Operating Support
ACHF Arts Access
People of all ages, ethnicities and abilities participate in the arts. Use the African, Asian, Islamic, Native American, and Latin American collections to reach underserved communities. Partner with Fargo-Moorhead community on courses for lifelong learners related to Rourke exhibits. Provide educational tours for 600 K-12 students. Host quarterly college nights with 250 students. Host educational tours for five local/community groups serving 150 adults. Create educational/informational fact sheets for key works in the collection, with large print versions. The most basic metric for evaluating success in terms of participation is quantitative: how many people came? Staff keep attendance logs and use observational evaluation to track age groups/general demographics. Most visitors opted not to fill out written surveys, leaving a respondent pool too small to be representative. We now use in-person, informal interviews by staff of visitors. Visitors routinely spend 10-15 minutes in discussion. Interviews allow staff the flexibility to ask follow-up questions, eliciting more detailed information. Finally, we track facebook 'buzz'; this is anecdotal but allows us to see what kind of programs or artists attract the most interest. While not exactly scientific, it does give us a sense of how a broader public is or is not engaged with our programs. Management reviews the metrics monthly to assess trends and gauge the impact of programming. 2: The arts thrive in Minnesota. Increase membership 10 percent overall and increase membership in under-represented groups (e.g., young professionals and families) by 25 percent. Present three master classes by visiting and/or exhibiting artists. Offer a lecture series for out-of-school adults using the permanent collection to illustrate different artistic styles or methods. Hold annual Open Studio event so the public can experience the creative process by watching an artist work from conception to completion. Our basic metric for evaluating success is quantitative: how many people were served? Staff use attendance logs and observational evaluation to track age/demographics. We use observational techniques for assessing reaction to programs: do visitors leave early? Do they fidget? Are they engaged? Asking relevant questions? Informal interviews allow us to better understand on a qualitative basis which programs are well-received and why. For example, the lecturer rather than the subject has had the biggest influence on the success of a program. And overall, audiences have preferred a dialog with an artist, curator, or historian rather than a straight-forward lecture. In other words, audiences want to be able to participate in the event. This seems in-keeping with the overall positive feedback we received on the open studios/master classes. Therefore, we are reconsidering offering lectures in future or will do so in a very specific way to reach a very specific audience.
Global collections provided key entry points for K-12 tours; approximately 1/3 of these students are non-white. Global works also provided opportunities to engage visitors with developmental disabilities. In Fall 2012, we offered a two day Communiversity class for lifelong learners to positive response; this Concordia College initiative has asked us to partner in the future. The Rourke gave educational tours to 525 K-12 students: 450 K-6 graders, 25 junior-high and 50 high-school. Pre-K educators are now requesting tours as well. We held three college events, attracting 265 students. We partnered twice with Minnesota State University-Moorhead. A third event attracted 65 students. We provided tours to eight local and community groups, serving 176 individuals ranging from Rotary Clubs to senior citizens. During the grant period, the Rourke created five fact sheets, making available large-print versions of each. 2: We maintained membership levels during the grant year, which we feel reflects an unfortunate nation-wide trend. The new up seems to be stay flat. And we did not make much headway in attracting young professionals or families as new members. However, young professionals and families now represent a larger portion of our overall visitors; we believe we can convert some of these visitors into members. A consultant with expertise in memberships is working largely pro bono to help us in these efforts. Visiting artist Moritz Gatze, from Germany, addressed art students from Minnesota State University-Moorhead (a quasi-master class) and local artist Carl Oltvedt provided a mixed master class/open studio on four separate occasions. These sessions were well-received, leading us to incorporate Open Studio events in our annual programming. Lectures geared toward the out-of-school adult addressed pop art and abstract expressionism.
Other
local or private