Arts Extension Service to Celebrate 50th Anniversary on March 28

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Arts Extension Service students

The Arts Extension Service (AES) will celebrate 50 years of public service, education, and action-based research advancing economically, socially, and culturally vibrant communities through arts and culture with a hybrid event on Thursday, March 28, from 3:45-6 p.m. in Old Chapel and on Zoom. Register here by March 14.

The event will feature remarks by Chancellor Javier Reyes, artistry, good food, as well as presentations about AES’s local, regional, and national impacts: preparing generations of arts leaders, supporting regional cultural development, working to address the climate crisis through the Culture for Climate Action initiative, and championing a democratic, inclusive, and effective arts and culture sector.

As a lead-up to the event, AES has released a series of articles celebrating the program's history and future. Each article was written by a collection of past and present AES faculty and staff, Arts Extension Institute Directors, and national community arts leaders. 

  • In Pursuit of a More Perfect Union, by Dorothy Chen-Courtin (AEI board member, Worcester Art Museum Board president). Dorothy documents her conversation with Stan Rosenberg (AEI Board member and former State Senate president) about the founding of the Arts Extension Service.
  • What Goes Around..., by Bill Cleveland (AES instructor, director of the Center for the Study of Art & Community and host of the Change the Story/Change the World podcast). Bill recounts his collaboration with AES for community arts training.
  • State and National Arts Advocacy Methods Incubated at AES, by Robert L. Lynch (AEI board member, former AES Director, and former director and CEO of Americans for the Arts).  Bob recounts AES’s key role nearly 50 years ago in developing statewide arts advocacy strategies, coalitions, and impacts and then taking this passion and experience to Americans for the Arts to achieve national arts advocacy strategies and impacts.
  • Peer Advising Network: Tapping & Building Practitioner-Advisors by Craig Dreeszen, Ph.D. (AEI board member, former AES director, and educator and consultant in arts organization development). Craig chronicles how his personal passion for organizational development and UMass academic expertise combined to create the Peer Advisor Network program. Across the country, AES partnered with arts service agencies to develop networks of experienced arts professionals to advise peers and help strengthen their organizational capacity for success.
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