The New York Times manages to mangle the NEA's recent report on Artists in the Workforce with the headline "Study Says Artists Have Higher Salaries" completely missing the point, and quoting the most misleading stat they could find in this useful research report.
Grantmakers in the Arts
by Janet
“It’s déjà vu all over again.” I stumbled across a speech I gave to a Rotary Club in 1998 on why business should support arts education. Here’s a condensed version. Twenty years later, same arguments apply and the situation is worse for workers and arts in education.
by Steve
ARTSblog continues its retrospective of the GIA conference with Barbara Schaffer Bacon writing about the session she and Marete Wester organized to look at the realities of labels such as "elite" and "progressive". The session included a short play by GIA deputy director Tommer Peterson.
With bold headlines generated by the release of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy report "Fusing Arts, Culture and Social Change," the appetite was high at the Grantmakers in the Arts (GIA) Conference for an opportunity to address the charge of being elite so often leveled at the arts. Do we want to own it or change it? And, what about the progressive label? Don’t artists generally lean left?
by Tommer
The count isn't official yet, but the polls say that Ireland has elected poet Michael Higgins as president.
by Steve
From John Hanna at Bloomberg Businessweek:
Kansas has been told again by the National Endowment for the Arts that it's not eligible for federal funds, prompting the state Arts Commission's chairwoman to declare that the group will move forward with a "truly Kansas" plan for supporting arts programs with private money.
An NEA official told Gov. Sam Brownback's office in a letter this week that the Kansas Arts Commission remains ineligible for funds because it hasn't demonstrated that it's supported financially by the state. The letter, obtained Thursday by The Associated Press, says private contributions would not fulfill the requirement for state support.
by Abigail
We are pleased to announce that Rick Kinsel's inaugural post is live on GIA's Talk Back blog. With this comes an open invitation to you and your colleagues to contribute to the conversation on immigration, art, and grantmaking by commenting on the Vilcek Foundation's posts, which will appear throughout the week, and by sharing your own experience of working or funding in this area. Stay tuned!
by Steve
A new report suggests an emerging pattern of success among marginalized students participating in Hip-Hop education, leading to higher attendance and graduation rates. Re-Imagining Teaching and Learning: A Snapshot of Hip-Hop Education, released Friday, of a national scan of Hip-Hop educational programs by the Hip-Hop Education Center (H2ED Center) at the Metropolitan Center for Urban Education (Metro Center) at the New York University Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development.