*Peer Support Calls will be “sunsetting” on Thursday July 9th. They will “sunrise” again in the late summer/early fall – stay tuned!*
During the time of the COVID-19 Crisis, RISCA will be hosting drop-in Zoom calls for arts and culture organizations and their staff. Scheduled for an hour, you can join for just a few minutes, or for the entirety of the call. To call-in via Zoom, see credentials below – no need to RSVP. This page will be updated with the call schedule regularly.
Facilitated or co-facilitated by Organizations Program Director Todd Trebour, we will have two types of sessions:
- Free-form: you can share with fellow Rhode Island arts and culture organization staff how you are doing, what struggles you are having, what information you need, or what resources you have discovered. In turn, you can hold space for others, provide support, listen, and learn.
- Topic-focused: while you can still share how you are doing, these calls will have a particular topic focus, e.g. fundraising in time of COVID-19, employment issues, etc., and will often have a co-facilitator.
In addition to being a form of peer support, these calls will inform RISCA staff as to how they can best support your arts and culture organizations at this difficult and uncertain time.
Interested in co-facilitating a call? Email Todd Trebour at todd.trebour@arts.ri.gov.
Call Schedule
- Wednesday, March 18th 9:30 – 10:30 AM: Free-form.
- Thursday, March 19th 12:00 – 1:00 PM: Free-form.
- Tuesday, March 24th, 9:00 – 10:00 AM: COVID-19 and School Programs. With Maggie Anderson, RISCA’s Arts in Education Director. In addition to co-facilitating, Maggie will provide an update on K-12 schools and COVID-19’s impact.
- Thursday, March 26th, 12:00 – 1:00 PM: Communicating the Value of Arts and Culture during COVID-19. With Mollie Flanagan, RISCA’s Individual Artists Program Director. As part of this, we will also share where things are at with federal level advocacy and where to turn for resources to know more.
- Thursday, April 2nd, 12:00 – 1:00 PM. Livestreaming Performances and Concerts. With Max Ponticelli, General Manager at Wilbury Theatre Group and Lecturer in Theatre at URI. Max will talk about what kinds of livestreaming are happening and the different technical options and considerations. We will then have an open discussion and brainstorm ways Rhode Island organizations might effectively implement livestreaming during the time of COVID-19 and beyond.
- Friday, April 3rd, 12:00 – 1:00 PM. Fundraising During the COVID-19 Pandemic. With Community MusicWorks. Geared towards people working in development (as either staff or board members). We will have an open discussion about the various strategies and messages arts and culture organizations are using in this time of crisis, and how they are effectively and honestly pivoting current campaigns.
- Wednesday, April 8th, 10:00 AM – 11:00. What is Happening in the School and Art Education Space? With Maggie Anderson, RISCA’s Arts in Education Director. In addition to co-facilitating, Maggie will provide an update on the latest from RIDE, K-12 schools, COVID-19’s impact, and distance learning.
- Friday, April 10th, 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM. Our Season Ended Early – Now What? Co-facilitated with Michelle Cruz, Trinity Repertory Company. This will be an open conversation about what people did to end their season early, how they communicated it, and how they are going about thinking about next season (in this moment).
- Thursday, April 16th, 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM. Adapting Arts Programs to Virtual Platforms – What Are We Learning? Co-facilitator TBD. This will be an open conversation. What is working and not working about moving your programming into virtual platforms?
- Friday, April 17th, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM. What’s Your Experience Been with SBA Programs? With Mollie Flanagan, RISCA’s Individual Artists Program Director – other co-facilitator/s TBD. Share your experiences accessing the various federal aid programs (e.g. PPP, etc.), compare notes, and ask questions!
- Thursday, April 23rd, 11 AM – 12:15 PM. Planning for Small Nonprofit Organizations During COVID-19. This is NOT a Peer Support Call, but a webinar RISCA is hosting in partnership with Grantmakers Council of Rhode Island and Rhode Island Foundation (RIF). This webinar will offer guidance for small and grassroots organizations who were ready to embark on strategic planning before the COVID-19 crisis. Presented by Dr. Jill Pfitzenmayer, Vice President of Capacity Building at RIF. For more information or to register, click here.
- Friday, April 24th, 12 – 1 PM. Fundraising Check-In: How Is It Going? Or Not Going? This will be an open conversation where we will discuss what is working and not working for arts and culture nonprofits – and what you are learning right now that you can share with one another.
- Tuesday, April 28th, 12 – 1 PM. Arts and Social Distancing: A Return to Normal. Facilitated by Randall Rosenbaum, RISCA, and Stephanie Fortunato, City of Providence Dept. of Art, Culture + Tourism. This will be an open conversation to share what thoughts or questions you are having about re-opening, and developing and implementing plans for long-term social distancing. We will share what information we have and thinking through things collectively. This call will have different call will use different call-in credentials – you can see those credentials here.
