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Announcing the New Cohort of Creative Community Fellows
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 1, 2015 – Alexandria, VA – National Arts Strategies welcomes 50 cultural entrepreneurs into the Creative Community Fellows program. This group of international Fellows uses arts and culture to drive transformations in their communities. Their work helps to build arts vocational skills for adults on the autism spectrum. It also ignites change in pedestrian behavior and reduces vehicular accidents through the creation of a card game.
With the support of The Kresge Foundation and now in its second year, this program grew out of our exploration of the role of art in civil society and the importance of community in the sustainability of the cultural sector. This program provides leaders working in the community sphere the tools, training and access to a network of support to help drive their projects forward. Working with National Arts Strategies and each other for the next nine months, Fellows study their communities in-depth, learn the importance of partnerships and craft ways to make their projects sustainable.
“We are thrilled to announce this vibrant and diverse cohort of leaders to the world. Our entire team was overwhelmed by the strength of the applicant pool. In our interview process, Fellows impressed us by articulating their dedication not only to their individual projects, but also to advancing the field as a whole,” says Creative Community Fellows program director, Sunny Widmann.
We received nearly 200 applications from 34 states and 7 different countries. We were amazedby the passion of the applicants and we know they are going to play a part in changing this world. Each Fellow enters the program with a community-centered project. The program curriculum is led by experts and world-renowned thought leaders in social innovation, design thinking, strategy and community development. Each month, Fellows will share project updates through the Creative Community Blog. NAS will share tools and resources from the program for anyone to use and share. We aim to build and support a community of cultural entrepreneurs throughout the field, creating a network in which ideas and opportunities flow freely.
  
Chad Bradford, Little Rock, Arkansas   

This program is the result of the incredible collaboration and support of The Kresge
Foundation, University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy & Practice and The
Center for Social Impact Strategy, ArtPlace America and RocketHub.
About National Arts Strategies
National Arts Strategies works with faculty from leading universities in the country to develop leadership programs for leaders and organizations across the arts and culture sector. This investment in leadership capacity has produced the sector’s most diverse leadership community of alumni and faculty. It has also generated changes in the language and core management frameworks used by grantee organizations, partnerships to advance the full range of educational services available to the field and policy discussions with leading grantmakers to enhance field capacity building. www.artstrategies.org
CONTACT: Taylor Craig Program Coordinator 571-482-5789 x28 tcraig@artstrategies.org
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