SD
Significant Developments, LLC
Aesthetic Solutions Strategic Advancement
Our Team
Significant Developments is led by Chief Aesthetics Officer daniel johnson, a Social Practice artist whose work stems from a background in project facilitation, community organizing, event design, and a variety of visual and performance disciplines.
daniel johnson builds teams of multidisciplinary professionals to facilitate communities and organizations in strategic advancement through aesthetic interaction.
Services
Significant Developments is a strategic advancement agency appropriating the language of capitalist development for use in facilitating groups toward shared and equitable power structures.
Engaging the semiotics of governance, economics, and performance, Significant Developments leads clients in immersive experiences which achieve practical outcomes in the areas of team and community capacity building, vision clarification, systems efficiency, and identity awareness.
Connect with Us
OUR TEAM IS COMMITTED TO BRINGING PROGRESS AND CLARITY TO THE INTENTIONS OF OUR CLIENTS THROUGH THE CRAFTING OF UNIQUE, IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCES AND EQUITABLE FRAMEWORKS.
601-497-7454
daniel@SignificantDevelopments.us
News & Publications
April 10, 2017 - Made in Midtown: Business Association Feature
Business Association of Midtown Blog Feature
on CAO daniel johnson
“It’s important for me to be in conversation with other artists, and there is a congregation in Midtown of artists who are working in different disciplines, who are thinking very differently about the application of their art, and who come from very different backgrounds, but still see value in intentionally being in community together. Whereas Significant Developments is often about working with non-artists, I also want to receive critical feedback from other artists about what I’m doing and in ongoing conversation about our work.”
March 17, 2017 - Intercultural Leadership Institute Kicks Off Today
CAO daniel johnson is among 30 artists across America
announced as the inaugural cohort for the 2017-18 ILI
The Intercultural Leadership Institute (ILI) launches today! Conceived by non-profit regional and national arts organizations - Alternate ROOTS, First Peoples Fund, National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (NALAC), and PA'I Foundation - ILI is a newly formed, paradigm-shifting personal and leadership development program for artists, culture bearers, and other arts professionals.
March 9, 2017 - Museum Work as Socially Engaged Art
The Center for the Future of Museums features
Mississippi Museum of Art Director Betsy Bradley in
conversation with daniel johnson
In 2014, daniel was hired as Director of Engagement and Learning under the leadership of the museum's Director, Betsy Bradley. daniel enacts a socially engaged art practice in his professional capacity in the museum in a profoundly unique way: he views his work as performance art. Intrigued by the possibility of thinking museum work itself as art, I reached out to daniel for more insight on his approach. He graciously responded. daniel writes, "What follows is a dialog between the two on the thinking and hopes which prompted the decision, and the benefits and challenges which have arisen since."
March 3, 2017 - Economics and Art: Making the Connections
The Mississippi Council on Economic Education brings together
daniel johnson and Germantown High School teacher Christy Walker
K-12 educators will learn how to deeply engage students in learning economic concepts through the exploration of works in the MMA permanent collection. Works of art can be viewed as primary source documents showing the historic impact of economics. The professional development will include discussions by experts in economics and art, interactive gallery discussions, and small working groups.
February 14, 2017 - Panelist: Must the Novelist Crusade? Art as a Form of Activism.
CAO daniel johnson joins fellow panelists Dr. Peggy Prenshaw, novelist Katy Simpson Smith and Hip Hop artist Skipp Coon to discuss the roles and/or
responsibilities of artists in social justice
During the conference "This is how you are a citizen": Humanities and Civic Life in Mississippi, Dr. Robert Lucket of The Margaret Walker Center at Jackson State University brought together this panel of artists to discuss the role of artists as citizens.
January 24, 2017 - Interview with Georgetown University Journal gnovis
"Digital Interface and the Content of Our Thoughts" by Shalina Chatlani
in gnovis: a journal of communication, culture, and technology
Enter a large, dilapidated blue-bricked building in Midtown Jackson, MS. The approaching pathway vibrates as intense humming seeps under the rusty aluminum door from the inside. It’s mostly dark within, but there’s a flashing light in the middle, from which sound waves extend outward and tickle each vertebrae of the spine. Eyes and ears are immediately drawn to the object unveiled in the center of this space– a shield.
Or a pyramid-like pointed metal sculpture, to be more precise. And, images from pop culture–Beyonce, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Regis and Kelly– quickly beam across the surface, while a celestial white noise fills the room. Behind the piece, and protected from the onslaught of digital imagery, is the artist, daniel johnson, along with Thomas Eddleman III, an electrical engineer who helped johnson develop the live soundscape.