- Thursday, April 30th, 10:30 – 11:30 AM. Equity and Access in Virtual Arts Programming. An open conversation facilitated by k. funmilayo aileru, AS220. What does equity and access look like in the new world of virtual and digital spaces? What assumptions are we making about access? What barriers – and supports to overcome those barriers – do we need to consider in creating programs that meet our community’s needs?
- Wednesday, May 6th, 10:30 AM – 11:30. Organizations Working in the Art in Education Space – How Are You Doing? With Maggie Anderson, RISCA’s Arts in Education Director. On the first half of the call, Maggie will provide an update on the latest from RIDE, K-12 schools, and what is happening nationally/at the federal level that you all should be aware of. The remainder of the hour will be a free-form check-in.
- Friday, May 8th, 10 AM – 12 PM. Development Director/Staff Spring VIRTUAL Get-Together. Join RISCA and Providence Public Library (PPL) for a gathering of Development Directors (or 1-2 staff/board members working on development) at arts and culture organizations! Co-hosted by the PPL’s Erica Busillo Adams and RISCA’s Todd Trebour, this virtual gathering will be via Zoom, and will use the “breakout” rooms feature to allow for smaller topic oriented conversations among alike organizations. Erica and Todd have planned a fun, super dynamic session. Max 2 attendees per organization – please RSVP here and note the different Zoom credentials. We have scheduled this until noon, but if you need to leave early, no worries!
- Wednesday, May 13th, 12:00 – 1:00 PM. Arts and Social Distancing: Reopening Cultural Spaces. Facilitated by Randall Rosenbaum, RISCA, and Stephanie Fortunato, City of Providence Dept. of Art, Culture + Tourism (ACT). Based on our April 28th conversation, ACT developed the RI Arts and Culture Re-emergence Self-Assessment Tool. We will review one section of the plan entitled “Cultural Spaces”. This will be geared toward Phase III and beyond Reopening RI, geared toward creating long-term safety plans for your facility that will allow for adapted use and operations. You will need to RSVP for this session here – call-in credentials are also included.
- Thursday, May 21st, 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM. Organizations Working in the Art in Education Space – Learn About RIDE’s Model for Summer Programs. With Maggie Anderson, RISCA’s Arts in Education Director, and Stephen Osborn, Chief for Innovation at the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE). Stephen will present the model for RIDE summer programs, both limited in-person and digital, and will answer any questions.
- Wednesday, June 3rd, 12:00 – 1:00 PM. Reopening RI for the Arts: Workplace Safety. Facilitated by Randall Rosenbaum, RISCA, and Stephanie Fortunato, City of Providence Dept. of Art, Culture + Tourism (ACT); with special guest Chris Simonelli of Troop PVD. Note: this call has different call-in credentials. Click here for call-in credentials and more details on the Reopening RI for the Arts calls.
- Thursday, June 4th, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM. Preparing for the ‘New Better’: Radical Collaboration – What Does That Look Like? Facilitated by Todd Trebour, with Nancy Wolanski from Grantmakers’ Council of Rhode Island. Many organizations might disappear due to COVID-19 – how could organizations collaborate NOW – how do we pool resources to work together and support those we used to work with? What infrastructure and resources would be required? What changes in values, mindset, and policy would need to be in place?
- Monday, June 8th, 10:00 – 11:00 AM. Organizations Working in the Art in Education Space: Walking Through the RIDE Summer Learning Application. With Stephen Osborn, Chief for Innovation at the Rhode Island Department of Education, and Maggie Anderson, RISCA’s Arts in Education Director. Stephen will walk us through the RIDE Summer Learning Opportunity Application and answer any questions we have. Note: this call has different call-in credentials. Click here for this call’s credentials.
- Wednesday, June 10th, 12:00 – 1:00 PM. The Reopening Process for the RI Arts and Culture Community Facilitated by Randall Rosenbaum, RISCA, and Stephanie Fortunato, City of Providence Dept. of Art, Culture + Tourism (ACT); with special guest Ben Mays, Policy Advisor at the RI Executive Office of Commerce. Note: this call has different call-in credentials. Click here for call-in credentials and more details on the Reopening RI for the Arts calls.
- *NEW TIME* Thursday, June 11th, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM. Preparing for The ‘New Better’: Dismantling How Philanthropy is Done. Facilitated by Todd Trebour, with Nancy Wolanski from Grantmakers’ Council of Rhode Island. What do we need to survive and thrive together? How do we change the capitalist value of philanthropy while we engage with it? What infrastructure and resources would be required? What changes in values, mindset, and policy would need to be in place?
- Thursday, July 9th, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM. Preparing for The ‘New Better’: Redefining the Value of Arts and Culture. Facilitated by Todd Trebour, co-facilitator TBD. Many of us feel we are always arguing for the value of arts and culture on someone else’s terms and/or in someone else’s language. What are narratives you feel pigeon-holed into when you talk about why arts and culture are important? And what are other narratives we need to amplify? And who needs to hear them and how? This call might have some suggested light “pre-reading” – stay tuned!
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