Mile-High Musings on Arts, Culture, Creativity and Philanthropy

LtoR: Mel Chin, Gary Steuer, Christina Roberts, the volunteer "ribbon cutter," Peter Palermo. Photo by J_Bussman Last Sunday was the opening of Mel Chin’s Uncommon Wealth by the People of Philadelphia at The Fabric Workshop and Museum . Unfortunately I don't think this project has gotten as much media attention as it should because it frankly is hard to explain in an easy sentence or two, or "sound bite." Mel Chin is an artist whose work often incorporates a social or civic engagement aspect. This Philadelphia project -  Uncommon Wealth - is part of a national initiative, the Fundred Dollar Bill Project , itself a spin-off of the project Operation Paydirt . Complicated enough yet? I first heard about this project not long after Hurricane Katrina when I met Mel in New Orleans at a museum exhibition opening - the project was just begin to take shape in his imagination.  Mel was seeking a way to use art to address the enormous calamity of New Orleans. He lea...

Yesterday I had the opportunity to testify before the Philadelphia City Council about the 2011 proposed budget for the Office of Arts, Culture and the Create Economy. This was actually the first time the Office has been invited to present its own testimony to City Council. In past years (before the Office was shut and then reopened) it was included as part of the testimony of Commerce/City Representative, the department within which the Office was housed. While testimony is not necessarily the most fun part of doing one's job, it is a very important part of the process, and in the case of our work here, a great opportunity to tell the story of what the Office has accomplished this past year. We were grateful to have this opportunity to speak directly to Council and answer their questions. As the testimony is a public record, and may be of interest to the public, I thought it might be helpful to share some highlights here, focusing on the 2010 accomplishments and 2011 plans. FISC...

L-R: Gary Steuer, Chief Cultural Officer of the City of Philadelphia; Michael Norris of Arts-Reach; Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutte; Julie Hawkins of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance (GPCA); Moira Baylson, Deputy Cultural Officer,;John McInerney, GPCA Had to post this photo of some of the Philly crew who were in DC cheering on the Mayor at his testimony. Also, in case anyone missed it, here is the link to the video of the testimony by the Mayor and others, such as General Nolan Bivens, Bob Lynch, and Jeff Daniels.

Since the testimony of retired Brigadier General Nolen Bivens was - as reported earlier - a new addition to the usual array of perspectives presented in support of the arts, here is a link to his full written testimony. His testimony also got extensive coverage in the LA Times . I think it is well worth reading. He presented three policy areas in which he notes that his "experience in the military has shown that support for arts and culture can improve our national security needs, provide a pathway to stronger cultural diplomacy and quality of life for our wounded warriors and veterans transitioning into a civilian life." These are clustered under three headings: 1) Asymmetrical Warfare Requires Creative Solutions and Innovative Thinking. 2) Cultural Diplomacy is a Key Security Strategy, and 3) Arts Help Support Wounded Warriors and Veterans Transition to Civilian Life. As Subcommittee chair Jim Moran noted, a small share of our massive military budget would go a long wa...

Arts Advocacy Day, organized as always by Americans for the Arts with many co-sponsoring organizations,  featured a  compelling talk by Mayor Joe Reilly of Charleston on the role of design and beauty in "city-making" using his own city as a case study for how dogged attention to quality design, architecture, green space, waterfront development and cultural assets can transform a city. It was (I gather) pretty much a talk he has been working on and updating for years as part of the Mayor's Institute on City Design, a partnership between the NEA and the US Conference of Mayors . The fact that he has given the talk in different versions many times before did not make it any less compelling. Fascinating to see from a Philadelphia perspective, as so many of the challenges Charleston faced were so similar, albeit on a smaller scale. Many neighborhoods filled with beautiful historic homes now abandoned and decaying to the point of public danger. A downtown with large stretches...

As part of its Arts Advocacy Day activities on April 12th and 13th, 2010, Americans for the Arts has organized witnesses to give official testimony at an arts hearing on April 13th at 10:30 AM, hosted by newly appointed chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior Rep. James P. Moran (D-VA). Witnesses at the “Arts in Service of Communities” hearing include actor Kyle MacLachlan, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, Ovation CEO Charles Segars, Brig. Gen. Nolen V. Bivens, and North Dakota arts leader Terri Aldrich. Americans for the Arts, in conjunction with the Congressional Arts Caucus and 86 national co-sponsors, celebrates Arts Advocacy Day 2010 in which more than 400 grassroots arts supporters from across the United States take to Capitol Hill to advocate for pro-arts legislation. The evening of April 12th features the Nancy Hanks Lecture at The Kennedy Center, who this year will be Mayor Joseph Riley of Charleston, SC. This is a fantastic opportuni...

Today, April 8th, at 10:30 at City Hall we announced a new partnership between the Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy , Ovation , and Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance , to make $500,000 of donated media available to promote Philadelphia's cultural assets. More information on this program, dubbed "Discover Philadelphia" is available here . Ovation is the nation's only arts-focused cable channel, with a reach of 40 million households nationwide. Thanks to Comcast-Xfinity , Ovation is just being added to the Philadelphia region's channel line-up. To celebrate this, to give back to Philadelphia's cultural sector and tell its story nationally, Ovation is making this gift of airtime and production services. So what exactly is happening? We will be given airtime for an array of what are called "interstitials" - short pieces of content aired in between other programs. For these segments arts groups are being asked to submit whatever ...