Archive for November, 2009

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Facing AIDS for World AIDS Day: December 1st

Monday, November 30th, 2009

badge-facing-aids-2009

Worldwide the estimated number of people living with HIV

    is over 33 million.

In the U.S., an estimated over

    one million Americans are living with HIV

World AIDS Day, December 1, is an opportunity for us to work together to help reduce stigma around HIV and promote HIV Testing—here’s how you can join us in Facing AIDS in 3 easy steps:

1. Take a Photo
* Download a Facing AIDS sign and tell why you are Facing AIDS.
* Then take a photo of yourself wearing a red ribbon with your sign.
* Upload it to this Flickr group and/or our Facebook fan page

2. Change your Facebook or other Social Network Profile Status and picture. On December 1 change your social network profile picture to your Facing AIDS photo and your profile status to:
“[Your Name] is Facing AIDS for World AIDS Day. To find an HIV test site, text your ZIP to “KNOWIT” (566948), or visit www.HIVtest.org. Join me and post this to your status today.”

3. Share
* Ask your family, friends, and colleagues to join the Campaign—here’s a flyer you can share.

Looking for more ways to help Face AIDS for World AIDS Day?

•Tweet: Use the hashtag #WAD09 for all your World AIDS Day tweets. Connect with AIDS.gov on Twitter !
•Blogs: Write a blog post on December 1 about why you choose to Face AIDS . Not a blogger? Comment on someone else’s blog post or ask your favorite blogger to join the event.
•Share HIV Testing Stories: Check out the stories in the AIDS.gov HIV testing widget, and watch for a new World AIDS Day video. Click the “share” button on the widget to add it to your website or blog.
•Link People to HIV Testing Sites: To find an HIV testing site near you, text your ZIP to “KNOWIT” (566948) or visit hivtest.org. Post a web badge on your profile, website or blog.
•Attend or Host a World AIDS Day Event: Find a local event , or add your activities.
•Share Information:  Over a million Americans and 33 million people worldwide are estimated to be living with HIV. The CDC’s campaign “Act Against AIDS” aims to reduce HIV incidence in the U.S. Visit the campaign site for videos, banner ads, fact sheets, and more.
•Download Posters: Use these to promote your World AIDS Day events! View this poster show from PEPFAR.

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Already Struggling, Artists Hit Hard by Recession, Survey Finds

Monday, November 30th, 2009

PND News, November 30, 2009

A new survey of American artists — two-thirds of whom say they earned less than $40,000 and a third less than $20,000 last year — found that slightly more than half experienced a drop in income in 2009, the New York Times reports.

Commissioned by nonprofit artist-support organization Leveraging Investments in Creativity and funded in part by the Ford Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, the survey found that 51 percent of the more than fifty-three hundred respondents saw their incomes fall in the past year, while 18 percent reported a drop of at least 50 percent.

The report, The Artists and the Economic Recession Survey: Selected Findings (8 pages, PDF), found that the most commonly reported impact of the recession was a decline in sales, followed by lower rates or fees. In addition, more than a third of the surveyed artists reported fewer and smaller grants, fewer grant opportunities, and fewer scheduled bookings and chances to exhibit, perform, or present their work.

The survey also provided statistical support for long-held beliefs about artists, such as they tend to work day jobs to support themselves, musicians and architects tend to do better financially than writers and painters, and more than a third of working artists lack adequate health insurance.

According to Judilee Reed, executive director of Leveraging Investments in Creativity, “A lot of the artists who were reporting were telling us, ‘I live in a recession all the time, so this downturn has really not been so different for me.’”

Kennedy, Randy. “A Survey Shows Pain of Recession for Artists.” New York Times 11/24/09.

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Celebrating the Black Arts Movement in Washington, DC

Saturday, November 28th, 2009

Journalist, performer and photographer Khadijah “Moon” Ali-Coleman creates a video montage of photos documenting arts events throughout the Washington DC from 2008-2009.

