1. GIA Blog
  2. Steve's Blog

Steve's Blog

Creative Placemaking and the Politics of Belonging and Dis-Belonging
Posted on by Steve

A blog post from Roberto Bedoya, Executive Director of the Tucson Pima Arts Council, for Arts in a Changing America:

A favorite song of mine is “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered…” the Ella version that is warm, radiant, where your feel each word in pure tones. Ella sings about love; a blind love and the escape from that bewitchment. This is the song that plays for me in the background when I think about the practices of “Creative Placemaking”, which as an arts manager and policy maker, I define as those cultural activities that shape the physical and social characteristics of a place. I embrace Creative Placemaking and its aspiration as is manifests in a variety of methods – from city planning to art practices with a goal of advancing humanity. But I am bothered by what I consider a significant blind spot – a blind love of sorts – in the Creative Placemaking discourse and practices.
Mitt Romney And The Arts
Posted on by Steve

From Lucas Kavner at Huffington Post:

If the federal budget were an American high school, defense spending would be the football team — untouchable, un-cuttable, popular by default — and cultural spending would be the chess club — the wallflowers at the dance, constantly picked on and pushed aside in the hallways.
The Economist Hosts Online Debate Over Government Funding of Arts
Posted on by Steve

The Economist launched an online debate on the question: Should governments fund the arts?. Opening statements were posted on August 22 and the debate concludes on August 30 with some continuing post-debate material after that. Debate Proposer is Alan Davey, Chief executive of the Arts Council England while the opposer is Pete Spence, a research associate at the Adam Smith Institute. The debate is being moderated by Emily Bobrow, a culture editor for The Economist.

Olga Garay-English on Broadway Cultural Corridor
Posted on by Steve

From Artplace:

Broadway in Los Angeles is a nine block area listed on the National Register of Historic Places that boasts the largest concentration of historic theaters on one street in the nation, with 12 movie palaces as well as blocks of stunning art-deco buildings. Through the 1930s, the area was LA’s premier entertainment and retail destination. Post World War II to the present day, however, the area has witnessed decline and most theaters remain inactive. While adjacent areas in Downtown LA have seen a renaissance, Broadway continues to struggle with a 15-20% ground floor vacancy rate and more than 1 million square feet of vacant space on the upper floors of these historic commercial buildings.
South Carolina Arts Commission continues survey of tradition bearers
Posted on by Steve

The South Carolina Arts Commission’s Folklife and Traditional Arts Program, in collaboration with the University of South Carolina’s McKissick Museum, has launched the third phase of the Survey of South Carolina’s Tradition Bearers. Tradition bearers practice traditional arts handed down from generation to generation in an informal manner and not in a classroom.

2012 Fifty Most Powerful and Influential People in the Nonprofit Arts
Posted on by Steve

From Barry Hessenius at Barry's Blog:

This is the fifth annual Barry’s Blog listing of the Most Powerful and Influential Leaders in the Nonprofit Arts. It has become far and away the most popular of my postings (last year it attracted 5,000 page hits in addition to the subscriber base circulation)... This year there are a couple of changes in the format. First, this year’s list includes 50 people. And rather than do a rigid ranking (in past years the list has been a ranking of 1 - 25 — including in the past couple of years — multiple people under some of the numbers
Irvine Foundation Produces 2011 Performance Report
Posted on by Steve

The James Irvine Foundation has reinvented their annual report with an interactive design intended to be more inviting and accessible.

At the heart of the report is the Program Impact section, which offers highlights of key developments in each of our three grantmaking programs and Special Initiatives. In the Leadership section, we describe ways we have used Irvine's voice to enhance the work we're supporting through grants. And finally, we look at Irvine's financial and organizational health using a variety of quantitative measures.
Philanthropy Northwest Announces Webinar Series on Evaluation
Posted on by Steve

Philanthropy Northwest will host a four-session series of webinars this Fall to explore in depth issues of evaluation. The series, Embedding Evaluation Thinking & Practices into Your Strategy and Programs begins Wednesday, September 19, with the session Current Thinking and Practices in Evaluation.

Squaring Off on New Models in the Arts
Posted on by Steve

From Kim Cook, Nonprofit Finance Fund, for #artsmgtchat:

In a recent Huffington Post exchange, Michael Kaiser, President of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Adam Huttler, Executive Director of Fractured Atlas squared off on the topic of new business models in the arts. As a colleague (and I hope friend) of both, I thought I might navigate the “both are true” spaces between their arguments. While Adam is careful to say that he does agree on some points with Michael, they diverge when it comes to thinking about institutions.
The Curators Of Dixon School
Posted on by Steve

From Hallie Sekoff at Huffington Post:

There’s something special about Arthur Dixon Elementary School on Chicago’s South Side. Over two-hundred works of art fill the building and spill outside into the schoolyard. Sculptures, oil paintings, watercolors, mosaics, and textiles present an education experience filled with color, texture, and creativity.