You will now find me blogging for Fractured Atlas.
All entries past and future can be found at www.fracturedatlas.org/site/blogs.
see you there!
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Monday, November 19, 2007
NEA report tells a scary story
Not sure if it's the side-effect of being named for an obscure literary character or the result of growing up within walking distance to the public library, but I've always loved to read...
If you share my interest in society's future here in the good old US of A, especially within the realm of culture, I suggest you check out a new report released by the National Endowment for the Arts. Aptly titled "To Read or Not To Read", the authors surveyed mountains of data collated from a large spectrum of agencies to investigate correlations between literacy and society.
One section that troubles me:
"The 2003 assessment revealed that average American reading scores are truly average. U.S. 15-year-olds barely placed in the top half of average reading scores for 31 participating nations. Their scores lagged far behind those of readers in such countries as Australia, Canada, Ireland, Korea, Finland, Sweden, and The Netherlands. Especially in a global marketplace, with highly skilled and educated workers increasingly in supply, such mediocrity may become untenable."
In the Ex. Summary's conclusion, it suggests future studies could examine the effects of digital media and on-screen reading (a point that hit home as I downloaded the 100 page pdf).
What can the arts do to get more people reading? hmm...
If you share my interest in society's future here in the good old US of A, especially within the realm of culture, I suggest you check out a new report released by the National Endowment for the Arts. Aptly titled "To Read or Not To Read", the authors surveyed mountains of data collated from a large spectrum of agencies to investigate correlations between literacy and society.
One section that troubles me:
"The 2003 assessment revealed that average American reading scores are truly average. U.S. 15-year-olds barely placed in the top half of average reading scores for 31 participating nations. Their scores lagged far behind those of readers in such countries as Australia, Canada, Ireland, Korea, Finland, Sweden, and The Netherlands. Especially in a global marketplace, with highly skilled and educated workers increasingly in supply, such mediocrity may become untenable."
In the Ex. Summary's conclusion, it suggests future studies could examine the effects of digital media and on-screen reading (a point that hit home as I downloaded the 100 page pdf).
What can the arts do to get more people reading? hmm...
Friday, November 9, 2007
Oh what a night...2007 Benefit fabulousness
This is a shout out to EVERYONE who participated in our 2007 Benefit by attending, volunteering, performing, exhibiting, donating, surprise boxing and/or merry making...you all ROCK! My favorite part is always getting to see the faces of artists I have been working with solely via email & phone, sometimes for years, for the first time.
The annual benefit is the one of the few things we do at Fractured Atlas that is actually based in a temporal (as opposed to a virtual) setting. It is the most grueling day of the year for our staff and we all worked from about 6am - 2am yesterday. Our technical staff were amazing (you know who you are and I love you all) and our featured artists were especially inspiring this year. From what I overheard, people couldn't stop talking about the work they saw, both on the walls and in the ether.
Highlights:
Our two featured musical performers (New York Polyphony and Basya Schechter) decided to collaborate literally minutes before they went on (which was only minutes after they had met for the first time). They closed out the live performances with an amazing impromptu duet and needless to say if you were there, it was stunning. Where were you when this plan was hatched Adrienne Celeste Fadjo (our featured dancer)? You could've jumped in too!
The video contest was the most fun thing ever and it was great to share the three finalists with a live audience. I wish we could have screened them all because they were so well done. Special thanks to ALL the artists who submitted entries and also to Genius Rocket for working with us on it.
Our gift bags were something to behold this year (the free Levitate yoga class, illy coffee & Zagat subscription were the highlights imo). Our members put some especially creative marketing materials in them and the mock prescription pads from The Operating Theater were my favorite (although I didn't actually get a bag).
Since it was a tremendous success, I am now going to catch up on the sleep I've missed over the last nine months planning the event...
THANK YOU!
The annual benefit is the one of the few things we do at Fractured Atlas that is actually based in a temporal (as opposed to a virtual) setting. It is the most grueling day of the year for our staff and we all worked from about 6am - 2am yesterday. Our technical staff were amazing (you know who you are and I love you all) and our featured artists were especially inspiring this year. From what I overheard, people couldn't stop talking about the work they saw, both on the walls and in the ether.
Highlights:
Our two featured musical performers (New York Polyphony and Basya Schechter) decided to collaborate literally minutes before they went on (which was only minutes after they had met for the first time). They closed out the live performances with an amazing impromptu duet and needless to say if you were there, it was stunning. Where were you when this plan was hatched Adrienne Celeste Fadjo (our featured dancer)? You could've jumped in too!
