The trouble with this question is doubt. You never doubt whether you’re starting your car or if you’re applying the brake to stop at a red light. You never think about it, you just do it.

You also have your anti-leaders. You know, people that challenge leaders, because their favorite past-time is finding mistakes in others. Anti-leaders never lead, and they shy away from honest sincere art. Anti-leaders steal emotional labor or prevent it from taking place.  They undermine, cause conflict, breed contempt, and use information as a tool of destruction, not human connection.

The challenge for the artist is leading and meeting anti-leaders head-on. Dealing with the greedy, the contemptible, and the cut-throats that so many of us work with when we should work against them.

Leaders and artists should develop an infrastructure that protects their mission, furthers their focus, and accomplishes their goals. The anti-leader will be the first to challenge this notion and not offer any advice about fixing the problem they’ve created with your goals.

For all the leaders, artists, activists… I think the better question is. Am I afraid to challenge, outwit, and take-on bullies with art?

In an effort to stage big events that generate a big impact for our community, A.A.C. is proud to present the Milledgeville Artz Benefit Concert. The concert will take place at 8pm Saturday August 18, 2012 at Buffington’s in Milledgeville, GA.

We’ll be featuring three phenomenal acts (details below) and all the proceeds will help support two brand-spanking new Artz programs in Milledgeville, GA.

Program Details

During the summer of 2012, A.A.C. established a partnership with the Milledgeville Housing Authority and Baldwin Family Connection to present Artz Jamz. The program will connect members of Georgia College’s DNSTP Chapter of Art as Agent for Change with local youth from the Baldwin County area in weekend visual arts workshops.

A portion of the proceeds will also help support Baldwin County High School’s Youth Poetry Collective. The team won last year’s Middle Georgia Youth Poetry Slam and is in need of books that will help them better study the art of poetry and build connections between the world of literature and the world in which they live.

The Artz Benefit Concert is all about deepening the impact of our passion to create a better world. Our fundraising goal for the concert is modestly set at $1,000.  We aim to exceed this goal. You can make a donation via paypal here or on the night of the show. Every contribution counts.

Admission: No Cover (Donations Accepted)

Bring extra $$$ for our raffle

Music Starts at 8pm

If you’d like to volunteer for either program, click here

Bandz

The Last Tycoon

Bio:
The Last Tycoon is the new band and musical project by songwriter and guitarist John Gladwin. Recorded in Nashville, Tennessee in the spring of 2009 with producer Tyler Welton, the album blends diverse instrumentation with crafted songwriting for a truly unique sound. The album is filled with haunting images of the American South inside songs that seem to be lost in time. Originally from rural Arkansas, he learned how to play music in the honky-tonks and churches that lie along the Arkansas River. At eighteen, he moved to Nashville, Tennessee where he played in clubs and concert halls while exploring the history of American roots and country music. John has toured across North America and Europe both with the band and as a solo artist. He recently moved to Stockholm, Sweden and is hitting the road across Europe in support of The Last Tycoon.

Kyshona Armstrong

With her roots in South Carolina and her feet grounded in Athens, GA, Kyshona Armstrong has set off on the road of full time touring artist this past year. Independently releasing her third Album, Home Again, Kyshona has armed herself with guitar and bags to play anywhere from the bayous of Louisiana to the Minnesota Red River Valley.

“Her voice is clear and hefty, carrying a weight of fortitude that smacks through the psyche and into the gut, filling the belly with a soul-stirring resonance.”-Flagpole Magazine.

“…soul-stirring, hand-clapping and foot-stomping music is what Kyshona Armstrong gives the crowd”- Brittney Holmes, Red and Black Magazine

“Heavily influenced by the blend of bluegrass, folk, gospel and country music that played in her home as a child, Armstrong’s songwriting meshes harmonies and melodies across musical borders, unafraid to abandon conventional styles for the sake of an individualized creative process.” – Anna F. Hall, Music Journalist

Mayview Road

Click the Photo for a preview

Bio

Getting its name from the road in Sandersville, GA, Mayview Road is a gathering “place” – for musicians, songwriters, friends, and genuine folks who all share a love of good music. “We’re just improvisin’…” The band is comprised of long time A.A.C. supporters Ed and  Tori Averett along with their assembly of great musical talent.

Come out and support the Artz in Milledgeville August 18th 2012 at Buffington’s in Milledgeville, GA. See our Calendar for all the details.

When beginning the artist journey to forge human connections that make a difference in our world, identifying your fans, friends, and folks is just as important as developing a remarkable mission. Classifying the types of people that support your mission will enable you to better manage your human resources. It’s important to note that these categories aren’t mutually exclusive and some people will either be a friend, fan, or folk on a varying basis.

Fans

Fans are supporters who attend events and support your cause occasionally. Fans generate a buzz about your cause and can make your organization a household name. This category usually encompasses the vast majority of people who support your endeavors and they are an extremely valuable portion part of your base. Without fans your volunteer projects, special events, and fundraisers would fall flat on their face. Fans also tell their friends about your cause and generate leads back to your organization. Building a fan base is an important part of generating awareness and an impact with your endeavors.

Friends

Your friends are the people who support your cause, make donations, may attend events, and they’ll tell others about what you do. These folks won’t come to every meeting and they won’t be at every rally, but they’ll support you and your cause when they have time and can make a commitment to help. This group is small than your fan base but includes local businesses, good politicians, university professors, other organizers, and people with resources that you may need to deepen the impact of your programming. Having lots of good friends is essential to the effectiveness of any grassroots movement.

