ARTSblog

Whether or not you’re engage in social networking, there’s a good chance you have come across a crowd-sourced corporate philanthropy contest (such as Chase Community Giving, Pepsi Refresh, or the American Express Members’ Project) sometime in the last few months. These initiatives, in which companies award funding to the nonprofit or nonprofits that earn the most votes via Facebook, Twitter, or the company’s own website, are sparking discussion in nonprofit and philanthropy circles. Most recently, James Epstein-Reeves’ editorial in Forbes outlines the pros and cons of the crowd-sourced corporate philanthropy model. (The June 2010 issue of BCA News [.pdf 873 KB] also covered the topic.) So, what’s the consensus? Is the crowd-sourced philanthropy model the wave of the future?

In some ways, crowd-sourced philanthropy seems like a win-win for both companies and non-profits. For businesses, crowd-sourced philanthropy contests don’t simply promote positive brand recognition, but also stimulate consumer engagement (especially in examples such as American Express and Pepsi, where consumers/participants log on and vote for nonprofits in different rounds, meaning they will keep returning to the company’s website or Facebook page). On the nonprofit side, Epstein-Reeves points out that these contests help level the playing field by allowing nonprofits who previously may have been ineligible for corporate grants access to the funding and branding power gained from association with the corporation, as well as national recognition that typically does not come from the award of a more traditional grant. Read the rest of this entry »

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Liesel Fenner

The National Endowment for the Arts Mayors’ Institute on City Design (MICD25) program recently awarded 21 grants totaling $3 million to support “creative placemaking projects that increase the livability of communities and help transform sites into lively, beautiful, and sustainable places with the arts at their core.”

Substantial grant amounts of $25,000–$250,000 will address the budgets and scales at which communities are creating successful places where we live, work, and play. Many public art projects will be funded through the MICD25 grants including the City of Phoenix’s Gimme Shelter, a project within a larger work, Connected Oasis. Phoenix has an outstanding portfolio of public art projects many of which specifically address environmental issues. The recent 2010 Public Art Network Year in Review awards recognized Habitat by Christy Ten Eyck and Judeen Terrey, a garden habitat nourished by water from the Convention Center’s air conditioning systems.

Air conditioning—the panacea for the record-breaking heat much of the country has experienced this summer, however AC cannot always cool us as we navigate our daily routines. I have mapped out the shadiest routes to get to and from work. This summer’s weather has proven that cities must reduce the heat island effect of a rapidly changing climate. Thank you to the NEA for including sustainability as a goal in the MICD25 grant program! There is no better solution than public art and design to build sustainable creative places such as Gimme Shelter, which will provide shaded sidewalks, streets plazas, and open spaces. Read the rest of this entry »

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Last week, ArtsJournal hosted a series of conversational blog posts about the nature of artists rights in a hi-tech, networked world.  To read more on this blog series, co-hosted by ArtsJournal, NAMAC, Future of Music Coalition and Fractured Atlas, visit http://www.artsjournal.com/artists/.

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Michael Gagliardo

In my last Green Paper post, I wrote about the cuts being made by the Culver County School System in Indiana.  The cuts, which were radical to say the least, were designed to save the strings program in the Culver County Schools.  They involved eliminating strings from instruments, having the school orchestras march at the halftime of football games, and having instrument repair work performed by state inmates in correctional facilities.  Outrageous.  But here’s the rub.

There is no Culver County, Indiana.  There is no town of Ford Creek.  Paul LaCosta, Bud Parker, and Beth Ann Pederson are fictional characters. The entire press release was a work of fiction. Read the rest of this entry »

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Mike Gagliardo

It’s now been almost a month since I attended my first Americans for the Arts Convention in Baltimore.  Sometimes it’s hard to put things into perspective immediately following an event.  So now that I’ve had some time to really take everything in and process it, I’ve made a few observations that I thought I might share.

I met a lot of interesting, knowledgeable people at the conference.  That’s certainly to be expected.  I think one thing that I missed, though, was the opportunity to talk directly to other artists – not just those in my field, but artists in general.  I’m in the category of individuals who are both practicing artists and managers of arts programs.  I’d love to talk to more people like me who face the daily challenges of balancing administration and artistic expression.  It’s tougher to juggle than you may think – sometimes you have to be the one to tell yourself no in regards to a project you’d really like to pursue.  The artist in you wants to move forward at all costs, as he sees the benefit to the program.  The administrator, however, is the one responsible for the money or the time or the facilities or all of the above, and often has to play the realist to the artist’s dreamer role.  It’s tough to manage, and I’d love to hear how my colleagues make it work in their situations. Read the rest of this entry »

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On June 25, Arianna Huffington addressed a crowd of 1,000 arts professionals at Americans for the Arts Half-Century Summit in Baltimore, Maryland.  During her speech, where she addressed how the arts and culture fit into our society, communications, and information sharing, she spoke about the launch of the new arts section on the popular The Huffington Post website.  Following her presentation she took questions, one of which was how can people get involved in this new section of The Huffington Post. “We’re looking for the Huffington Post arts section to be a real platform for both a discussion of the arts and a demonstration of the arts,” and goes on to say that this must be a two-way discussion, which is the essence of new media. Listen to her response in this video from the convention on how you can contribute, and stay tuned for some exciting news about Americans for the Arts and The Huffington Post’s new arts section!

