Springboard for The Arts

Springboard for the Arts is an economic and community development organization for artists and by artists. Our work is about building stronger communities, neighborhoods, and economies, and we believe that artists are an important leverage point in that work. Springboard for the Arts' mission is to cultivate vibrant communities by connecting artists with the skills, information, and services they need to make a living and a life.

Our work is about creating communities and artists that have a reciprocal relationship, where artists are key contributors to community issues and are visible and valued for the impact they create.We do this work by creating simple, practical solutions and systems to support artists. Those programs support our goal to help create a local culture movement.

For an overview of accomplishments from the past year check out our 2011 Annual Report and Year in Review.

Key Principles
Our way of working is as important as what we do. There are 7 Key Principles that drive our work:

1. We view artists as vital contributors to their communities: We believe deeply that economically and creatively productive artists are community assets that build social and economic capital. We also believe that artists make art to communicate, to move, to change, and to build. We believe that ALL artists contribute to community - including artists who work in education or neighborhood programs, and artists who work in a studio.

2. Our programs are delivered by artists to artists: The simple act of naming people as artists and giving them responsibility for programs is an important means of empowerment and building artists' agency. This doesn't mean that all our services are delivered directly by artists - we tend to leave the medical care to doctors, for example. Everyone who works at Springboard is an artist and we all work one-on-one with our clients.

3. Our capacity to build relationships is the basis of our effectiveness: With all our local partners and artists, we seek mutual respect, trust, commitment, and reciprocity. Our programs are customized, not one-way transactions. We don't do anything unless we have a partner share the experience.

4. We emphasize building systems of investment and support: We believe that interdependent networks foster new levels of community impact by artists in ways that single interventions cannot. We are out to change the system for artists and their communities. We want to create new economic models and change the way our culture values art and creativity.

5. We develop cross-sector collaborations: To integrate art work with the whole of people's lives, we break down traditional boundaries between disciplines and professions. We're not interested in keeping art in a silo or making it precious. We help artists leverage existing resources and systems, both because we believe there is great efficiency in using resources that already exist and because it brings artists to the table and connects them with their communities.

6. We operate with a sense of transformational possibility: That sounds fancy but it means fun. All our work is characterized by optimism about the potential contribution of artists to communities, and vice-versa. We are excited by the possibilities and fundamentally believe that change is possible. Artists aren't victims in need of service - they are a powerful, creative force to be mobilized. "Thrilled and daunted" is our favorite phrase at Springboard. We know that in order to engage people, this movement has to be fun.

7. We are non-judgmental about artists' work: We engage with the full spectrum of creative individuals who make art and don't exclude any for artistic reasons. This might be the most important and the most controversial to some people. We believe in the broadest definition of who is an artist. We believe that everyone has creative capacity and that there are many different ways to be an "artist." We know that there are many different definitions of success for an artist and we help artists define success for themselves - financial success, recognition, community support, respect, or social change - those are all equally valid.