April 30, 2016 - Social Media(ting) the Generation Gap: Art Works in the City of Jackson
In this issue of Mississippi Modern, Katie Butler discusses CAO daniel johnson and his partnership with the Mayor's Office as the Art of Governance Team prepares for their final project. Issue not available online.
February 23, 2016 - Working with Michelada Think Tank Dallas
CAO daniel johnson joins with Michelada Think Tank Dallas for two days to facilitate dialog on cultural equity, allyship, and being an institutional ally. What follows is an article in D Magazine about the Institutional Ally convening.
It was an impressive gathering of cultural bigwigs: administrators and curators from the Dallas Museum of Art and Nasher Sculpture Center, executive directors from cultural nonprofits large and small, the acting head of the city’s Office of Cultural Affairs, and members of the media. On a gray Tuesday morning in early March, they were all seated around tables set up in the lobby outside the auditorium of the Latino Cultural Center. Typically, it takes a fundraising gala, award ceremony, retirement party, or something along those lines to get all of these people in one room. But on this day, we discovered there was another way to bring everyone together: the complicated mix of feelings—goodwill, along with shame and guilt—stirred up by the phrase “cultural equity.”
February 18, 2016 - CAO daniel johnson Joins ArtPlace Advisory Committee for JMMF
The Jackson Medical Mall Foundation formed a panel of Jackson-area artists, politicians, business owners, and non-profit service workers to offer ongoing feedback on the implementation of their 3-year, $3 million Community Development Investment grant from ArtPlace America.
November 6, 2015 - Art of Governance Team Announced, Part of City of Jackson Mayor's Youth Initiative
Six Jackson public school juniors and seniors are hired as part of The Art of Governance. The team manages a budget, discusses challenges facing the city, discusses various centers of power acting on those challenges, and facilitates conversations with their peers in front of the Mayor - ultimately creating an art work in response to their findings.
October 13, 2015 - Panelist for Selfie Culture and Copyright at SEMC
daniel johnson joins fellow panelists from the Mississippi Museum of Art, Registrar Caitlin Podas and Marketing Director Julian Rankin, for "Selfie Culture and Copyright: Harnessing the Power Legally in a Museum Setting" at the South East Museum Conference
Social media and smart phones have changed the landscape of museum interaction. Visitors want their museum experience, and the art work, to be part of the story they tell online. This "selfie culture" can be an asset for increasing engagement but has implications for copyright. Session moderators work with participants in creating frameworks for tapping into selfie culture effectively and legally.
October 10, 2015 - Interview in MISSISSIPPI2 by Talameika Brice
Brice profiles johnson in article, "daniel johnson, Community Artivist" in new Mississippi arts and culture magazine from Brice Media. Not availabe online.
October 6, 2015 - daniel johnson Addresses Jackson City Council
daniel johnson uses the public comment period to address the City Council regarding the upcoming Art of Governance program stating what they can expect and how they can be involved.
September 8, 2015 -Application Period Opens for The Art of Governance Team
Juniors and Seniors in Jackson Public Schools are eligible to join The Art of Governance team; a paid position available through counselors offices and sponsored by Alternate ROOTS, Significant Developments, and the Mississippi Museum of Art.
September 24, 2015 - Leading a Session on Territory and Space
daniel johnson joins with Emily Kohring of the Montana Arts Council and Susan Oetgen of the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies to facilitate the session, "Territory and Trust: Building the Skills to Open Up and Move Between Arts Education Spaces" during the State Arts Agency Arts Education Managers and State Education Agency Directors of Arts Education 2015 Professional Development Institute.
This conversation engaged the assembled group in articulating the strategies, ethics, and best practices for welcoming nonartist audiences in art spaces.
September 18, 2015 - Leading a Session on Institutionally Embedded Social Practice for South East Regional artist organization Alternate ROOTS
daniel johnson facilitates a session during ROOTS Weekend - New Orleans titled, "Best Practices: Socially Engaged Artists Embedded Within Institutions".
This conversation engaged the assembled group in articulating the strategies, ethics, and best practices they had developed as socially engaged artists embedded within institutions.
May 8, 2015 - Alternate ROOTS Awards $5000 Grant for The Art of Governance
Alternate ROOTS sponsors wages for participating students, artist fees, and a supplies budget for the upcoming The Art of Governance project in the Fall.
November 1, 2014 - Mississippi Museum of Art Hires daniel johnson as Director of Engagement & Learning
Director Betsy Bradley invites daniel johnson to perform the role of Director of Engagement & Learning as a Socially Engaged Art work.
With an eye to the placemaking work that the MMA is already up to, Bradley promotes daniel johnson to lead deepening community involvement in all aspects of operations.
