Two years have past since the last post, but I have not been idle on the wandering path. That arts incubator I mentioned? We created a business entity in January of 2020, and by June we had received our nonprofit status from the IRS. SparkNM has a board of directors, a strategic plan, goals for the next year and we have even started raising money! As of this writing, I am in the process of creating a program proposal for the incubator.
Half-way through those two milestones in January and June, however, you may have noticed that I didn’t mention March of 2020. One wonders how much one should speak of that time. We all know what happened. March 13 was arguably the beginning of the lock down in the United States. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses closed, work stopped, traffic cleared, and we all took a breath on behalf of so many who couldn’t.
National unemployment reached 14.7% between March and April, while in the creative industry, the unemployment rate skyrocketed to 47%. In research done by Michael Seman and Richard Florida on behalf of the Brookings Institute’s Metropolitan Policy Program, the devastation to the industry is thoroughly explored. If you dig into, you’ll notice that they mention New Mexico as particularly hard hit because of the concentration of creative workers here. Needless to say, the time has never been riper for an enterprise that supports the development of capacity among creatives to enter the marketplace in innovative ways. The implications for artists of color were even more significant.
I started a masters program in May of 2020, from Colorado State University’s LEAP Institute. The Master of Arts Leadership and Cultural Management program has been helping me explore the creative ecosystem from the local to the international levels. I have been studying leadership models, creative industries career management, policy and advocacy, arts event management and community engagement. And this hasn’t been a purely academic exercise. I’ve completed an internship with the City of Albuquerque’s Department of Arts and Culture. I’ve written policy briefs that are now in use. I’ve planned and executed a number of community engagement events, including events involving the refugee population in Albuquerque. And I’ve worked with several partners to launch a youth development program that is serving twenty-one young people, and has spun off to a children’s education program serving two dozen kids in the same neighborhood. We have begun the community development process I mentioned in my previous post, and I love how much we’ve been able to integrate the arts!
I feel like I’ve found my stride. Or should I say, “my Spark“?
Amalia on Purpose 