Feb 22

The Problem With Arts CEO Salaries? – ArtsJournal: Daily Arts News

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The Problem With Arts CEO Salaries?”The most common refrain is: If we don’t pay these salaries, we won’t get the best people. But this is rarely true. The people who run the great museums and universities would likely take jobs for half the wage because, actually, they do love museums and universities, and nothing better satisfies their lifelong passion than a top job. Still, if offered a CEO’s salary, who is going to turn it down?” Boston Globe Magazine 02/19/12

Read the original post: The Problem With Arts CEO Salaries? – ArtsJournal: Daily Arts News

Feb 22

The Liberal Arts Malaise | The Cornell Daily Sun

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What’s the difference between an English major and a large pizza? At least the pizza can feed a family of four.” 
This quote, and others like it, was often repeated in my household by my father, a successful doctor and owner of a private practice. I’m not sure what brought about his particular contempt for literary or intellectual types, but what I do know is that he is not alone in making this characterization.
It is not for the practical-minded, shall we say, to consider the arts to be the soul of a civilization. To most people, what is studied in the halls of liberal arts colleges (including Cornell’s College of Arts and Sciences) is useless, juvenile drivel. By this, I mean to say that such areas of study do not very easily answer the age-old parental question, “What are you going to do with that?” 
It is unfortunate, though unsurprising, that with the downturn in the American economy of roughly the last five years, more and more people are saying that the American university model is not satisfying its supposed core purpose of educating young adults to be the workforce of the future. Not to use a cliché (I can hopefully move beyond clichés, thanks to my liberal arts education), but if I had a penny for every time I’ve heard politicians and business leaders say the words, “This country doesn’t produce enough engineers,” I would have enough money to disregard the careers my education isn’t helping me reach. If my math is wrong in this calculation, I am entirely indifferent — after all, I am a social science guy, not a math major.
I recently watched a video on Youtube titled, “Are we ready for the ‘Age of Abundance?’” in which theoretical physicist Michio Kaku and a number of other academic figures discussed the future of science and technology in the context of the future of the American economy and the world of business. One member of the panel, a research fellow from the MIT Sloan School’s Center for Digital Business named Michael Schrage, was particularly critical of the American university system. In his musings on the question of how people will find jobs in a future economy, he said, “The economics are being transformed and I think it’s going to be a very interesting challenge, how people are going to find jobs … I don’t know what the answer to that is but I know what the answer is not. The answer is not four years in college.”
Though he did in fact critique the tendency of American educational institutions to design engineering programs as “flunk-out operations,” Schrage was also taking a hard line against the “uselessness” of such things as “degrees in sociology.” It’s debatable whether or not he was arguing that such a study is actually useless or rather just valueless given the perception that degrees lead to hefty pay checks; nonetheless, I would argue that a grand devaluation of the humanities and social sciences is taking place.
It is interesting to note that the word “scholarship” can be traced back to the Greek word for, believe it or not, leisure. Scholarship was the activity of those who, like the aristocrats of old, could afford to study things that were otherwise considered useless. These were impractical fields such as poetry, philosophy, literature and — later in history — the classics. But they were also disciplines that we think of now as practical studies: Biology, chemistry, physics,  economics, law and medicine were all at one point considered either branches of philosophy or magic. The great economist John Maynard Keynes once quipped that Isaac Newton, who was heavily interested in alchemy, “was not the first of the age of reason: He was the last of the magicians.” 
What once stood as metaphysical musing evolved over time into theory and scientific fact. There is no doubt in my mind that in Newton’s or Aristotle’s time, there were snarky leaders of commerce making fun of their ridiculous exploits. Nonetheless it was in minds of intellectuals like them that civilization progressed at all. It just happens to be in the areas of sociology and psychology, for instance, where great strides are being made today in the understanding of how human beings really work. This might or might not help the American job market in the long run, but I honestly don’t think either answer should impede anyone from studying these topics. The most important reason to study in such a field is interest and interest alone. Enthusiasm and fascination, after all, are what spark true inspiration, innovation and success — not big salaries. 
A bachelor’s degree in Arts may not get you the hefty paycheck it would have in 1960 but that makes it no less important in the grand scheme. In the short-term, all we can do is study what we love — whether that be feminist literature, high finance, tending cows or building robots — and be happy. Enjoy the ride.
Ian Cohen is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences. He may be reached at ilc7@cornell.edu. Guest Room appears periodically this semester.

