National Arts Policy Roundtable

On Friday, November 21, I was fortunate to attend the National Arts Policy Roundtable at the NYU Wagner School of Public Service, hosted by SNEAC (the Student Network Exploring Arts & Culture). The early morning event featured two panelists who have served on President-elect Obama’s arts policy committee (legendary philanthropist Agnes Gund and conductor JonathanRead More

Around the horn: President-elect edition

Wow…been quite a week, hasn’t it? My election-watching story isn’t as dramatic as some, but I’m glad I decided to break with tradition this year and watch returns with company instead of in the privacy of my home. Something about history makes you want to experience it with others. Anyway, on to the issues ofRead More

I am famous

This past Friday, WNYC’s Brian Lehrer Show broadcast a 32-minute segment on arts and culture policy and funding. As I mentioned last week, this was part of the “30 Issues in 30 Days” series for which several topics have been opened up for public discussion via wiki. I’m proud to say that two of myRead More

Awesome.

WASHINGTON—The National Endowment for the Arts announced Monday that it has begun construction on a $1.3 billion, 14-line lyric poem—its largest investment in the nation’s aesthetic- industrial complex since the $850 million interpretive-dance budget of 1985. “America’s metaphors have become strained beyond recognition, our nation’s verses are severely overwrought, and if one merely examines theRead More

Art and politics

I mentioned how I was surprised that at the National Performing Arts Convention in Denver, political speech at the plenary sessions was so openly embraced. Well, maybe I shouldn’t have been: according to the NEA’s Artists in the Workforce report (pdf), eight of the top ten states by number of artists per capita are blueRead More