A House Appropriations Committee hearing on the arts will stream live online during Arts Advocacy Days in Washington D.C. The March 31 hearing begins at 10:30 a.m. EDT. Artists Linda Ronstadt and Josh Groban join Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY), Rep. Todd R. Platts (R-PA) and a panel of arts experts: Robert L. Lynch, Americans for the Arts; musician Wynton Marsalis, Jazz at Lincoln Center; and Jeremy Nowak, the Reinvestment Fund. Arts Advocacy Days began today with advocacy training sessions and discussions on strengthening the arts in healthcare reform and national service, enhancing tax deductibility for charitable gifts, artist-museum partnership, improving the visa process for cultural exchanges and supporting public broadcasting, the NEA, NEH, IMS and arts education. Tonight, Marsalis gives the 22nd Annual Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts and Public Policy. [LINK] Posted by Linda Frye Burnham

Arts funding in a time of economic crisis will be the topics of two Grantmakers in the Arts sessions, April 19, 2009, at the Americans for the Arts annual conference in Seattle, Wash. Titled "Navigating the Art of Change," the sessions will be led by prominent foundation representatives and consultants. Part I, "Current Research on Arts Funding Projections for 2009," features Janet Brown and Tommer Peterson, Grantmakers in the Arts; Sue Coliton, Paul G. Allen Family Foundation; Marion A. Godfrey, Pew Charitable Trusts; and Holly Sidford, Helicon Collaborative. For Part II, "The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act: What is the Role for Funders," Bill Cleveland of the Center for the Study of Art & Community will examine the range of funding, advocacy, technical assistance and partnership strategies that could be employed by arts funders to advance cultural recovery. [LINK] Posted by Linda Frye Burnham

For its 2010 exhibition year, 18th Street Arts Center in Santa Monica, Calif., is seeking proposals that address a common theme: the status of L.A.'s creative economy. Los Angeles is often described as a locus concentrating talent, innovation and creativity, says 18th St. Shows and community activities for 2010 will focus on the local creative economy: whether it's on the way up, down or stuck in neutral; the players and mediators; who is included, excluded; and how artists and cultural institutions are responding to current seismic changes. "We are interested in proposals that look at new methods of research and artistic production which address issues of civic engagement and personal responsibility, local community and its diversity, demographics and equity, conflict resolution and social awareness, and the re-development of the urban environment as a holistic and spiritual enterprise." [LINK] Posted by Linda Frye Burnham

"I got fascinated by how cultures use space to reinforce their cultural identity and socioeconomic means," says U.C. Berkeley grad student Robert Lemon in the S.F. Chronicle. In "How Ethnic Groups Change Oakland Neighborhoods" (3/18/09), writer Christopher Heredia talks with the landscape architecture student about his survey in the diverse ethnic neighborhoods of Oakland, Calif. "I wanted to find out if Hispanics, Chinese, African Americans or Caucasians prefer different types of space," Lemon said. Preliminary results show that residents want bustling neighborhoods with services that remind them of their native lands: Latinos enjoy pedestrian/bike-friendly boulevards; Chinatown likes an elbow-to-elbow crush of sidewalk shoppers and the cacophony of cars. "Would a city's resources be better used designing a picturesque park or put into a better streetscape or fields for soccer or football? It's more than an academic exercise." (Thanks, Judith Tannenbaum.) [LINK] Posted by Linda Frye Burnham

San Francisco's OMI/Excelsior Living Library & Think Park sponsors an Art, Ecology, Garden: Think, Talk & Do event this Saturday and every Saturday "into the future." The event, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. March 28, 2009, "provides a unique opportunity to think and talk about issues of sustainable and ecological design, education, art, food and much more while gardening, getting dirty and having fun in a beautiful setting full of native trees, fruits, flowers and vegetables," says artist/founder Bonnie Ora Sherk. A Living Library (ALL), she says, "transforms sunken meadows and brownfields, urban sprawl and desolation, public parks and plazas, concrete and asphalt schoolyards, civic centers or undeveloped wastelands into vibrant and relevant community learning environments and highly visible public magnets offering innovative and practical community and economic development." In San Francisco, there are three Library/Think Parks underway. [LINK] Posted by Linda Frye Burnham

"Culture, Crisis and Recovery" is the theme of the next conference for Imagining America: Artists and Scholars in Public Life, October 1-3, 2009, in New Orleans, La. Hosted by Tulane and Xavier Universities, this year’s conference invokes the current economic crisis, NOLA's ongoing experiences after Hurricane Katrina, and "the part that engaged scholarship and practice through the arts, humanities and design take in recovery efforts of all kinds across the U.S." Imagining America welcomes proposals for the conference on the subthemes of "Public Scholarship and the Economic Crisis," "Culture and Partnership in Post-Katrina New Orleans" and "Responding to Crisis in Our Own Backyards." Guidelines for proposals for seminars, roundtables, workshops, panel and poster presentations may be found on the IA Web site. Submit them (electronic format only) to Kevin Bott at kbott@syr.edu by April 24. [LINK] Posted by Linda Frye Burnham

