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

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...

As many of my readers will know, yesterday we released a new study "Creative Vitality in Philadelphia," that looks at the health of our creative sector - for-profit creative businesses, nonprofit arts and culture groups, and individual artists and creative workers.  This research uses something called the Creative Vitality Index , or CVI, that has been developed by a group called the Western States Arts Federation . Because the data is national, aggregating an array of different sources of information, it provides a great vehicle for measuring our creative sector's vitality over time, and also to benchmark ourselves against the nation and other communities. You can access a PDF of the full report here . The big "take-away" number from the report is that Philadelphia's CVI rating is 1.7, a full 70% higher than the national benchmark of 1.0. The region performs somewhat more modestly - at 1.1 ranking the region 16th out of the top 50 metro areas, though in ...

Patricia Martin, a really sharp writer and consultant who follows consumer trends, marketing and sponsorship, and has a special interest in arts and culture, has just come out with a new study called Tipping the Culture: How engaging Millennials will change things . It is actually available as a free download by clicking on the link above. The study was commissioned by Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, and funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation as part of its support for Nonprofit Finance Fund 's "Leading for the Future Initiative."  Better understanding this new generational cohort (defined in this report as being between 15 and 31 years old) - now entering our workforce, our audiences, and our customer base, and in HUGE numbers that dwarf the size of the older Gen X group - is critical to the future of our arts organizations. The study takes a close and revealing look at this generation, helping us develop effective strategies to engage them. Notice...

This was posted on the blog The Playgoer , December 7, 2010 and was included today in Tom Cott's useful "You've Cott Mail" e-newsletter (archive of past e-mails is here , where you can also click a link to sign up). Couldn't resist sharing! Being here with tonight's honorees, reflecting on their contributions, I'm reminded of a Supreme Court opinion by the great Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes.  In a case argued before the Court in 1926, the majority ruled that the state of New York couldn't regulate the price of theater tickets, because, in the opinion of the majority, the theater was not a public necessity.  They argued, in effect, that the experience of attending the theater was superfluous.  And this is what Justice Holmes had to say: 'To many people the superfluous is necessary.'  The theater is necessary. Dance is necessary. Song is necessary. The arts are necessary -- they are a necessary part of our lives. -President Barack Obama, sal...

There was a story in yesterday's Crain's New York Business called Artists Fleeing the City about the fact that the economic downturn, combined with the high cost of living in NYC, was beginning to drive artists out of the City.  Here is a key quote from the article: Though there are no official numbers, a survey of 1,000 artists conducted in 2009 by the New York Foundation for the Arts found that more than 43% expected their annual income to drop by 26% to 50% over the next six months, and 11% believed they would have to leave New York within six months. Even more troubling, cultural boosters say, is that for the first time, artists fresh out of art schools around the country are choosing to live in nascent artist communities in regional cities like Detroit and Cleveland—which are dangling incentives to attract this group—and bypassing New York altogether.   Of course, many arts advocates and policy folks in NY are trying to figure out how to prevent this from happe...

This past Saturday at Noon the Opera Company of Philadelphia mounted a surprise performance of the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah (with a lot of help from many other choruses and ensembles) in the women's shoe department at Macy's Center City, accompanied by the extraordinary Wanamaker Organ. There were over 600 participating singers! This performance was made possible by the Knight Foundation as part of their national " Random Acts of Culture " program, and coincided with the launch of the new Knight Arts Challenge Philadelphia . Given the scale of this undertaking it was perhaps not as much of a complete surprise as many similar arts flash mobs have been. The singers perhaps even outnumbered the shoppers surprised by the "spontaneous" performance. Yet it still worked. The performance coincided with the regularly scheduled Noon organ concert, the performers were dressed in ordinary street clothes, often accompanied by children or partners....

J. Meejin Yoon's Light Drift: October 15-17, 2010 from Philebrity on Vimeo . One of the great installations as part of DesignPhiladelphia was "Light Drift" by artist Meejin Yoon, presented by the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program. Only able to be viewed at night, and only up for three days this past weekend, it was one of those "happenings" that are both great art, and great community celebrations. If you missed it, here is a video that captures a little of the magic. Opening on October 25th in the Art Gallery of City Hall will be a salute to some of the DesignPhiladelphia installations that the City was involved in, directly or indirectly, including Light Drift . It will also include material related to the Aurora Robson be like water installation at the Skybox (that runs through November 7th), the Virtual Public Art Project exhibit with Breadboard, Philadelphia Underground , curated by Marianne Bernstein, and FABLASTIC , by Multicultural Youth e...