The events include:

-The dedication of the new arts center opened in 2008 by the African Heritage Drummers and Dancers and Kuumba Learning Center in southeast DC

-The Homecoming Celebration produced by the Saartjie Project, an arts group that performs work inspired by the life of Saartjie Baartman

-A Kwanzaa celebration held at Artmosphere Cafe, a black-owned arts venue & restaurant that closed its doors in the Spring of 2009

-Arts events produced by Liberated Muse Productions, the producers of the Capital Hip Hop Soul Fest and other arts events throughout the city

To purchase the song “Kwanzaa Time”, email LiberatedMuseProductions@gmail.com

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Millennium Arts Salon Kicks Off It’s All About Art: Celebrating 10

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

On Saturday, November 21st, The Millennium Art Salon held it’s first Annual Salon Club Membership Meeting and Drive at the MAS headquarters.  The meeting applauded the current and new members of the MAS board and volunteers, who are vital to program execution.  A full crowd of board members, volunteers, supporters, and guests enjoyed wine, cheese, and learned about the upcoming programs that MAS has in store for it’s tenth year.

Some upcoming programs this special year include the following:

Salon and Book Signing with Margo Humphrey and Adrienne Childs, Ten Interesting Facts about Margo and the Book Project (Season Holiday Event).

Sunday, December 13, 2009, 3-6 pm, $25 (free or discounted for salon club members) amount can be applied toward a purchase.

Ethiopian Art and Culture Tour with Wosene

January 16-29, 2010

MAS will tour and experience the art of Ethiopian culture through its savory food, scenic country side, cultural centers, and colorful markets.

Ten Artists for Ten Years Exhibition at MAS

March – June 2010

This exhibition, curated by Sharon J. Burton of Authentic Contemporary Art will feature some of Washington’s creative genius and will highlight why we have much to celebrate in our Nation’s (Art) Capital.  The opening event is FREE and open to the public.  Related exhibition programs will be announced at a futre date.

Salon with Dr. Walter O. Evans, Ten Favorite Books and Manuscripts in my Collection

April 30, 2010, Library of Congress

Dr. Evans is well known for his impressive collection of 19th and 20th century African American art.  However, less known is that he may have the largest book collection in the US, perhaps the world –over 100,00 books and manuscripts.  He has taken on the formidable task fo selecting his favorite ten.  This event is a collaboration with the Library of Congress and will take place at noon at the Library.  This event is FREE and open to the public.

MAS 10th Anniversary Celebration (June 2010, TBA)

The 10th program season concludes with an event to celebrate Millennium Arts Salon ten years striving to advance cultural literacy, to acknowledge 10 Washington artists as well as indivisuals who have inspired this vital Washington arts community.  This will be a FREE event.

For more information, visit www.millenniumartssalon.org

To view pictures from the MAS First Annual Salon Club Membership Meeting and Drive on November 21st click here.

About the Millennium Arts Salon

Now celebrating its 10th year, Millennium Arts Salon is committed to advancing cultural literacy through its art programming, which includes salon talks, exhibitions, tours and special events.

Based in historic Columbia Heights, DC, many of its intimate salon talks and art exhibitions are held in its beautifully restored 1923 town home. Through its outreach efforts, it also hostsprograms in various venues around the city and collaborates with art institutions, such as The Phillips Collection, the David C Driskell Center at the University of Maryland College Park, Pyramid Atlantic, and Parish Gallery of Georgetown DC.

MAS is primarily funded through its membership organization, The Millennium Arts Salon Club, consisting of art interested individuals in the Baltimore-Washington-Virginia area and points northand west US, and supported by committed staff and volunteers, and an Art Advisory Board of accomplished artists and art administrators. Its Board of Directors appreciates all for your support.

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2010 Sue Hess Maryland Arts Advocate of the Year Award: Now accepting nominations

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

MCALogo

Maryland Citizens for the Arts (MCA) and Maryland Citizens for the Arts Foundation (MCAF) are seeking nominations for the “Sue Hess Maryland Arts Advocate of the Year Award” to be presented at Maryland Arts Day on Tuesday, February 9, 2010. The deadline for nominations is December 9, 2009 so don’t delay! Please nominate the most dedicated Maryland Arts Advocate you know!

