In early 2014, President Barack Obama addressed workers at a General Electric gas engine plant. “A lot of young people don’t see the trades and skilled manufacturing as a viable career,” he said, “but I promise you, folks can make a lot more… with skilled manufacturing or the trades than they might with an artRead More
Around the horn: death and taxes edition
ART AND THE GOVERNMENT The backlash against unpaid internships has spread beyond our borders: Ontario’s Ministry of Labour has ordered two high-profile Canadian magazines to immediately end their internship programs. The Ministry also announced it plans “an enforcement blitz this spring focused specifically on internships across a variety of sectors.” (NB: while nonprofits are generallyRead More
Systemic Change in a Pointillist World – Questions from GIA 2013
I approached the 2013 Grantmakers in the Arts conference as an opportunity to revisit my roots while stepping out of my comfort zone. I grew up in the Philadelphia area and my first job out of graduate school was in grantmaking. Since then I have been living and breathing arts education. I arrived last weekRead More
Everyone is a Lot of People
(This essay was originally written in my role as an outside consultant to the city of Calgary’s cultural plan. You can read all of my contributions to that process here.) For my second essay responding to the #yycArtsPlan process, I thought I would focus on the last paragraph of the “Summary of Vision Statements fromRead More
Around the horn: Argo edition
ART AND THE GOVERNMENT The dreaded sequester began Friday, affecting all federal accounts including that of the National Endowment for the Arts. The NEA will lose 5% of its budget, which works out to about $7.3 million. Grants and administration will be reduced by the same percentage. The reductions only apply through March 27, however,Read More
Around the horn: diversity edition
ART AND THE GOVERNMENT The Future of Music Coalition’s Casey Rae recaps current policy on orphan works (i.e., creations under copyright but whose owners no longer exist), and outlines a solution that protects the original author/performer in such cases. Casey’s post has instructions if you want to file supporting or additional comments with the Copyright Office. WithRead More
Around the horn: fiscal cliff edition
A friendly reminder that the deadline for the Createquity Writing Fellowship is noon Eastern time on Tuesday, January 8. All it takes is a 250-word statement of interest to get started. Look forward to reading your submissions! ART AND THE GOVERNMENT Three perspectives on the fiscal cliff deal: from Nonprofit Quarterly; from Americans for the Arts; fromRead More
Around the horn: cease fire edition
ART AND THE GOVERNMENT “Kansas arts agencies have been on hold several months, waiting for a clue as to how state dollars allocated by the 2012 Legislature might translate into an economic boon to arts programs.” The recent public arts funding update had some grim news from the UK. Here’s one possible reason: an annual studyRead More
Around the horn: Whitney Houston edition
MUSICAL CHAIRS Americans for the Arts CEO Bob Lynch has been appointed to the US Travel and Tourism Advisory Board. The advisory board “consists of up to 32 members that advise the Secretary of Commerce on government policies and programs that affect the U.S. travel and tourism industry, offers counsel on current and emerging issues, andRead More