This article is a much shorter version of this. If you want the full force of my verbosity, read that one. In Arts, Inc., Bill Ivey, former Chair of the NEA, makes the case that our artistic heritage is a set of public assets that should benefit all, but instead are often squandered by existing cultural institutions.Read More
Arts Policy Library: Arts, Inc.
This is a long piece. If you’d like the very short version, you can find it here. In Arts, Inc., Bill Ivey, former Chair of the National Endowment for the Arts from 1998-2001 and Director of the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise and Public Policy at Vanderbilt University (more expansive bio here) makes the caseRead More
South Carolina Arts Commission budget vetoed
For the second time in a month, a Republican governor has issued a line-item veto for the entire budget of a state arts agency. This time it is Nikki Haley of South Carolina doing the honors. Haley, like Governor Sam Brownback of Kansas, has made no secret of her desire to eliminate the Arts Commission,Read More
Kansas Arts Commission vetoed by Governor
Well, it’s happened. After initially eliminating the agency via executive order, only to be defied by the Kansas state legislature which restored $689,000 in appropriations, Governor Sam Brownback has vetoed funding for the Kansas Arts Commission. Although this action does not formally eliminate the agency — it still exists in theory, just with no moneyRead More
More trouble for NPR
So by now you’ve probably heard the latest news: James O’Keefe (that guy who secretly filmed ACORN) posed as a Muslim philanthropist to Ronald Schiller, Senior Vice President of Development for NPR and President of the NPR Foundation, and Betsy Liley, NPR’s Director of Institutional Giving. Over lunch, the clandestine camera records Mr. Schiller callingRead More
Around the horn: Libya edition
(Note: this ATH is already quite long, so I’m going to split it up into two parts. Look for the rest of the links in a few days.) A quick note about some upcoming speaking engagements: I’ll be on a panel next month at the annual Emerging Arts Leaders Symposium hosted by American University, speakingRead More
Around the horn: Egypt edition
Stand Up and Represent First it was the state arts agencies; now the NEA is under attack. It turns out that the federal budget for the current fiscal year was never actually finalized, but instead was paid for bit by bit. As a result, the Republican House has called for a $22.5 million, or 13%,Read More
Okay, it’s official: State arts agencies are in trouble
This week has been a bad one for beleaguered state arts agencies. First, after much sabre-rattling, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback followed through with his threat to eliminate the Kansas Arts Commission on Monday, with the plan to transfer its responsibilities to a new nonprofit and provide a token $200,000 one-time appropriation to help with theRead More