Read the rest here: The Liberal Arts Malaise | The Cornell Daily Sun

Feb 22

Mizuta Museum Of Arts / Studio SUMO | ArchDaily

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© Nacasa

Architect: Studio SUMO Location: Sakado, JapanDesign Team: Sunil Bald + Yolande Daniels, principals-in-charge; David Huang, project designer; Shai Turner, Brad McCoy, James Khamsi, Jeff DeeProject Area: 7,000 sqmPhotographs: Nacasa Co. Ltd

© Nacasa

Campus | MuseumThe 7,000sf Mizuta Museum of Art lines the main pedestrian route near the campus entry of a private Japanese university. The building is…1. a museum to display a valuable collection of Ukiyo-e (Japanese woodcuts) and other art in highly controlled environment and…2. a campus visitor information center to welcome the general public. The compressed site contains seventeen existing trees and a nine meter height limit.

© Nacasa

1/2 up | 1/2 downTo give both floors direct access to the pedestrian route, the building is excavated a half level into the site, with one ramp leading up to the museum galleries and another leading down to a campus information center. These ramps are dimensioned for loading as well as public entry. In conjunction with the mechanical space at the east entry and a gallery lounge at the west end, the space of the ramp creates a perimeter environmental buffer that protects the exterior side of the gallery walls from direct sunlight.

elevations

Picture of the Floating World“Ukiyo-e” translates into “Pictures of the Floating World” as the prints were meant to lift the viewer from his/her daily routine. We translated this concept into the cast-in-place galleries cradling art that hovers above the information spaces. Additionally, the graphic method of depicting rain found in many of the prints informed the patterning of the façade. L-shaped pre-cast concrete pieces line the building ramps. The 52 unique pieces, all cast on their sides from a single steel mold, are up to four feet wide, 28 feet along the vertical, up to 11 feet overhead along the horizontal. One-foot wide slots of varying lengths were blocked out along the seam lines, some continuing for the vertical to horizontal section of the piece. This creates light slots that animate and aerate the passages, placing the viewer in the space of the print, within the “floating world.”

Originally posted here: Mizuta Museum Of Arts / Studio SUMO | ArchDaily

Feb 22

Nonprofit Research on Access to Arts and Culture in Minnesota …

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As part of Philanthropedia’s custom research partnership with Minnesota Philanthropy Partners, we are working to identify expert-recommended high-impact nonprofits that increase access to arts and culture in Minnesota.
Minnesota has a diverse arts eco-system. The state has numerous community arts organizations and large arts institutes, as well as an established system of 11 regional arts councils to help make the arts more reflective of their communities.
Minnesota is a pioneer state in providing funding to the arts sector. In 2008, Minnesota voters passed the Legacy Amendment. The Amendment increases sales tax by three-eighths of one percent to distribute to four funds, including the Arts and Cultural Fund (ACHF)which receives 19.75% of overall Legacy funding.
Despite Minnesota’s demonstrated commitment to the arts and the existing arts infrastructure, many groups are still under-represented in the arts. Organizations across Minnesota are working to address those disparities and MN Partners has asked Philanthropedia to help identify nonprofits having the greatest impact in the field.

