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

I recently spent several days in Israel engaged in an initiative to elevate the conversation around creative placemaking in the Negev region of Israel. For context, here is a map of the region: The Negev region is about a 60-90 minute drive south of Tel Aviv. It has historically had a somewhat negative reputation, as a place you would not want to live in unless you had to. Back in the 50's many Russian immigrants were settled there after World War II. Later, it became the home of the Ethiopian Jewish population when they emigrated to Israel, and it is also home to many Bedouins. Coincidentally, the New York Times recently ran a story on the Bedouin population in the Negev and its economic challenges. LtoR - me, Jane Golden, Mayor of Netivot Yechiel Zohar The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia has a "sister city" relationship with the Negev city of Netivot. About three years ago, the Federation helped support a Creative Economy conference in Netivot to r...

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) just now announced the recipients of grants under their new "Our Town" arts and placemaking initiative. $6.575 million in grants will go to 51 communities in 34 states that have created public-private partnerships to strengthen the arts while shaping the social, physical, and economic characters of their neighborhoods, towns, cities, and regions. NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman made the announcement during a press conference this afternoon. The full NEA press release and descriptions of all the grantee projects is available here . I am very excited that the City of Philadelphia (the Office of Arts Culture and the Creative Economy, working with our Commerce Department) has partnered with The Reinvestment Fund (TRF) and University of Pennsylvania’s Social Impact of the Arts Project (SIAP) to secure one of the largest grants awarded, $250,000, to build and launch a Creative Assets Mapping Database for the City of Philadelphia (TRF is the ...

L to R, the Honorees and Presenters: Bob Lynch (President, Americans for the Arts), Anna Deavere Smith, Tom Cochran (CEO-USCM), Mayor Elizabeth Kautz (Burnsville, MN), Mayor James Brainard (Carmel, IN), Herbie Hancock, Rocco Landesman (Chairman, NEA), Mayor Michael Nutter (Philadelphia, PA), Mayor Mitch Landrieu (New Orleans, LA) At the 79th annual winter meeting of the United States Conference of Mayors (USCM), awards for artists and public officials were presented by USCM in partnership with Americans for the Arts . These awards have been presented each year since 1997. Theatre artist Anna Deavere Smith was presented with the National Artist Advocate Award, and jazz great Herbie Hancock received the Legendary Artist Award. Public Leadership in the Arts awards were presented to New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, Carmel IN Mayor James Brainard (small city category) and Mayor Michael Nutter of Philadelphia (large city category). The press release on the awards can be found here...

A new study has just been issued by the National Endowment for the Arts called Audience 2.0: How Technology Influences Arts Participation . There are a few things of special note about this research: 1) The findings: People who participate in the arts through electronic media are nearly THREE times more likely to attend live arts events as non media participants (59% vs. 21%). They also attend TWICE as many live arts events on average  - 6/year vs. 3/year. In other words, active participation in the digital media world does not compete with attendance at live arts activities, it may encourage it. I say "may" because this study once again raises the issue of causation vs. correlation. Certainly there seems to be a correlation between high consumption of art in digital form, and higher consumption of live arts. It could be that people that are passionate about art now seek it out in all formats, NOT that their digital consumption is somehow driving them to participate in live...

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...

Yesterday was a jam-packed day, with NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman's whirlwind visit to the City of Brotherly Live and Sisterly Affection. The visit was documented in an article in today's Philadelphia Inquirer. It was great to be cited as "a model arts city."  After a morning meeting with the staff of The Reinvestment Fund, Rocco and the rest of the NEA visitors, which also included Deputy Chair Joan Shigekawa, our little band went on a quick tour of the City's cultural sites, but with a special emphasis on the role of the arts in neighborhood transformation. Rocco has been a big fan of the work done by Jeremy Nowak and the Reinvestment Fund in partnership with Mark Stern and his Social Impact of the Arts groip at University of Pennsylvania. In fact that work was funded by The Rockefeller Foundation when Joan was there before moving to NEA. We drove by Painted Bride and had a stop at Asian Arts Initiative before ending up at Crane Arts for a tour and a group conv...

The NEA has operated the Mayor's Institute on City Design since 1986. This year they are celebrating the program's 25th anniversary (which is actually next year but they wanted to fund projects that happen during the anniversary year) with a new grant program. The program has the snappy but literal title of " 25th Anniversary Initiative ." What is great about this initiative is that is open to the cities where a mayor has participated in the Mayors' Institute, at any time over the 25 years. This opens it up to several hundred cities. The guidelines are also very flexible, and could be used to support a wide array of design projects, from planning of arts districts, to promotion of design and the arts as central to a city's livability, to transformation of public sites through cultural activities, to festivals and public art.Grants will range from $25,000-250,000. And to all those individual arts groups getting excited about this grant program, the applica...