Arts Research

2003, 253 pages. Praeger, Westport, Connecticut, London, England, ISBN: 0-275-97013-2, hardback, $62.95

2002, 20 pages. Americans for the Arts, 203.371.2830, www.AmericansForTheArts.org

"When we hear talk about reducing support for the arts," writes Robert Lynch, president of Americans for the Arts, "we should ask: Who will make up for the lost economic activity?" The gist of the message of that group's Arts & Economic Prosperity report is simple and catchy: "the arts mean business."

July 2003, 25 pages. Project on Regional and Industrial Economics, Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota, 301 S. 19th Avenue, room 231, Minneapolis, MN 55455, (612) 625-8092

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May 2003, 272 pages. Southern Illinois University Press, Robert A. Shanke, Theater in America Series, editor, 800-346-2680 or 618-453-2281, www.siu.edu/~siupress

2002, 231 pages, $24.95 paper, $65 cloth. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., New York

Each of the following Web sites is located somewhere on a continuum between the state of the union and the state of the arts.

The Web is a particularly effective medium for creating visual diagrams of events and practices from daily life. According to Paul Miller, one site's creator, we live in a "world of uncertainty." Each of the following sites, in its own way, diagrams an aspect of our uncertain world.

The first site delineates the historical context for current Web projects.

"To host the number one Hip Hop festival in the United States" — that is Larry Goldman's vision. Two years ago Mr. Goldman, president and chief executive officer of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), charged Baraka Sele, curator/producer of NJPAC's World Festival: Alternate Routes, with bringing this statement to fruition. Over four days this fall (October 31, 2002 through November 3, 2002) NJPAC became one of the first major U.S. performing arts centers to host a festival dedicated to exploring and promoting Hip Hop.

During the San Francisco Bay Area's economic boom of the late 1990s and 2000, rising real estate costs challenged its artists and destabilized a number of key arts organizations. The dance field was particularly hard-hit when two important studios containing teaching, performance, and rehearsal spaces closed.

A labor of love for individuals committed to the significance and potential of media, Why FUND Media is a timely and worthy follow-up to a 1984 publication by the Council on Foundations titled How to Fund Media. Editor Karen Hirsch seamlessly brings together a series of separate chapters written by media arts experts who've based their chapter essays on extensive consultations with field representatives and grantmakers, and on historical research.

A recent GIA survey asked members to identify the most difficult challenge in their grantmaking work. Responses indicate that a common difficulty is "making a case for the arts in very difficult times," or "not being able to forcefully articulate the 'intangible' benefits of the arts." Helping members make stronger cases for arts giving was identified as important GIA work by over 80 percent of respondents. At a recent gathering, arts funders in Los Angeles wondered, "Why do we seem unable to be articulate about the value of art?