POW! A Plan of Work Template for Community Art Projects
If you’ve ever spent any time with me, you will know that organization is not my superpower. Heck, I barely know how to spell organization. When I first started delving into community art projects, I had zero knowledge of project management. I would literally sit at my computer and stare at it, trying to wrap my mind around all of the minutia that I needed to remember and handle.
It sucked. And it’s a bit miraculous that I pulled these projects off, since I had no system in place.
When I began co-teaching with one of my good friends in extension, she introduced me to the concept of having a plan of work for our students. I’m not going to lie, I feel certain that I played this off like, “oh yeah, totally, I use plans of work all the time for my community art projects.” Internally, I was freaking out, and my inner committee** was chattering a mile a minute: This is big, JD. You better listen to this lady. How in God’s name did you live this long and NOT know about plans of work?
** inner committee = inner critic and their loud friends
Fast forward three years, and I am now a proud plan of work evangelical.
I even wrote a fancy template/toolkit so you can change how you work, too.
What is a Plan of Work?
In a nutshell, a POW is a plan of work that makes you feel like a superhero. It is a step-by-step approach to systematically build your project, program, or event from the ground up. Creating a POW can lead to goal clarity, better engagement and follow-through, and a much more effective final outcome. In other words, it helps you manage the tasks needed to be accomplished to get the job done.
Why you need a Plan of Work for your creative community projects
We often don’t know what we don’t know, which can be paralyzing when starting something new. This POW will prompt you to have necessary conversations with yourself, your collaborators, and your community, such as: “What are we really trying to do here? Why does it matter? What is our timeline/budget/materials? Who’s doing what by when? How do we know if this has been a successful effort?”
This POW template is tailored for creative community projects and events (digital and IRL), but can be used in any capacity.
If you are an artist beginning to explore collaborative work, community engagement, or social practice, this is for you.
If you’re a community member with little to no experience in organizing creative projects, this is for you.
If you’re someone who just wants to learn more about community engagement and leadership, this is for you.
AND IT’S FREEEEEEEEE!
To get started, download a workable PDF document here
Read more about plans of work here.
Want a community project to put into action? Find the Community Mural Toolkit here and Yarn Bomb! A Toolkit for Community Fiber Projects here.
Have artist friends? Live in a place that values community art? Share this post far and wide.
And while you’re here – sign up for my email newsletter and I’ll send you a handwritten postcard of one my paintings.
And finally, what toolkit ideas do you have? I’ve got a few in the hopper, but I’m always on the lookout for more inspiration. Comment below or shoot me an email at jennifer@whatsgoodproject.com.