Christine Cavalier joins Great Expectations' team of citizen bloggers, weighing in on the second of five Big Canvas events to be held Philadelphia and its Pennsylvania suburbs. You can read more of Christine's work at www.purplecar.net. She writes:

           On Wednesday, July 16th at 6:30 p.m., I was invited by Great Expectations to The Big Canvas forum at the Philadelphia Inquirer headquarters in Conshohocken.  You can read more about the Great Expectations project here.  The Great Expectations Team invites Philadelphia area bloggers to report on the event and participate.

            Above Average Jane, my fellow Philly-area blogger, was invited to the July 8th event in Doylestown.  She does a great job of explaining the process of a Big Canvas event.  Our Conshohocken event went down pretty much the same way, with the absence of co-founder Harris Sokoloff.  Co-founder Chris Satullo said that they “forced Harris to take a vacation” so we missed his presence for the evening.

            Mr. Satullo started the evening by giving us a little background about the project’s goals of civic dialog and engagement.  He said that Philadelphia area arts and culture programs are underfunded compared to other cities of similar size.  The Big Canvas initiative wants to gather ideas from the community on how to promote arts and culture in the region.

            We were introduced to a local state representative from Montgomery County, Daylin Leach.  Funny and honest, Mr. Leach talked about strategies art and culture groups could use to get their case for funding heard in local and state governments.  He gave practical advice, such as:

- Scheduling a visit with your state rep.  He said that ‘letters are fine’ but taking the time to personally visit impresses a representative much more.

- Consider testifying at a state hearing on funding for arts & culture events.  Citizens are welcome to testify.

- Look at the ‘big donor’ list on PA department of state and government Web sites.  The names there are people who are probably philanthropists or board members of arts organizations.  Ask them to put a word in for your program with the state rep.

- Invite the rep to your organization’s functions. Let the rep see first hand what you do, how you raise money, introduce them to your board members.

            When Mr. Leach finished, the audience members were asked to find a number on their nametags.  The number indicated which room each participant would be in for the break-out sessions. 

            As a blogger invited to cover the event, I wasn’t quite sure if I should pop in and out of all three break-out session rooms or just stay in one.  I decided to stay in one to get the full experience.  Our session had seven other participants besides me.  Jean Sabatino and Louise Giugliano led the session.

            Our room was a focus group researcher’s dream.  Every person (except me) had direct experience or leadership positions with major projects in arts and culture in the Philadelphia region.  I was the last to introduce myself.   Questions ensued from the group (made up of Baby Boomers) about what constitutes ‘social media.’  I stumbled, finally offering meager explanations like “sharing information with friends” and “the future design of the Web.”  Thankfully, we moved on. 

            We then brainstormed for two hours about what we in the social media world would call branding of art & culture, its customers, its clients, its message, its values and worth.  I occasionally offered ideas on how Web sites and social media could help ease some communication problems between art & culture organizations, e.g. a Google shared calendar for events in the region. (Unfortunately my ‘geek’ talk was mostly met with blank stares, but I was elated when one of the session leaders knew how to spell ‘Flickr.’)

            A knock on the door told us we had to finish up.  We had a great group; we could have talked for hours.  Quickly we voted on what we felt were the top priorities, and then reconvened with the other participants in the general meeting room.  Session leaders placed all the self-stick posters with ideas up on three walls.  Mr. Satullo invited participants to read the results from other groups.  Mr. Sartullo ended the evening by asking the audience for suggestions, improvements.  

            At one point during the wrap-up, an Inquirer staffer said a few words about the art show happening in the building, directing our attention to some paintings in the room.  Apparently, the Inquirer building hosts juried art shows as well as art shows with works solely from Inky staffers.  It made me think that we could have used a bit of art in my former employer’s office.  Workplace + rotating Art Gallery:  what a great idea to help tap into the creative parts of people’s minds.  Instead of office gossip, you could have discussions about which artwork you liked or hated.  The artists could have a place to display (and maybe sell!) their work.  It was one of the more revolutionary ideas that came out of the evening for me.

            State Sen. Connie Williams was present at the wrap-up.  She very briefly offered some words of encouragement for the project and for any initiatives that seek to gather public opnion.  She reiterated much of Mr. Leach’s sentiments about how important it is for arts & culture groups to gain exposure to state and local representatives in government.  The presence of both Sen. Williams and Rep. Leach was an impressive showing of state government.  They cared enough to spend a few minutes of their time to not only tell us that they are listening, but how to get other policy-makers to listen. 

            I think it is very safe to say that I was the youngest person in my break-out session room, and definitely one of the youngest at the event.  I spoke with one of the organizers about their plans to recruit younger participants.  I suggested a college-oriented thing, perhaps a session at UofPenn, one at Temple, and one at Haverford.  There are also some arts groups around the city that are geared toward Generation Xers, like Young Friends of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, that would be a good group to canvas for opinions. 

            The Big Canvas group seems to have a challenge in recruiting attendees who aren’t involved in the art community in any way.  It’s essential for the project’s success to gather views from as many different perspectives as possible.  After all, it’s your tax money and your hometowns that we’re talking about.  If you are involved in any groups at all, please let them and any other friends know about the next Big Canvas event, to be held on Wednesday, July 23rd in Malvern.  The Big Canvas is enabling people’s voices to truly be heard about spending and quality of life concerns in the region.  Try to attend one of the events.