Small arts organizations do remarkable things with very little. How do they think about what they do, make it work, and keep it going?
In this free webinar series, hear from Midwestern arts leaders working within four small arts organizations that took part in our Cultural Sustainability program. Each organization will share about their work, their successes, and their learning moments along the path to build a more equitable and sustainable arts ecosystem.
Join us to hear how a shared meal can matter more than a new program, why the youngest artists in the room deserve a real vote, what it takes to teach the parts of an art career that school leaves out, and how a shuttered theater can become a neighborhood’s creative home.
Each session is free and held live. Can’t make it? All sessions will be recorded and shared with registered attendees, then added to our webinar page.
Beyond Programming: Building Community Through Indigenous Arts, Culture, and Relationships
Wednesday, September 16, 3-4pm CT
What happens when work starts with relationships, not programs? Brandon Baity of Indigenous Association shares how this Native-led organization in Fargo-Moorhead, North Dakota, builds community through arts and culture. Hear how a welcoming space, recurring gatherings, and a commitment to reciprocity shift one-time programming into lasting connection, and why cultural work is strongest when community leads it.
Featuring
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Brandon Baity
Executive Director, he/him
Brandon Baity is the Executive Director of Indigenous Association, a Native-led nonprofit working to unite, connect, and strengthen the Indigenous community in the Fargo-Moorhead area of North Dakota. A descendant of White Earth Nation and a social worker by training, Brandon has worked in community organizations, schools, and youth-serving programs.
At Indigenous Association, he leads efforts focused on Indigenous arts and culture, community building, education, advocacy, and relationship building with Native and non-Native organizations, institutions, governments, and community members.
Love Is Power: Trusting Young People to Lead
Wednesday, September 23, 3-4pm CT
What can young people do when you trust them with real decisions? Heidi Fuchtman of Youth Art Team shares how her Waterloo, Iowa, organization brings together youth of all ages to create ambitious public art, and to help lead the organization itself. Learn what it looks like to walk alongside young people for years, put them on the board, and build a village in the process.
Featuring
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Heidi Fuchtman
Executive & Creative Director
Heidi Fuchtman founded Youth Art Team in 2010 while working as a self-employed graphic designer and artist. Under her leadership, one project (an entirely volunteer-led project with no budget) has grown into a flourishing organization. She’s interested in challenging existing narratives, making real impact, and building a village where people can fly!
What Art School Doesn’t Teach: The Missing Curriculum Every Artist Deserves
Wednesday, September 30, 3-4pm CT
Talent is only part of a creative career. The rest, the relationships, the visibility, the confidence, the know-how, often goes untaught. Clydia Early of BIPOCA Incubator and Gallery shares how her Fort Wayne, Indiana, incubator equips artists with the tools formal training leaves out, helping them build creative careers that last.
Featuring
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Clydia Early
Founder/Arts Incubator Strategist
With a career spanning more than two decades in the nonprofit sector, Clydia Early has worked extensively with children and homeless women. In the early 1990s, she discovered a profound passion for art, initially drawn to pieces that resonated with her on a personal level, despite lacking formal training.
Her involvement with the Fort Wayne Museum of Art highlighted the challenges faced by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) artists in securing representation and opportunities within the community. This realization inspired Clydia to establish BIPOCA Incubator and Gallery in 2021, aiming to create a space where BIPOC artists could be seen, heard, recognized and celebrated. As a woman of color navigating the art world, Clydia has faced numerous challenges. Through BIPOCA, she continues to grow and learn, demonstrating her unwavering commitment to fostering a vibrant, inclusive art scene that mirrors the rich diversity of Fort Wayne and the broader Midwest.
Power Building, Inside and Out
Thursday, October 8, 3-4pm CT
How does an arts organization help build power in a neighborhood? Tyler Olsen-Highness and David Valentine of 825 Arts share how their Saint Paul, Minnesota, center grew from a shuttered historic theater into a creative home for the Frogtown and Rondo neighborhoods. Hear how 825 builds community power through space, artist support, and youth pathways, and strengthens the organization itself so the work can last.
Featuring
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Tyler Olsen Highness
Executive Director
Tyler Olsen-Highness is a theater artist, producer, director, administrator, and teacher who knows how to get things done, connect people, and lead adventures. He has produced work of, by, and for the community of Frogtown for 11 years. Tyler has been a part of 825 Arts for 14 years as a project manager, events producer, advisory board member, board chair and member of the executive, building, and fundraising committees and became executive director in 2019. He believes the organization has the chance to build the arts center of the future—a center for the neighborhood to share, celebrate, and question.
An outgoing leader, he is the founder of the nonprofit Dangerous Productions and has produced over 80 artistic and community inspired projects in the past seven years. He is especially proud of the development of HOPE NEWS, a youth-created positive news broadcast out of Frogtown, featuring youth interviews of people doing amazing work in our community. When he isn’t creating art or leading change, Tyler enjoys outdoor adventures, music, theater, and time with his wife Amy, daughter Thora, and dog Marigold.
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David Valentine
Associate Executive Director
Originally from the Pacific Northwest, David Valentine is a facilitator, project manager, and artistic vagabond whose work in community-centered program development has been largely centered in the museum field. Since moving to the Twin Cities in 2020, David has been happy to support and work with arts and cultural organizations of all kinds. He is currently on the board of the Circle of Peace Movement and has served on the 825 Arts board. When he isn’t helping to facilitate community collaborations, he can be found working on songs, performing in plays, dabbling in puppetry, writing poetry zines, or making hand-carved animals and earrings.