Thank you to the many people who have been blog contributors to, and readers of ArtsBlog over the years. ArtsBlog has long been a space where we uplifted stories from the field that demonstrated how the arts strengthen our communities socially, educationally, and economically; where trends and issues and controversies were called out; and advocacy tools were provided to help you make the case for more arts funding and favorable arts policies.

As part of Americans for the Arts’ recent Strategic Realignment Process, we were asked to evaluate our storytelling communications platforms and evolve the way we share content. As a result, we launched the Designing Our Destiny portal to explore new ways of telling stories and sharing information, one that is consistent with our longtime practice of, “No numbers without a story, and no stories without a number.”

As we put our energy into developing this platform and reevaluate our communications strategies, we have put ArtsBlog on hold. That is, you can read past blog posts, but we are not posting new ones. You can look to the Designing Our Destiny portal and our news items feed on the Americans for the Arts website for stories you would have seen in ArtsBlog in the past.

ArtsBlog will remain online through this year as we determine the best way to archive this valuable resource and the knowledge you’ve shared here.

As ever, we are grateful for your participation in ArtsBlog and thank you for your work in advancing the arts. It is important, and you are important for doing it.


Joanne Riley

Moving Forward: What Works?

Posted by Joanne Riley, Mar 12, 2010 0 comments


Joanne Riley

After reading the blogs and participating in conference calls and every other forum, the question remains: What works? Because we are a UAF we want to know the message that helps garner investments. But any one of us knows that to do whatever we do, we need money. How do we get it?

We ask each other, searching for just the right message that will resonate–with corporations and individuals. One of my questions has become: Is true philanthropy gone? We continually try to link investment with return–and not just helping create a wonderfully rich community–a dollar return. What do you get for the money?

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Ms. Anne Katz

Creativity Works! STRENGTHENING THE CREATIVE ECONOMY INFASTRUCTURE IN THE MILWAUKEE REGION

Posted by Ms. Anne Katz, Mar 11, 2010 1 comment


Ms. Anne Katz

I’d like to take this opportunity to brag about a very exciting creative economy effort in Wisconsin, in the Milwaukee region. National arts and culture leaders from around the country experienced Milwaukee’s vibrant arts and culture sector at the 2006 Americans for the Arts conference. Now southeast Wisconsin is leading the way in assessing, strengthening and sustaining the regional creative economy for the 21st century.

The Cultural Alliance of Greater Milwaukee, the regional cultural development/service and advocacy organization, has recently received a $146,250 grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) for “Creative Works!”, a visionary project to turn cultural and creative vision into action and results.

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Mr. John R. Killacky

A Journey to the Austrian Alps to Discuss "The Performing Arts in Lean Times"

Posted by Mr. John R. Killacky, Mar 11, 2010 4 comments


Mr. John R. Killacky

Last month I joined colleagues from around the world to attend the Salzburg Global Seminar: “The Performing Arts in Lean Times:  Opportunities for Reinvention.” Adrian Ellis and Russell Willis Taylor co-chaired the convening. Several ideas from this meeting may be relevant to our blogosphere discussions. First the context: we were lodged in Max Reinhart’s castle. This is the building that stood in for the Von Trapp villa featured in the movie version of “The Sound of Music.” And, of course, there’s Salzburg, itself: Mozart’s birthplace in the Austrian Alps -- totally fabulous! Now, here are some tidbits from our conversations, as well as my observations. First off, lean times in the West snapped into perspective when a Zambian playwright reminded us that people in her country live on two dollars a day. This starkly contrasted with the news from a Hong Kong government administrator who privately shared that his city is increasing its (already) multi-billion dollar investment in culture.

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John Cloys

The Mobile Movement

Posted by John Cloys, Mar 11, 2010 1 comment


John Cloys

Technology and funding forecasters predict that 2010 is the breakthrough year for mobile fundraising. SMS mobile giving is one of the fastest growing fundraising outlets; this brings fundraising to your fingertips in a new and exciting way. This was first made popular by relief efforts for Katrina and has since been used by campaigns such as Share Our Strength, The Salvation Army, UNICIF, and the Obama Presidential Campaign.

This trendy topic amongst fundraisers and charitable organizations will attract a younger donor base that was, until now, virtually unreachable. Even a teenager who receives a modest allowance would have the opportunity to make a difference. Cultivating the younger generation of donors can fuel your fundraising efforts and promote a relationship that will hopefully develop into sustainable giving.

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Mr. Gary P. Steuer

Bridging the Nonprofit/For-profit Arts/Creative Industry Divide

Posted by Mr. Gary P. Steuer, Mar 11, 2010 6 comments


Mr. Gary P. Steuer

We recently ran a Creative Economy Workforce grants program with funding provided by the special Community Development Block Grant allocation increase under the Recovery Act (CDBG-R). Quite a mouthful, and quite an ordeal in terms of paperwork to administer. BUT, what operating this program highlighted was the need to move beyond our traditional definition of how we define the arts, and the sorts of activity that is funded or supported. In effect, we are trying to perform sophisticated surgery on the patient with rusty sabers and sledgehammers—our tools are not appropriate to the job we have to do.

Increasingly, creative activity is happening within a for-profit or hybrid context. Many of the most innovative artists studio and live/workspace developments happening in Philadelphia right now are not initiated by nonprofit organizations but by creative entrepreneurs who have identified a market niche and are seeking to fill it. We have a commercial developer looking to create a public sculpture garden because they feel it will add value to their property and help attract and serve their tenants. We have a recycling company that wants to add artist studio space to their recycling plant so artists can work on site with recycled materials. One of our most successful creative economy/technology co-working spaces got started with no government input or support or even any type of philanthropic support.

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Meredith Sachs

Math Making Art (from Arts Watch)

Posted by Meredith Sachs, Mar 10, 2010 0 comments


Meredith Sachs

The Creation of Adam, Bob Bosch, used with permission

I always dread the first day of classes. I’m currently getting my master’s in operations research and the first day of class is the time when I start to stand out. In every class, we start by going around the room and saying our name and what we do. It usually goes something like: Bob, military employee; Jim, government contractor; Pete, different government contractor… you get the point. Then comes my turn, “Meredith, Americans for the Arts.” Immediately, heads turn and everybody identifies me as the oddball.  

However, there is a growing and little known area of operations research known as “opt art.” This stands for optimization art and this field utilizes optimization algorithms (operations research technology) to make portraits, pictures, and designs. Some of the pictures are created using the classic “traveling salesman problem” where the goal is to reach every point (city) exactly once in the shortest distance. Others are created with knot problems or using a pointillism approach.  

Dr. Bob Bosch is applying this technology to make portraits using dominos. He has made several portraits of famous people (like Marilyn Monroe) and will even make you a customized portrait of your loved one.

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