OBJECTIVES:

• Outreach to and engage a diverse community of advisors, volunteers and participants

• Provide networking and educational opportunities for the general public to learn about water

• Foster community dialogue on water-based issues

• Encourage more artists to develop work that raises awareness about the history, folklore and stories of water in Pima County and Southern Arizona

• Encourage all festival vendors and participants to creatively engage the public

• Promote employment options and opportunities for artists within all water-related sectors

BENEFITS:

• Building a community and culture of water conservation and stewardship

• Diverse participation of broad cross-sector of community members

• Broad/diverse programming to pique interest: Creative, Informative, Cultural, Spiritual, Fun!

• Community access to water information and arts experiences

GOALS:

• Raise water and arts literacy, raise awareness about water issues and arts integration

• Foster creative expression, celebrate the intrinsic value of art and water

• Provide a creative, well-rounded, interactive, and fun learning experience

• Envision, design and implement creative & proactive solutions to current and future water and community issues

• Continue to build partnerships and connect communities by offering opportunities for institutions and the general public to collaborate

• Promote stewardship, conservation, and regenerative practices

• Sustain The Water Festival as an annual event

2010 + 2011 OUTCOMES:

• Info gathering from and by the community

• Greater understanding and appreciation for our desert water by participants

• Tripled the participation from the previous year

• More Water-Inspired Art in the community, pre- and post-festival

• After the 2009 Water Festival, the WRRC Annual Water Conference incorporated Tucson Arts Brigade performance & art-centered round table discussions

• Other organizations are contracting Tucson Arts Brigade to facilitate murals and dance theater projects to assist in building community and addressing community issues

• Tucson Arts Brigade Dance Theater Troupe formed and continues to make water-themed and other issue-based dances

• Community Water Poem created

• Online Water Resources created on festival website

• New friendships and partnerships formed

• Water Festival continues annually

2012 EXPECTED RESULTS:

• Directly reaching more than 15,000 Tucson residents from all socio economic demographics and encouraging them to becoming Water Stewards

• A larger exhibit of water-inspired visual art

• A new performance by the Tucson Arts Brigade Dance Troupe

• Exchange of creative, practical & proactive solutions to water conservation

• Gathering Baseline Data from festival attendees on the impact of the Water Festival

• Distribute and generate online and printed water information and data

• Fostering the integration of arts strategies into business plans, initiatives and projects

• Sustaining a conversation between artists and water experts

• Establishment of a Steering Committee for the Fourth Annual 2013 Water Festival