Continuing a recent trend, the news from abroad is much more interesting than what’s happening here at home. Below, the round-up: FEDERAL Beyond the official departure of Rocco, it’s been a slow news season at the federal level for the arts. One series of developments, however, has involved the Internet Radio Fairness Act, or IRFA.Read More
Early fall public arts funding update
DOMESTIC The big news last month was the campaign for and passage of a millage (property tax) in Detroit to support the beleaguered Detroit Institute of the Arts. Hyperallergic’s Jillian Steinhauer and ARTSBlog’s Kim Kober are celebrating the new legislation, which passed easily in Wayne and Oakland counties but only by a hair in suburban Macomb. The DIA took the campaign very seriously, spending anRead More
Around the horn: Rock me like a hurricane edition
First, two personal items of note: I’m honored to be listed once again as one of the top 25 (really, 40ish) arts leaders on Barry Hessenius’s annual list of such things; and the video of my talk at TEDxMichiganAve given many months ago is now available for viewing. CLOSURES, OPENINGS, MERGERS, AND PAY CUTS Gentrification claims anotherRead 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
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
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
Reconstructing Florida
I’ve had a chance to look at the two papers that Richard Florida and his colleagues sent to me in response to my essay from last month criticizing the quantitative methodology used in his best-selling book, The Rise of the Creative Class. The short version is that (a) a lot of work has been doneRead More