Evrim Demir Mishchenko

Community Arts Center Handbook Evrim Demir Mishchenko

The Community Arts Center Handbook is a collection of illustrated methods toaid arts organizations at various stages of the planning and design process. Setting up a new arts council or improving an existing requires a visioning processthat offers community participants opportunities to make their arts concernsknown, as well as planned actions to achieve desired outcomes. The effectivenessof an organization depends upon a relationship to its constituents, who may be actual members or the broader public. The transparency of thecouncils' goals can influence the way that media is used to keep the communityinformed. Consequently, a well-planned communications program deliversinformation translated into the language of the audience. Assessing communityassets through workshops and surveys of arts activities provides the basis foridentifying facility space requirements-and such requirements determine thesuitability of existing facilities for use as an arts center. Arts groups sometimesembark on a building program without knowing where to begin and who shouldbe involved. It is also evident that each arts group differs in its organization, scope and community support, yet most are similar in their lack of funds anddispersal of activities and locations. Arts groups using this guide will find thatthey will become better informed about planning, design and management andare better positioned to identify appropriate professionals to implement theirideas. The illustrations in this book represent Henry Sanoff's involvement in projectsin Australia, Japan and the United States. Other contributors includeGraham Adams, Kofi Boone, Lucy Davis, Matt Devine, Marilia Do-Val, Neil Goldberg, Jeffrey Levine, Ann McAllum, Evrim Demir Mishchenko, Rory O'Moore, Sergio Ortiz, Ryoko Sato, and Nadya Snigiryova, Additional support came from an earlier grant (1982-1983) from the NationalEndowment of the Arts Design Arts Program and the North CarolinaArts Council for the publication of an Arts Center Workb