CAN is happy to welcome Grantmakers in the Arts' new blog, Economic Turmoil and Change, to Blognet, our network of Weblogs from all over our community. The blog tracks what arts grantmakers are thinking and doing in response to some key questions around the current economic downturn: How is funding being affected now, and how is it apt to be affected in the next 12-24 months? Since many believe that economic turmoil and a change in federal leadership offers the opportunity for substantive change, what role can arts and culture play in that change? Can we play a role in creating a stronger civil society and more sustainable communities? What are the possibilities for change within the arts and culture sector itself? How can arts funders help? Posts will appear automatically in the BlogNet section of CAN's front page. [LINK] Posted by Linda Frye Burnham

Bauen Camp, Wyoming's arts & social responsibility camp for teens, is facing the economic crisis by making this summer's offerings even more affordable. Session One, July 8-27, 2009, offers a community weaving project led by artist Carole Lung from Los Angeles, Calif. It's for people 13-18, it's now $900, and the application deadline is April 15. Session Two, July 30-August 11, a community mural project, is a collaboration with Tongue River Community Center. it's for local teens 12-17, it's led by N.Y. muralist/puppeteer Clara Waloff, it costs $350, and the deadline is May 15. Both sessions will include teaching in a variety of disciplines, including literary, music, performance and visual arts. Bauen Camp was profiled recently in "More Than an Art Camp," Camping magazine, linked here. [LINK] Posted by Linda Frye Burnham

Artist Suzanne Lacy will be part of a CalArts CAP Forum on arts and activism at the REDCAT Theater in Los Angeles, Calif., April 1, 2009. The forum, "Be the Change," features artists and organizers whose work is "marked by dynamic action in the world and by a commitment to embodying the change they strive to realize," according to the sponsor, California Institute of the Arts' Community Arts Partnership program. Panelists include Lacy, whose large-scale performance projects promote audience engagement and artists' roles in shaping public agendas; The Beehive Design Collective, an all-volunteer, nonprofit, art-activist collective in Maine; poet/theater artist Mark Gonzales of Assemblies in Motion, which uses alternative intervention models through arts and athletics for youth who suffer from violence and substance abuse; and Adolfo Nodal of the Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Commission and Farmlab. [LINK] Posted by Linda Frye Burnham

Three programs with outstanding arts-integration training programs are profiled in the March 2009 Education Update, the journal of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Willona Sloan writes, in "Making Content Connections Through Arts Integration," about A+ Schools of North Carolina, a program of arts-integrated instruction incorporating Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences; Alabama Institute for Education in the Arts, a nonprofit organization that trains classroom teachers and administrators about the philosophy of arts integration and helps bring the arts to rural schools; and (Out)Laws & Justice, a program based in Los Angeles, Calif., that combines history, social science, English language arts and theater arts to increase students' literacy, critical thinking and conflict-resolution skills through research and performance about the frontier society of the Old West. The latter two programs have short-term training institutes. [LINK] Posted by Linda Frye Burnham

Proposals are due by April 1, 2009, for "Creativity and Play Across the Disciplines," the 31st Annual Association for Integrative Studies Conference, October 8-11. The conference, at the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, is about "approaches to learning, scholarship and engagement that activate the creative capacities of higher-education communities." Timothy Eatman, director of research for Imagining America and faculty member at Syracuse University, is the keynote speaker. The Association for Integrative Studies (AIS) seeks proposals for roundtable discussions, integrated panels, single papers and performances that address issues such as: Creativity as Core Educational Value, Creativity and Collaboration and Creativity as a Means of Integrating Campus and Community Economies. "We are especially interested," says AIS, "in presentations, events and conversations that self-consciously consider the complex and dynamic relationship among creativity, interdisciplinarity and integrative learning." Proposals (250 words) go to: AISconference@bama.ua.edu [LINK] Posted by Linda Frye Burnham

Audience members in Sligo, Ireland, will engage in a series of discussions during an interdisciplinary project called "Signals in the Dark: Art in the Shadow of War." The touring show from Canada, presented by Model Arts and Niland Gallery in Sligo through May 3, 2009, includes international artists who are responding to war and its contemporary representations. The project, curated by Seamus Kealy, comprises an exhibition, rotating film/video program, catalogue and series of public tours and discussions. Films and videos range from documentaries on art and culture under the siege of war to reflections on war and violence by artists. They include "De Duiveljager The Devil Hunters" (Netherlands), "The Dream of Sparrows" (Iraq), "Arabs and Terrorism" (U.S.) and "Waltz With Bashir" (Israel). [LINK] Posted by Linda Frye Burnham