The video contest was the most fun thing ever and it was great to share the three finalists with a live audience. I wish we could have screened them all because they were so well done. Special thanks to ALL the artists who submitted entries and also to Genius Rocket for working with us on it.
Our gift bags were something to behold this year (the free Levitate yoga class, illy coffee & Zagat subscription were the highlights imo). Our members put some especially creative marketing materials in them and the mock prescription pads from The Operating Theater were my favorite (although I didn't actually get a bag).
Since it was a tremendous success, I am now going to catch up on the sleep I've missed over the last nine months planning the event...
THANK YOU!
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Promote your work at the Fractured Atlas Benefit on Nov. 8th!
Back by popular demand, we are offering TWO different ways for our member artists to promote themselves at the Fractured Atlas Benefit on Thursday November 8th from 7pm - 10pm.
Gift Bags:
We will distribute 200 high quality Fractured Atlas tote bags at the event and we want your promotional materials in them!
If you are in NYC on Thursday November 8th, you are welcome to stop by the event space to get your stuff into our gift bags. We will only be accepting gift bag materials between the hours of 12pm and 2pm on that day and you will need to donate an hour of your time to help stuff the bags in order to get your materials in them. You can send someone else in your place if you are unable to make it. The event venue is The Westside Loft located at 336 West 37th St. (bet. 8th & 9th Ave) on the 6th Floor.
NOTE: We will only be accepting gift bag materials that are delivered to the event space within the designated time window. We cannot accept gift bag materials after 2pm that day and we cannot accept materials delivered to our office.
Member Lounge:
We will dedicate an entire room of the event space to display member materials. Each member will be allowed to take up one square foot of space for some kind of visual display representing your work. Show up anytime between 2pm and 6pm on the day of the event to drop them off.
NOTE: You will not be able to hang anything on the walls and anything left behind at the end of the event will be discarded.
Please join us - discounted member tickets are on sale now at www.fracturedatlas.org/benefit. We hope to see you there!
Monday, October 22, 2007
Fiscal sponsorship can change the world!
Last week, I was honored to attend the Inaugural Gathering of the National Network of Fiscal Sponsors which has been developed and organized by The Tides Center over the last few years. The NNFS is very much taking a "strength-in-numbers" approach (which is exactly how we think at Fractured Atlas) and I will stay involved as things progress to ensure that the arts are included in the advocacy work we do going forward. The other arts sponsors in attendance were NYFA, Intersection for the Arts and Independent Arts & Media (all excellent organizations btw) and we made a commitment to stay involved and in touch, in the name of art...
Through random luck, I ended up at our dinner meeting on Thursday night sitting next to the man who literally wrote the book on fiscal sponsorship - Greg Colvin (Fiscal Sponsorship: 6 Ways to Do It Right). We had a great time chatting and he seemed very impressed with how we were using technology to operate our program.
P.S. I think I can safely say that at this point, Fractured Atlas has the largest fiscal sponsorship program of any kind in the United States...If you can find a bigger program, I'll give you a free one year Individual membership (as of this writing, we have 840 projects) - happy hunting!
Through random luck, I ended up at our dinner meeting on Thursday night sitting next to the man who literally wrote the book on fiscal sponsorship - Greg Colvin (Fiscal Sponsorship: 6 Ways to Do It Right). We had a great time chatting and he seemed very impressed with how we were using technology to operate our program.
P.S. I think I can safely say that at this point, Fractured Atlas has the largest fiscal sponsorship program of any kind in the United States...If you can find a bigger program, I'll give you a free one year Individual membership (as of this writing, we have 840 projects) - happy hunting!
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
All arts organizations are NOT created equal
An Op-Ed in the L.A. Times yesterday sent me reeling, so I figured I'd hobble up to my soap box and try to work it out. The piece singles out educational and artistic organizations and I will only speak to my area of concern, which is the arts.
The author, Richard Reich (former secretary of Labor under President Clinton) states
"I'm all in favor of supporting the arts and our universities, but let's face it: These aren't really charitable contributions. They're often investments in the lifestyles the wealthy already enjoy and want their children to have too. They're also investments in prestige -- especially if they result in the family name being engraved on the new wing of an art museum or symphony hall."
