Curve

EAL/LA Creative Conversations

This post comes to you from Green Public Art

Lessons from Social Entrepreneurs: How to Add Value to Your Organization and Career

Emerging Arts Leaders/Los Angeles presents its day-long 2012 Creative Conversations Event

Tickets Available Now!

Social entrepreneurs seek to satisfy unmet needs within the community by growing an organization that often has a heartfelt and unprecedented mission that aligns with the founder’s personal values. At Emerging Arts Leaders/Los Angeles, we represent a groundswell of young professionals coming up in established organizations or looking to start our own. Often our members have a young, fresh perspective on social/community needs that no one else is addressing. Indeed, many older arts organizations often find themselves behind the curve when it comes to spotting new trends or opportunities for growth in the community.

April’s Creative Conversation will give us insights from entrepreneurs as to how we can identify unmet needs in our community or organization, and show us how we can shape our work to meet those needs. We will explore challenges our speakers have faced and the creative and logistical know-how they drew upon to face those challenges. By looking at our work through an entrepreneurial lens, even if it’s just an exercise for those who do not seek to build our own organizations, we will make ourselves and our points of view invaluable to our organizations and community, and find opportunities to advance our careers.  We’ll have the opportunity to join one another in group discussions and activities – who knows, you could meet your next collaborator on an entrepreneurial venture!

Saturday, April 21, 10:15am-3:30pm
Plaza de la Raza
Cultural Center for the Arts & Education
3540 North Mission Road
Los Angeles, CA 90031

PARKING: Use the lot directly in front of Plaza de la Raza or nearby street parking.

A catered lunch from Panera Bread is included in your ticket price. Within your purchase confirmation email you will be provided with an email address in case you need to indicate any dietary restrictions.

Finally, we hope you’ll join us afterward for Happy Hour at: Barbara’s at The Brewery
620 Moulton Avenue #110
Los Angeles, CA 90031

Driving directions to our Happy Hour location will be provided at the event.

10:15-10:30am: Registration

10:30-10:45am: Opening Remarks

10:45-11:45am: Keynote

Terence McFarland, Chief Executive Officer, LA Stage Alliance

11:45am-12:45pm: Lunch & Youth Mariachi Ensemble Performance

12:45-2:05pm: Your Arts Career Through an Entrepreneurial Lens

  • Rebecca Ansert, Founder & Principal, Green Public Art Consultancy
  • Edgar Arceneaux, Executive Director, Watts Tower Project
  • Molly Cleator, Owner/Founder, A Place to Create
  • Judy Tatum, Independent Non-Profit Consultant

2:05-2:45pm: Applying Entrepreneurial Thinking to Your Personal Goals: Small Group Discussions

2:45-3:15pm: Right Brain Entrepreneurism: Creative Collaborative Activity

Molly Cleator will lead us through a fun and energizing creative activity.

3:15-3:30pm: Final Wrap-Up & Depart for Happy Hour at Barbara’s at The Brewery!

Tickets Available Now!

 

Rebecca Ansert, founder of Green Public Art, is an art consultant who specializes in artist solicitation, artist selection, and public art project management for both private and public agencies. She is a graduate of the master’s degree program in Public Art Studies at the University of Southern California and has a unique interest in how art can demonstrate green processes or utilize green design theories and techniques in LEED certified buildings.

Green Public Art is a Los Angeles-based consultancy that was founded in 2009 in an effort to advance the conversation of public art’s role in green building. The consultancy specializes in public art project development and management, artist solicitation and selection, creative community involvement and knowledge of LEED building requirements. Green Public Art also works with emerging and mid-career studio artists to demystify the public art process. The consultancy acts as a resource for artists to receive one-on-one consultation before, during, and after applying for a public art project.
Go to Green Public Art

Fair trade versus Local Produce / Fair trade and Local Produce

Arcola Theatre, in association with the Dalston Eastern Curve Garden, is connected with Growing Communities, an organisation that deals with the distribution of local grown produce. Growing Communities is a social business which runs community-led box schemes which can be collected from various pick-up points in Hackney, and is all local, fresh vegetables! As with Fairtrade products, local produce also have numerous benefits: supporting the local economy, reducing food miles, and enhancing community involvement and spirit.

With the concerns surrounding climate change increasing day to day, many firms, households and consumers are searching for ways to reduce our negative impact on the environment and to reduce our carbon footprint. With this in mind, the argument becomes in favour of local produce and somewhat against imported fair-trade. Thus, this raises the question: can they not both exist together?

Many of the products that we buy are only grown in developing countries and therefore it is logical to buy these Fairtrade products. For example, us Brits, we do love our tea! And tea, where does it come from? The majority of tea plantations are found in Asia, South America and Africa; places where the climate is suited to growing tea. Thus, in this case it makes sense to transport and ship over Fairtrade goods rather than growing and producing local goods. It can even be said that in some instances the level of carbon emissions is lower from transporting Fairtrade goods than producing local. In addition, the number of jobs created in tea plantations provides a boost to the local economy and their carbon footprint is reduced as they can afford to buy local food.

Buying local, however, does have its benefits and is often preferred for certain types of food. Our desire to buy local is often a result of our increasing concern over food quality and the need to trust what we buy. With local foods, it is possible to go to the Farmers market and meet the farmer and learn more about where the food comes from. This is increasingly being for advertised international foods through TV adverts and marketing, however the ease with which it occurs with local foods is unparalleled.

At the end of the day, some goods are just better suited to being produced abroad and others that we love are better made locally. A harmonious result is that balance of both types of goods in our shopping basket.

Go to Arcola Energy

Growing Communities pick-up point in the Dalston Eastern Curve Garden

Sustainability embodies many facets; entwined in the common strands of energy and water efficiency and cutting carbon emissions sits food. As a nation a lot of the food we consume is non-seasonal and has to be imported. This has a tremendous impact on the environment through transportation pollution from increased food miles. We could easily make changes to our eating habits and more carefully choose the foods we eat to include more fresh locally produced seasonal produce. Making this change would have many benefits, such as supporting the local economy, reducing food miles and therefore environmental damage, involving local community groups in producing the food, and encouraging healthy eating.

In Hackney, this change is made easier for you by the work that Growing Communities does. It is a social enterprise which runs community-led box schemes that build community-led alternatives to the current damaging food system. In short, community groups grow vegetables which are delivered in boxes to various pick-up points in Hackney which you then go and collect. How does this work? You choose the size of your box, you place a standing order, and this guarantees you a box of fresh vegetables each week! This is a fantastic idea which means you are eating seasonal locally produced food, from carrots to cucumbers and leeks to beetroot, and lies at the core of the importance of sustainability.

We would like to know your thoughts of this scheme and whether you would use a Growing Communities pick-up point in the Dalston Eastern Curve Garden.

If you would like to know more about the scheme or to place an order, click on the link below:
http://www.growingcommunities.org/organic-box-scheme/pick-up-points/

If you are interested in a possible pick up point in the Dalston Eastern Curve Garden, please email: boxscheme@growingcommunities.org

Below is a link to the Eastern Curve garden where you could soon be collecting your veg boxes from!
http://www.dalstongarden.com/

Go to Arcola Energy