August 15, 2014 - johnson Invited to be Artist in Residence at Mississippi Museum of Art
After the success of the Core Sample project, johnson is asked to take up residency at the MMA to reimagine studio programming.
Read a blog post below in which johnson discusses some considerations he brings to the position.
June 19, 2014 - Core Sample Final Report
C3: Conversation. Creativity. Community.
Research and Development - Final Report
The Core Sample project was created in response to a commission by the Mississippi Museum of Art to perform research and development for their socially engaged art series C3: Conversation. Creativity. Community. The project was created in response to staff interviews and was executed as a way to activate current assets and provide opportunities for experimentation throughout the Museum's various departments.
May 17, 2014 - Midfest Installation
40 strings, 7 per string, 280 bells
Following deinstallation at the Mississippi Museum of Art, Significant Developments CAO daniel johnson and his collaborator Clay Hardwick created a small installation at their Midtown studio TurnUp Studios for the Midfest community festival. This smaller configuration served as an experiment to inform the design for the final hanging chime which will be held in the permanent collection of the Museum.
April 25, 2014 - From the Desk of MS Governor Phil Bryant
Mississippi Governor Officially Recognizes Significant Developments
Core Sample by Significant Developments is hereby recognized as an official partner in The Year of the Creative Economy: Mississippi Homecoming by the Honorable Phil Bryant, Governor of Mississippi.
April 20, 2014 - The Art Garden at the Mississippi Museum of Art
Deinstallation of Core Sample in The Art Garden
CAO daniel johnson and CXO Amber Johnson were joined by volunteer ladies from Order of the Eastern Star to disassemble the Core Sample installation in The Art Garden at The Mississippi Museum of Art. Echomech captured most of the action for a time-lapse of the process.
March 22, 2014 - Alternate ROOTS Interview
In Core Sample, Mississippi Resonates
When I asked daniel, how Thursday’s opening went, he gently re-oriented me: “it’s kind of funny, you talk about having the opening and then you ask how things went — in a way the ‘opening’ is when it’s over.” Instead, daniel refers to the outdoor installation as a record, or a document of the three-month community-engaged process that led up to this point. The statewide invitation to submit personal symbols, the public bell making assembly line, the road trips taken to spread the word, the stories shared, and the relationships created throughout — these are the art of Core Sample. It is truly, as Alternate ROOTS Executive Director, Carlton Turner, describes, “a project that uplifts community participation, champions collective ownership, and pushes participants to find, through the use of symbols, their commonalities.”
March 20, 2014 - The Hattiesburg American
Hattiesburg Students Tour Jackson Art Installation
An open curl, dappled shade and the music of ceramic bells catching a breeze or a curious hand proved irresistible. Students from Dixie Attendance Center in Hattiesburg installed themselves inside a new art installation at The Art Garden at the Mississippi Museum of Art. Picnic perfect, as it turned out.
February 15, 2014 - Significant Developments Core Sample Outreach
Significant Developments Hits The Road to Invite Mississippians to Core Sample - Episode 5: Summary and Wrap Up of the Road Trip
A recap of our travels, a symbol collected at a beauty supply in Port Gibson and sculptor Conner Burns gifts some Natchez clay to the project at his studio.
February 12, 2014 - Jackson Free Press
C3's Social Art
daniel johnson's latest art project is a family affair. Clad in thick white-framed glasses and dark blue overalls with his name—he doesn't capitalize it—and "Significant Developments" stitched on the front, he works with his wife, Amber Johnson, their 7-year-old son Vesper (in matching blue overalls) and their 18-month-old son Wiley at the Mississippi Museum of Art. johnson's team of artists—along with any visitors interested in participating—are constructing 2,200 ceramic bells from scratch by March 20, when the art museum will unveil the results.
February 9, 2014 - Significant Developments Core Sample Outreach
Significant Developments Hits The Road to Invite Mississippians to Core Sample - Episode 4: All Over the South
Laurel, Hattiesburg, Biloxi, Ocean Springs, McComb and on and on with a featured conversation at an artist cooperative gallery - Arts Natchez.
February 1, 2014 - Significant Developments Core Sample Outreach
Significant Developments Hits The Road to Invite Mississippians to Core Sample - Episode 3: Clarksdale with Rosalind Wilcox
Through the Delta to Coahoma Community College and then a conversation with artist and blues musician Rosalind Wilcox at her studio in downtown Clarksdale.