The “Sue Hess Maryland Arts Advocate of the Year Award,” is named in honor of the first Chair of the Board of Trustees for MCA and the longest serving member of the organization. The award recognizes an individual whose advocacy efforts have significantly increased support for and public recognition of the arts in Maryland, an individual whose advocacy has significantly benefited the arts community of Maryland. 

You can learn more about Sue Hess and about this award from the official Press Release.

Candidates must be Maryland residents and be active as an arts advocate for a Maryland arts organization. Nominations forms can be found here and are due on December 9, 2009. Please send all Nomination forms to marylandartsday@mdarts.org or mail or fax the forms to the address below.
 
Please visit the Maryland Citizen’s for the Arts our website for more information, as well as information on our upcoming meetings, in particular the four regional Pre-Legislative Session Briefings where you can learn about the latest state arts budget news and how you can help advocate for the arts during the 2010 Legislative Session (which begins in less than 2 months!). 

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National Endowment for the Arts Cultural Workforce Forum Held November 20th

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

On Friday, November 20th, 2009, the NEA hosted a discussion of how art works as part of the real economy. Academics, foundation professionals, and service organization representatives came together to discuss improving the collection and reporting of statistics about arts and cultural workers, and to develop future research agendas and approaches. The program was as follows:

9:00 a.m – Opening Remarks and introductions

Joan Shigekawa, NEA Senior Deputy Chairman and Sunil Iyengar, NEA Director of Research & Analysis

9:30 – Panel One: What We Know About Artists and How We Know It

  • NEA Research on Artists in the Workforce
    Tom Bradshaw, NEA Research Officer
  • Artist Labor Markets
    Greg Wassall, associate professor, Department of Economics, Northeastern University
  • Artist Careers
    Joan Jeffri, director, Research Center for Arts and Culture, Teachers College, Columbia University
  • Artist Research: Union Perspectives
    David Cohen, executive director, Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO

11:00 – Panel Two: Putting the Research to Work

  • Cultural Vitality: Investing in Creativity
    Maria Rosario Jackson, senior research associate, The Urban Institute
  • Artists and the Economic Recession
    Judilee Reed, executive director, Leveraging Investments in Creativity (LINC)
  • Teaching Artists Research Project
    Nick Rabkin, Teaching Artists Research Project, National Opinion Research Center, University of Chicago
  • Strategic National Arts Alumni Project
    Steven Tepper, associate director, the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise, and Public Policy, Vanderbilt University

1:20 – Panel Three: Widening the Lens to Capture Other Cultural Workers

  • Artists in the Greater Cultural Economy
    Ann Markusen, Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota
  • Creative Class: Who’s in, Who’s out?
    Tom Bradshaw, NEA Research Officer
  • American Community Survey: An Emerging Data Set
    Jennifer Day, assistant division chief, Employment Characteristics of the Housing and Household Economic Statistics Division, United States Census Bureau

2:20 – Comments and questions from panel participants   

3:00 – Discussion: Summary and Recommendations for Future Research

Moderated by Sunil Iyengar and Tom Bradshaw

Lead discussants: Holly Sidford, president, Helicon Collaborative and Paul DiMaggio, professor, Department of Sociology, Princeton University

4:30 – Adjournment

N.B. There will be 15-minute breaks at 10:45 a.m. and 2:50 p.m.; and an hour break for lunch at 12:15 p.m.

In addition to the above presenters, the NEA Cultural Workforce Forum included the following respondents:

  • Randy Cohen, vice president of local arts advancement, Americans for the Arts
  • Deirdre Gaquin, consultant
  • Angela Han, director of research, National Assembly of State Arts Agencies
  • Ruby Lerner, president, Creative Capital Foundation
  • Judilee Reed, executive director, Leveraging Investments in Creativity (LINC)
  • Carrie Sandahl, associate professor, Department of Disability and Human Development, University of Illinois at Chicago
  • Mary Jo Waits, director, Social, Economic & Workforce Programs Division, National Governors Association

An archive of the event will be available on www.arts.gov during the week of November 23rd.

