THE LARGER ISSUES
In The LA Times, Ben Donenberg reminds us why we should care that US students are underexposed to the arts, and why those with philanthropic impulses should give to the arts.
If there's still any doubt in anyone's mind about the value of arts jobs and their impact on the economy (and culture!), here's a glance back to an older article from the Denver Post. Some of the best bits include:
5.7 million jobs in the arts
100,000 arts organizations
612,000 arts-centric businesses (4.3% of all American businesses)
$29.6 billion in tax revenue
$166.2 billion in total economic impact
FUNDING NEWS
In Seeding-Local-Economies news... The City of Chicago handed out $1 million in arts grants as part of its 30-year-old City Arts program. ...The Troy, Michigan based Kresge Foundation handed out $450,000 to Detroit-area artists ($25k each, directly into artists' pockets!) as part of a $8.8 million commitment to local arts and culture. ...Cleveland imposed a cigarette tax to fund local arts groups, to the tune of $800,000 ($20k grants to up to 40 individual artists in the visual and performing arts).
RISKTAKING
The Minnesota Opera has balanced its budget despite the economy, thanks in part to bold programming and a commitment to a New Works initiative. (Michael Kaiser comes to mind, re: his imperative that arts orgs must continue to take artistic risks, even in times of crisis.)
The NYT reports on The Issue Project Room, which aims to be "a Carnegie Hall for the avant-garde." After years of big ideas and not enough funding, they've got a permanent space which they use to house exciting work by other people. With Manhattan spaces for the avant-garde are fading fast, Brooklyn Borough President (and funder) Marty Markowitz puts it best when he said "I don't understand half the things they do, and when they tell me about them, they lose me. But that's not the point. [The point is that] the arts create jobs."
NEW TACTICS
In an excellent lay-of-the-land style article for Backstage, Michael Kuchwara gives us a snapshot of how various theatres across the country are trying to be nimble in these hard economic times, while simultaneously trying to figure out the new ticket-buying habits of their target audiences. (Staycation, anyone?)
The AP's Jim Fitzgerald addresses similar questions as Kuchwara, but focuses on the issues faced by suburban arts orgs that must compete with offerings in nearby urban centers.
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