Ten artists are taking part in envisioning the future of Vermont during "The Art of Action," a "stimulus package that pairs underserved community needs with underused creative resources." It's a collaboration of the Vermont Arts Council with Vermont entrepreneur and philanthropist Lyman Orton to commission visual artists to create suites of artwork that address issues that were identified by Vermonters during the recent Council on the Future of Vermont. The exhibition schedule begins in September 2009, with venues in 12 of the state's 14 counties. Each community has two weeks to showcase the project with a specific local focus, which could include concerts, performances, tours, symposia or community forums. The project Web site has a video of the Arts Council director talking about the artist's place in planning. [LINK] Posted by Linda Frye Burnham

The National Coalition Against Censorship's "Youth Voices Uncensored" is an afternoon of film screenings and discussions about youth media addressing important social and political issues. The March 28, 2009, event at New York Film Academy in Manhattan features ten short films that address topics from abstinence-only education and sexuality to racism and immigration, followed by discussions. "Youth today are transforming our political landscape, and they are doing so largely through the world of film and new media," said Brian Pickett, event organizer. "As technology becomes easier to use and more widely accessible, we are seeing youth video production emerge as a significant way for young people to put a mark on their world. Young people are finding that posting videos on YouTube, MySpace and Facebook is an empowering and effective way to advocate for social change. Further, youth media organizations are playing an important role in expanding the audience for youth-made media and increasing the likelihood that the voices of tomorrow's leaders will be heard today." [LINK] Posted by Linda Frye Burnham

Today CAN brings you a new essay by South Carolina critic Darryl Lorenzo Washington, an examination of an interdisciplinary community arts project in Charleston titled "The Future Is on the Table." Washington compares the interactive, local/global project with another community-based arts effort by the Spoleto Festival, and frames them with and examination of the current gentrification of the Southern city. "The Future Is on the Table," organized by Charleston's Jean-Marie Mauclet and Gwylène Gallimard, brought a number of artists to South Carolina from England, France, India and South Africa to work with local communities around the concept of gift exchange and the themes of water and shelter, and included local artists as well. Among other things, Wellington bemoans the cultural walls that divide Charleston, and says of the "Future" opening at City Gallery: "Without heavy-handedness, by show rather than tell, the project raised the bar for a potential conversation about audience diversity. It put the issue on the table." [LINK] Posted by Linda Frye Burnham

April 27, 2009, is the deadline for applications to the Creative Recovery Mini-Grant Program offered by Transforma Projects in New Orleans, La. The program supports "work that exists at the intersection of art, social justice and recovery in New Orleans," says Transforma. The program "fuels the recovery by supporting the vibrant activity that occurs on the ground level." Awards range $500-$2,500 and are intended to provide direct project support for the work of independent artists, collectives, gathering spaces and publications that contribute to the rebuilding of New Orleans. Projects can include exhibitions, public art projects, publication of writing, online projects, artist residencies, screenings and more. Transforma, an Intermediary Partnership program of the National Performance Network, is a collective that explores how art-making can intersect with other sectors such as education, health, environment and community development. View past awardees online. [LINK] Posted by Linda Frye Burnham

The effects of globalization, transnationalism and the construction of identity are topics of an Arizona State University symposium accompanying an exhibition by artist Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba. The exhibition, at the university's art museum through April 26, 2009, includes the U.S. premiere of "Breathing is Free: 12,756.3," the artist's video/performance series in which he is running the diameter of the earth (12,756.3) in cities of the world at different times. "Breathing is Free" is described as "a virtual earth drawing, exhibited as an installation, illustrating the movement of populations around the world." Nguyen-Hatsushiba, who lives in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, is planning his Arizona run for the Grand Canyon in the fall. The March 28 public conference, "Convergence, Divergence, and Intersection: Movements and Encounters of Cultural Constructions," is the third annual Art History Graduate Symposium at ASU. [LINK] Posted by Linda Frye Burnham

Artist Suzanne Lacy and her Otis College of Art & Design graduate students in public practice are making art with the citizens of Laton, California (pop. 1,200). "Laton LIVE!" is an exhibition of the work and a street fair, all over town, March 21, 2009. Working with Laton residents, organizations, and public schools, Otis students and faculty identified two important concerns: supporting youth in civic engagement, and building community pride. Resulting art projects, include "Signs of Welcome," a welcome sign by high-school students to replace one destroyed by vandals; "Picturing Laton," a portrait series in collaboration with noted L.A. photographer Raul Vega, a native of the area; "Painting the Town," a face-lift for local stores; and "The Town is a Stage," a wall-sized video installation. It's all part of Otis Connects: San Joaquin Valley. See the trailer on YouTube. [LINK] Posted by Linda Frye Burnham

