From January 9th through March 20th, COSA led the COSA Community Leaders Program. Funded by an NEA Media Arts Grant, this convening was an opportunity to gather a diverse group of emerging leaders in the open
source arts field and lead them through a series of conversations about leading communities for open source creative tools. Topics included: branding, budgeting, feedback, outreach, education, and organizing contributions. Each session was co-taught by an experienced mentor and an instructor drawn from COSA leadership and the steering committee members. Each of the six sessions were 3-4 hours long, taking place over zoom. The format was very participatory, respecting the experiences of the participants as much as the leaders on the session. The result was that we gathered a broad and diverse body of wisdom about leading OS
communities that we are now gathering and distilling for public distribution.

Above is a section of the Miiro Board made by Ari Melenciano for the session about Branding, Identity, Budgeting, and Fundraising. Exercises included picking a retail brand most like your favorite OS creative tool and writing a 500 character description for a potential grant proposal.

In addition to the regular sessions, participants met with Mentors for 1-on-1 conversations about their projects and community needs.

The mentors included:

• Xin Xin
• Stephanie Lieggi
• Ari Melenciano
• Dan Shiffman
• Evelyn Masso

The instructors and steering committee included:

• Chris Coleman
• Laleh Mehran
• Dorothy Santos
• shawné michaelain holloway
• Kate Hollenbach