In order to prepare for this research, we spoke with ten experts from key organizations working in the issue area of access to arts and culture in Minnesota. Their insights have helped define the scope of this research. (Thank you to those of you who offered your time and expertise!)
For this research, we are asking experts to recommend up to four nonprofits doing high-impact work across the state of Minnesota, and up to two start-up nonprofits that have the potential to do high-impact work.
In particular we are asking experts to recommend nonprofits that are:
1. Increasing arts and culture opportunities for populations who don’t have access to the arts
2. Directly supporting artists
3. Supporting under-resourced types of arts
4. Providing opportunities for non-arts people to participate in the arts
1.    Increasing arts and culture opportunities for populations who don’t have access to the arts
The populations least represented in the arts in Minnesota include communities of color, low-income communities, rural communities, immigrant and refugee communities, and people with disabilities. In Minnesota, the largest communities of color are the African American community, the Asian American community, the Native American community and the Latino community. Minnesota is also home to the largest Somali population in the United States[1] and the largest Hmong community in the world outside of Asia[2]. Unique, yet smaller immigrant communities in Minnesota include the largest group of Oromo – an ethnic group from Ethiopia – outside of that country, the second largest group of Tibetans in the U.S., and a concentration of West African refugees from Liberia and Sierra Leone.
While definable barriers such as cost and geographic isolation inhibit access, there are also physiological barriers that keep under-represented communities away from arts opportunities. For example, some individuals may not feel comfortable in arts settings because the work presented is not culturally relevant to them.  In instances like this, lowering some of the more tangible barriers may not result in increasing representation.  Hence, it is important to make the arts accessible in all stages of the process including curation, creation, funding, and evaluation. An example of this kind of inclusion would be if an organization were to develop a performance about traditional Asian narratives written, directed by and featuring Asian Americans.
2.    Directly supporting artists
Traditionally, it has been difficult for artists to earn a living wage for their digiscrap, which can reduce the quantity and quality of art being produced. For this reason, it is important to directly support artists. The McKnight Foundation, a major funder in the arts and culture sphere, has recently shifted toward this strategy to fulfill its mission. Examples of support for artists include paying artists for their work, providing technical assistance to artists as small business owners, and helping communities understand artists’ value and identifying opportunities to collaborate. Therefore, part of this movement is to frame artists as individuals with unique, critical perspectives that can be useful in many facets of community life.
3.    Supporting under-resourced types of arts
Within the arts community, some types of artistic expression are often overlooked. For example community arts or less popular arts disciplines such as political theater, performance art, electronic arts, and video art are often overlooked for funding. Therefore, we decided to include “providing support for under-resourced arts disciplines” as part of our research.
4.    Providing opportunities for non-arts people to participate in the arts
The art world can be intimidating and, at times, exclusive. Many community members may feel that the arts are only accessible to artists or people with a specific arts talent. The experts with whom we spoke believe there is value in connecting people of all skill levels to the arts. And in fact, there is a growing movement to remove this particular stigma from this sector. One example of how one might invite widespread participation is to host a production in which all people who are interested are invited to be part of the show. Another example is to engage individuals as decision makers, empowering audiences and board members to choose what works they would like to see.
Additional Research Details
In addition to the four areas outlined above, we are encouraging experts to consider the following types of organizations when making their recommendations:
Traditional arts and culture organizations: theatre, dance, music, visual arts, television, media, and film organizations
Funders: organizations that fund nonprofit organizations or artists themselves
Policy and advocacy organizations: groups that organize people to support arts in the public policy space
Non-arts nonprofits: social service organizations that have an arts component but aren’t primarily arts organizations
Units of community education: schools or organizations that teach arts
Additionally, experts are encouraged to consider the following kinds of arts disciplines:
Design and architecture
Literary arts (comics, literature, poetry)
Media arts (Film/Video, new media, interactive computer based virtual art)
Performing arts (dance, opera, theatre)
Visual arts (ceramics, design, fashion, multi-media, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, 3D, 2D, fiber arts)
Music (blues, classical, country, electronic, folk, hip hop, international, jazz, rock/pop)

Participation in the Research
Therefore, if you are a nonprofit expert in the field of access to arts and culture in Minnesota, you should have received an email from us with a link to our survey. The survey will be open until mid-March, 2012. We hope you will share your perspective and insights! If for some reason we have missed you and you think you have a valuable perspective to offer, please contact Jasmine Marrow at jasmine.marrow@guidestar.org, and we would love to send the survey to you to include your insights.
Additionally, we invite your feedback and thoughts about how you might frame this type of work. For those readers less familiar with this topic, we hope you learned something new and will check in again when we have the results of this research. Thank you all for your participation!

