Generation Y and the Problem of “Entitlement”: A Bullet-Point Manifesto

(cross-posted on ARTSBlog for this week’s 20UNDER40 discussion on emerging leaders and intergenerational dialogue) (Note: I was inspired to experiment with this form by a guest post on Sean Stannard-Stockton’s Tactical Philanthropy blog by Nonprofit Finance Fund Capital Partners founder George Overholser. I hope you enjoy it.) An oft-heard complaint about Generation Y (and otherRead More

Live from GIA: Day I – Opening Plenary Dinner

(Cross-posted at the GIA 2009 Conference Blog) The 2009 Grantmakers in the Arts Conference officially opened on Sunday night with a half-salmon-half-chicken dinner (something for everyone, I guess?), welcoming remarks, housekeeping notes, a performance, and a keynote by pollster and author John Zogby. The strange tensions of the times we live in were in fullRead More

Live from GIA: Day I – Arts and Social Justice Preconference

(Note to Createquity readers: I’m blogging the 2009 Grantmakers in the Arts Conference from Brooklyn, NY this week. This post was originally published at the GIA 2009 Conference Blog.) A strikingly diverse group of arts funders gathered at the Pratt Institute Sunday morning for the Arts and Social Justice Preconference. GIA’s Arts and Social JusticeRead More

Achieving Consensus in a Pluralist Value System

image by jef safi (‘pictosophizing) – Creative Commons license In the course of my occasional blog discussion with Tony Wang about the nature of value (economic and otherwise), I’ve gotten us off on a bit of a philosophical tangent: namely, exploring the question of whether a pluralist value system–one in which we don’t assign anyRead More

New Ideas for New York

On September 30, the New York City Mayor’s Office announced a set of five new initiatives involving a collaboration between the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs and its Economic Development Corporation. Ever since I started following trends in creative economy policy and research a couple of years ago, it has seemed to me that despiteRead More

Ben Davis takes up the banner

Props go to artnet Magazine’s Ben Davis for being the second member of the professional media to actually do his homework on the NEA conference call controversy, joining the Los Angeles Times‘s Mike Boehm. (Hat tip to Anonymous Commenter.) And what marvelous things he uncovers! You should really read the whole thing, but here areRead More

Is it time for the arts to become a partisan issue?

(photo courtesy Flickr user victoriabernal, Creative Commons license) So, in case you haven’t noticed, the arts have become a bit of a hot topic in the political arena lately. Though the brouhaha regarding the NEA’s involvement in the United We Serve conference calls seems to have died down a bit since Yosi Sergant fell onRead More

Around the horn: Brooklyn dreamin’ edition

This is apparently the month for Createquity guest-blogging. In addition to my contributions to Barry Hessenius’s NEA group blog, which continues this week with several panelists from the commercial music and television industries, I will be doing double-duty next week: running the official blog of the Grantmakers in the Arts Conference in Brooklyn, NY startingRead More

Meet Me at Barry’s IV: Wrap and Reactions

The last of the panel questions for Week 4 of the Barry’s Blog discussion of the future of the NEA are up, and Barry himself has added some final thoughts to wrap up the week. Check it all out here. To give you a taste and encourage you to visit, once again I’ve cross-posted myRead More

Meet Me at Barry’s III

Barry’s Blog has added two more questions to this week’s group panel on the future of the NEA. My answers are below; or you can check out the entire thing here (scroll down). If you do the latter, keep an eye out for Shannon Daut’s excellent comments on public arts agency leadership. Q: We talkRead More