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February 3, 2010


A Long Farewell to Merce Cunningham
by Daniel J. Wakin; compiled by Dave Itzkoff
January 26, 2010
The New York Times

It starts in Columbus, Ohio, and ends in Manhattan, on New Year’s Eve 2011. The Merce Cunningham Dance Company on Wednesday will announce its final tour, meant to give the world a last chance to view the works created by its founder, as performed by the men and women he trained. The modern-dance tour begins on Feb. 12 and wends its way through 35 cities before a final performance at the Park Avenue Armory.

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Recording Staged Works for All the World to See
by Claudia La Rocco
January 20, 2010
The New York Times

For some Cinderellas a fairy godmother delivers a prince. For others? A high-quality film of a theatrical performance.

“It was like a dream come true,” the playwright Young Jean Lee said of the invitation by On the Boards, an adventuresome Seattle theater with a nascent high-definition recording arm, to film her acclaimed production “The Shipment.” “Like a big fairy godmother.”

Ms. Lee’s play is one of seven theater and dance works to be made available through OntheBoards.tv, the first online, pay-per-view series dedicated to presenting progressive contemporary performances from around the world...

...A three-year pilot program, supported with seed money from the Wallace Foundation and DanceUSA, OntheBoards.tv seeks to create a new audience for contemporary performance by offering a sophisticated alternative to the back-of-the-house recordings — often fuzzy and hard to hear — that are standard issue in the field but not always readily available to the public.

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Who’ll Design the New N.E.A. Logo? It Could Be You
by Dave Itzkoff
February 1, 2010
The New York Times

Got something you want to express to Rocco Landesman and the National Endowment for the Arts — in a constructive, artistic way? Now’s your chance: on Monday, the N.E.A. and Mr. Landesman, its chairman, announced that they were seeking proposals for a new logo to represent the phrase “Art Works,” which Mr. Landesman has previously described as the agency’s "guiding mission." In a statement Mr. Landesman said the logo, which will be used in print and online promotions, should represent the three meanings of the phrase: the creation of artists; the effect of art on audiences; and the contribution of artists to the economy.

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NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman Announces the NEA Mayors' Institute on City Design Anniversary Initiative

MICD 25 to provide grants to transform communities through the arts and smart design

National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Rocco Landesman gave a policy address today at the annual meeting of the United States Conference of Mayors (USCM). In his speech, the chairman addressed the role of smart design and artists and arts organizations as place-makers and announced the NEA Mayors' Institute on City Design 25th Anniversary Initiative. This funding program builds on the accomplishments of the Mayors' Institute on City Design® (MICD) over its 25-year history and reflects the program's tenets of transforming communities through design.

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Remembering Monica Moseley
courtesy of the New York Public Library

Monica Moseley, recently retired Assistant Curator of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, died on January 6, 2010. Monica Moseley started work at the Dance Division in 1981 and was the Assistant Curator from 1983 till her retirement in February 2005. She obtained her M.S. at the School of Library Service at Columbia University in 1981. Earlier, she studied the dance techniques of Lestor Horton, Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham. As a founding member of Meredith Monk/The House, she created major roles and danced in many works including Recent Ruins, Chacon, Quarry and Education of the Girlchild. She was editorial assistant at Dance Magazine from 1964-1967, and was on the board of directors for many years of Congress on Research in Dance and Society of Dance History Scholars. She contributed and helped edit the seminal book on collecting dance titled A Core Collection in Dance. After her retirement she continued to work on many dance projects that included working on the film Lucinda Childs by Patrick Bensard, director of La Cinémathèque de la Danse in Paris and coordinating research for the Leonide Massine screening for La Cinémathèque de la Danse’s program Du côté de Léonide held on 18 January 2010. She was a beloved and valued member of the Dance Division, who would generously share her great knowledge and insight about dance and dance archives with staff members and the public.

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Obama's Figure for 2011 Arts Budget? The Same as His 2010 Request
February 1, 2010
by Robin Pogrebin
The New York Times

President Obama proposed on Monday that the National Endowment for the Arts receive $161.3 million in his fiscal year 2011 budget request to Congress, the same level he proposed last year. The agency was ultimately allotted more: $167.5 million. Americans for the Arts, a national advocacy group, criticized the the proposed budget, saying it is a $6 million decrease from what Congress appropriated for fiscal year 2010.

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Obama's budget proposals for arts institutions largely hold flat
by Liza Mundy
February 2, 2010
The Washington Post

If Monday's White House budget proposal tells us anything, it's this: These are tough fiscal times for an arts-loving president. Should the Obama administration get its way, funding for the nation's major arts and cultural institutions will stay largely flat, although a few organizations -- including the Smithsonian Institution and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting -- will see increases over what the president requested last year.

In general, arts organizations seemed grateful that things didn't turn out worse.

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Will Obama tax hikes for the wealthy boomerang against the arts?
by Mike Boehm
February 1, 2010
The Los Angeles Times

Nonprofit arts organizations that count on citizens in the upper income brackets to kick in big donations -- and that would be just about all of them -- may want to put their fundraising efforts on fast-forward this year.

If President Obama has his way, the Chronicle of Philanthropy reported Monday, tax deductions for charitable donations will be capped at 28% starting in 2011 for individuals earning more than $200,000 and joint-filers whose income tops $250,000. The current tax write-off for people in the top bracket is 35%.

So an arts philanthropist donating a $1-million gift to a museum or performance group would get a $350,000 tax break this year, but only $280,000 in 2011.

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The Nationals Arts Index, a new survey by Americans for the Arts, paints a troubling picture for arts organizations

Special Note from Dance/USA:

Dance/USA supports the National Arts Index and congratulates Americans for the Arts on creating the first ever index to measure the health and vitality of the arts in the United States.

Dance/USA was approached by Americans for the Arts in 2005 about the Index; however, the authors of the Index determined that there was not enough data for dance to be included independently in the 2009 index. This decision was made in part because the dance field is large and varied and year-to-year national data about the field is small by comparison. While Dance/USA does collect national data on the field of dance, our data is only as comprehensive as the contributions of our members allow, and federal organizations, historically, have done a poor job collecting data on the dance field. This situation differs from other disciplines in the Index, such as theatre, opera, and orchestras.

Dance/USA is working with Americans for the Arts to include dance in future versions of the National Arts Index.

__________

by Jacqueline Trescott
January 21, 2010
The Washington Post

While the number of arts organizations increased rapidly over a recent 10-year span, the percentage of people attending arts events declined, a new national survey by the nonprofit group Americans for the Arts reported Wednesday.

This issue of supply and demand in the arts world is a troubling one, said the authors of the National Arts Index, because many groups have financial troubles and people of all ages are discovering new ways to experience the arts, including the Internet.

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