Bill Ivey

Bill Ivey. 2012, 192 pages, Counterpoint.

In his new book we learn about many of the things Bill Ivey doesn’t like:

• banner ads
• smart phones
• the $6 billion yoga industry
• politicians who hide behind polling
• cable news
• $4,000 mountain bikes
• TV in general; cooking shows in particular

And we learn about some of the things Bill Ivey does like:

• Leica cameras

October 11, 2008

Bill Ivey is the director of the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise, and Public Policy at Vanderbilt University, and director of the Center's Arts Industries Policy Forum. He is a senior fellow at the Center for Arts & Culture, and is chair of the federally-chartered National Recording Preservation Foundation, which is affiliated with the Library of Congress.

America is on the threshold of a significant transformation in cultural life. There have been many cultural shifts in recorded history: Gutenberg's invention of the printing press and the rise of the reading public; the growth of a mercantile class and the birth of private art markets independent of the church and the king; the invention of gas streetlights and the beginning of urban nighttime entertainment. The most recent cultural transformation, still with us today, was set in motion on the threshold of the twentieth century.

The fall 2002 issue of the Reader (volume 13, number 3) introduced an ongoing feature, "Why Art?" as a response to GIA's goal to strengthen the role of arts and culture in philanthropy and in society as a whole. This Reader feature aims to help members and others make stronger arguments for the support of arts and culture by sharing examples of arguments, case statements, insights, and stories that convey the multifaceted role that culture, the arts, and artists play in our society, neighborhoods, and individual lives.

I believe it is time to begin a conversation about a new model for building a vibrant arts landscape. Since I left federal service in the fall of 2001, I have had an opportunity rare for former chairmen of the National Endowment for the Arts—the chance to create a research center engaging the very issues that fascinated me during my tenure with the endowment.