From the Aspen Ideas Festival, held recently in Aspen, Colorado, comes this session panel discussion with NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman, the Knight Foundation's Dennis Scholl, and the Ford Foundation's Darren Walker with facilitator Richard Florida. The 50-minute discussion titled “Making Cities Sing” focuses on urban development and the arts, the creative economy and placemaking. Video of the full discussion is now available.
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From David Segal at The New York Times:
How much art is stockpiled in the 435,000 square feet of the Geneva Freeport? That’s a tough one. The canton of Geneva, which owns an 86 percent share of the Freeport, does not know, nor does Geneva Free Ports and Warehouses, the company that pays the canton for the right to serve as the Freeport’s landlord. Swiss customs officials presumably know, but they aren’t talking. Suffice it to say, there is wide belief among art dealers, advisers and insurers that there is enough art tucked away here to create one of the world’s great museums.
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From Chris Barton at the Los Angeles Times:
In a move whose timing feels appropriate as we head into an election season sure to draw many voices to campaign rallies, the Center for the Study of Political Graphics announced that it received its first federal funding to present protest posters in exhibitions and online.
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From Elysabeth Alfano for Huffington Post:
In tough economic times, it is hard to justify large expenditures on art -- or is it? This summer, the city of Chicago has several large scale temporary art sculptures installed in the heart of the city, paid for by non-governmental organizations.
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From Robert Everett-Green at The Globe and Mail:
For Canadian artists, Europe often looks like the land of plenty, where governments subsidize cultural activities on a fantastic scale. But these days, European culturati are an embattled lot, especially in the euro states now writhing under the austerity diktats of the IMF and the euro zone’s own bailout agency. While they hack away at pensions, welfare and unemployment benefits, some governments feel they have no choice but to do a hard prune of cultural spending too.
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League of American Orchestras Chair Lowell J. Noteboom has announced the appointment of Burton Alter, Angelo Fatta, Jim Hasler, John Hayes, James Mabie, and Robert Peiser to the League’s Board of Directors. The six new board members, who will each serve three-year terms, were elected by the League board during its annual meeting in June.
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From David Ng at the Los Angeles Times:
Paul Allen, a co-founder of Microsoft with Bill Gates, is being honored for his cultural philanthropy at this year's annual National Arts Awards. The list of honorees also includes stage actor Brian Stokes Mitchell, artist James Rosenquist, singer Josh Groban and arts patron Lin Arison.
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From Theater Critic Chris Jones at the Chicago Tribune:
Last week in Chicago, we all seemed to suddenly hit a kind of tipping point when it comes to shootings. It has taken a long time coming, in part because of the concentrated nature of the gang-related violence in certain areas of the city that are easy for some to ignore, and that allow more privileged lives to continue, seemingly unaffected, in the parallel beauty of a sunbaked city with its summer-turquoise lake.
Still, last week, the steady drumbeat finally became a more widespread alarm. You could hear it ringing all over town.
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Michelle T. Boone, Commissioner of the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events has announced a draft version of the Chicago Cultural Plan 2012.
The Plan describes the major needs identified in the process that must address:
- A focus on neighborhoods
- Accessibility
- Capacity growth of the cultural sector
- Global cultural positioning
- Profound civic impact
- Broad commitment to cultural sustainability
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Barry Hessenius has a Q & A with the Knight Foundation's Dennis Scholl:
I’ve been involved in the arts for decades, but these last three years has been an immersive experience. It’s like drinking from a fire hose every day. I feel that coming from outside the field has allowed me to try some things that might be a little out of the box and to make some grants to artists and organizations that are not necessarily traditional arts grantees. All great arts ideas don’t originate inside the 501(c)(3) structure.