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Ian Moss: Dispatch from the Bay Area
Posted on by Steve

Ian David Moss reports on his GIA conference experience at his blog, createquity.com:

It’s hard to generalize from my experience this year, and I am always conscious of the fact that the intellectual diet that I feed on at the conference is shaped by my own tastes. But in general, there seemed to be a real thirst for innovation that was just a bit more urgent than in previous years. The sessions that drew the most positive attention were, by and large, the boldest: the ones that dared to seriously question the status quo or chart forward a path that hasn’t been tried before.
ARTSblog: Funding & Changing Business Models
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ARTSblog's continuing coverage of the 2011 GIA conference continues today with a report from Marete Wester on her Roundtable discussion, “Funding & Changing Business Models”:

Ian David Moss and Dianne Debicella of Fractured Atlas, and Dennis Scholl of the Knight Foundation started off the discussion on how different funding strategies and new business models can be employed to support creative ventures, and provide “risk-funding” artists need to launch a new project or artistic enterprise.
Ravitch on No Child Left Behind: End It, Don't Mend It
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On her blog Bridging Differences, Diane Ravitch examines the reauthorization of No Child Left Behind:

Most people now recognize that NCLB is a train wreck. Its mandates have imposed on American public education an unhealthy obsession with standardized testing.
  • It has incentivized cheating, as we have seen in the well-publicized cheating scandals in Washington, D.C., and Atlanta.
  • It has encouraged states to game the system, as we saw in New York state, where the state tests were made easier and more predictable so as to bolster the number of children who reached "proficiency."
  • It has narrowed the curriculum; many districts and schools have reduced or eliminated time for the arts, physical education, and other non-tested subjects.
  • It has caused states to squander billions of dollars on testing and test preparation, while teachers are laid off and essential services slashed. Now we will squander millions more on test security to detect cheating.
Registration Open for Foundations on the Hill
Posted on by Steve

Since 2003, the Council on Foundations and the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers have co-sponsored Foundations on the Hill, an annual opportunity for grantmakers to meet with their federal lawmakers in Washington, D.C. This partnership effectively combines the Council's expertise on legal and legislative matters with the regional associations' expertise on local philanthropy and the leverage they bring as local constituents.

ARTSblog on the San Francisco Conference
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AFTA's ARTSblog has begun a series of posts covering their take on the GIA 2011 Conference in San Francisco. Marete Wester got things started yesterday with an introductory post. Today, Pam Korza, co-director of the Animating Democracy program, writes about the Individual Artists & Social Justice Preconference.

The marriage of two now staple Grantmakers in the Arts preconferences—Individual Artists and Art & Social Justice—was a perfect energizing union of kindred artist-activists, field movers, and supporters as well as a highlight of the Bay Area as a perpetual vanguard of arts and social change.
New Online Tool Connects Arts Educators to Arts Providers in Illinois
Posted on by Steve

The Arts & Education Exchange is a new online directory for arts providers to post details, pictures, audio, and video about their programs. These can range from learning about Abraham Lincoln through song to finding out about recycling through dance.

Educators can tap into this user-friendly Exchange to search for arts programming that helps them encourage student success.

Occupy Wall Street and Arts Face Similar Themes
Posted on by Steve

Elizabeth Kramer explores local issues relating to the NCRP Report “Fusing Arts, Culture and Social Change” in an article for the Louisville Courier-Journal:

Some community-based funding groups have already looked at issues the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy addresses in its report. One is Cincinnati’s ArtsWave, a new name for what was called the Fine Arts Fund that was founded in 1949.
Artists Sue Christie’s, Sotheby’s, eBay Over California Royalties Law
Posted on by Steve

Famed New York painter Chuck Close and other artists are suing Sotheby’s, Christie’s and eBay, contending the auctioneers willfully violated a California law requiring royalty payments on sales of their works.

The three federal suits filed Tuesday seek class-action status to represent many other artists and demand unspecified royalties and damages — which could total hundreds of thousands of dollars given current art prices.

Surdna Foundation Announces Judilee Reed New Program Director for Thriving Cultures Program
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The Surdna Foundation announced Judilee Reed as the new Director of its Thriving Cultures Program. Ms. Reed will join the Foundation in mid-November, and succeeds Ellen B. Rudolph who served the Foundation for nearly 18 years.

Shifting Nature of Arts Participation Examined in New Report
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Arts participation is being redefined as people increasingly choose to engage with art in new, more active and expressive ways. This compelling trend carries profound implications, and fresh opportunities, for a nonprofit arts sector exploring how to adapt to demographic and technological changes.