1. Arts Liaison Training #5: Building Buy-In
February 15, 2018
Charles A. Hayes Center
Please sit by network and sign in at your table.

2. Building Buy-In
Today’s Agenda
KNOW what buy-in entails, and how to get it from stakeholders.
UNDERSTAND how to foster sustained commitment to the arts in your school community.
DO Refine your presentation/action plan approach and content to increase buy-in.

3. What Do We Mean By “Buy-In?”
Personal:
Shared vision and goals
Trust and support
Sustained commitment
Material:
Ideas, skills, labor, supplies and goods, money

4. How to Make a Movement
Think of a simple task. In one minute, get as many people as you can to do what you are doing.

5. How to Make a Movement
Video from entrepreneur Derek Sivers, from a TED talk called “How to Make a Movement.” In the video, he uses a fun example to show some keys to building a strong following.

6. How to Make a Movement Key points from “Dancing Guy:”
Nurture your followers as equals.
Be public.
Be easy to follow.
Leadership is over-glorified. There is no movement without the first follower.

7. How to Make a Movement Nurture your followers as equals.
Listen to the people you’re trying to engage. What do they want? What are their concerns? Where do their values intersect with yours?
Buy-in is a two-way street. You’re probably not going to get what you want unless you understand and respect what the other person wants, and find intersections and compromises where you can both come out winners.

8. Instructional leadership team
How to Make a Movement
Be public.
Integrate yourself into as many aspects of your school community as you can.
School committees
Family nights
PLCs
Assemblies
CWIP team
Instructional leadership team
Science/STEM fairs
LSC/PAC meetings
To get buy-in, you need visibility. Integrate yourself into your school community wherever you can. People need to know who you are and what you stand for in order to follow you.

9. How to Make a Movement Be easy to follow.
Make clear, specific, and reasonable asks.
Remember your sphere of influence. What can you realistically accomplish?
Being clear, specific, and reasonable about what you want will help your followers sign on more easily, and it may keep you from becoming frustrated by over-ambitious asks.
Remember your sphere of influence: What can you reasonably and realistically control from where you sit as an arts teacher and as an Arts Liaison?

10. Building Buy-in: Administrators
Leah Stephens, Lead Arts Liaison, Network 8
Identify your allies
Problems and successes: Who will receive complaints or trumpet success?
Use your title as Arts Liaison and stay visible
Request a meeting, including your title
Use the students and their work/passion; invite admins in to see it
Craft this: What do you want them to see? Resources stretched thin?
Get a commitment for the meeting/observation
Is there a gatekeeper (secretary/clerk?) Google calendar?

11. Building Buy-in: Administrators
Leah Stephens, Lead Arts Liaison, Network 8
Into the fold
What are the priorities of your admin/stakeholder? Data? Literacy? Social Emotional Learning? Attendance?
The why: Necessary? Value add? Sustainability?
What is required of the admin/stakeholder? Time? Monetary match? Space?
Leadership style? (North, South, East, West, etc.)
What are the demands from their bosses?

12. Building Buy-in: Administrators
Leah Stephens, Lead Arts Liaison, Network 8
Collaborative approach
How can the arts enhance the priority areas?
Assume best intentions & positive mindset (plant the seed)
Allies > Adversaries: What is within your sphere of influence? What can you control?
Yes, and... > either/or
Have a back-up plan

13. Building Buy-in: Administrators
Leah Stephens, Lead Arts Liaison, Network 8
Resources
Engaging Your School Principal, Finding Allies, and more
Research Reports from Americans for the Arts
Partner organization literature (LKR, World Drumming, etc.)
How to Ask Anyone for Anything

14. Building Buy-in: Peers
Jenn Lessmann, Lead Arts Liaison, Network 5
Identify your allies (internal):
Whole school - PD, Google Survey, blast
Targeted groups - Department Chairs, ILT, grade-level Leads
Use your network - Fine Arts teachers, students, parents
Find mutual beliefs/values:
Your School’s mission and vision/core
Your vision for the Fine Arts at your school (and/or the Fine Arts Dept’s mission and vision, and/or feedback from parents and community)
TIA, CIWP, TOA, CFP, PBL
Data and professional readings
Family and community engagement/culture and climate

15. Building Buy-in: Peers
Identify your allies (external):
Look around you now
Off-site PDs (CPS Arts, Arts Partners, Learning Hub)
Google Groups and Lesson Labs
Community and other schools’ events
Problem-solving and collaboration
Ex: AP US History needs a way to engage students with the content after the AP exams.
Ex: Foreign Languages want a way to connect with the community before International Night.
Ex: School needs funding for STEM activities.

