Following the public AIC launch event on the afternoon of Oct. 9, 2009, approximately 64 people reconvened for a dinner/discussion event at MIT’s Stata Center dining room, organized by the Platform 2 artists’ collective. Each table focused on one of the eight themes of the Artists’ Prospectus for the Nation, assisted by a commissioned placemat by a New England-based artist (see the "Learning ” placemat, top right, by artist Martin Wattenberg). An empty placemat at each table was used by diners to record notes from the discussion. Pictured directly above is the front of the notated placemat from the Learning Table, and directly below is the back of the same placemat.

Here is a summary of that discussion by a Shelter Table notetaker:

Our table discussed different artistic models for education  and different ways that artists can access, generate and depict knowledge.

The idea that learning happens in many ways and that art, as something experiential in addition to conceptual, needs to be supported in non-conventional or non-academia centric ways.

we talked about a potential danger for AIC if it remains too embedded in academic contexts.

we talked about potential needs in the following spaces >
1) giving audiences in the area more information about experimental and non-classical art forms
2) giving artists more resources- including:
-space (alternative, temporary or otherwise)
-funds
-human and corporate connections- matching an artist with a company, or a relevant community group
-advocacy and promotion (talking about new works and presenting new works to publics that are not otherwise informed about them)
3) giving communities a meeting grounds / successful web of relationships, into which artists can more effectively (?) apply their work and interests

Nell Breyer