Cultural Capital Freakout-Geekout!

I will be going to this:

Saving Our Cultural Capital:

The Challenges Facing Independent Venues and Artists in Manhattan
Saturday, June 7th, 2:00pm – 6:00pm
Wolman Hall, 64 West 11th Street

A symposium hosted by The Tank, Milano The New School For Management and Urban Policy, and Fractured Atlas, in cooperation with Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer

Co-hosted by Collective Unconscious, chashama, The Field and Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts

New York City is a world-renowned cultural destination: from big-budget Broadway shows to dance performances in small Brooklyn lofts to Chelsea gallery openings. The performing arts drive the city's economy and tourism and give New York the cultural texture that makes it a uniquely dynamic environment.

As cost-of-living and real estate prices continue to rise, can young artists and small venues still call Manhattan home? New York – and Manhattan, in particular – cannot lose the energy brought by these individuals and organizations, and the higher-market entertainment industry in the city relies on their innovations…but can we still make New York work for the emerging arts? This event will bring together city officials, arts professionals, business representatives, advocates and freelancers for an afternoon of conversation about solutions to the challenges facing independent venues and emerging artists in Manhattan.

This event is FREE and open to
artists, advocates, policy-makers, foundation representatives
& everyone committed to keeping Manhattan the cultural capital of the world.

Saturday, June 7th, 2:00pm – 5:30pm
Wolman Hall, The New School, 64 West 11th Street
Program:
2:00pm: Doors open
2:30pm: Keynote speech by Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer
3:00pm – 4:30pm: Panel discussion on the challenges facing independent venues and artists in Manhattan, followed by a Q&A session
4:30pm – 5:30pm: Livable New York Services Fair and Happy Hour with complimentary drinks, highlighting the resources available to freelance artists and small organizations including healthcare, accounting and law services. Featured organizations include:
• The Actors Fund
• ArtBusiness Initiative/Seedco Financial
• Arts & Business Council of New York
• Fractured Atlas
• New York City Performing Arts Spaces
• Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts

RSVP: Rachel@thetanknyc.org
More information: http://www.thetanknyc.org/culturalcapital

See you there!

Do you understand the sub-prime mortgage crisis?

Would you like to?

Maybe you already heard last week's This American Life, but if you're not an addict like me, you might want to check out the free podcast for a clear and wonderful dissection of what has been going wrong with the economy for the last several years.

Then, bonus, head over to TCG's (free, downloadable) audio transcript of a recent teleconference with former Secretary of the Treasury, Robert Rubin. Rubin breaks it down in elegant and excruciating detail, and makes some surprisingly deft observations on the cultural economy. The second half of the transcript is a Q&A with theatre-practitioners, and I am happy to report that we seem to hold our own with one of the brightest economic minds of his generation.

I've been trying to pull my head out of the sand and not freak so much about the economic bubble popping all around us... it's not quite working yet, but I guess I'll keep trying.

Another Conference I Can't Attend

The 15th International Conference on Cultural Economics:

6/12-6/15 in Boston

Including:
-Scale, Scope and "Crowding Out" in the Nonprofit Lively Arts: Economic Analysis of Organizations in a Geographic Market
-The Socioeconomic Composition of Arts Participation: Definitions, Evidence and Policy Issues
- Innovation in the Cultural Industries
- Artists' Demographic Characteristics and Employment Patterns in the US
- To Dare or Not to Dare: Key Risks in London's Cultural Industries
- Tax Incentives as a Tool for Cultural Policy: The Experience of Japan, Italy, and Bulgaria

Oh boy. Four days of cultural economics freakout-geekout in my hometown? And it overlaps NPAC? Why does everything happen when I'm already busy? Phooey.

Strategic National Arts Alumni Project (SNAAP)

No, I didn't get hit by a bus - just buried under some exams and term papers. Hopefully I'll put out a mini-avalanche of posts in the next few days to catch up.

First, I wanted to highlight the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project (SNAAP), a new annual survey designed to track what artists actually do with their lives once they leave school.

Besides Theatrefacts, I can't think of another long-term study of cultural engagement and involvement. (If I'm missing something, please let me know!) I can't figure out how they're choosing the survey participants, but I'd be happy to volunteer.

From the press release:

SNAAP is a visually engaging online survey system to collect, track, and disseminate national data about the artistic lives and careers of alumni who trained as visual, performing, or literary artists at both the high school and college levels. As an ongoing research system, it will allow education institutions, researchers and arts leaders to look at the systemic factors that helped or hindered the career paths of alumni, whether they have chosen to work as artists or pursue other paths.

Neither an exit nor a longitudinal survey, SNAAP will be administered as an annual survey of alumni at specified junctures following their institutionally-based arts training 5, 10, 15 and 20 years after graduation. Once fully operational, SNAAP findings will allow for national and other comparisons and can be disaggregated in various other ways so that institutions can better understand, for example, how students in different majors use their arts training in their careers and other aspects of their lives.

So. Excited. About. This.

Weekend Reading

I am in love with Leonard Jacobs' interview with Andrei Belgrader and the cast of BAM's Endgame.

Alvin Epstein, currently playing Nagg, played Lucky in the first US performance of Waiting for Godot, and played Clov in the first US performance of Endgame. Forgive the italics - it's the best I can do for a national treasure.

From the interview - Elaine Stritch, on Beckett's intelligence:

Beckett must have been some sort of a fucking genius. I think he was one hell of a smart son of a bitch. I'm just getting this off my chest.

Finals this week! Back to posting next week.

Weekend Listening

I just discovered this archive of Americans for the Arts video and sound recordings (thanks, Mission Paradox). I'm looking forward to listening to Daniel Pink's address at this year's Arts Advocacy day on the train home tonight - I've heard it was amazing. Also featured: speeches from the 2007 Americans for the Arts convention, 2007 Arts Advocacy Day, and the Americans for the Arts podcast, ARTcast.

Weekend Reading

I know, I know, I should probably change the name of this blog to "Sarah's Writer-Crush on Lyn Gardner"... but how great is this? Let's clone her.