What I would like to remind Mr. Reich is that not all arts organizations have the resources available to them that Lincoln Center does. To propose a blanket policy that lumps all arts organizations together regardless of budget size, mission, geographic and/or demographic scope and audience served is an overly simplistic solution to the problem (imho).
I completely agree that too many large arts organizations possess giant endowments, lavish facilities and employ probably twice the staff that is actually required to get their daily work done. Being a former employee of the Smithsonian Institution, I could go on and on about the acute waste I witnessed while in the employ of our federally chartered cultural and scientific Institution, but charity waste is not the issue here.
Proposing a revision of this kind to the tax code is upsetting to me for two reasons:
1. the arts and cultural community represents such a small piece of the charitable pie (Giving USA's 2006 edition reports that only 5.2% of all charitable contributions in 2005 went to arts & cultural orgs);
2. overall support for the arts & cultural sector continues to decline each year (Giving USA's 2006 edition also reports that contributions to arts & cultural orgs. declined by 3.4% in 2005 which is closer to 6.6% when adjusted for inflation).
When working in the arts, we are already faced with constantly justifying our existence to our audience, our donors, our grantors and the communities we serve. I fear what would become of many small to mid sized arts organizations if the power of a fully deductible donation were taken away from them...
The author, Richard Reich (former secretary of Labor under President Clinton) states
"I'm all in favor of supporting the arts and our universities, but let's face it: These aren't really charitable contributions. They're often investments in the lifestyles the wealthy already enjoy and want their children to have too. They're also investments in prestige -- especially if they result in the family name being engraved on the new wing of an art museum or symphony hall."
What I would like to remind Mr. Reich is that not all arts organizations have the resources available to them that Lincoln Center does. To propose a blanket policy that lumps all arts organizations together regardless of budget size, mission, geographic and/or demographic scope and audience served is an overly simplistic solution to the problem (imho).
I completely agree that too many large arts organizations possess giant endowments, lavish facilities and employ probably twice the staff that is actually required to get their daily work done. Being a former employee of the Smithsonian Institution, I could go on and on about the acute waste I witnessed while in the employ of our federally chartered cultural and scientific Institution, but charity waste is not the issue here.
Proposing a revision of this kind to the tax code is upsetting to me for two reasons:
1. the arts and cultural community represents such a small piece of the charitable pie (Giving USA's 2006 edition reports that only 5.2% of all charitable contributions in 2005 went to arts & cultural orgs);
2. overall support for the arts & cultural sector continues to decline each year (Giving USA's 2006 edition also reports that contributions to arts & cultural orgs. declined by 3.4% in 2005 which is closer to 6.6% when adjusted for inflation).
When working in the arts, we are already faced with constantly justifying our existence to our audience, our donors, our grantors and the communities we serve. I fear what would become of many small to mid sized arts organizations if the power of a fully deductible donation were taken away from them...
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
When art falls apart...
Over the last few months, I've become fascinated with an ongoing legal battle between museum and artist in North Adams, MA. The story seems to be coming to a close once and for all.
Here is a recent article from the NY Times (the Boston Globe covered it extensively as well). The crux of the issue was this: the museum fought for the right to display an unfinished work by Christoph Büchel after their working relationship fell apart (they spent a bunch of money and he refused to finish the exhibit). A Federal District Court judge in Springfield MA ruled last Friday that showing unfinished work by an artist was not a violation of the Visual Artists Rights Act and gave Mass MOCA the legal go-ahead to open the unfinished installation, titled "Training Ground for Democracy" should they choose to do so.
The most recent development is that Mass MOCA has decided to dismantle the work entirely without showing it to the public (although they did show an obstructed viewing of the work while the court case was pending which is reported on here).
There are many issues with this case and the art world is up in arms about it. From where I sit, it seems like everyone involved handled this poorly. The artist contends there was never a fixed budget for the project, which I find very hard to believe. It seems unfathomable to me that an arts institution originally chartered by the state would bring in an artist to create a giant installation piece and not agree on a budget before work began (especially one built in a run-down Mill town as an economic driver for the western part of Massachusetts). The museum says the artist refused months of negotiation offers to continue work on the project and resolve the situation but that seems strange to me too. Artists want their work to be shown - why wouldn't the artist work it out and get it done if equitable compromises were being offered? Was it really so bad that it was worth going to court over (on both sides)?