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Millennium Arts Salon’s First Annual Salon Club Meeting and Membership Drive

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009

Millennium Arts Salon’s First Annual
Salon Club Meeting and Membership Drive
Saturday, November 21st, 2009
3 — 6 PM
1213 Girard Street, NW
Washington, DC 20009

Meet MAS Board of Directors and its newest members; Mingle with friends and art enthusiasts; Reflect on MAS’s past 10 years and what’s to come

Light food and beverages will be served

 Tel: 202-239-8450, email: info@millenniumartssalon.org

About the Millennium Arts Salon

Now celebrating its 10th year, Millennium Arts Salon is committed to advancing cultural literacy through its art programming, which includes salon talks, exhibitions, tours and special events.

Based in historic Columbia Heights, DC, many of its intimate salon talks and art exhibitions are held in its beautifully restored 1923 town home. Through its outreach efforts, it also hostsprograms in various venues around the city and collaborates with art institutions, such as The Phillips Collection, the David C Driskell Center at the University of Maryland College Park, Pyramid Atlantic, and Parish Gallery of Georgetown DC.

Notable individuals have participated in MAS salons and/or exhibitions, including artists and administrators Allan Edmunds (founder/President of Brandywine Workshop) and EJ Montgomery, master artist Sam Gilliam, collector Paul Jones, writer and appraiser Dr. Halima Taha (author of Collecting African American Art), artist and master printmaker Lou Stovall, historian and dancecritic Richard Long, artist and filmmaker Camille Billops and writer, professor and filmmaker, Dr. James Hatch, singer Ysaye Barnwell (of “Sweet Honey on the Rock”), political scientist Dr. Ronald Walters, Director, African American Leadership Institute at the University of Maryland College Park, renowned artist and art historian, Dr. David C. Driskell, collector Dr. Robert Steele, Executive Director of the David C. Driskell Center at the University of Maryland College Park,professor Leslie King-Hammond, Graduate Dean, Maryland Institute, College of Art, poet Sonia Sanchez, curator Ruth Fine of the National Gallery of Art, theatre director Chris McElroen, cofounderand Director of the Classical Theatre of Harlem, Les Payne, editor of Newsday, art historian and curator, Dr. Beth Turner, and emerging and mid-career artists such as, Michael Platt,Margo Humphrey, Jack White, Ray Grist, Bill Hutson, Eric Mack, Preston Sampson, Sheila Crider, Paul So, Bryan McFarlane, Bill Dallas, Rachelle Puryear, and Billy Colbert, to name a few.

MAS’s groundbreaking program, On Common Ground, from 2000 to 2005, inspected the common links between seemingly divergent topics in art and culture. It’s current multi-yearprogram, It’s All About Art embraces and celebrates the various forms of artistic expression — visual and performing arts, film, and arts and letters. Its 2008-2009 program series, Between Eastand West, encompassed not only the east and west borders of the continental US, but reached globally to embrace Europe and Asia. It featured artists and art professionals who lived and worked in the US and abroad. MAS’s 2009-2010 program is fittingly titled, Celebrating 10, referring to its 10 years delivering art programming, as well as celebrating art and artists in the community it serves.

MAS is primarily funded through its membership organization, The Millennium Arts Salon Club, consisting of art interested individuals in the Baltimore-Washington-Virginia area and points northand west US, and supported by committed staff and volunteers, and an Art Advisory Board of accomplished artists and art administrators. Its Board of Directors appreciates all for your support.

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First Lady Michelle Obama Presents 2009 Coming Up Awards at White House Ceremony

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009

President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities, November 4, 2009

“That’s what these Coming Up Taller Awards are all about. You ask our young people to dream, and you give them the tools to fulfill those dreams. You affirm that their contributions are valuable, and their success matters to all of us.“
–First Lady Michelle Obama, Coming Up Taller ceremony November 4

First Lady Michelle Obama presented the 2009 Coming Up Taller awards (CUT) at a ceremony in the State Dining Room of the White House on November 4. Groups from 19 communities in the U.S., Mexico, China and Egypt were honored for their outstanding arts and humanities programs that celebrate the creativity of young people, providing them with new learning opportunities and a chance to contribute to their communities.

