Photo by Kevin Fitzsimons

Arts policy program breaks new academic ground

Ohio State's Arts Policy and Administration Program (APA-OSU) perches at the point between the arts and the social sciences. It's a program about politics, but not necessarily for politicians. It's a program about the arts, but not necessarily for artists.

"I tell my students, 'The jobs you want aren't invented yet, but they are evolving,'" said Margaret Wyszomirski, director of APA-OSU and professor of art education and public policy management.

Ohio State's program was one of the first of its kind in the country when it was implemented in autumn 1995. Wyszomirski said other universities have programs with similar goals, but different organizational approaches.

"The field is at a point right now where it's experimenting with different models," she said."It may be there is no one model." Some arts administration programs are housed within business colleges, others within economics departments. Ohio State's program is administered through the Department of Art Education within the College of the Arts and works in collaboration with the School of Public Policy and Management.

The program's curriculum has three tracks: public policy and the arts and culture; arts management; and arts education policy and program management. Students can earn either master's or doctoral degrees, drawing their coursework from departments across the University.

Ohio State had the right combination of factors to make this kind of academic program possible, Wyszomirski said, noting the University's nationally ranked Department of Art Education, the School of Public Policy and Management, and the John Glenn Institute for Public Service and Public Policy.

She also welcomes the Columbus presence of the Ohio Arts Council."We have the opportunity to work closely with a state arts council that operates on the leading edge of public art management in the country," she said.

Being located in the Midwest is no longer a handicap, thanks to technology. "You couldn't have done this kind of program 10, 20 years ago," Wyszomirski said.

"But today, we're basically an hour out of airports in Boston, Chicago and New York. And with the Internet, even closer. We can be just as connected."

Culture and creativity

The analytical and problem-solving skills combined with a solid grounding in arts concepts that APA-OSU is working to instill in its students fit the needs of today's cultural environment.

"A lot of our graduates will be able to help practitioners become more aware of strategic thinking. They'll be able to cut through a problem and deconstruct it to determine what is feasible," Wyszomirski said.

Research skills are becoming more important in the arts, she said. Organizations are increasingly being expected to quantify their effectiveness by analyzing questions such as who benefits from their programs, how much they cost, which programs are working and which programs aren't. Local and national organizations need to be able to prove their worthiness as they compete for limited funding dollars.

APA-OSU addresses the fact that the creation, display or sale of art does not occur in a vacuum."Creativity will be one of the primary resources in the 21st century. There are many policies that affect those resources, from education to trade to tax," Wyszomirski said. That intersection of law and art takes place, for example, when contributions to arts organizations are regulated by tax policies or when primary and secondary school art curricula are expanded or reduced by state-mandated requirements.

Changing media outlets, demographic shifts and immigration trends factor into the ever-evolving arts landscape. Graduates of the program may find themselves in the thick of debates about the legalities of downloading music off the Internet, the ethics of returning artwork stolen during World War II, or controversies surrounding the censorship of art exhibits.

Global climate

Today's global climate also raises a bevy of issues related to the arts. APA-OSU addressed that issue with the 2000 Barnett Arts and Public Policy Symposium, held in Columbus May 5-6. The symposium was based on the theme "Going Global: Negotiating the Maze of Cultural Interactions."

"What we've been trying to do with the conferences is catch issues as they are emerging and see what we can do to open them up," Wyszomirski said. APA-OSU sponsors symposiums bi-annually.

For this year's conference, guests and speakers included individuals from eight countries, examining topics such as how global agreements impact cultural policies and how to use cultural tourism to attract international audiences.

"Because of the Barnett Symposium, we developed a course on globalization in the arts," Wyszomirski said."I don't believe that's something anyone else has done yet."

She likens the climate for the arts policy field today to that of environmental policy 30 years ago, when the myriad issues centering on the environment began to be grouped and examined as interlocking aspects of the same problem.

"Not only are we a nascent field drawing from different disciplines but we are also a field where the concepts are still emerging," she said.

APA-OSU has 32 students, with the number of applicants growing every year. Graduates so far have gone into administrative positions with a symphony orchestra, an alternative performance space and local arts agencies.

Several current students have interests in cultural tourism and international arts exchanges.

The chance to forge into new territory is one reason Wyszomirski believes students and scholars are attracted to APA-OSU.

"I think for a lot of students it's really attractive to get into a field where -- if they really do a good job on their thesis -- they can not only say something new and make an original contribution to research, they also can have a good chance of seeing their analyses affect policy or practice."

Students learning to lead by serving

Rebecca Parker is promoting the connection between leadership and service by sending Ohio State students out into the community as volunteers.

"Leaders serve. They don't just dictate," said Parker, director of Ohio Unions.