16. Building Buy-in: Peers
Ask Yourself:
What is your (your school’s, your school community’s) vision for the arts at your school?
What supports do you need to get there? (Who has the skills to provide that support?)
What does good arts integration look like? (How can we move beyond having a strong, but isolated, arts program?)

17. Building Buy-in: Community
Michelle Zlatanovski, Lead Arts Liaison, Network 4
Who is your target community?
When speaking of “the community” and “the arts,” do you mean individual participation as an audience member or direct involvement in creating art? Do you mean the presence of arts organizations, both for-profit and not-for-profit, in the community? Do you mean access to festivals and cultural events?
By “impact,” do you mean economic, cultural, or social impact?
By “communities,” do you mean regions, cities, neighborhoods, schools or specific groups?

18. Building Buy-in: Community
Benefits to the community
The arts attract visitors (art as an ‘export’ industry)
The arts attract residents and businesses
The arts attract investments by improving a community’s image, so that people feel more confident about investing in that community
The arts increase social capital—“connections among individuals in social networks and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them”—which facilitates coordination and cooperation for their mutual benefit
People come together who might not otherwise come into contact with each other

19. Building Buy-in: Community
Once you decide what community you seek to engage:
Decide how you will assess and decide upon the needs of the community. Survey? Meeting? Will you decide by consensus? Individual opinions?
Define your goal. What outcome do you seek?
Identify barriers to participation. Money, time, physical space to create, student transportation, convenience of location, logistics, overcoming the idea that the arts are “fluff”?

20. Building Buy-in: Community
How will you get your message out to the community?
How will you develop marketing and recruitment strategies? (Who is your audience? What role will social media play? Will you hold a community meeting? Will you have a free art exhibit or performance for the community?)
Is there an organization with a similar mission that you can reach out to?
Can you establish ties and work/consult/coordinate with others to accomplish similar goals?

21. Presentation and Action Plan Check-In
Talk to a partner about the following:
Where do I still need the most buy-in: Administration, peers, community?
How can I adjust my presentation or action plan to increase buy-in?
If you already presented or completed your action plan, talk about next steps or what you might do differently next time.

22. Final Thought on Buy-In
Yes, a dancing guy can get people dancing at a concert for a short time, but then those dancers will forget about him in a few hours. … It’s the trust that’s built through relationships, the ownership that’s built through listening and “buy-in,” the supportive environment that those elements build that encourage many people to take risks, and the mutual accountability that’s created as a result — that’s what creates a culture of learning, challenge and change.
—Larry Ferlazzo, author, teacher, ELL expert

23. Next Steps Modify your presentation as needed.
Haven’t made your presentation? Copy the template at bit.ly/ALdeck18
Schedule a time to present to your school
Revisit your action plan—bring it with you to Training #6.
Download the action plan template at cpsarts.org/educators/arts-liaisons/toolkit/

24. Important Reminders
Training Reflection form: Turn in at the Summit and get an extra raffle ticket!
Arts Essentials: Anyone with a red dot on their nametag can come see us in the Creative Corner for spending support.
Arts Liaison Training #6 and Dance Summit, March 22nd: Register by March 20 to get an extra raffle ticket!
Complete your surveys on Learning Hub within 14 days and on ISBE within 60 days.

25. Transition from Training to Summit
Sign out of the Training at your table. (Charters: Complete Training evaluations at your table.)
Staying for the Summit? Return to the lobby to sign in for the Summit.
Leaving now? Exit through the doors by the parking lot.
At the end of the Summit: Sign out in the lobby. (Charters: complete Summit evaluations in the lobby.)