Visual arts

The fall 2002 issue of the Reader (volume 13, number 3) introduced an ongoing feature, "Why Art?" as a response to GIA's goal to strengthen the role of arts and culture in philanthropy and in society as a whole. This Reader feature aims to help members and others make stronger arguments for the support of arts and culture by sharing examples of arguments, case statements, insights, and stories that convey the multifaceted role that culture, the arts, and artists play in our society, neighborhoods, and individual lives.

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Lawrence Lessig sees Big Media waging war against culture in America. And he, for one, is fighting the battle. A professor at Stanford Law School, Lessig achieved notoriety when he represented web site operator Eric Eldred in the ground-breaking case Eldred v. Ashcroft, a challenge to the 1998 Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act. Eric Eldred was a man who wanted to build a library of derivative versions of public domain books (e.g., Hawthorne's A Scarlet Letter) and make them available for free on the Internet.

The lines between arts and environmental grantmaking often are sharply drawn. However, in the life of thriving communities, the two are integrally linked. As part of a roundtable discussion at last October's GIA conference, it was heartening to share vivid examples of how GIA members are exploring the intersections of environment and art.

The following remarks were presented at a symposium that was part of the 2004 Ars Electronica Festival: TIMESHIFT—The World in Twenty-Five Years. This festival for art, technology, and society was founded in 1979 and is held annually in Linz, Austria. Joan Shigekawa, associate director of Creativity and Culture at the Rockefeller Foundation, spoke on the final panel of the symposium, “TOPIA,” which was designed to “present scenarios around a wide variety of topics relating to art, technology, and society.

2004, 45 pages. Published by Cultural Policy Center at the University of Chicago, 1155 E. 60th Street, Chicago, Il 60637, 773-834-5995

Download pdf: http://culturalpolicy.uchicago.edu/pdfs/grams_producing.pdf

2004, 51 pages. Published by Pew Internet & American Life Project, 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20036, 202-296-0019, www.pewinternet.org

Download Report: http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2004/Artists-Musicians-and-the-Internet.aspx

2004, 72 pages. Published by the Alliance for Artists Communities, 255 South Main Street, Providence, RI, 02903, 401-351-4320, www.artistcommunities.org

Download Report: http://www.artistcommunities.org/resource-library/publications/engaging-communities-lessons-learned

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.

Recent decades have seen rapid immigration into traditional gateway cities as well as rural and suburban communities throughout the United States. Craig McGarvey's thoughtful Pursuing Democracy's Promise speaks to the importance of new United States residents' fully participating in civic life alongside the native born.