The Alaska State Council on the Arts has selected Shannon Daut from Denver, Colorado, as the new Executive Director, effective January 9, 2012. Daut, 37, currently serves as Deputy Director of the Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF) a regional membership organization comprised of the 13 western state arts agencies. She replaces Executive Director Charlotte Fox, who has announced her retirement.
Grantmakers in the Arts
November 11, 2011 by Steve
From Mike Boehm at the Los Angeles Times:
Earlier this month, candidate [Mitt] Romney targeted two federal arts and cultural grantmaking agencies, the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, for “deep reductions.”
November 11, 2011 by Steve
Jesse Rosen, President and CEO of the League of American Orchestras, posts to the American Orchestra Forum about Fusing Arts, Culture and Social Change, a report from the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy:
Since participating in our panel on the question of orchestras and community, I have been giving some thought to a new report from the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy that challenges the extent to which orchestras serve their communities and suggested that small organizations might be a better outlet for support.
November 11, 2011 by Abigail
To wrap up 2011, a new slide show of member-supported projects on the GIA homepage! Through the end of the year, our featured member is Rasmuson Foundation. Based in Anchorage, AK, Rasmuson Foundation promotes a better quality of life for all Alaskans by making grants in the areas of arts and culture, health, and social services. Our thanks to Jayson Smart, Rasmuson's acting vice president, for his photo selection.
November 10, 2011 by Abigail
New to the TED site last week: Neuroeconomist Paul Zak uses his talk on the hormone oxytocin to explore the biological impulse behind empathy, morality, and generosity. Providing an overview of his lab activities, as well as charming evidence gathered in the field (at a wedding, for instance), Zak explains the social benefits of a population flush with oxytocin-rich individuals.
November 10, 2011 by Steve
Americans for the Arts Action Fund has issued a report on the outcomes of Tuesday's elections:
The 2011 election proved to be a fairly good year for incumbents. Many candidates who are supportive of the arts and creative economies within their state or region were elected into office. There were only two gubernatorial elections this year. In Kentucky, Democratic Governor Steve Beshear won re-election over his republican contender. Earlier this year in May, Beshear announced the creation of a statewide cultural district certification program.
November 10, 2011 by Abigail
New to the Talk Back blog, a post by Vilcek Foundation's new media & IT coordinator, Brian Cavanaugh, on the online creation and distribution of art. He announces a new Vilcek initiative, a digital art space called dARTboard slated to launch in winter 2012, and presents (with terrific graphics) a group of innovative and inspirational websites that includes Artport, the Whitney Museum of American Art's pioneering portal to net and digital art.
November 9, 2011 by Steve
Huffington Post is launching The Recessionary Arts: A HuffPost Culture Series, a series of articles that over the next two months “will explore how the recession is reshaping our nation's cultural state, and what this means for artists, consumers and the future of the arts.”
The first article comes from Lucas Kavner, a Huffington Post Culture and Media Reporter, titled Art In The Recession: In Tough Economy, Artists Act Anew:
Despite dim job prospects and ever-dwindling paychecks, more artists are living and working in America today than ever before. If as sociologist Charles Horton Cooley once said, “an artist cannot fail; it is a success to be one,” then success in America is at an all-time high.
At a time when making and distributing art to the masses is easier and more widely consumed than ever, at least 2.2 million people in the United States can be classified as professional artists, up from 1.9 million in 1996. And as artists have proliferated, arts organizations have followed suit; According to a report from Americans for the Arts, there are over 100,000 non-profit arts groups and 550,000 for-profit arts businesses in the U.S today. Between 2003 and 2009, a new nonprofit arts organization was created in the U.S. every three hours.