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Valerie Beaman

Last year at the Americans for the Arts Annual Convention in Seattle, funders and arts organizations alike were in a panic about the economy and draconian cuts in arts support and services.

This year in Baltimore, while the economic picture remains challenging, clear progress was evident as funders and arts organizations discussed new ways of adapting and shifting models. It’s all about collaboration and the blurring of lines between private and public, for profit and nonprofit, high art versus populist art.

This past year, the Obama administration brought in film artists to help brainstorm on a solution for capping BP’s gusher in the Gulf of Mexico. Rocco Landesman, head of the National Endowment for the Arts, talked to cabinet leaders asking how can the arts help with their problems, which developed into a partnership with the Department of Housing and Urban Development  and the Department of Transportation.

Liz Lerman’s Dance Exchange is working with the U.S. Navy on a huge arts-based learning project. And Peter Sellars, stage, film, and festival director, wants to know why shouldn’t artists bring their creativity to bear on solving the ills of the California prison system. Why not, indeed? Read the rest of this entry »

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In April at the Arts Education Partnership National Forum, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan stated that “the arts can no longer be treated as a frill.” Of course we in the arts community know that art education cultivates critical thinking and analysis skills. But business leaders are also realizing how urgent the need for increased arts education in our schools has become.

During “Arts Education and the Innovative Workforce,” our recent webinar in partnership with The Conference Board, telecom entrepreneur and Qualcomm co-founder Harvey White reinforced Duncan’s statement by stressing that if America’s workforce is to remain competitive on a global level, art education is indeed not a frill but an economic necessity. White quoted former Secretary of Education Richard Riley, who stated that in the future, businesses will seek out employees that can “solve problems we don’t even know are problems yet.”  The technical skills that students learn through STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) subjects are certainly necessary, and even align with arts education—after all the objective of engineering is to creatively solve problems using science and math. However, STEM alone cannot provide all of the critical analysis and creative problem solving skills that future business leaders will require to succeed in the global economy. Read the rest of this entry »

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When I joined the Emerging Leaders Council, I learned that many of my peers, like me, were interested in mentoring.

I realized, though, that my outlook on mentoring was very simplistic and traditional: someone with more experience advises someone with less experience in a formal and formalized relationship.

I wanted to know more. When, where, and why did mentoring start? How has mentoring changed? What makes a mentoring relationship work?

(The image above of Telemachus and Mentor was created by Pablo Fabisch for The Adventures of Telemachus.)

Like a true millennial, I turned to Wikipedia.

I discovered that the term “mentor” has its roots in Greek mythology. When Odysseus leaves for the Trojan War, he entrusts Telemachus, his son, in the hands of friend and confidant Mentor. Later in The Odyssey, Goddess of War Athena, who has a soft spot for Odysseus, takes the shape and voice of Mentor when she urges Telemachus to travel abroad to determine what has happened to his father.

Many, many years later in 1699, French writer François Fénelo penned The Adventures of Telemachus, which fills in gaps in The Odyssey with the tales of Mentor and Telemachus. Think The Adventures of Telemachus is to The Odyssey what Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is to Hamlet — but with a decidedly more serious, philosophical tone.

Today’s term “mentor” traces back to Fénelo’s work — a mentor being an advisor, tutor, or counselor.

In developing the Mentorship Tool Kit for the Emerging Leaders Council, I learned that this traditional definition of mentoring is giving way to more informal, but just as effective forms of mentoring.

Over the course of the summer, we’ll be sharing some examples of how Emerging Leaders Networks are making mentoring work in their communities.

In the meantime we’d like to know, what is your definition of mentoring?

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First of all, my answer to the question is a definite “NO,” and while I do think my history degree and music background may be part of the reason I didn’t go into business, I do think arts education is vital for producing a creative and competitive workforce.  But today, I read an article on TheAtlantic.com entitled “Liberal Arts and the Bottom Line” where, apparently, following such disasters as the mortgage-backed securities blunder on Wall Street and the recent and ongoing BP oil spill, some business experts are suggesting that (gasp!) there are other things that need to be taken into account (employee quality of life, environmental impact, community health, etc.) other than the bottom line and that a business education should reflect that.  Their proposed solution: including more liberal arts in the curriculum of business students.  That’s right, business experts are suggesting that business curricula include the arts because it will lead to a more well-rounded, and, if you can believe it, more ethical business executive.   From the article:

“On one level, these changes are an effort to assuage society’s concerns about bloodthirsty and uncaring business executives bringing down economies or risking the destruction of an entire coastline in the name of profit. But on another level, they reflect a growing belief that the kind of complex, critical thinking and ability to look at problems in larger contexts and from multiple points of view that a liberal arts education instills (at least in theory) actually leads to better decision-making skills in business executives.”

