Traditional / Folk arts

The Conservation Company, 40 East 42nd Street, New York, New York 10017

Making Growth Work is a briefing paper from The Conservation Company. Written by senior consultants Paul Connoly and Laura Colin Klein, this paper discusses "techniques for managing growth in a way that maximizes a nonprofit's impact." Sections of the report describe brief case studies, identify "growing pains and their treatment," present "a user's manual," and, finally, list management assistance resources that will be useful to organizations considering whether and how to grow.

I am a fan of peer panels and have always enjoyed serving on them. Coming from a dance/theater background I view them as a performance event rich with actors and drama, text and subtext. I particularly appreciate the transformation of a group of individuals into a temporary community of purpose. Panelists are introduced, size each other up, conduct negotiations, build consensus, argue and disagree, acknowledge their differences, struggle to find a common language, reach certain compromises, and finally come to a set of conclusions.

1996, 142 pages, National Endowment for the Arts, Seven Locks Press, Santa Ana, California, 800-354-5348

The following article is based on excerpts from a program examination by Arts Action Research.

Bimbo Rivas: Artist Profile

Hotel-Motel Taxes for the Arts
AMS Planning and Research, edited by Randy Cohen - 1996, 11 pages

Sales Taxes for the Arts
Duncan M. Webb, AMS Planning and Research - 1996, 15 pages

Amusement Taxes for the Arts
Martha I. Dodson, edited by Rachel S. Moore - 1997, 14 pages

Americans for the Arts Books c/o Whitehurst & Clark, 100 Newfield Avenue, Edison, New Jersey 08837, 800-321-4510 ext. 241, www.artsusa.org.

Lance T. Izumi is a senior fellow in California studies at the Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy. The following text is based on a transcript of Izumi's remarks at a symposium sponsored by the Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF). The topic of the two-day symposium was the support of visual artists. It was held in Seattle on December 4 and 5, 1997. The remarks are published here with permission of Izumi and WESTAF.

The Arts and the Public Purpose 92nd American Assembly

From May 29 through June 1 of this year, seventy-eight individuals interested in the arts in the United States came together for the 92nd American Assembly at Arden House in Harriman, New York to debate "The Arts and the Public Purpose." The American Assembly was established by Dwight D. Eisenhower at Columbia University in 1950. Each year it holds at least two nonpartisan meetings on topics related to United States policy, each of which gives rise to a book on the subject discussed.

Imagine throwing an arts event and the entire community shows up. This is oftentimes what takes place in the towns delightfully portrayed in Bright Stars, a publication from the McKnight Foundation in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In Neal Cuthbert's foreword to this award-winning piece, it is underscored that rural communities in Minnesota are suffering in several ways due to listless econo-mies and dramatically shifting demographics.

What often is lost in cultural policy conversations or research reports about the visual arts world is an examination of how ethnic-specific cultural practices and the dynamics of non-collecting museums and artist-centered organizations keep the art world from be-ing static and dull, from being victimized by the hierarchies of taste or the technocratic aims of cultural managers. Any analysis of the sociology of the visual arts field needs to speak about the relationship between the aesthetic content of a work and the contexts in which different aesthetic inquiries are supported.

The following article was first presented as an address at "Selling Yarns — Australian Indigenous Textiles and Good Business in the 21st Century,” a conference hosted by the Australian National University and held at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory in Darwin, Australia on August 13, 2006.

As is often the custom among Native peoples of the Americas, I want to share a story with you that serves as deep background for everything I will be talking about today.