Arts Board Co-Hosts Symposium to mark the 50th Anniversary of The Arts in the Small Community: A National Plan.
The Arts in the Small Community: A National Plan was published in 1966. It resulted from the first-ever local arts grant given by the National Endowment for the Arts. The grant was awarded to UW-Extension. Robert Gard was the author of the original proposal and the force behind the eventual publication. To mark the 50th anniversary, the Wisconsin Arts Board partnered with the Robert E. Gard Foundation, the Racine Arts Council, and the Johnson Foundation at Wingspread to host Our Communities: A Symposium on the Arts.
A small group of arts leaders from rural and small communities, urban neighborhoods, Native tribes and immigrant populations convened at Wingspread. They were invited to “acknowledge the past, understand the present and envision a future where the power of human expression through art defines and transforms our communities.” The plan is to share what was learned at the Symposium with people around the country via a variety of media. In the meantime:
• If you’d like to learn more about the Symposium, Doug Borwick recapped each day’s events on his Engaging Matters blog. Click here for Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3.
• If you’d like to read or download the original document, or the 1996 edition, click here.
• Finally, to learn more about Robert Gard, click here.