GIA Blog

(3-23-10) Attendance at performing arts events and art museums is greater in urbanized areas. However, urban and rural residents generally participate in the “informal arts" (activities often unaffiliated with for-profit and nonprofit arts organizations) at similar rates. The NEA Office of Research and Analysis has announced a newly published report.

Come as You Are: Informal Arts Participation in Urban and Rural Communities (.pdf)

(3-22-10) New York Times:

"Like the abstract painter who created it, the Judith Rothschild Foundation has never had a very high profile in the art world. Ms. Rothschild, who died in 1993, established the foundation in her will and assigned a friend the mission, as trustee, of using her collection of artworks by masters like Matisse and Mondrian to promote underappreciated artists, a category in which she included herself. That friend, Harvey S.

(3-22-10) Wall Street Journal drama critic Terry Teachout does not mince words in his
assessment of the quantity and quality of arts programs on PBS. Of note is his recommendation to diversify arts coverage by incorporating modern, obscure, and smaller format productions into the mix.

(3-22-10) Greg Sandoval/CNET:

"The decision in this case could influence how people share content online in the future and could have serious consequences for the Web as an entertainment platform. Sharing music and video on the Internet was once a free-for-all, but a decision against Google and YouTube is a sign that the taming of the Web is under way."

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(3-22-10) Two articles appeared this weekend that follow up on Discrimination and the Female Playwright by Sheri Wilner and Julia Jordan published in the current GIA Reader.

(3-20-10) Because public funding for the arts remains weak in Atlanta and Georgia, a statewide coalition of cultural, business and civic leaders has lobbied hard for legislation that would support the arts and other initiatives. HB 1049 would enable every Georgia county to hold a referendum on dedicating up to one penny of sales tax for arts and cultural groups and other economic development projects. Each county would be able to decide how to split its penny -- or fraction of a penny.

(3-19-10) "Chris Hughes, a Facebook co-founder who helped launch the social networking phenom and then the tour-de-force online organizing campaign for Barack Obama’s presidential bid, on Thursday unveiled his latest endeavor: A website to connect individuals and organizations striving to help the world...The site is called Jumo, which means “together in concert” in Yoruba, a West African language. It will officially open for business in September or October. He announced the new project on his blog and on Twitter."

(3-19-10) This past week the Boys and Girls Clubs of America came under fire by Chuck Grassley, the Republican senator from Iowa, who is making out-of-context political red meat of the salary of the organization's CEO. The undeserved attack — reported in a major segment on CNN, in the Washington Post, the Huffington Post, and on the Associated Press — created what will likely now be a 10-year uphill public relations battle for the charity.

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(3-19-10) Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, New York City’s richest man and biggest philanthropist, is quietly pulling the plug on Carnegie Corporation of New York an unusual program that has poured nearly $200 million of his fortune into nonprofit groups across the five boroughs, in a sign of major change under way in his charitable giving plans.

(3-17-10) Robert Mackey quotes Forbes' Matthew Miller in a blog entry on international billionaire ranks and giving.

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