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Steve's Blog

PONCHO’s Revitalized Hopes and Dreams for Arts and Students
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From Lorna Kneeland, Executive Director of PONCHO, guest blogging at 4Culture:

In the past few years, there has been a fair amount of public attention (but not enough) on the dire state and inequity of arts learning for K-12 students. The expectation that arts are an essential aspect to student education has been lost. This year in Seattle, not a single arts organization was deemed qualified for the Families and Education Levy. This is surprising given the great deal of research demonstrating the strong link that arts education has to academic success and social development.
STEAM Ahead: Merging Arts and Science Education
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From Kelly Chen and Imani M. Cheers at PBS Newshour:

During tough economic times, arts and music programs are often some of the first programs cut in schools. But at Wolf Trap's Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts, investing in arts education has been a priority for the past 31 years.
Culture Comparison: How NYC Performs
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From The Wall Street Journal News Graphics feed comes this illustration of how New York City ranks culturally to other major world cities.

CUAC Eviction: Utah City Council Wants Art Space Out?
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From Kathleen Massara at The Huffington Post:

The Central Utah Art Center (CUAC), one of the only nonprofit arts centers in the state of Utah, is facing eviction and serious funding cuts at an Ephraim city council meeting Wednesday night.
New Web Conference To Discuss K-12 Arts Education Policy
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A new session has been added to the 2012 Web Conference Series to discuss the new K-12 Arts Education Policy Agenda being worked on by the GIA Arts Education Funders Coalition (AEFC). GIA formed the AEFC in the spring of 2012 for funders concerned with arts education. One of the purposes of the group is to investigate ways to embed the arts into current federal education policy. Working with the Penn Hill Group, an education policy firm in Washington, DC, the coalition's Advisory Committee has created an agenda that encompasses several opportunities for arts education.

Can you make any kind of living as an artist?
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From Elizabeth Day at The Guardian:

The statistics make for uncomfortable reading. Almost a third of visual and applied artists earn less than £5,000 a year from their creative work, according to a survey conducted last year by Artists' Interaction and Representation (AIR); 57% of the 1,457 respondents said that less than a quarter of their total income was generated by their art practices and only 16% of them paid into a private pension fund, raising questions about how professional artists will support themselves once they reach retirement age.
When the Olympics Gave Out Medals for Art
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From Joseph Stromberg at Smithsonian.com:

For the first four decades of competition, the Olympics awarded official medals for painting, sculpture, architecture, literature and music, alongside those for the athletic competitions. From 1912 to 1952, juries awarded a total of 151 medals to original works in the fine arts inspired by athletic endeavors. Now, on the eve of the 100th anniversary of the first artistic competition, even Olympics fanatics are unaware that arts, along with athletics, were a part of the modern Games nearly from the start.
President Obama nominates Ranee Ramaswamy to National Council on the Arts
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From Marianne Combs at Minnesota Public Radio:

This week President Obama announced his intent to nominate Ranee Ramaswamy to the National Council on the Arts. The NCA advises the Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts (currently Rocco Landesman) on agency policies and programs.
Research by CEP Underscores Challenges of Social Media
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New research by the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) shows that when it comes to social media, nonprofits aren’t closely following their foundation funders or their funders’ staff. “While foundations and their grantees are both using social media—Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and blogs—the nonprofits simply are not following their funders,” said Ellie Buteau, vice president of research for CEP and co-author of the report.

After Cuts, States Use The Arts To Boost The Economy
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From Micheline Maynard at Forbes:

As the recession grew deeper, states across the country took aim at budgets for the arts. In Kansas, Gov. Sam Brownback used his line-item veto power to eliminate funding for the for the Kansas Arts Commission, making his state the first to eliminate arts money altogether. At the time, Brownback called the commission a luxury his state couldn’t afford. Now, Brownback has quietly changed course — but in a different guise.