Learn more about arts, culture and access in Minnesota:
The Legacy Amendment

[1] The McKnight Foundation “Immigrant Gateway: Framing the Issue” accessed in Feb 2006 at http://www.mcknight.org/hotissues/framing_immigrants.aspx and League of Women Voters and Minnesota’s Education Fund.  “Immigration in MN: Changing Faces Changing Communities.” Accessed February 2006 at:

http://www.lwvmn.org/EdFund/ImmigrationInMinnesota.asp.

[2] Fettig, David and Rolnick, Arthur J. “Credit Availability: A snapshot of the Hmong business community in Minneapolis and St. Paul.”  Accessed in Feb 2006 at: http://Minneapolisfed.org/pubs/cd/03-1/credit.cfm.

Read the rest here: Nonprofit Research on Access to Arts and Culture in Minnesota …

Feb 22

Decline Of The Arts? – ArtsJournal: Daily Arts News

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Decline Of The Arts? Really?”Of course decline can be a fairly straightforward descriptive term–in the sense that we say that a person who is old and ill and will probably never entirely recover is “declining.” But to speak of “The Decline of the Arts” is to suggest a development with a philosophical or ideological amplitude, to evoke thoughts about the rise and fall of civilizations and cultures, about periodicity, systemic failure, decadence, maybe even the divine retribution that is sometimes woven into arguments about the collapse of civilizations.” The New Republic 02/20/12

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Feb 22

Grafton Fine Arts and Music Festival to award $2700 in prizes …

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Grafton – The 2012 Grafton Fine Arts and Music Festival, taking place March 23 through 25 at the Grafton Municipal Center, invites the public to participate in the annual arts celebration. As in previous years, hundreds of pieces of art will be judged anonymously by a panel of distinguished independent judges.
Three prize winners will be determined in each of the following eight categories: Fiber Arts, Graphic Arts (pen & ink, pencil, pastels), Oil/Acrylic, Watercolors, Traditional photography (image captured via film camera and printed from darkroom), Digital photography (image captured via digital camera and printed from computer), Sculpture and Clay art, Mixed Media/Assemblage. In addition, 12 outstanding art pieces will be selected from both the children and youth display. Winners will receive saving bonds.
Also, Grafton Land Trust is sponsoring four additional prizes, Best Nature Artwork, Best Nature Photo, Best Child’s Nature Artwork (age 5-11), Best Youth Nature Artwork (age 12-18), for all submitted artwork. Prizes in this category are determined by the Land Trust independent judges.
The winners will be announced at the artist reception and award ceremony Friday, March 23 at 7 p.m., and children and youth prizes will be awarded Saturday, March 24 at 11 a.m. At the end of the festival, the winner of the People’s Choice Award will be determined and announced.
Deadline for art submissions is Monday, March 12. The artist application is available at www.graftonartsfestival.org and in paper form at various places in Grafton and beyond, including the Grafton Municipal Center and Grafton Library. To keep up to date on the Grafton Fine Arts and Music Festival, follow it on Facebook at www.facebook.com/graftonfineartsmusicfestival.