Sounds reasonable (and slightly encouraging) to me.  But the author goes on to tell what she calls a “cautionary tale” about creating a more well-rounded business exec.  In 1952, Bell Telephone of Pennsylvania offered a 10-month immersion course in the Humanities and Liberal Arts for up-and-coming Bell managers where these managers read the classics, listened to symphonies, toured art museums, and the like.  The result:  Read the rest of this entry »

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Robert L. Lynch, president and CEO of Americans for the Arts, interviewed Redford at an event on June 24 at the Philadelphia Theater Company presented by the Arts & Business Council of Greater Philadelphia (an affiliate of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce) and professional services company Towers Watson. Redford spoke about his childhood, his business experiences and the importance of creativity in business.

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Last month’s Americans for the Arts Half-Century Summit in Baltimore, MD, was a rousing success on many fronts. Despite economic challenges, a thousand attendees joined us for several days of networking, collaborating, and learning.

In honor of the organization’s 50th anniversary year, this year’s annual convention featured visionary panel sessions, providing the field with an opportunity to listen to, and engage with, leaders in their respective fields to discuss the future. The arts education visionary panel was moderated by Chris Tebben, executive director of Grantmakers for Education, and featured Eric Booth (teaching artist/consultant), Jillian Darwish (vice president of organizational learning and innovation at KnowledgeWorks Foundation), Carrie Fitzsimmons (international director for strategy at ArtScience Labs), and James Shelton (assistant deputy secretary for innovation and improvement at the U.S. Department of Education).

The discussion on the current outlook and future of arts education was lively and engaging, but it was Mr. Shelton who sparked concern from many in the audience. Among his remarks, Mr. Shelton described the collection of research supporting arts education as, “loose” and, in another instance, he appeared to suggest that future arts education policy efforts should be more focused on out-of-school activities.

As hosts of the panel, we quickly found out that news of his remarks were spreading around the country as attendees shared the comments with their colleagues, who then shared them with others, etc.

After returning to D.C., Americans for the Arts Director of Federal Affairs Narric Rome sent a letter to Mr. Shelton, providing him the opportunity to publicly clarify what he meant, and reassure the arts education community that the department’s effort to strengthen arts education through the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and elsewhere, remained a priority.

Mr. Shelton responded with a detailed letter clarifying those comments and reiterating the Department of Education’s support for arts education. Read the rest of this entry »

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created by the New York Neo-Futurists

No Flash? Watch here on iPhone or iPad.

When I first started working with the New York Neo-Futurists, our artists-in-residence for the 2010 Americans for the Arts Half-Century Summit, I had no idea what to expect from their culminating performance on Sunday, June 27. I was familiar with the structure of their work from seeing “Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind” a couple of times, and knew about ordering of the “menu” of short plays. I even anticipated some on-stage chaos. But It was the content I was worried about.

The Neos were tasked with synthesizing thousands of voices, opinions and ideas bounced around over the course of three days in Baltimore into 10 short plays crammed into a 20 minute window. And I wanted at least some of the plays to be a meaningful reflection on the future of the arts (in line with the conference theme). That was a big challenge to place on anyone’s shoulders, even six young, hilarious theatre gurus who create small plays to perform at random order on a weekly basis.

It all had me a little nervous. Read the rest of this entry »

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Summer school is in full swing – and I wonder how many kids are being encouraged to use their imaginations as a part of their learning. My daughter was “promoted” from fifth grade this June and a speech made by the fifth-grade student association president, Zane, was recited at the promotion ceremony. All 90 or so fifth graders dressed their best, boys in actual shoes that for kids in southern California are quite an anomaly (flip flops and sneakers are daily wear) as well as their over-sized jackets on their frames that remain small especially compared to the girls, many of whom tower over the boys and who look very much like developing teenagers.

The two weeks prior to their promotion, boys and girls were separated from each other for a course in “human growth and development.” I got a phone call during the session that my daughter had a stomach ache. As it turns out, my daughter was not alone: “Liana did complain today of an upset stomach,” wrote her teacher in an e-mail. “However, it seems to be going around right now. It became an ‘epidemic’ during Human Growth and Development when all the girls had to learn about the boy parts. It was actually quite comical. That might have had a little to do with her extra nausea at the end of the day. I hope she is feeling better.” Read the rest of this entry »

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A week and a half ago, Americans for the Arts staff were in trains, planes, and loaded down automobiles, headed for Charm City, aka Baltimore, MD, for our Half-Century Summit. Since I work directly with Americans for the Arts’ Emerging Leaders network and our leadership development programs, I spent time participating in Goucher College’s Leadership Symposium, and many of the leadership themed sessions at the Summit.

At the Summit, a recurring conversation in our sessions centered on how we as individuals and organizations could make professional development for our field a larger priority. And by priority, we don’t mean a larger piece of our dwindling budgets. The majority of arts organizations are struggling to figure out how to do more with less, and we need to develop ways to continue making professional development a priority during this tough economy.

In the results from the 2009 Survey to the field of Emerging Arts Leaders, I was shocked to discover that while 70 percent of our current emerging leaders consider arts administration their long term career, only 28.5 percent either strongly agree or agree that there is room for career advancement within their organization.

How will the remaining 41.5 percent of those who want to stay in the field realistically do so when they don’t feel they can grow? Read the rest of this entry »

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