Perry Chen, co-founder and CEO of Kickstarter, the social website for fundraising, spoke at the 2011 Activate conference in London. In a video posted by The Guardian he speaks about using the platform for crowdsourcing funding for artistic projects.
Steve's Blog
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San Francisco Mayor Edwin M. Lee today announced that he has accepted the resignation of Luis R. Cancel, the Director of Cultural Affairs and the head of the San Francisco Arts Commission (SFAC). Mr. Cancel’s last day will be Friday, July 8, 2011. The SFAC will select an Interim Director on Monday, July 11th and immediately commence a search for a permanent Director of Cultural Affairs.
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From Jennifer Conline in the New York Times:
These days the word “movement” is often heard to describe the influx of socially aware hipsters and artists now roaming the streets of Detroit. Not unlike Berlin, which was revitalized in the 1990s by young artists migrating there for the cheap studio space, Detroit may have this new generation of what city leaders are calling “creatives” to thank if it comes through its transition from a one-industry.
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From Laura Eggertson at the Toronto Star:
When investment banker Robert Foster agreed to co-chair an advisory council early in January to update Toronto’s culture plan, he did so assuming everyone he spoke to shared his underlying philosophy: that a creative city drives the engine of economic growth.
For Foster, who has been profoundly influenced by the writings of culture guru Richard Florida, the evidence is overwhelming that investing in arts and culture produces healthier, more prosperous and more livable world-class cities.
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The Kresge Foundation has announced 12 Detroit-area visual artists as recipients of the 2011 Kresge Artis Fellowship. Each artist will receive the unrestricted prize of $25,000 along with customized professional practice opportunities.
The fellowships reward creative vision and a commitment to excellence, and represent Kresge’s desire to advance the artistic careers of Detroit artists living and working in its hometown
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Still Kicking: Aging Performing Artists in NYC and LA Metro Areas, a new study of aging performing artists 62+ in the metro areas of LA and NYC complements earlier studies of aging visual artists from Research Center for Arts & Culture. In New York City, 219—and in Lox Angeles, 51—professional actors, dancers, choreographers, musicians and singers were studied, with results showing their resilience, tenacity and lifelong engagement with their art and the public.
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For the first time, the National Endowment for the Arts looks at future job prospects for a variety of artist occupations in Artist Employment Projections through 2018. This report examines the projected growth rate for artist occupations through 2018, over which time artist occupations will increase by 11 percent, compared with an overall increase in the labor force of 10 percent.
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The latest from Craft Emergency Relief Fund Artists' Emergency Resources:
As flooding in Minot, North Dakota becomes the latest focus of our nation’s attention, those of us at CERF+ are taking a moment to reflect on our emergency relief assistance for the first half of 2011. From our view, the floods, tornadoes, wildfires and other natural disasters that have affected much of the country are being felt very deeply by artists. In a typical year natural disasters account for 20% of our assistance to craft artists, but so far this year 34% of our assistance has been for natural disasters.
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Philanthropic Initiative for Racial Equity will host a webinar on July 27 titled Marking Progress: Evaluating Movement Toward Racial Justice.
This webinar will address challenges, offer examples of current evaluative efforts, and share suggestions to help us ask the right questions from various roles of community activist, advocate, researcher, or funder. More importantly, we will conduct an interactive session to ensure that we hear what funders, activists and others are struggling with or learning in their own evaluations.
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Emerging Leaders of New York Arts, the New York City-based networking and professional development group, will host a discussion on Wednesday, June 29, at 6pm titled Data = Sexy: Everything You Wanted to Know (But Were Afraid to Ask) About the Arts’ Love Affair with Numbers. Guests include Esther Robinson, Arthome; Ian David Moss, Fractured Atlas; Aaron Schwartzbord, The Pearl Theatre Company; Anne Coates, Alliance for the Arts; and Arin Sullivan of The Pew Charitable Trusts.