Short URL: http://www.communityadvocate.com/?p=18459

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Feb 21

Arts Ahead: What's On In London 21 – 27 February | Londonist

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What’s new on London’s cultural calendar this week:
THEATRE: Cheek By Jowl’s Tis Pity She’s a Whore at the Barbican from tonight (see video below). The Trial, Steven Berkoff’s adaptation of Kafka’s unsettling masterpiece at the Greenwich Theatre also opens tonight.
Epic family drama In Basildon opens at the Royal Court Theatre’s Jerwood Space from tomorrow. You can see Patrick Stewart play an ageing Shakespeare in Bingo at the Young Vic from Thursday. The West End welcomes a US import from Friday: Zach Braff’s comedy, All New People opens at the Duke of York’s Theatre. Finally, Saturday is the opening night of the star-studded comedy of bad manners, Hay Fever (Lindsay Duncan, Jeremy Northam, Kevin McNally and Olivia Colman) at the Noël Coward Theatre.
OPERA: London’s two opera offerings couldn’t be more different this week. On the one hand, you’ve got The Death of Klinghoffer, John Adams’s controversial docu-opera about the killing of a Jewish-American tourist during the hijacking of a Mediterranean cruise liner by Palestinian militants. It’s at the London Coliseum from Saturday. And from Monday, you can see Dvorák’s Rusalka at the Royal Opera House: the story’s a Czech myth about a water nymph, with echoes of the Little Mermaid.
COMEDY: Josh Widdicombe is at the Soho Theatre for four nights from tomorrow. Then from Friday, you can see The Oh Fuck Moment at the same venue: poet Hannah Jane Walker and Fringe First winner Chris Thorpe explore the feeling you get when you realise you’ve made a horrible mistake.
DANCE: You can see Alexander Whitley and aerialist Ilona in Exposure: Dance at the Royal Opera House’s Linbury Studio from Thursday.
CLASSICAL: Tired of London’s big classical venues? A group called the London Festival Orchestra is based at lovely recording and rehearsal venue, the Warehouse, in the back streets of Waterloo. The orchestra performs a concert there tomorrow night where they are joined by leading clarinettist, Emma Johnson. Music includes pieces by Bach, Finzi and Haydn. Classical fans should also look out for Reverb from Friday this week: an exciting festival of classical, alt, folk, jazz and electronica at the mighty Roundhouse.
JAZZ: Jazz in the Round is a new jazz promotion at the The Cockpit in Marylebone. The night, on the last Monday of every month, is curated and presented by Jez Nelson, who presents BBC Radio 3?s Jazz on 3, the home of cutting edge jazz on the Beeb. Monday’s gig includes Sons of Kemet, a new quartet featuring two drum kits and some of London’s hottest jazz talent: clarinettist and sax player Shabaka Hutchings, drummer Seb Rochford, tuba player Oren Marshall and drummer Tom Skinner.
ART: From tomorrow, Jeremy Deller’s new show, Joy in People opens at the Hayward Gallery. It features installations, photographs, videos, posters, banners, sound pieces and more from this political and socially engaged artist. Also opening tomorrow is Eric Rimmington’s exhibition, Going Underground at the Millinery Works in Angel, featuring 40 paintings of the London Underground completed between 2006 and 2011.
On Thursday, the next sculpture is being unveiled on the Fourth Plinth: Elmgreen & Dragset’s Powerless Structures Fig 101, or “the boy on the rockinghorse”, as he’ll probably become known. A free show opens at Rich Mix on Friday called The Curry Chefs of Brick Lane: an exhibition of photographic portraits by Jeremy Freedman.
Anything we’ve missed that you’re really looking forward to seeing this week? Let us know in the comments below.

We have listings for ongoing shows at London’s top museums on our Museums and Galleries page

See more here: Arts Ahead: What's On In London 21 – 27 February | Londonist

Feb 21

Arts Presenters Hate on LivingSocial: Arts Roundup – Arts Desk

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Living Social = Wal-Mart? According to some local arts organizations, yes. The deal company, whose new HQ just opened on F Street NW, is getting into the creative playtime business, and arts presenters are hatin’ it. [Washington Post]
Woolly’s Civilization: All You Can Eat “beat[s] us senseless with Big Allegory.” [DCist]
Meanwhile, Peter Marks calls Synetic’s Genesis Reboot “an earnest effort that never quite catches fire.” [Washington Post]

