Building Organizational Capacity

Rural Arts Program
Information, Research, and Networking

The Annual Rurals Gathering

The Annual Rurals Gathering at the Alliance conference is an extremely useful opportunity to pull all the Rural Partners together to share information, discuss issues, and plan future services that will help them in their work.

Research, information and publications on issues affecting rural cultural organizations

The changing demographics of upstate New York, effective tools for organizational stability and growth, steps in strategic planning, and fundraising that works in rural areas are all recent researched topics.

Online information

Researched information and publications are shared through the Alliance website. The Rural Arts Network (RAN listserv) and a monthly Rurals column in the Member Memo. The RAN listserv is a discreet network for use by the Rural Partners. They use it to raise questions and glean answers from their peers, and the Alliance uses it to share information of interest to rural cultural organizations.

Support for regional cultural networking and programs

In the early days of the Rural Arts Program, a number of the Rural Partners in central and western New York expressed an interest in holding regional meetings to share information and network, discuss common issues and build advocacy skills. The Alliance Rural Arts Program responded to these requests; from 1995 through 1998, the Central & Western NY Rural Arts Coalition met three times each year. At that time, many of the participants were new to the field and their jobs, and found the meetings comfortable forums to express concerns, network and explore issues. Some of the topics covered during these meetings were: membership development, newsletters, rural strengths and challenges, marketing and cultural tourism. As the new directors became more proficient and their job demands increased, the need for these meetings disappeared.

ARTSNorth is a second rural regional coalition that developed through a common interest in marketing the arts in the Adirondack/North Country region. One Rural Partner initiated the effort; as the lead agency, Arts Council for the Northern Adirondacks secured funding for regional promotion of the arts through the New York State Council on the Arts and developed a working collaboration with the Adirondack North Country Association, a regional economic development agency and the "I Love NY" program to centralize cultural resource and calendar information. The Alliance Rurals Program assists with organizing the ARTSNorth meetings, which also function as networking sessions for the Rural Partners in the region.

Regional networks are informed and designed from the ground up to meet the networking needs of Rural Partners in specific geographic areas of the state. It is the Alliance Rural Arts Program's role to assist with their networking needs, rather than to drive regional meetings.

The Alliance of New York State Arts Organizations has a long history as New York's primary service association for community based arts and cultural organizations. The Alliance provides leadership and vision, and delivers services, resources and tools that strengthen community cultural organizations. The Alliance monitors, informs and mobilizes the field on statewide and national issues affecting the arts and assists local arts agencies in building community support and developing effective grassroots public policy.ing community support and developing effective grassroots public policy.

245 Love Lane, P.O. Box 96
Mattituck, NY 11952-0096
Phone (631) 298-1234 / Fax (631) 298-1101