ARTSblog

The work of Americans for the Arts Artists Committee and renowned contemporary artist Jeff Koons is featured as today’s Google Doodle. It also marks the launch of the iGoogle Artists project, which allows users to customize their iGoogle homepages with original designs by artists from around the globe. Read more about the project here: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/04/where-art-thou.html.

Google’s webmaster, Dennis Hwang, is the artist behind the semi-regular designs that uses site’s logo to commemorate holidays, historic events, and famous birthdays. Business Week profiled Hwang in June: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_25/b4039088.htm.

Also coming up from Google is the announcement of the finalist in Doodle 4 Google design competition for K-12 students. Look for the winning design on May 22.

What would you choose as your Google doodle? Let us know in the comments.

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Engaging the Arts for a Creative Workforce
Graduation season is now upon us and soon the job market will be replete with fresh eyed graduates, eager to apply the skills they learned in school to their first jobs.  After listening to speeches that troll the smorgasbord of opportunities available to them after they leave their alma mater, they will depart their schools convinced that they have been adequately prepared for success. 

But to what extent is this true?  Both the art and business communities have been buzzing with the claim that the workforce in the United States is far from where it needs to be creatively.  Read the rest of this entry »

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WHYY radio in Philadelphia aired a report earlier this week on the arts and the upcoming Pennsylvania presidential primary. Included in the segment are interviews with the Americans for the Arts Action Fund about the ArtsVote initiative, as well as the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, local host of our annual convention this June.

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“In his impassioned and witty keynote address, Americans for the Arts President and CEO Robert Lynch assessed the seemingly grim situation with optimism, pointing out that the arts are a growth economy.” Read more from the Santa Barbara Independent.

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The Civic Engagement Track at the Americans for the Arts Convention invites arts administrators, activists, artists, and others to discuss the role that arts and culture can play in fostering civic participation and building healthy communities. Through case based sessions, experiential activity, and research updates, sessions will illuminate the many ways the arts are providing platforms for civic engagement and build participant skills for designing and delivering arts-based civic engagement opportunities in their own communities.

Engage Now! We are offering a series of audio conversations with practitioners and professionals who will present at the event. The first in our series explores the National Constitution Center’s  Living News project and features Nora Berger Green, Theater Programs Producer at the National Constitution Center and David Bradley, Living News Director. Through innovative use of theater, the project engages local youth around questions of citizenship and civic participation through the lens of the constitution. Listen, as Nora and David describe the project – and stay tuned to the end of the conversation for cues from David and Nora as we start some conversation and reflection in the comments below.

To learn more about the program and other tracks at the Convention, visit the Convention section of the website.

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Get networked in. Americans for the Arts Networks, Peer Groups, and Councils connect members who have like interests. Peer groups are centered on interest and/or profession, such as Rural and Small Communities. Groups meet face to face during the annual convention and communicate year-round through members-only listservs. Formal networks have been created to respond to the needs of:

• Arts Education Network
• Emerging Leaders Network
• Public Art Network
• State Arts Action Network
• United Arts Funds
• United States Urban Arts Federation

Only members of Americans for the Arts can get tapped into these networks. They provide leadership opportunities on their respective councils, professional development through their convention tracks, and best of all, friends through their listservs. Join today to get with the movers and shakers.

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