM show you will notice we play games between scenes. We aren’t really doing this just for the audience, we do it for us too. Even in our rehearsal workshops we play games…we play games when we are just hanging out. We can’t help ourselves. We make each other laugh AND that is what we want to share with our audiences. There is something wonderfully communal about live theatre…there is something totally kick-ass about sharing a laugh with a bunch of people you may or may not know.
I invite my friends and you to see a show. Say hello after the show and tell us your thoughts. The best way to enjoy one of our shows is to bring a friend or two. I mean, we like more audience members, but really you will have a better time with a date, a friend, a mom or a dad, siblings or someone you met that day who doesn’t seem too creepy. Leave creepy people at home. Oh, and not that they are creepy, but we suggest leaving the kiddos at home too.
I look forward to seeing you there.
Axis of Awesome - 4 Chords
This is only the tip of the iceberg!
Warning: Adult Language
How Did Peter Drucker See Corporate Responsibility?
I agree, we all need to be socially responsible. If for no other reason, it save us all money in the long run. This blog is so timely, because it reinforces a discussion my C4 Atlanta co-workers and I had the other day. It is integrated into our business plan & training we would like to offer artists as well.
