Paul Pietsch
nat rosasco • April 7, 2020
Researcher, Artist:
National Assembly of State Arts Agencies
Washington, DC
Bio:
Paul Pietsch leads NASAA’s qualitative research on programmatic and policy trends in state arts agencies. His research has focused on arts and the military, arts based rural development, arts in healthcare, arts and the opioid epidemic, creative aging, the creative economy, cultural districts, public art, arts education, and diversity, equity and inclusion in the arts, among other things. He also tracks state legislation pertaining to the arts and highlights innovative state arts agency practices in the monthly State to State column of NASAA Notes.
Prior to joining NASAA in 2012, Paul managed the research efforts of the Association for Demand Response and Smart Grid as well as those of the Demand Response and Smart Grid Coalition. He has worked as a writer and fundraiser at Harvard University, Dartmouth College and the Smithsonian National Postal Museum. Paul also is an artist with an M.F.A. and a graduate certificate in arts management from American University in Washington, D.C. He is a faculty member of the Washington Studio School, facilitates life drawing groups, and has served on the Artists’ Advisory Council of the Washington Project for the Arts and the board of directors of Art Enables, an art gallery and vocational arts program for artists with disabilities.
La CASA (Center for Arts, Self-determination, and Activism) is a transformative $33 million initiative by Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción (IBA) in Boston's South End.This four-story facility will consolidate IBA's diverse programs—including affordable housing, education, financial empowerment, and arts—under one roof, enhancing access and community outreach.Supported by a $20 million New Markets Tax Credits allocation and $12 million in tax-exempt bond financing led by TD Bank, La CASA exemplifies a strategic partnership aimed at fostering socio-economic mobility.Upon its anticipated completion in 2026, La CASA is projected to serve over 2,500 individuals annually through resident services and youth development, with an additional 5,000 benefiting from its arts programming, reinforcing its role as a beacon for Latino culture and community empowerment in Boston.
The Welman Project aims to support educators by making the reuse of materials a resource for creativity in the classroom, and to increase arts participation in underserved groups. They serve educators, artists, makers, and families through three main programs: the Educator Resource Program, the Curiosity Shop, and their Creative Reuse Education Program. They are dedicated to using the arts as a space for healing and confronting social injustice.
Art Against Racism is a virtual arts exhibition which aims to lift up the tremendous array of creative works made in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. In doing so, project organizers hope that the exhibition will serve as an archive of the national artistic response to this historic moment.
La Raza Youth Leadership Institute hosted an art contest for youth ages 12-19 with the goal of motivating Latinx youth to get vaccinated. Three winners were chosen, and the first place winner's artwork was displayed on buses and in bus stop shelters near a number of schools. A phone number is included with the artwork for youth to call to receive more information about vaccines.
Saint Louis Story Stitchers Artists Collective's Perception Isn't Always Reality engages BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) teen and young adult artists to reevaluate messages they may have received about Covid-19 and vaccinations and to reevaluate the sources of the information. Through their own brand of urban storytelling that involves collaborative work in hip hop music and krump dance, spoken word, videography, photography, and podcasting, the artists will produce a challenging body of work for the public to experience on urban canvases such as the sides of city buses and on air waves.
Based in St. Louis, Missouri and incorporated in 2014, the Story Stitchers Artists Collective uses a collaborative model to create social justice art. The mission of Story Stitchers is to document St. Louis through art and word and to promote understanding, civic pride, intergenerational relationships, and literacy. Story Stitchers works to promote a better educated, more peaceful, and caring region through the creation and dissemination of original art.
