GIA Blog

(1-29-2011) NEA chairman Rocco Landesman in remarks about the state of theater yesterday noted, “You can either increase demand or decrease supply,” he said. “Demand is not going to increase, so it is time to think about decreasing supply.”

Needless to say, this has stirred some comment, see following:

(1-27-2011) Announced today: Modern Art Notes's second annual Super Bowl art loan wager. The Milwaukee Art Museum (MAM) will bet a Caillebotte on the Green Bay Packers and the Carnegie Museum of Art (CMOA) is backing the Pittsburgh Steelers's win with a Renoir.

(1-27-2011) Matthew Westwood for The Australian:

We are all creative industries now, according to the authors of a new Australia Council report, who would put symphony orchestras and video gamemakers in the same cultural paddock. The discussion paper "Arts and Creative Industries" argues there is no longer a division between the subsidized, popular and commercial arts, and government policy should be shaped accordingly.

(1-26-2011) From Huffington Post, Sarah Smarsh, assistant professor of English at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas writes about the proposed ellimination of the Kansas Arts Commission:

(1-26-2011) Today, Metlife Foundation and the National Guild for Community Arts Education announced 12 grants totaling more than $80,000 to National Guild member organizations providing arts programs to older adults. The grants were made through the Creative Aging Program, which was initiated in 2009 by Metlife Foundation and the National Guild in response to the rapid population growth of Americans aged 60+, as well as research demonstrating the health benefits of participatory arts programs for older adults.

(1-21-2011) Here's a grassroots giving model amazing in its simplicity.

(1-20-2011) The Kresge Foundation is webcasting an online, pre-proposal information session to assist organizations interested in applying for the Arts and Culture Program’s Facility Investments and Building Reserves Initiative, a program designed to strengthen the long-term financial health of arts and cultural organizations.

(1-20-2011) The Republican Study Committee, a group of House Republicans chaired by Ohio Representative Jim Jordan, have produced a proposal for $2.5 trillion in spending cuts over the course of a decade. The proposal includes eliminating the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the federal subsidy for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

(1-20-2011) Lois Weisberg is the first flesh-and-bones Chicagoan to be named a “Legendary Landmark” by Illinois's Landmarks Preservation Council. During and before her tenure as Commissioner of Cultural Affairs, she has been responsible for all manner of popular Chicago public arts programs, including the Chicago Cultural Center, Gallery 37, and numerous annual festivals. Now, at age 85, Weisberg is stepping down amidst controversy over Major Richard M. Daley's proposal to merge her office, the Department of Cultural Affairs with the Major's Office of Special Events.

(1-20-2011) For 25 years, the national nonprofit organization CERF+ (Craft Emergency Relief Fund + Artists’ Emergency Resources) has provided grants, loans, and brokered assistance from manufacturers, suppliers, and show promoters to craft artists who have suffered career-threatening emergencies.