Public Agency

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.

I believe it is time to begin a conversation about a new model for building a vibrant arts landscape. Since I left federal service in the fall of 2001, I have had an opportunity rare for former chairmen of the National Endowment for the Arts—the chance to create a research center engaging the very issues that fascinated me during my tenure with the endowment.

It was April 1968: I was out for lunch break with Jim and Mary, co-workers from the general accounting office where we worked in the University District. They were old hands in the office. I was new on staff and excited. This was my first real job out of high school after a string of just so-so jobs. There had been the eyeglass factory where I stood, eight hours a day for three months in a windowless basement knocking lead weights off newly polished eyeglass lenses with a mallet. A friend of my mother's had gotten me that job.

2004, 222 pages, ISBN 0-9746383-0-7. Published by National Arts Journalism Program, 2950 Broadway, M.C. 7200, New York, NY, 10027, www.najp.org

This book expands on a 2002 conference of the same name and includes additional essays and material. The collection addresses how recent social, political, legal, economic and technological developments are placing fresh, and sometimes unintentional, constraints on the way art is created and distributed.

May 2002, Published by Public Knowledge, 1875 Connecticut Ave, NW, Suite 650, Washington, DC, 20009, 202-518-0020, publicknowledge.org, and New America Foundation, 1630 Connecticut Ave, NW, 7th floor, Washington, DC, 20009, 202- 986-2700, www.newamerica.net

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

2004, 11 pages. Published by Americans for the Arts, 1000 Vermont Avenue NW, 6th floor, Washington, DC, 20005, 202-371-2830, info@artsusa.org, www.AmericansForTheArts.org

This monograph provides descriptions and examples of a range of local tax and revenue generating mechanisms that can be used to restore, sustain and increase public support for the arts.

2004, 77 pages. Published by Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees, PO Box 1100, Sebastopol, CA, 95473-1100, 707-824-4374, info@gcir.org, www.gcir.org

October 2003, 146 pages. Published by The Western States Arts Federation, 1743 Wazee St, Suite 300, Denver, CO, 80202, 303-607-9019, www.westaf.org

This book contains the proceedings from a symposium of the same name convened by WESTAF in October, 2003 that brought together practitioners, artists, and academics to discuss the opportunities and challenges facing state arts agencies.

2002, 77 pages, ISBN 0-9718102-0-6. Published by National Performance Network, PO Box 70435, New Orleans, LA, 70172, 504-595-8008, info@npnweb.org

Download pdf: http://www.npnweb.org/files/public/NAAMP_all.pdf

The final report of the National Arts Administration Mentorship Program includes overall documentation of the project, case studies, analysis of lessons learned, and recommendations for future development.