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Artists LeadOn
Posted on June 5, 2013 by Steve

Diana Aviv posts to her blog on the Independent Sector website five examples of artists leading society forward:

The South Africa I grew up in was a nation divided: four categories of people (“White”, “African”, “Coloured”, and “Asian”), four categories of schools and public services, a system tenaciously designed to guarantee whites the best of everything with few resources left for the others. As the ruling National Party tightened apartheid’s screws to restrict rights and prohibit protest, I watched my friends carted off, one-by-one, to jail for their resistence.
Why Philanthropy Should Steam Ahead and Support the Creative Economy
Posted on June 4, 2013 by Steve

Claudia Jacobs — Associate Director, Sillerman Center for the Advancement of Philanthropy, Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University — writes for Huffington Post:

If we are to actively enrich our communities, arts should not be a stepchild of science, technology, engineering or math (STEM). In New England alone, over 53,000 people are employed in the “creative economy” and that sector, if it were considered in the North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS), which it is not, would rank just below the data and information sector and just ahead of the truck transportation sector, according to 2009 statistics compiled by the New England Foundation for the Arts.
St. Paul poet Wang Ping aims to take a “Kinship of Rivers” from Minnesota to China
Posted on June 4, 2013 by Steve

From by Susannah Schouweiler, writing for Knight Arts blog:

Have you heard of St. Paul-based writer Wang Ping’s “Kinship of Rivers” project? It’s an ongoing interactive public art endeavor intended “to build kinship among communities along the Mississippi and Yangtze, and bring awareness to the river’s ecosystem through art, literature, music, food and installations of river-flags made by river communities.”
Business Model: The Next Frontier
Posted on June 4, 2013 by Steve

Scott Walters posts to the blog The Clyde Fitch Report:

Business is obsessed with innovation, with change, with finding the Next Big Thing. Most of the books I listed above are about encouraging creative disruption in your organization, trying new business models to sell your products. Theatre? Not so much. I suspect one might argue that theatre people are too busy being innovative to take time to write about it. Fair enough. I don’t see much evidence of that, but then I live in North Carolina, and so unless somebody takes the time to write about it, I’m not going to know.
The Culture of Possibility
Posted on June 3, 2013 by Steve

Linda Essig reviews Arlene Goldbard's book, The Culture of Possibility for her blog, Creative Infrastructure:

The basic premise of the book is like the 100% full water glass: if we shift our perception, if we shift the background (culture) to the foreground, a world of possibilities will be open to us. She is asking for a complete paradigm shift – a phrase she uses throughout the book – “a radical revision of a model of reality, changing the meaning of all that we see and do.”
Denise Montgomery to Head San Diego Arts Commission
Posted on May 30, 2013 by Steve

From James Chute at UT San Diego:

Mayor Bob Filner has appointed Denise Montgomery executive director of the city of San Diego’s Commission for Arts and Culture. Montgomery, who held a similar position with the Denver Office of Cultural Affairs, starts on June 12. She succeeds Victoria Hamilton, founding director of the 25-year-old commission.

Filner, before introducing Montgomery, outlined his vision for the arts, which he compared t o his vision for binationalism: “We want to infuse it into everything we do.” He said Montgomery was prepared to “ratchet things up,” and he expects her to join in his effort to have the arts and the arts commission assume a broader, more pronounced and important role in the life of the city.

Cultural Policy Center Produces Scholarly Research Periodical
Posted on May 30, 2013 by Steve

The Cultural Policy Center at the University of Chicago has published the first issue of The Digest, its new online publication for the cultural sector. The Digest identifies important academic research that is often inaccessible — due to paywalls or jargon — and presents it in summary form for a broad audience of scholars, practitioners, and policymakers. It's available online at http://culturalpolicy.uchicago.edu/digest/.

Can Theatre Help Us to Better Understand the Elderly?
Posted on May 28, 2013 by Steve

From Allison Meier at Hyperallergic:

Despite the regular way it ticks by, time doesn't always seem to move at a logical pace. Days blur gradually from one to the next, yet it can also feel like years have escaped in a sudden flash. This paradox of time is central to Sprat Theatre Company's One Day in the Life of Henri Shnuffle, which is currently transporting audiences to the experience of time for the elderly.
Collection of Detroit Institute of Arts Cannot Be Sold, Its Director Says
Posted on May 24, 2013 by Steve

From David Itzkoff, writing for The New York Times:

The director of the Detroit Institute of Arts said on Friday that he believed the museum’s collection was “held in the public trust” and could not be sold by the city to help pay down its multibillion-dollar debt, and that he expected the city’s emergency manager and his office to reach the same conclusion.
PRIs Popular But Not Widely Understood, Study Finds
Posted on May 21, 2013 by Steve

From Philanthropy News Digest:

Although program-related investments are becoming more popular with foundations looking to advance their charitable purposes while generating financial returns, their use remains limited, a new study by the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy finds.