How Do the Arts Build Communities?

I visited a class on arts and social change at Roosevelt University taught by visual artist, Maggie Leininger. I gave this presentation about my work for Peoples Housing, where I organized a community arts program that combined culture, training and micro-enterprise.

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"The Artist as Leader" at Links Hall

Join Tom and the folks from the Stockyard Institute for an interactive workshop at Links Hall on Monday, April 7- "The Artist As Leader - A Workshop for Community, Political, and Social Change Agents."

We'll show you why we think artists, cultural workers and creative professionals have what it takes to lead in the public sector. We'll combine presentation and group creative work.

Are You A Creativity Champion?

Does your work, politics or lifestyle cause to study, celebrate, defend, or accelerate creativity? Then you're a creativity champion - and we' love for you to drop by a new blog and introduce yourself!

Tom to Offer Workshop on "Artists As Leaders" at 2008 Performing Arts Convention

Over 5,000 leaders from America's performing arts community will be gathering in Denver this June for the 2008 National Performing Arts Convention. Chorus America, Dance/USA, Early Music America, the League of American Orchestras, OPERA America and the Theatre Communications Group are the principle conveners. Tom will be doing his workshop on Friday, June 13. This workshop lays out the argument for creativity as a national value and makes the case that artists, cultural workers and creative professionals have values and skills desperately needed in public life.

Tom to Offer Workshops at Columbia College Leadership Week

Tom will be creating and facilitating four workshops for the 2008 Leadership Week at Columbia College. Here's the run down:

“Building an Effective Student Organization (that lasts longer than the current academic year)”

This workshop will lay out the fundamentals for building an effective campus organization that will outlast your own participation. Think of it as establishing a new nonprofit organization. Most of the elements that make a nonprofit successful can be applied to your student organization. We’ll look at mission, recruiting, leadership, communication, recruitment, programming and sustainability.

“The Artist as Leader (Yes, You!)”

Did you ever think of yourself as a leader? Would you believe that the very same values and skills that brought you to Columbia College might make you an excellent leader in the public arena? This workshop will lay out the argument for creativity as a national value, as a basis for a new winning politics and – therefore – as the basis for a new definition of leadership.

“Creative Tools for Social Change”

Hip Hop and voter registration. Media hacking and globalization. Street theater and commercialization. Increasingly activists are turning to creative techniques to effect social change. The line between impactful social protest and creative work is becoming blurred. This workshop will introduce you to the work of a group of creative change agents called the Interventionists. Come and meet the Yes Men, Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping, the Billionaires for Bush and the Guerilla Girls!

“Basics of Community Organizing for Artists”

Did you notice the word “Change” plastered all over the place at Columbia? Did you know Chicago is one of the global capitals of community organizing? Community organizing is where citizens band together in the face of powerful opposition to create real change for themselves in their neighborhoods. This workshop will introduce you to the proud tradition of Chicago-style Direct Action Organizing and the work of Saul Alinsky and his successors. We’ll take a special look at how artists can participate in this powerful democratic civic work.

Tom's Class Produces "Instant Exhibit"

My class at the School of the Art Institute, "The Art of Crossing the Street - The Artist as Citizen," produced a one-day exhibit at the Betty Rymer Gallery on Thursday, December 6. The exhibit invited spectators to become artists by marking and decorating boxes arranged in a cityscape. At the end of the exhibit people were invited to take the artwork home, any many did!

Tresser.com Opens Creativity Champion Bookstore

Check out the new Creativity Champion Bookstore at Amazon.com!

Tom Interviewed in F Magazine

The November issue of F Magazine, the student newspaper of the School of the Art Institute, is devoted to "Politics & Art" and features an interview with Tom, "The Artist as Citizen." Download PDF copy.

Join Tom Oct 30 - "Artists as Leaders"

The Center for Teaching Excellence at Columbia College and the Chicago Teaching Artists Collective present..

The Politics of Creativity - Artists and Educators as Leaders

When: 7:00 p.m. on Tues., Oct. 30 Where: C33 Space, Columbuia College, 33 E. Congress, first floor

This event will be free and open to the public. Please RSVP to dgodston@sbcglobal.net.

Do you believe that creativity is a national value? Should creativity be a principle to guide progressive public policy and civic engagement? Do artists and other cultural workers have any special set of values, skills or experience that might make them excellent leaders in the public sector? Do creative professionals have any special civic obligations as citizen-creators? Join us for an evening of conversation around the issues of creativity, power and leadership. The session will be kicked off by Tom Tresser, a long-time cultural activist and educator. If you'd like to read an essay on the subject, go to www.tresser.com/manifesto.html.

Joining Tom will be Susan Eleuterio and Allison Spicer to exchange views. An open dialogue session follows. The event will take place on Tuesday, October 30, from 7:00pm to 9:00pm at the C33 Space (33. E. Congress).The Center for Teaching Excellence supports the continuing efforts of all Columbia faculty members to become more informed, confident, creative, and reflective practitioners of the art of teaching, thereby enhancing the quality of learning for a diverse community of students. Online at http://www.colum.edu/CTE/About/index.php.

The Chicago Teaching Artists Collective is a volunteer-based network of artists from all disciplines working together to build the field of the artist as teacher on local, national, and global levels. The CTAC is equally interested in the material as well as the aesthetic concerns of teaching artists; and living a functional lifestyle as well as pursuing the pedagogical, philosophical, spiritual, and social implications of our work. web site: http://chicagoteachingartist.typepad.com/collective

About the Presenters:

Susan Eleuterio is a folklorist, writer and educator and a volunteer workshop leader for the Neighborhood Writing Alliance. She is an active member of Chicagi Code Pink and NW Indiana Code Pink, which uses theater and other creative arts to organize for peace and other civic engagement.

Allison Spicer is an artist educator. Her research involves evaluation of art organizations, ethics of art non-profits, and the use of art education to build social capital. She worked in the development field for four years, gaining fundraising experience for when she opens her own art education studio. Allison has taught visual arts classes for youth at The British School of Chicago, the Museum of Contemporary Art-Chicago, Ralph J. Bunche Elementary School-Detroit, and Marwen Foundation-Chicago and served as the Coordinator of Studio Programs at Marwen Foundation in Chicago. Her website is http://amspicer.blogspot.com.

Tom Tresser is a consultant, producer, educator and trainer who can help individuals, companies and communities leverage and amplify their creative assets in order to make meaning, solve problems, create economic value and trigger civic engagement. To find out more about Tom, visit www.tresser.com.

Tom Hosts "Innovate Like Edison" Book Launch

At the Catalyst Ranch on Monday, October 29, I was master of Ceremonies at the book launch for Sarah Miller Caldicott, the co-author of "Innovate Like Edison - The Success System of America's Greatest Inventor."

Sarah is Edison's great-grand niece and she has had extensive access to Edison materials to write this fantastic guide book to one of America's greatest innovators. It could be said that Edison invented the modern world. Sarah gave a great presentation and showed us how he did it and how we can unleash our own inner Edison.

Read about the book is USA Today at http://www.usatoday.com/money/books/2007-10-28-innovate-like-edison_N.htm