Steve's Blog

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The San Francisco Arts Commission voted unanimously on Monday to appoint its vice president, JD Beltran, as interim director while the commission recruits a permanent new director of cultural affairs. Beltran is a conceptual artist, filmmaker and writer. Her work has been screened and exhibited internationally. Mayor Edwin Lee has sole authority over the appointment of Arts Commissioners.

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The Joyce Foundation today announced that Angelique Power will join the organization as senior program officer for the Culture Program in late August. Ms. Power comes to Joyce with more than 15 years experience in communications and outreach, most recently serving as director of communications and community engagement at the Museum of Contemporary Art.

Read the full announcement.

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The National Assembly of State Arts Agencies has announced the release of the State Arts Agency Fiscal Year 2012 Legislative Appropriations Preview report. This document summarizes how state arts agencies fared during this year's budget deliberations and includes information on the appropriations each state arts agency expects to receive for FY2012.

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The National Endowment for the Arts has announced the inaugural round of "Our Town" funding, totaling $6.575 million in grants to 51 communities in 34 states that have created public-private partnerships to strengthen the arts while shaping the social, physical, and economic characters of their neighborhoods, towns, cities, and regions. NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman made the announcement during an online press conference today. A full listing of grants is available here.

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The BC Arts Council received $16,831,000 from the provincial government to help fund artists and cultural organizations in British Columbia for 2011-12.

Arts groups large and small apply to the BC Arts Council – an independent agency of the Province – to support opportunities for artists, strengthen local economies and enhance quality of life for citizens in communities across British Columbia.

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From Jared Keller at the Atlantic:

If you can't imagine doing anything outside of the arts, you're in luck. Designers, writers, painters, and other creatives have a surprisingly bright future, according to a new report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioned by the National Endowment for the Arts (see also: NEA Announces New Research on Artist Employment Projections Through 2018.
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Malissa Feruzzi Shriver, Chair, California Arts Council, today announced the appointment of Craig Watson as the new Director for the state agency. Watson's appointment represents the first time in the 36-year history of the state agency that the Director has been hired directly by the Council rather than by appointment of the Governor. Watson is currently the Executive Director of the Arts Council for Long Beach, and will start with the California Arts Council on August 15, 2011.

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Americans for the Arts has an alert regarding NEA funding. Take a moment to look it over:

Once again, the budget of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is facing cuts. This morning, a U.S. House of Representatives appropriations subcommittee began the funding cycle for Fiscal Year 2012 by approving legislation to fund the NEA at $135.2 million, which is a reduction of $20 million from the current year. If enacted, it would be the deepest cut to the NEA in 16 years. Please take two minutes to send a customizable message to your member of Congress calling on them to reject these funding cuts.
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Registration for the 2011 GIA Conference in San Francisco is now open. Visit the conference website at conference.giarts.org for details and registration information.

You can follow online discussion of the 2011 conference on Twitter by following the hashtag #gia2011. The conference begins on Sunday, October 9 and runs through Wednesday, October 12.

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Knight Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) today are launching an eight-city competition seeking new models for local arts journalism in the digital age. The initiative seeks to rethink how traditional media systems function, harnessing the latest tools and technology to make the transition to the new information environment. Winners of the Knight/NEA Community Arts Journalism Challenge will use the latest tools for storytelling and engaging readers to create model programs that could be replicated in other communities.