It’s been sitting there quietly for a little bit now, but Createquity now has a Facebook page. Feel free to sign up – I post interesting links there that don’t make it into the Around the Horn round up for one reason or another.
PUBLIC POLICY AND THE ARTS – FEDERAL
- Teresa Eyring has a rundown of the Congressmen who spoke in support of the National Endowment for the Arts during the floor debate over the Walberg amendment.
- The Nonprofit Law Blog’s Emily Chan takes a look at the progress of the L3C, now three years after it was first adopted by the state of Vermont.
- Charitable deduction defenders: don’t worry, it wasn’t touched in the debt ceiling deal.
- The arts education blogstravaganza continues at Barry’s Blog, getting deep into discussions on federal policy and research. If the avalanche of text is too much for you there, Americans for the Arts’s Narric Rome synthesized his contributions to the forum so far in one post over at ARTSblog, and Bob Lynch did the same. Speaking of Lynch, he can be seen giving a recent lecture to the Chautaqua Institute in this video.
- Rick Perry has entered the race for President, and Alyssa Rosenberg is right on top of his record on the arts. (Shocker: it’s not good.)
PUBLIC POLICY AND THE ARTS – STATE AND LOCAL
- New York Times culture reporter Robin Pogrebin has been busy lately, penning a couple of articles on state arts agencies. The first round-up covered the recent round of big cuts and eliminations, focusing mostly on Kansas; and a follow-up takes a look at how South Carolina saved arts funding in the Palmetto State.
- Amazing! After gutting the Kansas Arts Commission and laying off all its staff in favor of a privatized solution, the Brownback administration has the chutzpah to ask the NEA not to cut the KAC’s matching funds. Umm, news flash Sam – the whole point of the matching funds arrangement is to prevent your administration from doing what it did.
- The Arizona Commission on the Arts has signed up basketball star Grant Hill to help make the case for arts funding.
GIVING AND PHILANTHROPY
- I’m really enjoying these giving stories from GiveWell. This one is from Vipul Naik and is an interesting window into how highly analytical donors think about their contributions.
- Looks like New Jersey is thinking about requiring nonprofits who raise more than $250,000 per year to give donors the opportunity to restrict their donations to particular programs. Nonprofit Finance Fund has a great rundown of why this is a dumb idea.
MUSICAL CHAIRS
- Simon Greer, currently head of Jewish Funds for Justice, has been named the CEO of the Nathan Cummings Foundation.
MERGERS AND CLOSURES
- Alliance for the Arts, an advocacy group based in NYC, is splitting its programming and assets between two organizations: Municipal Art Society, which will continue the Alliance’s research work, and WNET, which gets the group’s web operations. It’s unclear from the article when (or if?) the Alliance will formally close up shop, but clearly this represents a major sea change.
RESEARCH CORNER
- Ann Markusen is out with a new study on “next generation” arts leaders in California, commissioned by the Center for Cultural Innovation with funds from the Irvine and Hewlett Foundations.
- A new study looks at the economic impact of the recent Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts.
IDEAS, TRENDS, AND COMMENTARY
- Lee Streby continues his remarkable series on reimagining orchestras. Trust me, this is worth checking out.
- The much-hyped free music streaming service Spotify is finally available in the United States, but at least one indie classical music label isn’t so excited.
- Diane Ragsdale is getting personalized event recommendations from the director of an upcoming festival, and if you lived in the Netherlands, you could too.
- Michael Kaiser gives small arts organizations the time of day.
- This Week in Urban Revitalization/Gentrification Through the Arts (thanks, Thomas Cott): Bushwick, Brooklyn becomes a hipster paradise; and the young and educated are helping to remake downtown Detroit.
ETC.
- Justin Wolfers reports on what he’s learned about using Twitter so far – it’s a useful list.
- Four Latin jazz musicians are suing the Grammys for eliminating their category (along with 30 others) in a decision announced this April. I wouldn’t be holding my breath if I were them.