This December, Arts Alive will hold a series of Potluck Arts Listening Sessions, where rtists and staff of arts organizations are invited to share and listen to each other's stories and discuss solutions to the challenges in the local arts community.

Sessions will be Dec. 5 at the Historical Society of Cheshire County, 246 Main St. in Keene, from 9 to 11 a.m.; Dec. 12 at the Dublin Community Center, 1123 Main St. in Dublin, from noon to 2 p.m.; and Dec. 19 at the Mariposa Museum, 26 Main St. in Peterborough, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.

During each session, participants will be encouraged to reflect on how life and work has changed over the past few years. Topics will include what has changed since the pandemic, trends in the challenges arts organizations are facing, what organizations would like to see for themselves and their community going forward and how Arts Alive can continue to support artists and arts organizations.

Participants will engage in community discussion in both a large circle and in small groups. During the closing circle, participants will share ideas and solutions with the full group. All are encouraged to stay afterwards for a shared potluck meal and enjoy being together in community. Attendees are encouraged to bring a snack, food, or drink for the group to share.

Listening sessions are free for all participants. Registration is encouraged at monadnockartsalive.org/listening-sessions. For information about accessibility, call 603-283-0944 or send email to nina@monadnockartsalive.org.

Arts Alive is building its next strategic plan, and will use the insight gathered from these sessions to guide programs and services for the upcoming year and further into the future. On Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024, Arts Alive will hold a virtual meeting to share findings from the listening sessions and next steps.

“This process is how we ended up building Discover Monadnock with the local chambers and the travel council back in 2014,” stated Executive Director Jessica Gelter. “After the closure of the Sharon Arts Center, we worked closely with community members and partners to pull the right folks to the table to make sure the artists who felt abandoned by the closure had a place to go. Those conversations led to the opening of Dublin’s Ceramics Center, run by MAXT Makerspace.”

Arts Alive is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, New Hampshire Charitable Foundation and New Hampshire State Council on the Arts.