A Core Value: Lifelong Learning in the Arts

 

Creating a website can be challenging for a lot of reasons.  I really like words -- talking and writing -- so I found it especially daunting to distill the work I do for my clients into bite-sized chunks of copy optimized for mobile!  But an unexpected and welcome result of paring down my language was that I was able to see more clearly how the projects I manage add up to a big picture that expresses my core value of lifelong learning in the arts.

I’ve been a student of the arts since as long as I can remember.  I was lucky to go to an elementary school where the principal herself was the music teacher.  She made sure we had regular opportunities to sing, and personally played the piano in our holiday performances.  The high school I attended had a required ‘Aesthetics of Art and Music’ class for freshmen, which sounds incredibly old-fashioned, but has actually proven foundational to my success as an artist and arts manager.  These and many, many other arts learning experiences in my schooling nurtured me as an arts practitioner, arts appreciator and, ultimately, arts professional.

Even now, I’m constantly engaged in arts learning.  The internet is a goldmine for autodidacts like myself, and a quick search of my browsing history over the last few months reminds me that I’ve been learning new singing techniques, analyzing songwriting approaches, learning ukulele chords for my favorite songs, brushing up on my music theory, trying to understand color theory, getting tips for wet on wet watercolor and gouache applications, exploring creative writing prompts and more.  Even cooking, which I definitely consider an art, is an opportunity for arts learning in my daily life these days. Although I sometimes wonder if my freely roaming creative curiosity looks like mere dabbling to others, in my heart, I know it’s how I keep myself connected to this core value I hold so dear.

Beyond my continual and joyful practice of learning art by making it whenever and however I can, I’m also always on the lookout for professional development opportunities that advance arts learning for myself and others.  In the last year or so, I’ve been researching programs that address how the arts can be integrated into and support our shared public life in a variety of ways. These programs run the gamut of traditional academic MFA programs, ‘a la carte’ graduate level courses, fellowships, trainings, and annual conferences.  Below are some of the programs that I find particularly inspiring. I’d love to hear from readers if there are other programs along these lines that I should add to this list, so please feel free to be in touch with your ideas!

 
Susan Oetgen