Missouri Mall Media Coverage

I don't usually write two blogs in one day, much less three (I also wrote a personal blog today), but I wanted to share some different perspectives (and kudos) for the shopping mall arts program in St. Louis, Missouri, that I wrote about a few days ago.

The writers at Missouri Green seem to share my sentiments on the brilliance of this shopping mall renaissance.

Glad to see that the AP and a New York-based website both picked up the story here.

The St. Louis Business Journal picked up a short story, including details on the developers.

I think this story will continue to pick up momentum and become a model for other ailing retail environments. I'll continue to try to post more on this as I learn more.

Leadership, the Arts, and Art Cars

This entry  work, leadership, and a clever link. 

I had a particularly inspiring meeting today with our contracted photographer for the organization's annual calendar. Seeing his brilliant and beautiful perspectives on our creative product reminded me why it is that I entered the field. (http://www.amrosario.com/)

During our conversation, I became excited about potential opportunities to expand my marketing work at the institution to include continued work with creative partnerships, photography, and gallery curation.

Serendipitously, my boss stopped in as I was in mid-brainstorm with ideas of her own for my redefined role at the institution, and many of our thoughts were astonishingly well-aligned. 

It's a good feeling to work beneath someone who has both vision and diplomatic tact. We'll see what the coming months bring. 

I'm reading two things right now*, both of which have touched in their initial pages on leadership, a subject that I'm increasingly interested in after seeing much leadership turnover in my division in recent months.

Specifically, both of these sources discuss the differences between executive and legislative leadership styles. I hope to write more about my take on these distinctions soon, but for now, I'll leave you with this quirky art blog. Enjoy!

*Reading #1 is A Survival Guide for Project Managers by James Taylor

*Reading #2 is Good to Great and the Social Sector: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great by Jim Collins

Crestwood Arts Plaza?

As a Southeast Missouri native, one of the biggest laments I have about my career is that it's difficult to do what I want to do professionally in St. Louis, much less in the rural area where I was raised seventy miles south of it. 

There is no shortage of space in Missouri, and though it may not be a widely known fact, there are a slew of talented artists there, many of whom, like myself, leave the state to persue their careers in other, more metropolitan, cities. This is among the reasons why the following St. Louis Post Dispatch article was so exciting to me that I could hardly read through it without skipping ahead. 

I haven't been so proud to be a St. Louisan (alright, technically, I'm a Farmingtonian) or so excited for the arts in a long time. Way to go St. Louis for thinking creatively in a tough economy, making use of the limitless space you have access to, and, maybe most importantly, for not leaving your "little" city like so many of us have, for more attractive opportunities. 

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/entertainment/stories.nsf/stage/story/7998433E3835D2E68625752B000ACA58?OpenDocument