January 15, 2014 - Significant Developments Core Sample Outreach
Significant Developments Hits The Road to Invite Mississippians to Core Sample - Episode 2: A Greenwood Conversation
This segment follows us through Oxford and Taylor, MS and then into the Delta where we sat down at Art Place Mississippi headquarters for a conversation on the power of community art with Shun Pearson, Hart Henson and Robin Whitfield.
January 7, 2014 - Significant Developments Core Sample Outreach
Significant Developments Hits The Road to Invite Mississippians to Core Sample - Episode 1: North East Mississippi
Chief Aesthetic Officer daniel johnson and MMA Public Relations staffer Julian Rankin took off on a two-day trip through North Mississippi to invite Mississippians to submit their symbols to the project. Here is the first installment of this series featuring some locations and conversations along the way...
January 5, 2014 - Our New Change Agents Begin Work
New Hires Kira Cummings and Abed Haddad Begin Work on the Core Sample Assembly Line
Jackson State University art alumni Kira Cummings and Millsaps College Chemistry and Art History Major Abed Haddad began work today as the newest Significant Developments Change Agents. Kira and Abed will be working Saturdays from 1-5pm on the assembly line at the Museum. Read more about each of them on our Team page.
As a relational art work, Significant Developments Change Agents are not only responsible for practical tasks, but play a role influencing the significance of the work as it unfolds. We are careful to make them aware from the beginning that all of their interactions relative to Significant Developments may be documented and displayed.
Click the link below to watch Abed's interview-
December 19, 2013 - The Mississippi Museum of Art Events
Museum After Hours
The Core Sample assembly line will be operating during Museum After Hours this Thursday evening. From 5:30-7:30pm December 19th, the Mississippi Museum of Art will host it's monthly after hours event - explore the galleries with curatorial staff, have a drink with friends, activate the assembly line and chill in the Art Garden for Screen on the Green featuring National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.
December 16, 2013 - The Mississippi Museum of Art Blog
Core Sample Symbols Roll In
Already, Mississippians of all ages have been sending in and dropping off the symbols that represent what the state means to them. These symbols will be engraved into clay bells, 2200 in all, that will hang in unison for the final installation next Spring of Core Sample, a work of Significant Development, LLC. You can email or mail in your symbols, drop them off at the Museum, or even, as happened in one instance, hand them to Significant Development CEO daniel johnson if you see him in line at the Home Depot.
December 12, 2013 - The Mississippi Museum of Art Blog
Ribbon Cutting of 2014 C3 Participatory Art Project
On December 9 at 6 PM, Significant Developments introduced Core Sample and kicked off the project with the grand opening of the bell assembly workshop. The bell assembly workshop will operate Thursdays from 10 AM-2 PM, Saturdays from 1-5 PM, and during special events through the end of the project in March. The bell assembly workshop will involve the public in the hand-built ceramic process, creating bells for the survey. People are invited to inscribe on these bells the symbols they associate with themselves and their communities, including the state-wide Mississippi community.
December 11, 2013 - MS Governor Phil Bryant Press Release
Year of the Creative Economy: Mississippi Homecoming
Gov. Bryant proclaimed 2014 as the “Year of the Creative Economy: Mississippi Homecoming” during a ceremony with renowned pianist Bruce Levingston, a Mississippi native.
The “Year of the Creative Economy” will feature both ongoing events and new activities throughout the year and will highlight the state’s vast talent across the creative spectrum and the impact it has on the local economy.
December 9, 2013 - Presentation of Core Sample, a work of Significant Developments, LLC
Presentation and Ribbon Cutting Footage
Interested in learning a bit more about Core Sample, a work of Significant Developments, LLC? Here is a slightly edited video of the presentation at the unveiling event at the Mississippi Museum of Art.
November 10, 2013 - New Project Announced for Significant Developments
Significant Developments to Perform
Core Sample at Mississippi Museum of Art
The Mississippi Museum of Art has commissioned local agency Significant Developments to facilitate research and development for their annual community engaged art series C3: Conversation. Creativity. Community.
Significant Developments will enact their art work Core Sample. Core Sample is a process of community sampling, inviting Mississippians to record their own symbols of Mississippi identity onto clay bells which will then be presented in resonance with each other as a public installation in the Art Garden. The survey art work will be conducted December 9, 2013 through March 20, 2014.
November 7, 2013 - The Atlantic
The Best City for the Next Generation of Artists Just Might Be Jackson
"Community is really big in Mississippi, and I think that helps the arts economy run smoother," says daniel johnson, 32, who rented an entire warehouse in Midtown for $75 a month, a building with "high grass, no water, no electricity." Johnson used it for a performance art piece for five months.
Josh Hailey nods and adds: "When someone moves here, everyone reaches out—'Hey, do you want to be involved somewhere?'"