Arts and Community Development

December 22, 2009 by Steve

In 2006, the Wisconsin Arts Board (WAB) looked back at the five towns that participated in the first "access" grant funded by the National Endowment for the Arts in the late 1960s. This was a seminal rural arts development program managed by the University of Wisconsin's Office of Community Arts Development at the College of Agriculture. The WAB study included interviews with elderly local artists, archival documents, a survey conducted in 1973 and replicated in 20052, and conversations with some of the field's earliest practitioners.

November 22, 2009 by Steve

The Way We’ll Be: The Zogby Report on the Transformation of the American Dream.
By John Zogby; Random House (New York), 2008, 256 pages

The Creative Class of Color in New York

November 22, 2009 by Steve

Recent studies on New York’s creative sector have established that the arts are a key asset in the city’s economic portfolio. Culture Counts: Strategies for a More Vibrant Cultural Life for New York City (2001); Creative New York (2005); and The Arts as an Industry: Their Economic Impact on New York City and New York State (2007) provide ample evidence that the diverse number of cultural institutions, arts-related businesses, and artists in New York generate employment, attract tourism, and enhance the city’s quality of life.

The Globe

November 22, 2009 by Steve

Before the house lights dim at a production of Romeo and Juliet, I look for myself and I am delighted to find myself as I was many years ago: A teenaged boy sitting by himself. I recognize him because he keeps checking the number on his ticket against the number on the armrest. All in all, he is pleased with his seat. He wears a sweater and tie. He reads his program with the intensity I used similarly to scrutinize the actors’ biographies, the director’s notes, and the advertisements for after-theater dining.

November 12, 2009 by Steve

Brooklyn, NY - National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Rocco Landesman delivered a keynote address today to close the 2009 national Grantmakers in the Arts conference: Navigating the Art of Change.

In his remarks, Chairman Landesman laid out the guiding principle that will inform his work at the agency, which can be summed up in two words: "Art works." Chairman Landesman explained that he means this in three ways:

November 12, 2009 by Steve

On May 12th, more than 60 artists and creative organizers engaged in civic participation, community development, education, social justice activism, and philanthropy came together for a White House briefing on Art, Community, Social Justice, National Recovery.

November 12, 2009 by Steve