Parker is helping Ohio State students take their interest in service to the next level by reaching out into diverse communities to volunteer at a variety of projects, such as working at the infant ward at Children's Hospital; counseling teens at Huckleberry House, a shelter for runaway teens; and serving meals to AIDS patients through Project Open Hand.

The volunteer work is part of a course Parker developed two years ago while showing student NAACP leaders how to pen a proposal for a grant. Intended to promote leadership development and service to minorities, the course was originally named Minority Service Leaders, but was renamed Servant Leadership 2000 this year.

"Having minority in the title was misleading," Parker said."It was never intended to imply that the course was just for minorities. It is an attempt to blend service and diversity."

Servant Leadership 2000 is part of the Student Leadership Development Institute, a partnership between the offices of Academic Affairs and Student Affairs. Students receive three credits each for winter and spring quarter by attending a weekly seminar, engaging in community service, presenting periodic updates on their service project, and writing a series of papers on topics such as defeat and compassion fatigue.

Students are required to apply for and are interviewed before being accepted into the course. Parker said she accepted 23 students last year and 13 this year.

The students come from a variety of majors, including criminology, psychology, nursing and social work. Parker said their desire to be of service is the bond that draws them together.

"These are people who genuinely like to be engaged with other people," Parker said."They really care about what's happening in other people's lives and the effect they can have on that."

Parker said service leadership usually follows a three-tiered progression. The basic tier is service learning, in which people learn why service is important. Then comes volunteerism, when people decide on their own that they want to serve but need structure to carry it out. The highest tier is activism, Parker said, where people see a need, move to fill it and become fully engaged. It becomes a way of life, she said.

"I think the program really is trying to encourage activism," Parker said.

Krista Nieman said her volunteer life has followed the three-tiered pattern outlined by Parker. She was originally coaxed by her parents into volunteer roles within her church.

"In the beginning, I felt like I had to do it, then I got to the point where I liked it, and then I couldn't stop," said Nieman, a junior psychology and nursing major who wants to work with children, possibly in psychiatric nursing.

Nieman said she has volunteered since age 5, at everything from Special Olympics to Habitat for Humanity to working with children with disabilities last summer in her hometown of Toledo.

She is currently matched with a 9-year-old girl in the Big Brothers/Big Sisters organization as part of her class service project. They get together three to four times per month for activities such as bowling, going to a park or the Center of Science and Industry, or cooking at home.

"Basically, the whole idea of service is to get into something you're interested in," she said."I've always worked with children every opportunity I have had to volunteer."

Bari Zelizer, a freshman planning to major in social work, chose to work with teens at Huckleberry House, which is similar to a shelter at which she volunteered in Nashville, Tenn. She will be conducting informal learning sessions with teens, initiating group discussions on topics such as alcohol and drugs, diversity and stereotypes, and sexuality and decision making.

The lure of sharing in the experiences of people from diverse backgrounds drew Zelizer to Huckleberry House.

"I definitely hope to learn from these kids and get involved in the campus area community," she said.

Melanie Cruise, a first-year graduate student in higher education and student affairs, selected the career education program at Indianola Middle School as her service commitment for the course. She invited several Ohio State staff members to Indianola recently for Career Speaker Day.

"The goal of the speakers was to link their own middle school experiences with their work at Ohio State," Cruise said.

She said the course has taught her a lot about diversity."Until you understand where the community is coming from, you can't be an advocate on their behalf," Cruise said.

Last year, Parker said, students were assigned volunteer duties in the Weinland Park community. This year, they selected their own sites.

"The reason for that is if they select something near and dear to their hearts, they are more likely to treat it as activism."

The Servant Leadership class ended this year with a June 4 graduation, Parker said. A new class will begin winter quarter 2001, with applications due in October. Recruiting will begin with the Student Involvement Fair in September. For more details about the Servant Leadership program, contact Parker at 292-2135 or parker.8@osu.edu.

OSU raises record funds for Operation Feed

The Ohio State Operation Feed campaign, held April 17 through May 19, had another record-breaking year. Faculty, staff and students donated $17,143 and 10,755 pounds of food, which will translate into 45,041 meals. The annual community-wide food drive is sponsored by the Mid-Ohio Food Bank and United Way.

"The generosity of our faculty and staff and students is terrific. I believe this is a record -- an all-time high," said Ned Cullom, program manager for the Office of Human Resources.

The annual drive collects food and funds for the Mid-Ohio Food Bank, which distributes to 185 pantries, soup kitchens and emergency shelters in six central Ohio counties. These agencies provide more than 500,000 meals every month. Nearly 44 percent of pantry clients are children and 10 percent are senior citizens.

Although food donations are welcome, financial donations are encouraged, because every dollar donated can provide two meals, and can be used throughout the year. Each pound of food donated provides one meal.

Last year, 41,000 meals were provided by Ohio State: 11,290 pounds of food and more than $15,000. OSU has participated in the drive, coordinated by the Office of Human Resources, for nearly a decade.

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