This situation saddens me from a programmatic and management perspective. The audiences in North Adams, MA and the surrounding areas have waited through months of controversy with the hope of seeing the work and now it will simply vanish forever. The reputation of Mass MOCA in the art world will suffer due to how they chose to handle the situation. Christoph Büchel may loose future invitations or opportunities from other U.S. museums.
Seems like a lose-lose all around. How could this happen?
Here is a recent article from the NY Times (the Boston Globe covered it extensively as well). The crux of the issue was this: the museum fought for the right to display an unfinished work by Christoph Büchel after their working relationship fell apart (they spent a bunch of money and he refused to finish the exhibit). A Federal District Court judge in Springfield MA ruled last Friday that showing unfinished work by an artist was not a violation of the Visual Artists Rights Act and gave Mass MOCA the legal go-ahead to open the unfinished installation, titled "Training Ground for Democracy" should they choose to do so.
The most recent development is that Mass MOCA has decided to dismantle the work entirely without showing it to the public (although they did show an obstructed viewing of the work while the court case was pending which is reported on here).
There are many issues with this case and the art world is up in arms about it. From where I sit, it seems like everyone involved handled this poorly. The artist contends there was never a fixed budget for the project, which I find very hard to believe. It seems unfathomable to me that an arts institution originally chartered by the state would bring in an artist to create a giant installation piece and not agree on a budget before work began (especially one built in a run-down Mill town as an economic driver for the western part of Massachusetts). The museum says the artist refused months of negotiation offers to continue work on the project and resolve the situation but that seems strange to me too. Artists want their work to be shown - why wouldn't the artist work it out and get it done if equitable compromises were being offered? Was it really so bad that it was worth going to court over (on both sides)?
This situation saddens me from a programmatic and management perspective. The audiences in North Adams, MA and the surrounding areas have waited through months of controversy with the hope of seeing the work and now it will simply vanish forever. The reputation of Mass MOCA in the art world will suffer due to how they chose to handle the situation. Christoph Büchel may loose future invitations or opportunities from other U.S. museums.
Seems like a lose-lose all around. How could this happen?
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
nonprofit financial resource
I found a great website for nonprofit financial management yesterday. It is basically an online library. I wanted to post it here because I think it could be very helpful to start-ups and those considering forming a nonprofit arts organization. Enjoy!
Monday, July 23, 2007
Artist Deduction Bill
Earlier this month, Americans for the Arts reported that The Artist-Museum Partnership Act (aka the Artist Deduction bill) is gaining momentum in the House and the Senate. The House Bill now has 50 co-sponsors and a Senate Bill has 23 co-sponsors.
I have always found it troubling that artists who donate their work may only claim a value based on the material cost incurred to produce it, while a collector may donate the same work and claim a fair market value. Over the years at Fractured Atlas, many artists have donated their work for fundraising events produced to support our member artists' activities. This issue has always been part of the bad news that I routinely deliver to our members regarding tax law and I am excited by these potential changes.
Passing this legislation could be a bit of curatorial karma for the independent artist who wishes to donate work and receive an equitable tax deduction - now is the time to contact your public officials and make your opinion known.
I have always found it troubling that artists who donate their work may only claim a value based on the material cost incurred to produce it, while a collector may donate the same work and claim a fair market value. Over the years at Fractured Atlas, many artists have donated their work for fundraising events produced to support our member artists' activities. This issue has always been part of the bad news that I routinely deliver to our members regarding tax law and I am excited by these potential changes.
Passing this legislation could be a bit of curatorial karma for the independent artist who wishes to donate work and receive an equitable tax deduction - now is the time to contact your public officials and make your opinion known.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Individual Giving hits London
Yesterday there was a great article on Bloomberg about recent major gifts donated to some of London's premier arts & cultural institutions. This quote by Blackstone Group LP's Senior Managing Director John Studzinski is particularly inspiring: "I'm more interested in the process of creating, and creating new audiences, than the ultimate end product,'' Studzinski said in a telephone interview. "It's nice to see the opera and the final play, but more important to understand the process that led to that particular work of art being created.''
To all the U.S. artists who don't believe that individual giving is one of the most effective ways to support your work, I want to challenge you to rethink your beliefs. Power to the people (who donate to support the arts)!
To all the U.S. artists who don't believe that individual giving is one of the most effective ways to support your work, I want to challenge you to rethink your beliefs. Power to the people (who donate to support the arts)!
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