My name is Alyssa Herzog Melby, and it is my absolute privilege to be serving as the program assistant for the “Democracy and the Arts” interim. My day job is Assistant Director for Academic Civic Engagement (ACE) at St. Olaf (a program within the International and Off-Campus Studies office), and my “all the time” job is mom to three amazing kiddos—Adela (8), Henrik (6), and Louisa (3)–and spouse to my engineer/homebrewer husband, Jake. My favorite color is yellow, I live on coffee, and I consider myself a “realistic optimist.”
This picture sums up my kiddos pretty nicely. (I’ve told a few students…but they’re probably going to get real tired of seeing pictures of my kiddos by the end of the month!).
One of the things I’ve been reflecting on a lot lately is how democracy is not a spectator sport; if we want it to operate effectively, we all need to show up to make it happen. My initial interest in this course’s topic definitely stems from my attending Perpich Center for Arts Education, or “Arts High.” This MN state-funded arts agency and statewide arts high school fundamentally changed the way I viewed not only arts but how I viewed community and what the arts mean to communities. Attending Perpich—and having to continually fight for it and share its story with state legislators—helped propel me into this sphere of civic engagement. I still feel slightly uncomfortable in the political sphere (there are so many processes that vary on different levels of government; what if I do or say something wrong?), and I recognize that I still have so much to learn about being an effective advocate for the arts. Truthfully I haven’t always fully “shown up” to participate in our democracy, and I look forward to challenging myself to do more now and in the future to protect it.
My entire career—up until I came to St. Olaf two years ago—was spent in arts education and arts administration. Most recently, I served as Executive Director for the Northfield Arts Guild. Prior to that, I was at Pittsburgh Ballet Theater as their Director of Education and Community Engagement, and before that, I was a theater and dance teaching artist for various Pittsburgh arts organization working with people preschool to older adults in rural, suburban, and urban settings. I currently still serve on the City of Northfield’s Arts & Culture Commission where I helped to write the current Cultural Plan, as a freelance audio describer for local theaters specializing in dance and movement performances, and as a reader for MN State Arts Board grant review panels. I’m excited to share my experiences with the students and learn more about how other communities support, develop, integrate, and empower arts and artists, and how the arts influence and intersect with our democratic values and processes.
Me (right) explaining the chair props during a tactile tour prior to an audio described performance of “Golden Dragon Acrobats” at the Ordway Center for the Performing Art’s Flint Hills Festival in May 2019. Photo by Chris Juhn Photography.
Needless to say, when offered the opportunity to dive deeply again into the arts world, I jumped at the chance! How could I not? I know the experience will feed my heart and expand my mind in so many ways. I *kind of* get to be in a teacher-like role again, which I have always enjoyed. Selfishly, I am also ridiculously psyched to reconnect with so many arts colleagues in the DC area. But I’ll admit—I’m nervous (and feeling guilty) about being away from the family for a month. I’ve never led this many students before on this intensive of an experience (and holy moly—keep following our blog and you’ll see how intense it’s going to be!!!). I’m worried about keeping on top of all my ACE duties while away, too. Yet there are many people back home who are helping out, who are showing up so I can show up here.
- My amazing spouse: thanks for keeping the household running and taking care of our babies! I love you!
- My darling children: they might not be willingly or knowingly letting me have this experience, but hopefully they’ll see their mom doing something cool, be proud of her, and learn a thing or two (I made them a card for each night I’m away that shares a bit about what we’re doing that day).
- My super mom, mother-in-law, and father-in-law: on stand-by to help out as needed. Thank you, thank you!
- My awesome boss: thanks for giving me the go ahead to do this and for all your support!
- My great colleagues in IOS: thanks for all you’re doing at the office when we’ve got 400+ students off-campus this interim! You’re all the best.
So with that—here we go!