GIA Blog

Posted on July 18, 2014 by Steve

From Randy Lewis, at the Los Angeles Times:

First Lady Michelle Obama took to an entertainment-industry pulpit in Los Angeles to stump for expanding the role of arts in education, saying that 6 million children in the U.S. have no exposure to any form of arts in school. Speaking before an audience of several hundred including L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti and California Sen. Holly Mitchell, Mrs. Obama stressed that music and other forms of art often connect with students and enhance their interest in core subjects such as math, science and history.
Posted on July 16, 2014 by Steve

The Arts Education Partnership 2014 National Forum, Preparing Students for the Next America in and through the Arts, takes place Thursday, September 11 through Friday, September 12, 2014 in Pittsburgh, PA. Online registration is available now.

Posted on July 16, 2014 by Steve

The National Endowment for the Arts has announced that it is expanding its support of arts-based community development with recommended grants for the fourth year of the Our Town program. Chairman Jane Chu said the agency will award 66 Our Town grants totaling $5.07 million to organizations in 38 states, investing in local efforts to leverage arts assets to drive community development.

Posted on July 16, 2014 by Steve

Southern California Public Radio station KPCC has performed an analysis of arts instruction at Los Angeles Unified elementary schools. It found 87 percent of these schools won’t offer comprehensive access in the coming school year, in violation of California law. Only about 70 of the district’s more than 500 elementary schools will provide all four art forms: dance, visual arts, music and theater. But most of those only provide arts access to a portion of each school’s students.

Posted on July 15, 2014 by Steve

From Isaac Brown, legislative council to NASAA:

In a somewhat surprising development, the House Appropriations Committee voted today to approve a budget for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) at its current funding level, $146 million, for fiscal year 2015. The action comes less than a week after the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee voted to reduce funding for the NEA to $138 million.
Posted on July 13, 2014 by Tommer

Comments by Daniel Siepmann on New Music Box. "In the past four years, however, a new cash spigot has been cranked open for contemporary arts funding across the nation. Titled “creative placemaking,” this approach purports to culturally and economically reinvigorate American “places” of all stripes, rescuing them from their derelict status through the arts.

Posted on July 11, 2014 by Tommer

James Hamblin writes a compelling piece in the Atlantic. "It has been three years since the spectacular video of Lil Buck dancing to Yo-Yo Ma brought jookin—which draws from hip-hop, ballet, jazz, and modern dance—into mainstream consciousness. Ma would later call Buck a genius; and, he is. According to the theory of multiple intelligences, which posits nine distinct dimensions, Buck is clearly off the charts in intelligences like spatial, musical/rhythmic, and bodily/kinesthetic."

Posted on July 10, 2014 by Steve

The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation has announced that Laura Packer will leave the foundation, where she has served for 13 years, to become the new executive director at the Howard Gilman Foundation, effective on July 22. The Gilman Foundation makes grants to performing arts organizations in New York City. Laura will have the opportunity to grow the organization into an innovative and leading supporter of the arts in the city.

As the Arts Program Director at Dodge, Laura worked to connect the arts and community and implemented new and creative ways to strengthen the sector throughout the state of New Jersey. Prior to joining Dodge, her career in New Jersey had taken her from General Manager at the New Jersey Shakespeare Festival to the New Jersey Theatre Alliance, where she spent 13 years as its first executive director.

Posted on July 10, 2014 by Steve

The United States Senate today voted to confirm William D. “Bro” Adams as the 10th chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Adams is expected to begin as Chairman in the coming days. He was president of Colby College in Waterville, Maine from 2000 until his retirement on June 30, 2014.

Posted on July 8, 2014 by Tommer

Diane Ragsdale comments on Devon Smith: — “Devon Smith has written a smart, provocative post on a debate she engaged in at the recent Americans for the Arts Conference in Nashville. It’s called We Should Allow Failing Arts Organizations to Die and it has lit up the arts blogosphere, Twitter, and Facebook the past few days.