Steve's Blog

Posted on September 21, 2011 by Steve

From John M. Eger at Huffington Post:

...the ArtPlace idea is big, certainly bigger than anything ever done before, and has the potential to be a "game changer" if—and it's still an if in many cities—ArtPlace not only gets artists and art and cultural organizations and community leaders to think differently about renewing their downtowns, but acts as the catalyst America so badly needs to awaken to the challenges of working, playing and living in a new economy—a creative and innovative economy.
Posted on September 21, 2011 by Steve

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (TCFHE) and the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) on September 9 announced GLEE Give a Note, a campaign to donate $1 million to school arts programs across the country. Eligible high schools are invited to submit videos about why their school deserves a grant at www.GleeGiveANote.com. In December 2011, after two rounds of voting, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment will name the 73 schools that will receive grants ranging from $10,000 to $50,000.

Posted on September 21, 2011 by Steve

From Gail Johnson at The Globe and Mail:

Increasingly, demographic diversity—ethnic, gender, sexual, religious and so on—is proving crucial to the success of local economies. In other words, it’s no longer enough for cities to subscribe to the “if you build it, they will come” theory to attract top talent. Rather, they need to roll out the welcome mat to one and all.

“There’s no question about it any more; one of the greatest competitive advantages for any city is tolerance,” says Tom Jones, director of Smart City Consulting in Memphis, Tenn.

Posted on September 21, 2011 by Steve

The Metropolitan Museum’s concurrent presentation of four acclaimed and widely attended exhibitions in the summer 2011 season generated $908 million in spending by regional, national, and international tourists to New York, according to a visitor survey the Museum released on September 12. Using the industry standard for calculating tax revenue impact, the study found that the direct tax benefit to the City and State from out-of-town visitors to the Museum totaled some $90.8 million.

Posted on September 21, 2011 by Steve

From Culture Monster at the Los Angeles Times:

The Watts House Project, in which artists lend their talents to community improvement, has landed a $370,000 grant that will enable it to finish converting three houses across the street from the Watts Towers into a headquarters it has dubbed “The Platform.”
Posted on September 20, 2011 by Steve

Matt Silverman of Mashable holds a Q&A with Kiva CEO Matt Flannery:

What does it mean to lead a non-profit in the social media age? For Matt Flannery, the CEO of micro-lending network Kiva.org, it’s about maintaining personal connections with thought leaders and engaging in constructive dialogue with his organization’s supporters.
Posted on September 20, 2011 by Steve

Richard Kessler reports in on his blog, Dewey 21C:

For those who have followed Dewey21C, hopefully you’ve noticed that I have been silent since the end of July. A month off from work followed that last post, and as we’re blowing through September, I have started a new chapter in my career as Dean of the Mannes College The New School for Music. It’s not all that often that one gets a month off. It was a month that I viewed as time to leave behind the past seven years at The Center for Arts Education, while clearing my mind for the very new challenge of leading a music conservatory that is part of a fairly unorthodox university (The New School). It didn’t hurt that one of the founders of The New School, and father of its initial educational design was none other than John Dewey.
Posted on September 20, 2011 by Steve

Alliance for Justice has released Influencing Public Policy in the Digital Age: The Law of Online Lobbying and Election-related Activities. This publication was created to address the many questions nonprofit organizations have about advocacy in the new environment of the Internet and social media. It aims to help ensure that nonprofit advocates stay within the law and to demonstrate that robust participation in our nation's democratic process is not just possible, but actually enhanced by these new technologies.

Posted on September 20, 2011 by Steve

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation today named 22 new MacArthur Fellows for 2011. Working across a broad spectrum of endeavors, the Fellows include an architect, a sports medicine researcher, a cellist, a developmental biologist, a radio producer, a neuropathologist, a conservator, a poet, a technologist, and a public historian. All were selected for their creativity, originality, and potential to make important contributions in the future.

Posted on September 19, 2011 by Steve

From Huffington Post Arts blog:

The art world can be a fickle beast. A young artist may find themselves rapidly ascending to the top only to feel the sting of Warhol's '15 minutes of fame' after they drift back into obscurity. For New York painter, Will Barnet, this is a phenomenon that he has never had to experience. Barnet will be getting his first retrospective show at the National Academy Museum in New York City at the age of 100.