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Understanding State Level Constituents in Arts Education
Posted on by Steve

Americans for the Arts wil host a webinar on the topic of Arts Education on Thursday, February 23, at 3:00pm EST/12:00pm PST.

The hour-long webinar will be moderated by Narric Rome, Senior Director of Federal Affairs and Arts Education for AFTA, and is one of a seven part series as Americans for the Arts rolls out a toolkit, The Arts Education Field Guide, which will illuminate ways to navigate the complex web of citizens, policy-makers, government entities, and organizations that influence arts education from the school house to the White House and from the living room to the board room.

Houston Arts Alliance Announces Diem Jones as Director of Grants
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Diem Jones has been tapped for the position of Director of Grants at the Houston Arts Alliance (HAA). Jones comes to the HAA post after an 8-year stretch as deputy director at Arts Council Silicon Valley, where he supervised their Artsopolis program and managed the agency’s grants, arts education and marketing programs.

You've got the new arts technology, make sure you have the behavior change
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From Ron Evans at Group of Minds:

As an arts marketing and technology guy, I get asked about tech a lot. I help people choose online ticketing systems, new website content management systems, email marketing software — if it is online technology, I’ve probably helped an arts group choose and implement it. When I first started consulting, I thought my job would be to help people make the right choices, and then be on my way. But I’ve found over the years that this is only half of what’s needed to implement new technology.
Matt Sorum of Guns 'n' Roses Stands Up for Arts Education
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From Simone Wilson at LA Weekly:

Of all the crucial LAUSD programs on the chopping block at today's board meeting—like the entire adult-education department and after-school tutoring—perhaps the most heart-wrenching was art education for elementary schoolers.
Itzhak Perlman Advocates for Arts on Arizona Senate Floor
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Today, Itzhak Perlman spoke in support for continued funding for the Arizona Arts Commission. Also he played with a group of student musicians. Watch the video below.

Obama Administration's Federal Year 2013 Budget Proposal
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Council on Foundations Policy Update
February 13, 2012

Obama Budget Again Calls for Cap on Itemized Deductions; Also Would Reinstate Itemized Deduction Phase-Out, Establish "Buffet Rule," and Create a Simplified Excise Tax for Private Foundations

President Obama’s Budget Request for the NEA: The Fine Print
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More on the Obama budget from Narric Rome at ArtsBlog:

While the NEA’s budget proposal increases several grant categories, it is the Our Town initiative that receives the most significant support: doubled from $5M to $10M. The Our Town program made a big debut in 2011 with 51 grantees from 34 states receiving a total of $6.5M. More than half of these grants were awarded to communities with a population of less than 200,000 and seven went to places with fewer than 25,000 people. With $10M to spend in 2013, the NEA could make Our Town grants to 115 communities. Some further details...
Obama's 2013 budget calls for 5% increase for arts and culture
Posted on by Steve

From The Los Angeles Times Culture Monster blog:

President Obama’s proposed 2013 budget, released Monday, calls for a 5% increase in spending for three cultural grantmaking agencies and three Washington, D.C., arts institutions. Obama aims to boost outlays from $1.501 billion to $1.576 billion, encompassing the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities (NEA and NEH), the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the Smithsonian Institution, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the National Gallery of Art.
Can This Suburb Be Saved?
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From Justin Davidson at New York Magazine:

A few years ago, an architect with a global reputation was walking me through his busy studio, boasting of his exhaustive experience. I asked if he had ever designed in the suburbs; he looked at me as if I were out of my mind. Architects tend to treat the zones where half of all Americans live as a backward, inhospitable wilderness. The suspicion is mutual: Who needs a fancy designer when builders all over the country know how to construct a peaked-roof single-family house?
A Global Nonprofit Ponzi Scheme? Lessons Learned from a Fiscal Sponsor’s Collapse
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From Rick Cohen at Nonprofit Quarterly:

When a nonprofit implodes, the tendency is to avert one’s gaze and hope that it was simply that one nonprofit or its specific cast of characters that made it a “one-off.” When the nonprofit International Humanities Center (IHC), a fiscal sponsor for over 200 projects around the world, imploded, it’s estimated that it took with it more than $1 million in donations that never made it to the intended recipients in what begins to look like a nonprofit version of a Ponzi scheme.