Bookmarks
GIA members have often expressed an interest in providing resources for artists that go "beyond the check." Following is a list of web sites for organizations that provide useful information related to specific disciplines, funding, career opportunities, professional development, and other resources for artists.
Aside from supporting the Alliance's membership of artists' communities throughout the U.S., this site features an extensive and current database of artist residency programs that is searchable by region or by discipline. It also includes links to sites with other resources for artists including funding, presenting/commissioning, artist cooperatives, and live/work spaces.
American Composers Forum www.composersforum.org
Membership in the American Composers Forum is open to composers and musicians engaged in various musical genres including orchestra and chamber music, electronic and electro-acoustical, sound art, jazz, and opera. Forum members can log in to the full opportunities listings for residencies, teaching assistantships, calls for papers, and competitions. The site also features a portal to innova Recordings, the independent label of ACF that manufactures, distributes, and markets recordings and offers a streaming webcast of selections from its catalogue at www.innova.mu.
The Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers (AIVF) www.aivf.org
This extensive web site for independent producers provides resources for all phases of video and filmmaking
Career Transition for Dancers www.careertransition.org
This organization is a unique resource to help dancers make a transition into other careers after their active dancing life is over. Dancers will find the list of helpful web sites useful for its links to performing arts unions, arts service organizations, career counseling services, and college guides.
Dance/USA www.danceusa.org
Site visitors can browse Member News, a weekly compendium of weekly and national dance news, opportunity listings for dancers and dance companies, and books and articles of note. The site also includes an “Advice for Young Dancers” section that offers resources for dancers beginning in elementary school and continuing through college. According to the site, members will soon be able to log in to a members-only area for resources and job listings.
Meet the Composer www.meetthecomposer.org
Perhaps the most significant feature of this site is MTC Works, a searchable database that compiles every work commissioned by Meet the Composer in its twenty-eight-year history, over 700 works. This resource can be used by performers, producers, and presenters interested in performing work by living composers. MTC is not a membership organization so any composer can email their web site address to MTC and be added to their list of Composer Contacts.
mnartists.org mnartists.org
A project of the McKnight Foundation, mnartists.org is an online database of Minnesota artists and organizations from all disciplines that also features articles, news, and resources relevant to their work. The site is updated regularly by many writers and artists and has a “Collections” feature where members can be curators for mini-exhibitions of artists from the site.
MusiCares Foundation www.grammy.com/musicares
MusiCares focuses on the health and well being of musicians through its Emergency Financial Assistance and Addiction Recovery Programs, and the web site provides information on these, and other, programs. The site also features a “Health and Human Service Network,” a page of links to programs similar to MusiCares, for musicians as well as artists working in other disciplines.
New Dramatists www.newdramatists.org
New Dramatists' Scriptshare program links playwrights with theaters and film companies across the U.S. as well as with other services including readings of works in progress, readings by top-notch actors, free clerical support, and work space and temporary accommodations in “Seventh-Heaven” on the top floor of its facility in midtown, Manhattan.
NYFA Source www.nyfa.org
Choose one of four pathways to explore the NYFA Source web site: For Artists, For Organizations, For Donors, or For Art Curious. Part of the New York Foundation for the Arts, this extensive site is perhaps the best online resource of opportunities for artists and organizations and arts-related jobs. A basic search of award programs, for example, is organized by discipline, geography, and type of award, including cash grants, emergency grants, student scholarships, artist community/residency programs, space awards, equipment access, apprenticeships/professional development, and honorary prizes. Information for each posting is quite complete and is dated. A coded guide lets you know if selection is by nomination, if an application fee is required, and whether or not the details for the award have been verified. The database is easy to use and help is offered through an online tutorial, live “hotline” assistance, and in-person training workshops.
The Poetry Society of America www.poetrysociety.org
You don't have to join current members – such as John Ashbery, Rita Dove, Stanley Kunitz, Sharon Olds, Robert Pinsky, and Adrienne Rich – to browse the wealth of links offered at this site – including links to poetry journals, poetry publishers, small presses, literary organizations, independent bookstores, poetry colonies, conferences, festivals, and contests
Katie Kurtz is former program and communications coordinator, GIA.