North County Arts Network presents Creative Collaboration: Who Do You Want To Do It With?

by Patricia Frischer

Thursday Aug 18 at 5:00 PM

ArtBeat on Main Street (330 Main St, Vista, CA 92084) and Avo Playhouse (303 Main St. Vista, CA 92084) 

This speed dating event was such a great fun and although there were only about 25 present I was still only able to talk to a handful of people. I could have gone on for hours as it was so interesting and rewarding to have one on one conversations with so many diverse and fascinating people.

The three questions we discussed were what makes for a successful collaboration, what are the challenges of a collaboration and what are some of the best practices in this area. After our brainstorming we hear from three experts, Jim Gilliam who spoke about civic collaborations as Art Administrator for the City of Encinitas, Monica Martin of Artsy Girl Studio who spoke of her personal experience with peer collaborations and Carolyn Grant from the Museum of Making Music with wisdom about inter-organizational collaborations.

So here are some of my speed notes from this successful event organized by Carolyn Grant, Maggie Chiaro and Brigid Parsons. from the communication committee NCAN. 

Successful Collaborations are: win win for all participants, have the ability to add value with leveraged follow ups, expand audience participation and engage a large number of people, blur the boundaries between media and mediums, create new experiences, expand relationships, open opportunities for volunteers who participate from a deep connection, take advantage of the best of people.  

Collaborative Challenges are: checking the ego at the door, discovering the strength and weakness and being able to take advantage of the first and avoid the second, being spontaneous and open to new ways of doing things, avoiding formality, discovering Art Moms who let people shine. 

Best Practices in Collaboration are: When there is audience participate and not just audience observation, when you can grow a mailing list form 35 to 17,500 though the use of an events calendar by adding general event to the arts events, when you use a memorandum of understanding to make sure everyone is on the same page, when you do something with a greater impact by collaborating with an organization that connects you to youth who are vulnerable and give them new life skills, when the arts make a project more fun and more rewarding, when you can use social media (facebook, Instagram) for a give away that builds your brand and contact and new technology like Gooten to drop ship your expanded line of customized products.

Because we only had 5 minutes and we were discussing Collaborations as the main topic, I could not possibly track who said what. But below are some of the people I met and who I want to thank for their insight and experience.

Wendy Taylor, San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum in Escondido

Carolyn Thom, Content Subject Resource Teacher, Visual and Performing Arts, Vista Unified School District

Joe McNalley, Artistic Director, Hutchins Consort 

Jennifer Nelson, Jennifer Nelson Law, CA Lawyers for the Arts

Daniel Kays, Avo Playhouse, Managing Director and Producer, Moonlight Presents,City of Vista’s Cultural Arts Department

Sarah Sprinks, American Tattoo

One final note, the next NCAN meeting will be a day trip to Fallbrook on Oct 22 starting at 10 am. Make sure and sign up to join to get on their mailing list and also choose a committee so you can participate more fully. 

The NCAN Visual Arts committee is meeting on Sunday Aug 28 at 2 pm in Cardiff by the Sea and is working on the very special Looking Glass Project. Contact patricia@sdvisualarts.net to find out more and RSVP