“This year’s Coming Up Taller Awardees exemplify how arts and humanities programs outside of the school setting can impact the lives of our young people,” says Margo Lion, Co-Chairman, President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. “By exciting imaginations and providing opportunities for self-expression through the disciplines of theater, dance, music and literature, these exceptional programs offer their participants windows on possibility and a belief in a more positive future.”

The field of cultural after-school programs is as diverse as the needs of the young people they serve. The 2009 Coming Up Taller awards honor programs whose settings range from both inner-city and rural cultural institutions to juvenile detention centers to libraries and museums. Whether they be part of an arts apprentice program, a poetry slam, or an intensive after-school curriculum focusing on literature, the participants in these Coming Up Taller programs all share a common experience summed up by First Lady Michelle Obama in her remarks to the awardees.

“Each of your programs is using achievement in the arts as a bridge to achievement in life. . . .You help them see beyond the circumstances of their lives to the world of possibility that awaits them.”

Two of the programs honored at the White House, Express Yourself and Citywide Poets, performed the previous evening at a gala honoring all the recipients at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Gallery. Like other programs honored by Coming Up Taller, Express Yourself uses the discipline of the arts and humanities to engage young people in collaborative projects, in this case creating an annual multidisciplinary performance of dance, music and visual arts at Boston’s Wang Center.

Each program will receive $10,000 in honor of their accomplishments in enriching the lives of young people and their communities. Organizations from the U.S. receiving awards included the following: TAG Teen Program, Willcox, AZ; Art a la Carte, Dorchester, MA; Higher Achievement, Washington, D.C; Sitar Arts Center, Washington, D.C.; Yollocalli Arts Reach, Chicago, IL; Citywide Poets, Detroit, MI; Express Yourself, Inc., Beverly, MA; Young Chicago Authors, Chicago, IL; Outreach Program with Incarcerated Youth, Albuquerque, NM; Shakespeare Remix Program, New York, NY; Girls Write Now Mentoring Program, New York, NY; Young Artists Apprenticeship, Houston, TX; New Urban Arts, Providence, RI; Old Brick Playhouse Company, Elkins, WV; Harmony Project, Los Angeles, CA. The four international programs receiving awards included Mexico’s Estrellas Con Angel and Radiombligo; China’s Green Path of Art—Arts Training for Youth in Sichuan; and Egypt’s Alwan wa Awtar.”

Joining First Lady Michelle Obama and PCAH Co-Chairmen George Stevens, Jr. and Margo Lion in presenting the awards to participants in each program were Vice-Chairman Mary Schmidt Campbell and representatives from the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Special guests included Ambassador for the People’s Republic of China, Zhou Wenzhong, Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan of Mexico, and Ambassador Sameh Shoukry of Egypt.

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Consider the Difference: American Women Artists

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009
Linda Nochlin, Courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum

Linda Nochlin, Courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum

Clarice Smith Distinguished Lectures in American Art

Linda Nochlin
Consider the Difference: American Women Artists
from Cassatt to Contemporary
November 18 , 7 p.m.
Smithsonian American Art Musuem

Linda Nochlin, the Lila Acheson Wallace Professor of Modern Art at the New York University Institute of Fine Arts, pioneered the study of women and art with her groundbreaking 1971 essay, “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?” Considered the foremost scholar of feminist art history, she has authored numerous publications, including Women, Art, and Power and Other Essays (1988) and Representing Women (1999). She was also the co-curator of the landmark exhibition Women Artists: 1550—1950, held at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1976. A former professor of art history at Yale University and Vassar College, Nochlin is also known for her work on Gustave Courbet. She has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities and is currently a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Free tickets are required for this event and are available beginning at 6 p.m. in the museum’s G Street Lobby. Limit two tickets per person; no seat-holding please. Auditorium doors open at 6:30 p.m. and close promptly at 7 p.m. Reception follows.

View live Webcast of Linda Nochlin’s lecture here. Program will be archived for viewing shortly after the event.

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What is Art?

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009

What is art? Is tagging ‘art’ or just ‘street art’? This video was shot around Washington, DC and the second half mural was shot on location at Girard Street Park.

Courtesy of the DC Commission on Arts and Humanities.

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