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Feb 21

Arts on Prescription | News | Edge Hill University

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Art can provide a therapeutic environment for mental health patients according to a leading academic who will present his research at an Edge Hill University event.
Dr Theodore Stickley, Associate Professor of Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of Nottingham, will be at the Ormskirk campus on Thursday 8th March to for the last in a series of guest lectures on the theme of ‘mental health’.
In his talk Mental Health and the Arts: Arts on Prescription, he will focus on the findings of his study on the non-drug based alternative intervention for people experiencing mild to moderate depression and anxiety. Clients are offered a series of arts workshops with expert tuition from practising artists, as well as mental health support from therapists or counsellors.
Dr Stickley will discuss the outcome of his investigations which outline the experiences of people who have engaged with the programme as a way of using the arts to promote mental well-being.
He said: “People experience Arts on Prescription as a creative and therapeutic environment. It is considered a safe place, where people can be creative with others who have shared similar experiences. The social, psychological and occupational benefits are not easily separated, but by feeling accepted and amongst people with similar experiences, individuals gain a sense of social belonging. A number of participants have also found new opportunities for the future. In conclusion community-based arts groups that are professionally facilitated may provide a therapeutic environment for participants.”
Having trained as a mental health nurse and a counsellor, Dr Stickley studied mental health social inclusion and community arts for his PhD. He continues to specialise in arts and health research. He is also a non-executive director for City Arts (Nottingham) Ltd and leads on the innovative Art in Mind programme, promoting mental health through community arts. In 2008 he led on the development and delivery of Open to All, a training project for museums and galleries for the National Social Inclusion Programme. Dr Stickley has more than 80 publications, a number of which relate to the arts and health research.
Mairi Byrne, Head of Mental Health, Learning Disabilities and Social Care at Edge Hill University, said: “This is the last in what has been a very thought-provoking and inspiring series of guest lectures on mental health issues.  All of our guest speakers have done a brilliant job to present some of the issues currently challenging health and social care providers within the current political and economic climate. Dr Stickley’s research around Arts on Prescription is very interesting and I’m sure health and social care providers, service users, carers and students will find it very useful.”
To book your free place, go to: surveys.edgehill.ac.uk/mhlecturereg or telephone 01695 650715. Registration is 6pm and the lecture starts at 6.30pm with refreshments afterwards.

The rest is here: Arts on Prescription | News | Edge Hill University

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Feb 21

Fitness regimen blends dance, martial arts and fun — Health …

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Nia is like Zumba, but not really. It’s like tai chi, but not really. And it’s like yoga, but only sometimes.
“I’ve heard a million different descriptions,” said Julia Annis, an independent instructor who teaches classes at Olympia, Washington’s Waves Studio and other locations. “That’s one of the things I love about Nia.”
Annis, 42, has been teaching Nia since 1995 and calls the exercise technique her passion.
Nia is the fusion of martial arts (like tai chi and tae kwon do), various dance styles and healing arts (like yoga) into a low-impact activity. Annis says Nia is a great way to build strength, increase flexibility and get a cardio workout without pounding your body into a state of constantly nagging aches and pains.
In fact, it is the pursuit of precisely that — natural and pain-free exercise — that led to the creation of Nia in 1983. Nia is the idea of Californians Debbie and Carlos Rosas and originally stood for Non-Impact Aerobics. It’s still low impact, but the creators now say Nia stands for Neuromuscular Integrative Action.
The classes are designed for all fitness levels. Annis instructs 20-somethings at Waves Studio and has taught seniors at Lacey’s Jubilee retirement community in Tacoma, Wash.
The hour-long Nia classes are held to music from a number of popular artists including Seal and Prince, but “mostly their B-sides,” Annis said.
Generally speaking, she describes Nia music as world music.
“And it should be world music because Nia is practiced in about 45 countries,” Annis said. “Nia is very sensitive to cultural awareness and global unity. The music is amazing.”
Nia instructors can earn belts based on the martial arts system by taking part in intensive seven-day, 10-hours-per-day training that costs $1,600.
Trainers are allowed to work outside the belts system, however, said Annis, who is a white belt, the first level. Griffin is a black belt, the highest level.
So, here’s the part that intimidates some people about Nia: The classes are choreographed.
“That word can be scary for those who do not have dance experience,” Annis said. “But there is a simplicity to it. People learn the moves pretty fast.”
Nia uses 52 moves that Annis said are easy to learn. She politely and subtly prompts people in her classes to help them, but even those who struggle with the choreography still benefit, she said.
Annis recalls a student who she described as “flailing” and she was certain this person was going to leave frustrated. Instead, the student approached Annis afterward with a broad smile to thank her for “an amazing and fun workout.”
“Trying something new can be a little unnerving,” Annis said. “That’s why I encourage people to sample it a couple times.”
Annis said there are also Nia videos so people can work out away from classes. Videos sell for $30 at NiaNow.com.
“The most consistent thing I hear from people who try Nia is that it is fun,” Annis said. “They always say they can’t believe how fast the hour has gone by.”

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