When tackling the challenges and questions that face our communities, we can’t get the hard work done alone. In fact, it is imperative that we work together, across sectors, making our ideas and abilities that much more powerful. Intermedia Arts has been pioneering the edge of cross-sector creative community development for almost two decades. We are bringing people together that have a capacity to develop new partnerships and make innovative community work happen. Our particular focus, artists, can play pivotal roles in many ways: beyond the basic roles of producers, presenters, or exhibitors, artists are playing key parts in this work as change-makers, partners and leaders- conveners, connectors, and catalysts for positive change. 

The Creative Community Leadership Institute (CCLI), a program of Intermedia Arts in partnership with the Bush Foundation, is one of only a few programs nationwide to provide comprehensive, professional-level leadership training and support for local community-engaged artists and community developers. Graduating 110 fellows over 10 years from this program, Intermedia Arts has helped to lead the development of the field in our region. This innovative leadership program matches people who work at the intersection of the arts and community development with the tools and experiences to address the issues affecting our communities. Based on the fundamental belief that the future health of communities demands innovative, cross-sector leadership at every level, Intermedia Arts’ Leadership Institute builds a dynamic core of capable leaders and partnerships over an intensive five-month program of hands-on workshops and on-site experiences. The Institute is led by a core faculty of three of the leading thinkers in the field of community cultural development, Bill Cleveland from the Center for the Study of Art and Community, Wendy Morris from the Creative Leadership Studio, and Erik Takeshita, Deputy Director of Twin Cities Local Initiatives Support Corporation. 

This spring, we are taking the Institute on the road for the first time to Fargo-Moorhead in partnership with the Bush Foundation, Plains Art Museum and North Dakota State University Department of Visual Arts. And staying close to home, on December 3, Intermedia Arts will host a cross sector gathering of leaders who are dedicated to the power of the arts to build community, create place and mobilize action in the Twin Cities. Making Maps and Carrying Fire will be a dynamic gathering of leaders addressing the question “How Can we Advance Creative Placemaking in Our Communities?” Attendees will include leaders in the arts, community organizing, education, native sovereignty, public systems, policy, health care, youth development, community and economic development, and housing, as well as past and current fellows of the Institute.

Theresa Sweetland is the Executive/Artistic Director at Intermedia Arts