Public Agency

2004, 32 pages. Published by the Center for Arts and Culture, Suite 505, 819 Seventh Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001-3772, 202-783-5277, www.culturalpolicy.org

This succinct booklet makes the case for the value of cultural diplomacy at this time when foreign opinion of the United States is extremely low, offers recommendations for improving cultural diplomacy, and summarizes other Center research on the topic.

2004, 37 pages. Published by National Craft Emergency Relief Fund, 73 Main Street, #37, Montpelier, VT, 05602, 802-229-2306, www.craftemergency.org

This report offers the results of a nationwide survey undertaken by CERF to establish a snapshot of the state of crafts artists, and guide the future programs of the organization.

Undated, 40 pages. Published by Public Knowledge, 1875 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 650, Washington, DC, 20009, 202-518-0020, www.publicknowledge.org.

Download pdf: http://www.publicknowledge.org/pdf/citizens_guide_to_drm.pdf

Recent decades have seen rapid immigration into traditional gateway cities as well as rural and suburban communities throughout the United States. Craig McGarvey's thoughtful Pursuing Democracy's Promise speaks to the importance of new United States residents' fully participating in civic life alongside the native born.

To California's great Central Valley they have come from the highlands of Oaxaca, the cities of eastern Pakistan, the relocation camps of Thailand—political refugees and new immigrants from around the world aspiring to build a future for their children, grands, and greats.

For three days in October these new U.S. Americans gathered in Fresno's Tower District for their second Tamejavi Festival. Everyone was welcome; the historic Tower Theatre's marquis proclaimed, “Tamejavi: It's Still Free.”

Early in 2004, the Graduate Center of the City of New York convened ten small to mid-sized arts organizations to talk about what had happened to them in an experimental, internet-based project funded by the Ford Foundation. The ten, from across the country, are community-based cultural organizations; they share a commitment to emerging and experimental artists and art forms, and a commitment—equally firm—to their local or nearby communities. Despite their similarities of mission, the ten were not familiar with each other's work.

On December 2 and 3, 2004 the University of Chicago's Cultural Policy Center held a conference on “The Future of Public Television” at the Museum of Contemporary Art in downtown Chicago. The Center convened a star-studded series of presenters and key speakers to illuminate the current condition of public television and to make some predictions about its future. The speakers and panelists included Kathleen Cox, president and CEO, Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB); Pat Mitchell, president and CEO, Public Broadcasting System (PBS); Kenneth P.

January 7, 2005. Hosted by the Ford Foundation and organized by Grantmakers in Film and Electronic Media's (www.gfem.org) Working Group on Electronic Media Policy. Co-sponsored with Grantmakers in the Arts, the Funders Network on Trade and Globalization (www.fntg.org), and the New York Regional Association of Grantmakers (www.nyrag.org).

The lines between arts and environmental grantmaking often are sharply drawn. However, in the life of thriving communities, the two are integrally linked. As part of a roundtable discussion at last October's GIA conference, it was heartening to share vivid examples of how GIA members are exploring the intersections of environment and art.

The following remarks were presented at a symposium that was part of the 2004 Ars Electronica Festival: TIMESHIFT—The World in Twenty-Five Years. This festival for art, technology, and society was founded in 1979 and is held annually in Linz, Austria. Joan Shigekawa, associate director of Creativity and Culture at the Rockefeller Foundation, spoke on the final panel of the symposium, “TOPIA,” which was designed to “present scenarios around a wide variety of topics relating to art, technology, and society.