Curriculum and Schedule*

Wednesday (5/8)

7:00pm-9:00pm - Reception

  • While we know folks have different arrival times into Chicago, we strongly encourage folks who arrive in time (or are within driving distance) to join us at the reception.

    A big part of your experience and learning from Artist Campaign School is the shared experience you all build together – and the more opportunities to create those bonds the better!

Thursday (5/9)

8:45am — Check-In

9:00am–11:30am — Building Your Public Narrative

  • This exercise will help you harness how you talk about your leaderships abilities and inspire constituents to join your effort towards public office.

11:30am–12:00pm— Break

12:00pm—12:45pm — Lunch and Learn

  • We will have a guest speaker address the cohort during lunch and talk about their experience running for office – and winning – as part of the arts community.

12:45pm—1:00pm — Break

1:00pm—2:00pm — Voter Targeting

  • To win, you don’t need every voter to choose you – you just need more than the other candidate(s). With limited resources and time, you need to understand which voters are the most appropriate for you to cultivate in order to win.

2:00pm—3:00pm — Campaign Fundraising

  • This is probably the most daunting aspect of campaigning – but it doesn’t have to be if you have an effective plan! Raising money takes a lot of time, enthusiasm and patience. But you can get there if you are persistent and think ahead about how much you need and when you need to spend it.

3:00pm—3:15pm — Break

3:15pm—4:15pm — Building a Field and Grassroots Effort

  • The most important part of campaigning is the human, one-on-one connection with voters. That will take a lot of your time, but it can be made easier with a lot of volunteers and supporters to help. So, spend the time building the team to help you!

4:15pm—5:15pm — Digital Strategies

  • Online communications are the most cost-efficient way to get out your message and interact with voters. But not all social and online communications are equal and not all interactions lead to votes.

5:15pm—5:30pm — Recap of the Day/Preview of the Next Day

5:30pm — Release for the Day

Friday (5/10)

9:30am–11:30am — Public Narrative: Delivering Your Stump Speech

  • Drawing from Thursday’s exercise, participants will draft and deliver a stump speech to a small group of fellow participants.

11:30am — Dismissal from 2019 ACS!

*Curriculum and Schedule subject to change.