New toolkits from the Leading Organizations!
Creative Exchange is driven by a principle that more is more – the more stories we can tell, the more resources we can share, the more connections we can make, the more we can show how important art and artists are to our lives. That why we’re so excited that today, Creative Exchange is able to add 5 new toolkits to our library of free resources.
These toolkits are the end product of our year-long pilot called Leading Organizations, which partnered with the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council, Macon Arts Alliance of Macon, GA, Metro Arts in Nashville, TN, Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana in San Jose, CA, and Springboard for the Arts, Creative Exchange’s parent organization in Saint Paul, MN to develop new resources from key programs and publish stories from their communities. The toolkits are:
A Toolkit for Artist-Designed Bike Racks from Metro Arts in Nashville, TN. This toolkit walks through the process of commissioning, fabricating, and placing artist-created bike racks, and serves as a guide to the public art process. Get it here: https://springboardexchange.org/artist-designed-bike-rack-toolkit/
A Toolkit for Starting a Non-Profit Gallery from the Macon Arts Alliance of Macon, GA. Based on their experience running The Gallery, a community-driven arts space, this toolkit helps prospective gallerists think through their conceptual and practical needs. Get it here: https://springboardexchange.org/non-profit-gallery-toolkit/
HE-HO: A Toolkit for Health & Housing Resources from the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council. Developed after a fair promoting health activities and housing information for artists, this toolkit shares programs and practical tools for connecting artists to critical resources. Get it here: https://springboardexchange.org/he-ho-toolkit/
Trabajo de Arte: Aptitudes de Negocios para Artistas from Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana in San Jose, CA, and Springboard for the Arts. MACLA and Springboard collaborated to produce a Spanish-language translation of the Work of Art: Business Skills for Artists toolkit, which walks artists through career and business planning including pricing, marketing and fundraising. This toolkit will include 4 new videos from Latinx artists, coming soon. Get it here: https://springboardexchange.org/trabajo-de-arte/
Call for Artists: A Practical Toolkit for Calls, RFPs and Artist Selection from Springboard for the Arts. This toolkit is designed to orient organizations who may not have experience in putting out calls for artists to the best practices for calls and RFPs. Get it here: https://springboardexchange.org/find-an-artist-toolkit/
“We are delighted to be adding these new toolkits to the Creative Exchange platform,” notes Springboard for the Arts Executive Director Laura Zabel. “These are organizations who are leaders in their work of supporting artists in their communities, and by sharing their work openly, can help guide and inspire others to engage with the creativity all around them.”
Each toolkit includes program instructions and practical tools, templates for necessary documents like calls to artists and contracts, as well as suggestions for adaptations and further resources. The Leading Organization toolkits join the 15 toolkits already hosted on Creative Exchange, which have had over 2,500 downloads since the platform was launched in March 2014!
