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ArtsFwd is an online community of arts and culture leaders committed to doing things differently in their organizations in order to stay relevant and vital in a changing world.

Eric Booth on the Global El Sistema Movement

In this interview, Lee Ann Norman and Eric Booth discuss the global El Sistema movement, which is the basis of his new book Playing for Their Lives: The Global El Sistema Movement for Social Change Through Music (W.W. Norton & Company, 2016).

Site-specific Storytelling: La Jolla Playhouse’s Theatre Without Walls

La Jolla Playhouse offers an annual subscription series of six new plays, re-imagined classics, and musicals to over 100,000 patrons in San Diego County and Southern California. In their Arts Innovation Fund project, they created Theatre Without Walls (WoW), a site-specific initiative designed to remove the physical limits of typical performance venues by immersing audiences in theatrical work in a variety of community settings.

Lessons from the Field: Case Study on Latino New South

An in-depth case study documenting the successes of Latino New South, a collaborative innovation between Levine Museum of New South, the Atlanta History Center, and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. These three organizations entered EmcArts Innovation Lab for Museums with the intention of making their programs and institutions more resonant with, and responsive to, the fast-growing Latino communities in their respective cities.

Artist-Partners: New Directions in Artist-Driven Institutional Models

With the goal of redefining roles and division of labor in arts organizations, ICE created a new organizational structure in which ensemble members act as “Artist Partners” who lead and manage the organization. This new structure eliminates traditional silos between artistic and management functions, strengthens curatorial capacity, gives ensemble members more decision-making power, and supports creativity.

To Go or Not to Go: Connecting with Satellite Communities at the Beck Center

Beck Center for the Arts, located in the western Cleveland, OH suburb of Lakewood, presents a variety of plays and musicals on two stages and offers more than 200 classes, lessons and programs in the arts. They entered the Innovation Lab process with the goal of finding inventive ways to broaden and deepen their community connections.