Artspace receives $3 million program-related investment from Ford Foundation

Real estate developer Artspace is the recipient of a whopping $3.75 million from the Ford Foundation’s Supporting Diverse Arts Spaces program. The investment is comprised of a $750,000 grant plus, more interestingly, a ten-year, $3 million low-interest loan. The loan is a program-related investment (PRI), a less common variant of charitable support by which aRead More

Around the horn: straw poll edition

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 aRead More

Does academic journal content want to be free?

Last month, hacker activist (hacktivist?) Aaron Swartz was indicted for downloading 4.8 million proprietary academic articles from the JSTOR database via the MIT guest network. For this, he faces up to a $1 million fine and a potential jail sentence of 35 years. For ThinkProgress commentator Matthew Yglesias, the issues raised by the case pointRead More

Around the horn: Debt ceiling edition

Don’t forget the Createquity Writing Fellowship application deadline is this Friday, August 5! PUBLIC POLICY AND THE ARTS – FEDERAL The State Department, though the New England Foundation for the Arts, is funding a major new cultural diplomacy program aimed at bringing foreign artists to small and midsize cities across the United States. Alyssa RosenbergRead More

The Critical Supporting Role of Curation in Making Innovation Possible

(This post was originally published on Americans for the Arts’s ARTSblog as part of the “Emerging Ideas: Seeking and Celebrating the Spark of Innovation” salon going on this week. Read the other contributors’ posts here.) Through the work of the Emerging Ideas Committee this year, I’ve become acquainted with a wealth of new approaches toRead More

Apply for the fall 2011 Createquity Writing Fellowship

As mentioned earlier this month, the inaugural Createquity Writing Fellowship was a resounding success, and we’re going to do it all over again this fall. The application process has been slightly revamped, but otherwise the basic deal remains the same: five months of intensive writing, collaboration with colleagues, and exposure to field leaders between SeptemberRead More

Around the horn: Carmageddon edition

Have you read this month’s Arts Policy Library explosion yet? Remember, there are quickie versions of all three articles if you’re in a hurry. MUSICAL CHAIRS Steve Gunderson is stepping down as CEO of the Council on Foundations. Social justice groups are freaked out that the previously-reported departure of Gara LaMarche from Atlantic Philanthropies willRead More

Wrapping up the Createquity Writing Fellowship

When I re-launched Createquity two years ago following its website redesign, I put a brash new descriptor of the site on the “About” page: “a unique virtual think tank” for the arts. I loved the idea of Createquity being a place for the exchange of ideas, not just a platform for their dissemination. For theRead More

Around the horn: Independence edition

Whew! I think this past month might just have been the craziest ever for me. Two research contract proposals, a final report, visits to Chicago, DC (twice), San Diego, LA, and Boston, a birthday, committee work for the Americans for the Arts Emerging Leader Council, editing Arts Policy Library pieces by the Createquity Writing Fellows,Read More

Cool job of the month

Program Officer, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation The Program Officer will work in collaboration with the Performing Arts team and under the guidance of the Program Director to provide professional, operational, and programmatic support. Responsibilities fall into three categories: 1) research, identification, and analysis of potential grantees; 2) ongoing support and assessment of currentRead More