Three new models designed to strengthen local arts coverage will soon launch with funding through the Knight/NEA Community Arts Journalism Challenge, which sought innovative ideas for informing and engaging people in the arts. The challenge winners were announced today at a virtual press conference. They will each receive up to $80,000 to launch their ideas.
Grantmakers in the Arts
Today, The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation announced the first class of recipients in the Duke Performing Artists Initiative. The initiative was announced last fall when the foundation allocated $50 million additional dollars to performing arts funding. From Ben Cameron, director of the Arts Program at Duke:
From Alex Aldrich, executive director for the Vermont Arts Council:
From Bob Booker, executive director of the Arizona Arts Commission:
HB2265’s success is attributable to a monumental statewide effort: a yearlong collaboration between artists, arts educators, administrators, board members, advocates and bipartisan elected officials.
Here is some freshly posted video of the early part of Alec Baldwin’s presentation of the 2012 Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts & Public Policy given on April 16 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC:
I once said to a gubernatorial candidate, “I want you to take the arts out of the box you’ve put them in and think about it differently.” The state senator who had set up the meeting looked at me like I was crazy. I knew I was in risky territory. This was an elected official who wasn’t an “arts” guy. You wouldn’t find him at the symphony, opera, museum or theatre, at least not willingly. I knew I had to approach asking for his support in a different way.
Heather Pontonio joins the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation as program officer for art. Heather will be responsible for managing the Foundation's national biennial Emily Hall Tremaine Exhibition Award and the Marketplace Empowerment for Artists programs. Prior to joining the Tremaine Foundation, Heather was the associate vice president of grants at the Arts and Science Council in Charlotte, North Carolina.
From Barry Hessenius at Barry's Blog: