Building Community: Making Space for Art

Examines the role of the arts in communities; artists working in community development, education, health, or environmental fields; and contemporary art spaces in community planning and revitalization strategies

Healthy Organizations and the Link to Peaceful Societies: Strategies for Implementing Organizational Change

When designing and implementing an organizational change process, we are intentionally and oftentimes significantly impacting the lives of the human beings who make up the organization. Individuals who work in organizations spend a majority of their time, usually at least five days each week, in an organizational setting or framework. If the organization is structured in a way that recognizes the needs of the employees; has a code of behavior—oftentimes referred to as the organizational values— that is civil and caring; uses the code of behavior to give developmental feedback to employees; and, creates opportunities for a variety of networks between people, the environment is very likely to be conducive for things such as positive conflict resolution and healthy organizational growth. If people are expected to behave respectfully and in a civil fashion, and if the organization intentionally promotes such behavior, the continuous, daily reinforcement of “a respectful way of working together” will often spill out into behavior outside of the organization. If we hope to change the world, it means we have to consider how to positively impact the thinking and the behavior of people at all ages. Families, schools, religious organizations, social groups and business organizations all have the potential of contributing to a more peaceful society by creating “rules of the game” that require respectful, civil and peaceful behaviors of their members.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/39921/3/wp536.pd

Improving the effectiveness of feedback by use of assessed reflections and withholding of grades

We wished to improve levels of student engagement with feedback within the context of our postgraduate masters-level programme, and therefore evaluated the use of two interventions: assessed reflections on feedback and grade-withholding. In questionnaires students reported more engagement with feedback after the interventions, with 77% in favour of using reflections, though only 57% favoured grade-withholding, with feelings of frustration and anxiety about the grade cited as factors. Overall class grades improved over the two years in which reflections were used, with the greatest gains made by students generating the most insightful reflections. Additional gains in the second year of intervention may have been attributable to improved implementation or the introduction of grade-withholding, or a combination of both. Overall we demonstrated clear improvement in feedback utilisation and achievement associated with our interventions

Measuring cultural vitality in communities

Until recently, arts and culture data collected as part of urban revitalization planning focused on large institutions. The Urban Institute’s Arts and Culture Indicators Project provides a richer understanding of communities’ cultural strength and how it can boost economic development.Community arts projects

Healthy Organizations and the Link to Peaceful Societies: Strategies for Implementing Organizational Change

When designing and implementing an organizational change process, we are intentionally and oftentimes significantly impacting the lives of the human beings who make up the organization. Individuals who work in organizations spend a majority of their time, usually at least five days each week, in an organizational setting or framework. If the organization is structured in a way that recognizes the needs of the employees; has a code of behavior—oftentimes referred to as the organizational values— that is civil and caring; uses the code of behavior to give developmental feedback to employees; and, creates opportunities for a variety of networks between people, the environment is very likely to be conducive for things such as positive conflict resolution and healthy organizational growth. If people are expected to behave respectfully and in a civil fashion, and if the organization intentionally promotes such behavior, the continuous, daily reinforcement of “a respectful way of working together” will often spill out into behavior outside of the organization. If we hope to change the world, it means we have to consider how to positively impact the thinking and the behavior of people at all ages. Families, schools, religious organizations, social groups and business organizations all have the potential of contributing to a more peaceful society by creating “rules of the game” that require respectful, civil and peaceful behaviors of their members.organizational behavior, leadership, leadership development, management, human resources, organizational development, change, values

Artist Space Development: Making the Case

Based on case studies, discusses the challenges advocates of artist space development face, the arguments they make to garner support, the strategic approaches they take, and what they achieve in making artist space a priority in community development

Cultural Vitality in Communities: Interpretation and Indicators

This report introduces a definition of cultural vitality that includes the range of cultural activity people around the country find significant. We use this definition as a lens to clarify our understanding of data necessary, as well as the more limited data currently available, to document arts and culture in communities in a consistent, recurrent and reliable manner. Specifically, we define cultural vitality as evidence of creating, disseminating, validating, and supporting arts and culture as a dimension of everyday life in communities. We develop and recommend an initial set of arts and culture indicators derived from nationally available data, and compare selected metropolitan areas based on these measures. Policy and planning implications for use of the cultural vitality definition and related measures are discussed

Culture and Commerce

Illustrates the possibilities and challenges of making partnerships between economic development agencies and traditional arts organizations work. Examines the outcome of eight collaborations that were formed as part of a partnership funding initiative

An observation on the bias in clinic-based estimates of malnutrition rates

Clinic-based data on malnutrition are the most readily available for following malnutrition levels and trends in most countries, but there is a bias inherent in clinic-based estimates of malnutrition rates. The authors compare annual clinic-based malnutrition data and those from four household surveys in Jamaica. The clinic data give lower estimates of malnutrition than the survey data in all four cases - significantly so in three. The size of the bias was variable over time, so the clinic data were not a good indicator of either levels of trends in nutrition status.Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Early Child and Children's Health,Early Childhood Development,Health Systems Development&Reform,Regional Rural Development

Community Partnerships for Cultural Participation: Concepts, Prospects, and Challenges

Evaluates the first year of the Wallace Foundation's Community Partnerships for Cultural Participation Initiative, which funded nine community foundations working to increase participation in the arts and culture in their communities