ARTISTS ON CREATIVE ADMINISTRATION
Brilliant artists and arts workers from dance and the performing arts share first-hand stories on artistic life, business, activism, and process.
Artists On Creative Administration: A Workbook from the National Center for Choreography, edited by artist/cultural strategist Tonya Lockyer (Suquamish, WA), will be published by The University of Akron Press as part of their NCCAkron Series in Dance on September 24, 2024.
Artists on Creative Administration: A Workbook from the National Center for Choreography has been called “at once visionary and pragmatic…an inspiring read” (Naomi Jackson, PhD, author Dance, Human Rights and Social Justice, Professor, Arizona State University); “a joy and a challenge” (Liz Lerman, MacArthur “Genius Grant” Fellow, and Institute Professor, Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts); “a wonderful collection of essays that are in turn provocative, illuminating, moving, and occasionally hilarious” (Vu Le, NonprofitAF.com); and “a terrific new playbook for the times…a beacon for those ready to reimagine” (Tim Cynova, Principal, Work Shouldn’t Suck). Keep scrolling, or click the button for more praise.
Artists and arts workers from across the U.S. reflect on how they challenge and create new approaches to the business of art. Through first-hand stories, the book pairs big topics with actionable tactics, addressing themes like agency, equity, activism, design thinking, process, leadership, collaboration, family, ethics, and care. Provocative and candid essays and interviews expand our view of what creativity, leadership, and administration can be, as each chapter closes with experiments for the reader to try and adapt to their own thinking, work, and life.
Artists On Creative Administration emerged from NCCAkron’s acclaimed Creative Administration Research program.
I established the Creative Administration Research program at NCCAkron because it became clear if we were to be a hub for research and development in dance, we should also interrogate the landscape where dance lives — and ideate further about what the dance field needs to unlearn or do differently to thrive. There are so many brilliant arts workers doing this work. By bringing this book forward, we shine a brighter light on their hard work, creative solutions, and wisdom.
- Christy Bolingbroke, Founding Executive/Artistic Director
of the National Center for Choreography-Akron
[The book’s contributors] work in rural and urban communities, within larger institutions and as independent cultural producers. They are founders of not-for-profits, leaders of multimillion-dollar businesses, and collectives carving paths beyond nonprofit and corporate models. They collaborate with small accessible venues, curated spaces, and with Alaska Airlines and Nike. They are new parents and elders. They are immigrants and second-generation activists.
- Tonya Lockyer, Editor Artists on Creative Administration
The artists and arts workers of Artists on Creative Administration are creating new paths forward and sharing their learnings, struggles, and triumphs along the way.
The essays and interviews in this book foster a necessary and dynamic discussion of the shared relationship between art and its administration. An essential read for anyone in—or interested in—the arts world.
Artists on Creative Administration: A Workbook from the National Center for Choreography includes essays from:
Banning
Bouldin
(Nashville, TN)
Jonathan
Meyer
(Chicago IL)
Raja Feather
Kelly
(Brooklyn, NY)
Cherie
Hill
(Payómkawichum Homeland / Winchester, CA)
Julia
Antonick
(Chicago IL)
Rashaun
Mitchell
(New York, NY /
Margaretville, NY)
Christy
Bolingbroke
(Akron, OH)
Kate
Wallich
(Los Angeles, CA)
Silas
Riener
(New York, NY /
Margaretville, NY)
Delphine
Lai
(San Francisco Bay Area, CA)
Katy
Dammers
(Los Angeles, CA)
Tonya
Lockyer
(Suquamish, WA)
Karla
Quintero
(Ohlone Territory / Oakland, CA)
Makini
(Durham, NC)
Yanira
Castro
(Brooklyn, NY)
Hope
Mohr
(Ohlone Territory / San Francisco, CA)
Miguel
Gutierrez
(New York, NY /
Los Angeles, CA)
Dominic
Moore-Dunson
(Akron, OH)
Pioneer
Winter
(Miami, FL)
With additional contributions from:
Aaron Mattocks (Acra, NY)
Amara Tabor-Smith (Oakland, CA)
Antonio Ramos (New York, NY / Puerto Rico)
Chelsea Goding-Doty (New York, NY)
Cynthia Oliver (Urbana, IL / New York, NY)
Marýa Wethers (Brooklyn, NY)
Maura Cuffie-Peterson (New York, NY)
Michelle Fletcher (Lenapehoking / Brooklyn, NY)
Miranda Wright (Los Angeles, CA / Ivins, UT)
Nora Alami (Chicago, IL / Brooklyn, NY)
Rosie Herrera (Miami, FL)
ABOUT THE EDITOR
Tonya Lockyer, widely praised as “a key cultural changemaker” (The Seattle Times), is an award-winning artist and cultural strategist. Her work as a groundbreaking artist, arts leader, and curator has been recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts, Arts International, Princeton University, NPR, The Banff Center, Canada Council, TEDx, and the City of Seattle. As an artist and curator, Lockyer has collaborated with some of the most innovative artistic experimentalists of our time. Lockyer was founding co-director of the collective VIA, the transformative director of Seattle’s Velocity Dance Center (2011-2018), and inaugural chair of Seattle’s first arts district. She is an adjunct professor in Arts Leadership (MFA/BA) at Seattle University.
Photo of Tonya Lockyer by Bettina Hansen / The Seattle Times
RELEASE DETAILS
Artists on Creative Administration: A Workbook from the National Center for Choreography
Publication Date: September 24, 2024
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-62922-282-0
Price $40
EPDF ISBN: 978-1-62922-283-7
Price: $39.99
E-Pub ISBN: 978-1-62922-284-4
Price $39.99
Available for pre-order starting July 2, 2024.
Read the full press release. To request a review copy or an interview, contact Mariclare Hulbert, NCCAkron Publicist: mariclare.hulbert [at] gmail [dot] com or 585.278.2302.