Open Space Technology – Session 1
Day 3 / Apr, 14 @ 10:15 am
Top Floor : Starlight Room
Introduction to the “Market Place of Ideas” with Bill Cleveland
What is Open Space Technology? Open Space Technology has been defined as:
• a simple, powerful way to catalyze effective working conversations and truly inviting organizations — to thrive in times of swirling change.
• a methodological tool that enables self-organizing groups of all sizes to deal with hugely complex issues in a very short period of time.
• a powerful group process that supports positive transformation in organizations, increases productivity, inspires creative solutions, improves communication and enhances collaboration.
• the most effective process for organizations and communities to identify critical issues, voice to their passions and concerns, learn from each other, and, when appropriate, take collective responsibility for finding solutions.
The goal of an Open Space Technology meeting is to create time and space for people to engage deeply and creatively around issues of concern to them. The agenda is set by people with the power and desire to see it through, and typically, Open Space meetings result in transformative experiences for the individuals and groups involved.
Speaker(s):
Bill Cleveland
Seattle, Washington
William Cleveland is a pioneer in the community arts movement and one of its most poetic documenters. His books Art In Other Places and Making Exact Change and Art and Upheaval: Artists at work on the Worlds Frontlines are considered seminal works in the field of arts-based community development. Activist, teacher, lecturer and musician, he also directs the Center for the Study of Art and Community. Established in 1991, CSA&C works to build new working relationships between the arts and the broader community specializing in the development and assessment of arts-based community partnerships, and training for artists, and their community and institutional partners. The Center works with artists and arts organizations, schools, human service and criminal justice agencies, local and state government and the business and philanthropic organizations. Mr. Cleveland’s 30-year history, producing arts programs in cultural, educational and community also includes his leadership of the Walker Art Center’s Education and Community Programs Department, California’s Arts-In-Corrections Program and the California State Summer School for the Arts. He has also been an Assistant Director of the California Department of Corrections and worked as a youth services counselor and resident artist under the auspices of the Department of Labor’s Comprehensive Employment and Development Program. His most recent book Between Grace and Fear: The Role of the Arts in a Time of Change written with Patricia Shifferd was published in 2010. His new CD, Songlines, based, in part, on stories from Art and Upheaval, was just released.
