Operating Support Grant

Early on the DDAC instituted by-laws to assist in determining governance procedures. The collective operates from a consensus building model of decision making, so that member groups have the ability to give feedback at anytime and have buy-in to the decision making process. Each member organization has an equal vote in decision making. As a group DDAC discusses decisions, votes on each issue, and revisits the effectiveness of each decision at subsequent meetings. We solicit feedback during a “check in and assessment” period at our bi-monthly DDAC meetings to discuss what’s working and what isn’t, through on-line surveys for members who can not attend meetings, and at our Annual meeting. In addition, DDAC established an Executive board that meets monthly, making day-to-day decisions on behalf of the larger group. The executive board is responsible to the collective, seeks approval for financial decisions and new initiatives, and reaches out monthly to each member to check in. DDAC’s Executive board serves in a function of connecting group members month to month – updating members to new developments within the collective, reaching out to each member to check in and see how things are working for them. This has developed accountability in relationships with members at a one-to-one level. In the months we do not have a larger group-DDAC meeting, we have a “social hour”, so that members can connect as common allies within the downtown community. These social meetings are open to friends and connections of DDAC members, serving as another way to network, taking the pulse of the community we serve. We encourage our members to ask visitors to the Downtown Duluth Arts Walk for feedback about their experience. Feedback is then brought to DDAC meetings, assessed and solutions are implemented. An early example of evaluating and addressing constituent needs, was streamlining our Arts Walk time to be between the hours of 5 and 8 pm for all locations. Based on evaluation of constituent feedback, we have also redesigned our brochures to be more user-friendly, consolidated multiple studios into the Pineapple Building Studios to be more accessible to visitors, removed venues not providing arts programming from our Arts Walk roster, and are considering moving from a monthly Arts Walk to a quarterly Arts Walk event to provide an enriched arts experience to our visitors. We hope to institute listening sessions with community and business leaders in the near future.The Downtown Duluth Arts Collective (DDAC) is a grassroots collective of artists, business people, and teachers. Additionally, we are individuals firmly rooted in our community through active participation in the arts and support of local resources. One area of major strength in this regard is the sheer number of members from our wide variety of venues. As we spread out and attend events around the community and engage in conversation about other facilities and happenings, the people at those events feel welcome at and more interested in participating in our Art Walks. Beyond the local creative community, we invite people of all interests and affinities to take part in our programming. As a group we have discussed and located techniques to break down the cliques or intimidation that "outsiders" might feel due to the fact that Duluth has such a close-knit community of artists and art enthusiasts. An example of this is when we discussed incorporating more events within events so that people who attend are not submersed into a potentially awkward social situation. Instead, they can participate in an activity or discussion surrounding the arts that encompasses the whole group rather than just those who already know each other. The DDAC's monthly art walks offer the public an eclectic array of enriching cultural and artistic experiences. The Art Walk's frequency, lack of entry fee, and open organizational structure gives the public access to quality interactions and connections with art and