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"Creativity takes time; it doesn't need time. Plants take time; they don't need time." In a panel discussion on artists at the ninth biennial DanceUSA Roundtable, Marda Kirn, former director of the Colorado Dance Festival, delivered a thoughtful, well-prepared presentation. The focus of her talk was artistic process — how we think about it and the language we use to describe it. Process has become mechanical, she said, as compared to something that is organic. “We tend to think about experimental labs as opposed to planting a garden. We say we need things — like time, space, money.

The so-called new economy, driven by an explosion in technological innovation and new communication tools, has especially affected California's San Francisco Bay Area, where web-based start-ups are overabundant and everything seems to be preceded by an "e". Perhaps because of their innovative nature, technology firms often locate offices in marginalized neighborhoods or abandoned industrial zones. At first this trend seemed to revitalize former nadirs of economic activity with new neighborhood restaurants, cafés, and other service-oriented businesses.

1999, 40 pages, $15; National Performance Network, San Francisco, California, 415-666-1870, info@npnweb.org

Attending arts events is exhilarating, inspiring, and full of meaning. For years I've wished more people could have that experience. Why don't more people enjoy and appreciate the work that means so much to me? It's not just those who have different values, but people who are similar, with the same educational and demographic attributes — even members of my own family. If I can't convince them to become active participants, who can I convince?

November 1999, 98 pages, developed in cooperation with the Arts Education Partnership and the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities, funded by the G.E. Fund and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

A growing chorus of complaint has emerged about foundation giving in recent years. According to critics, foundations do not distribute enough in grant payments to justify their privileged position. On average, foundations pay out about 5.5 percent of their total assets each year and many critics believe that is just not enough.

1999, 36 pages. A report on meetings of The American Assembly on November 13, 1998 at The Getty Center, California and on April 8-9, 1999 at Arden House, New York.

Quarterly; nonprofit North American subscription rates vary according to budget size and the exchange rate ($104-$156); Henry Stewart Publications, Russell House, London, United Kingdom.

November 1999, 48 pages; John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Miami, Florida.

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1999, 23 pages. Final report of collaborative research project, Millennium Communications Group, Inc., 58 Salem Street, Andover, Massachusetts 01810.

Although its main focus seems to be on exploring ways of expanding philanthropy among new donors, Philanthropy's Current and New Stakeholders: Building a Common Vision for an Expanded Future also offers some interesting — and disturbing — observations on how traditional philanthropy is viewed.