A remarkable video was posted to YouTube last week that demonstrates the power of art. Enjoy!
Grantmakers in the Arts
April 10, 2012 by Steve
Richard Dare, CEO and Managing Director of the Brooklyn Philharmonic, writes at Huffington Post:
On my first day in the nonprofit world, I was introduced as “the new suit.” Short shrift indeed for the years I'd spent undergoing rigorous formal musical training. My decades of hard-won success in the for-profit sector, it seemed, had marked me with a sort taint in certain corners of the art world — had made me seem somehow less artistically chaste than I had been considered in my younger days. After all, I must have sold out by choosing to create companies rather than compositions over the intervening span of years. And now here I was suggesting we, as artists, ought to figure out a better way to pay for what we do.
April 5, 2012 by Steve
From Ashley Niedringhaus at REDBOOK:
When Suzanne Nichols, a mom and drama teacher in Los Angeles, found out that her district was planning to lay off art teachers and kill programs, she stepped up to save them. "It was so unfair to the children," says Suzanne. "When music, drama, and visual arts are a part of the curriculum, children perform better in reading and math, too. My daughter is very artistic, and it broke my heart to think she wouldn't have the chance to develop her talents." So Suzanne launched Save the Arts to inform parents about the staff cuts
April 5, 2012 by Steve
NCRP's Yna C. Moore looks for the hard answers:
April 3, 2012 by Steve
Writer Eboni Senai Hawkins posts on ARTSblog about the current work of Marc Bamuthi Smith and Theaster Gates:
I am stunned at the synergy in practices between Bamuthi (artist/educator and director of performing arts at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts) and Theaster (artist/urban planner and director of arts and public life at the University of Chicago). For both Bamuthi and Theaster, the “relationship economy” is intrinsic to their work. As I become immersed in Emerging Leaders Network – Chicago (ELN) and the city as a whole, I’ve observed three areas highlighted by rbGb, activated in ELN and others, and rich with opportunities for greater impact in the arts.
April 3, 2012 by Steve
A ten-year study of arts education in public schools was released on April 2 from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Arts Education in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools: 1999-2000 and 2009-10 presents selected findings from a congressionally mandated study with data collected through seven Fast Response Survey System surveys during the 2009-10 school year. Comparisons with data from the 1999–2000 FRSS arts education study are included where applicable. Here are some responses to the study from the Arts Ed community
April 3, 2012 by Steve in Arts Education
The report Arts Education in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools: 1999-2000 and 2009-10 was released Monday, April 2 from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). The report presents selected findings from a congressionally mandated study on arts education in public K–12 schools. The data were collected through seven Fast Response Survey System surveys during the 2009-10 school year.
April 3, 2012 by Janet
There comes a point when our professional lives are informed not just by statistics, consultants or wise mentors but also by plain common sense based on personal knowledge and experience. The survey released April 2 by the Department of Education has my common sense antenna about ready to explode. Just one example: 94% of all American elementary schools offer music programs. Really? What does that mean?