Folks

This is a small and highly specialized group of individuals that support your cause. These people usually make up the staff of your organization. This group represents the adamant supporters who champion the mission of your organization no matter where they go. Use this group wisely.  Their talents vary and organizing this group into a lean-mean-mission-fulfilling-machine can be challenge. A good leader will meet the challenge of getting this group headed in the right direction.   A great leader gets this group moving  and then gets out of their way, so everyone can work towards the greater good.

Caveat

Some people will remain within the confines one of these groups, other people won’t. It’s important to note, life is a cross-section of many experiences and human beings are inconsistent little buggers, but your movement,  your fans, your friends, and your folks are inspired by your consistency.

A. Friend for Change
B. Volunteer for Change
C. Advocate for Change
D. Agent for Change

I’ve worked with plenty of artists who use their talents for the good of the community, and I’ve founded a nonprofit organization that’s sole purpose is helping arts-activists build more effective programming. I’m sure this list is longer, and maybe, I left something out, but I want to share a few of the procedures I live by when using my art for truth, justice, and the Art-Activist’s way.

1. Broadcast Yourself.

The important part of being an artist is telling the story of your painting, your song, your mural, your sculpture, and your efforts. It’s cool to help, volunteer, serve, sacrifice, and make a difference. Your difference is then magnified exponentially when you’re willing to tell your story and build connections with anyone searching for an the inspirations, idea, or model to build a sustainable impact in their community

2. We’ve been conditioned to be factory workers. Innovate.

Our imaginations are the most active when we are younger, and the older we get, the more we’ve been conditioned to settle for safe, secure, fast, cheap, easy, and greasy. Our art, or our best art, isn’t the product of an assembly line or cheap, easy labor. It sparks from the desire to innovate and create new, amazing, unexpected, remarkable, significant, Art. Innovation isn’t about reinventing the wheel. It’s making the wheel better, brighter, less rubbery, filled with plants, or recyclable.

3. Use your brilliance wisely.

Being brilliant is hard work. If it weren’t, brilliance wouldn’t be held in such high regard, it would be mundane. Likewise, being brilliant every day is exhausting. Intentionally pick the day you will unveil your masterpiece and deepen the impact of the unveiling by broadcasting the story.

4. Organize.

Organization isn’t a prerequisite for art, but it is essential to deepening the impact of Art that aims at the social uplift of our communities. The secret to organizing anything is making sure the components of the project, team, committee, cabal, or task force has a place and a role in the project outcome. If it’s not essential, remove it. If it’s essential, connect it to the bigger picture. If you don’t have a big picture to connect all your dots, draw one. And if you can’t, find someone who can.

5. Learn everything you can about marketing.

Marketing is the key to amplifying every aspect of your story as an artist. I read this and I attend lots of webinars from these guys. Search the internetz and become an expert or generalist.

6. Find the 10 people that like you and your cause.

Often, we spend too much time with the people that don’t like us. We focus on the people who will never like what we do and how we do it, so the people who do like us never receive an invite or better art because we’re caught in gaining the attention of an outlier. The 10 people who like you will tell their friends. The people who don’t won’t tell anyone. Focus on your friends, fans, and folks. Don’t market to your enemies. They don’t like you now, don’t waste your time trying to make them like you.

7. Don’t work on an island.

Too often, artists-activists work alone on projects and are too busy or stretched too thin to build relationships with other folks with talents and skills who share the same passion. Identifying the friends, fans, and folks who support your cause is essential to effectively using your passion to create an impact in your community. For instance, you may have a friend who likes writing. They can create a blog for your cause. You may have a fan who owns an art gallery. One of your folks maybe a musician who wants to help you fundraise. You never know how a supporter can help. Don’t be afraid to ask and never work alone on a project. If you have to work alone to start things off, that’s understandable, but work towards working with others.

8. Evaluate your progress.

If you don’t evaluate your progress you’ll never recognize your growth, your talents, or see the big picture or reality of what your  passion for the arts can create. Ignorance is not bliss for the artist with the betterment of the entire world at stake. We use a personally tailored version of these evaluations.

9. Set and track your goals.

Set your goals and meet them head on. Evaluations and tracking are pretty much married. Don’t divorce the two. Goals are important because they create clear targets for your art. Without a clear target, you might as well create brilliant art climb to the tallest building and let it fly. Where it lands, nobody cares, but if you have somewhere for your art to do what it’s intended to do, make sure you set a goal of getting it there.

10. Learn about the people you’re trying to serve.

Oftentimes we try to serve groups we know nothing about. For instance venturing into the inner-city and endeavoring to save the community, but knowing nothing about the history and reality of the people you are trying to serve. Learning about the people you aim to support. This will help you create art and activism that means the most to the people that it helps the most.

11. Don’t wait for permission.

If I were waiting for someone else to ok my founding of Art as an Agent for Change, Inc., I’d still be at the drawing board, waiting. As Dr. Martin Luther King said, Oftentimes, “wait,” means never.  Take the initiative and build your vision for a better world with the friends, fans, and folks who are near and dear to you.

12. Always Shut-it-Down!

You asked us to hold a sign that you painted. You asked us to recite a poem on a soap box in a public area, you asked us to help you register voters, and you asked us to help you create a mural. Alongside you, we did something to make a difference. And whenever you do something to make a difference, remember, it is your act of expression that will begin the end of oppression and isms that disjoint world. Always do your best, no matter what it is you are doing, always Shut-it-Down!

Please, Comment, Share, Like, Subscribe, GoodSearch, or Donate. Everything you do counts.

By Paul Ayo