In Defense of Logic Models

They’re flexible, they’re transparent, and chances are, they’re already in your head.

Around the horn: I’m on a plane edition

ART AND THE GOVERNMENT Narric Rome tells us about where the arts fall in the federal government’s new tourism strategy. After threatening to cap the tax deduction available to donors as a means of raising revenue, the British government has abandoned the plan. ALL ABOUT THE BENJAMINS Barely two years after changing things up last time, theRead More

Around the horn: It Gets Better edition

ART AND THE GOVERNMENT Weird, the very day that the Huffington Post published my “debate” with Carla Escoda about arts funding, the New York Times published a “Room for Debate” feature on a very similar topic. Something in the water? Anyway, Sean Bowie has a nice summary if you don’t have time to read all eight entries. TheRead More

Creative Placemaking Has an Outcomes Problem

Federal policymakers and private philanthropists are spending millions of dollars on creative placemaking without having developed a clear and detailed theory of how it works.

Let Your Folk Flag Fly: Folklore Research and the Informal Arts

Over the last decade, you’ve probably known someone who took up dance or music classes, or maybe someone who joined a knitting or craft group, or started a novel. According to a 2008 NEA study, 74 percent of Americans participate in the arts through attendance, art creation, or media. Whether you call it the Pro-AmRead More

On Trey McIntyre Project and Both/And Creative Placemaking

(David B. Pankratz, Ph.D., is the Principal of Creative Sector Research in South Pasadena, California. He can be reached at creativesectorresearch@gmail.com.) In TINA vs. LOIS: Bringing the Arts Back Home, community arts advocate Scott Walters applies a concept developed by author Michael Shuman in The Small-Mart Revolution to cultural economies in American communities. TINA (ThereRead More

Is Federal Money the Best Way to Fund the Arts?

For as much room as the United States has to step up its commitment to the arts in the form of public dollars, we are not likely to see the federal government become the primary source of support for the arts in this country in our lifetimes, or those of our children or children’s children for that matter. And frankly, that’s probably for the best.

Around the horn: American Bandstand edition

ART AND THE GOVERNMENT The California Arts Council is in danger of losing its right to solicit voluntary contributions from California citizens through their state income tax returns. Though that wasn’t proving to be a very effective way of raising money anyway – the agency banked only $165,000 from CA’s nearly 40 million residents last year. ArtsRead More

Cool jobs of the month – UPDATED

(Reminder: the Fractured Atlas Research Fellows deadline is this Friday!) Executive Director, South Arts South Arts seeks a dynamic, multi-talented executive director to build on its exceptional 37-year track record of strengthening the south through advancing excellence in the arts, connecting the arts to key state and national policies, and nurturing a vibrant quality ofRead More

St. Louis

Any Createquity readers from the Show Me State? I’ll be in town for a brief visit to speak at the Rustbelt to Artist Belt: At the Crossroads conference on Friday. Organized by the Community Arts Training (CAT) Institute of the St. Louis Regional Arts Commission (RAC) in partnership with Cleveland’s Community Partnership for Arts andRead More