Imagining America Partnership | Extension Reconsidered Initiative

Extension Reconsidered convening at the Kettering Foundation; photo by Paul Treadwell

The Art of the Rural is proud to partner in the Extension Reconsidered, a initiative led by Imagining America, a consortium of universities and organizations dedicated to advancing the public and civic purposes of humanities, arts, and design. We are doubly grateful to count Imagining America as a Year of the Rural Arts partnering organization.     

The Extension Reconsidered Initiative launched this year to mark the centennial of the Smith-Lever Act of 1914, the federal legislation that institutionalized the land-grant system’s Extension work by establishing the national Cooperative Extension System.

Drawing inspiration from Ernest Boyer’s important book, Scholarship Reconsidered, IA’s Extension Reconsidered initiative aims to reconsider dominant views of what Extension is and what it’s for, and to envision what it could and should be in the twenty-first century.

• What can and should Extension do to improve its contributions to the work of understanding and addressing the critical economic, ecological, and social problems that citizens are facing in the twenty-first century?
• How might Extension realize its potential as a force for renewing and strengthening our communities, our democracy, and our civic culture?
• How might Extension help citizens to claim their places in public life by coming together to advance their values and interests, and consider and act to address the problems that matter to them and their families and communities?

These and other questions will be taken up this spring in a variety of ways on the Extension Reconsidered blog and at special events that are being planned in 13 states: Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, New York, Ohio, Oregon, and Wisconsin.  The events will help open a path for a long-term initiative devoted to developing and supporting new ways for Extension to strengthen democracy by engaging people and methodologies from arts, humanities, and design fields.  They will also contribute to research for a book that will be published in 2016, titled Extension Reconsidered.

Extension Reconsidered is a partnership between Imagining America, the Charles F. Kettering Foundation, the Engagement Scholarship Consortium, Community-Campus Partnerships for Health (CCPH), and the Art of the Rural. Please join our conversation on the Extension Reconsidered blog, or contact a state-level team to get involved in the discussion.

Art of the Rural Arts in Extension related press and publications:

• Agriculture & the arts: an interview with Savannah Barrett
  Savannah Barrett and Scott Peters
  Podcast Interview, Imaging America Extension Reconsidered Blog, March, 2014

• The Community Arts Programs of the Cooperative Extension Service: Comparative Study of Arts Initiatives in Kentucky and Wisconsin
  Savannah Barrett
  Master’s thesis, University of Oregon, Spring 2013
  Reviews the history of arts programs within the Cooperative Extension Service; and evaluates the current design, evolution, challenges, and best practices of the University of Kentucky Extension Fine Arts Program through case study and comparison to best practice methods in the University of Wisconsin Extension Service’s arts program: “Putting Culture Back into Agriculture.”

• The Community Arts Programs of the Cooperative Extension Service
  Savannah Barrett
  Conference Presentation slides, Rural Arts and Culture Summit, June, 2013

• Culture in Agriculture: The Cooperative Extension Service as an Alternative Rural Arts Model
  Savannah Barrett
  Culturework, October 2013, Vol. 17, No. 3

• The Currency of Connection: the Arts and the Cooperative Extension Service as an alternative model to rural arts development
  Savannah Barrett
  Americans for the Arts ARTSblog, Rural Arts Blog Salon, February, 2014

• On the Atlas of Rural Arts and Culture: Robert Gard Foundation Mini-Grant Stories
  Savannah Barrett in collaboration with the Robert Gard Foundation
  Art of the Rural blog, March, 2014

• Rebuilding the Front Porch: An Interview with Patrick Overton
  Savannah Barrett
  Art of the Rural blog, November, 2012

Art of the Rural is currently exploring the history of the arts programs of the Cooperative Extension Service. Through collaborations with Extension Reconsidered and the Robert Gard Wisconsin Idea Foundation, we’ll be posting relevant dialogue and engagement opportunities throughout the Year of the Rural Arts 2014.