Traditional / Folk arts

October 2005, 200 pages, $19.95. New Village Press, Oakland, CA, 510-420-1361, www.newvillagepress.net

A Beginner's Guide to Community-based Arts is a wonderfully designed and accessible training guidebook for teachers, artists, and activists wanting to use art as a vehicle for social change. Lead writer Mat Schwarzman and cartoonist Keith Knight create graphic profiles of ten exemplary practitioners followed by activities, exercises, discussion questions, and resources on how to connect with and develop art emanating out of a particular community.

2005, 67 pages. Brennan Center for Justice at the NYU School of Law, 161 Avenue of the Americas, 12th floor, New York, NY 10003, 212-992-8847, www.fepproject.org

Download PDF: www.fepproject.org/policyreports/WillFairUseSurvive.pdf

2005, 48 pages. The Potlatch Fund, 801 Second Avenue, Suite 304, Seattle, WA 98104, 206-624-6076.

Based on a series of talking circles of tribal leaders and funders, this handsome report reviews the history of Native peoples and the role of art in tribal culture, examines the program priorities of funders, and identifies strategies for supporting Native arts and artists. The extensive bibliography is also a valuable tool for grantmakers.

2005, 42 pages. The Bush Foundation , 332 Minnesota Street, Suite E-900, Saint Paul, MN 55101-1315, 651-227-0891.

Download pdf: www.bushfoundation.org/publications/RADP_Full_Report.pdf

2005, 36 pages. Alliance of Artists Communities, 255 Main Street, Providence, RI, 02903, 410-351-4320.

This report documents an initiative of the Alliance of Artists Communities to answer the question, "What does California look like to its artists?" Reflections and work of seven artists in different residency programs provide a snapshot of the state from a range of cultural perspectives. Engaging photographs by Kim Harrington supplement the text.

A few years ago, Laura Penn, managing director of Intiman Theatre in Seattle, met me for coffee at the Saint Francis Hotel. I was between sessions of the Independent Sector's (IS) national conference in San Francisco. Laura had never heard of IS and was curious about it. The Independent Sector is a coalition of corporations, foundations, and private voluntary organizations that works to strengthen nonprofit organizations and is committed to advancing the common good in the U.S.

We live in a world of "widespread hostility toward the United States and its policies."1 This antipathy is not limited to the countries and peoples that are directly affected by the U.S. "war on terror" and its attendant pol-icies, but includes many of our former allies and fellow democracies. A friend who just returned from a year in Spain reports that she spent a significant amount of time and energy convincing people she met there that the U.S.

Years ago, after reading a case statement from one of my earliest experiences with fundraising, my husband, who is in the wine business, told me the three "s's" of salesmanship. He said that a salesman should have

Something to say
Say it, and
Stop.

He made it sound fairly easy and apparently it works if you are approaching a reluctant wine buyer who should prefer the rare Aglianico you're offering to an ordinary Chianti from your competitor. Sales have been good and my husband has a thriving company.

This time it was the catastrophic devastation in the Gulf States. Last time it was the 9/11 attack. Before that were the floods in North Dakota, the earthquakes in San Francisco and Seattle, and Hurricane Hugo in South Carolina, and then

Each time disaster strikes — whether natural or man made — communities face inestimable emotional and economic suffering. When artists, arts organizations, and cultural institutions are affected by these disasters, the confusion and bewilderment about what to do and how to help extends very directly to us as arts grantmakers.

When I mentioned to an arts funder that I was reading a book called Integrating Mission and Strategy for Nonprofit Organizations she sighed and said we needed to stop using words like strategy. I asked why and she said, "Funders got arts organizations to start using these business words years ago, but nothing has changed. They are not in better shape." The author of the book, James A. Phills, Jr., might suggest the problem was not so much the concept of strategy, but rather a general misunderstanding and misuse of the word itself.