Cornerstone Theater is talking with scientists, advocates, river lovers, politicians, Native Americans, artists, and residents along the banks of the L.A. River for "Flow." The latest production in Cornerstone's Justice cycle, the community-based play will explore the mysteries of this massive river-turned-concrete-drainage-channel. Playwright Julie Hebért is leading the environmental-justice project, engaging people working to reclaim the waterway and its benefits, and visiting the river's adjacent communities like Frogtown, Atwater Village and Glendale Narrows, from which the cast will be drawn. Partners include Farmlab, Friends of the L.A. River and the South Asian Network. The play, directed by Juliette Carrillo, runs May 28-June 21, 2009. The Justice Cycle is a series of six world-premiere plays designed around the question of how laws create and disrupt communities. [LINK] Posted by Linda Frye Burnham

"My NEA would fund arts education in every juvie, jail and prison in the country," TV news host Rachel Maddow told the L.A. Times (2/27) for a feature called "If I ran the NEA..." She went on: "-- creating those art jobs, probably slashing recidivism, making our big dumb prison system slightly less pointless, and maybe someday paying off down the road in the form of the next American international art star." Said NEA Four artist Tim Miller: "President Obama's arts platform was on target in its valuing of artists as cultural ambassadors and community organizers. Now we need to put the pedal to the metal and truly transform communities and identities through creative citizenship." Check out the answers of 28 other celebrities, including Frank Gehry, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Ann Coulter, Eve Ensler, Sandra Tsing Loh, Bill Maher and Tom Hayden. (Thanks, California Alliance for Arts Education.) [LINK] Posted by Linda Frye Burnham

Artists and educators working with immigration and identity issues might join a free online workshop by Facing History & Ourselves: "Civic Dilemmas: Religion, Migration and Belonging." The two-week workshop, March 26-April 8, 2009, requires a minimum time commitment of three hours over that period. Key questions include: How does migration impact the identities of migrants and non-migrants? How should communities balance the competing needs of reproducing national identity, promoting integration and community cohesion and pluralism? And, how do these issues play out in schools? In schools, is there a contradiction between creating common identities and fostering group pride? Discussion will feature two new publications from Facing History: "Stories of Identity: Religion, Migration and Belonging" and "What Do We Do with a Difference: France and the Debate Over Headscarves in Schools." Resources may be downloaded for free. [LINK] Posted by Linda Frye Burnham

An antiwar film that disappeared in 1972, Francine Parker's documentary of The FTA Show led by Donald Sutherland and Jane Fonda, will be screened at Busboys and Poets in D.C. Showing March 10, the event is sponsored by the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) and is hosted by IPS' Phyllis Bennis and musician Holly Near, who was on the show's tour. They'll talk about the parallels between antiwar resistance movements of the Vietnam era and the Iraq-Afghanistan era of today. The FTA (Free the Army or F*** the Army) Show, a caustic, sharply antiwar comedy review, opened in U.S. theaters as the Nixon administration was still escalating the war and fighting for its political life at home. After one week, the film mysteriously disappeared, never to be seen again. "Until now," says IPS. "Perfect timing." [LINK] Posted by Linda Frye Burnham

Marian A. Godfrey, chair of the 2008 National Arts Policy Roundtable, leads an upcoming Webinar called "Arts and Civic Engagement: Policies and Actions for Strengthening the 21st Century Community." The Webinar, online March 11, 2009, will report on what was learned at last year's Roundtable, an annual forum of Americans for the Arts and the Sundance Preserve. Business, government, philanthropy, education and arts leaders y made recommendations in areas of cross-sector alliances, policies and investment, research and evaluation, and messaging and casemaking to ensure a vital civic role for the arts. Presented by Americans for the Arts, the Webinar includes Susan Patterson, Charlotte, N.C., program director for The Knight Foundation; Barbara Schaffer Bacon and Pam Korza, Animating Democracy; and Marete Wester, AftA's director of arts policy. [LINK] Posted by Linda Frye Burnham

The Cluster Project is looking for videographers who want to interview citizens in their communities about cluster bombs. This project is a new online collaborative art exhibition that surveys the social, historical, financial, and technological underpinnings of cluster bombs. The Web exhibition will eventually display some 22 installations (or rooms or bomblets) made by artists using animation, illustration, photography, video and other techniques. Man-in-the-street interviews are being sought for one of the works, called "What the People Know." Says project director Bob Paris, "While the United States has traditionally manufactured, sold and used the great bulk of cluster bombs around the world, its citizenry knows virtually nothing of the weapons, nor does it want to know. It is this combination of complicity and ignorance that The Cluster Project seeks to confront." Find out more online. [LINK] Posted by Linda Frye Burnham

Local residents, historians and area artists will be telling their stories about the Jackrabbit Homesteads of California's Wonder Valley in a "listening party" at 29 Palms Historical Society Museum. The March 28 event is part of artist Kim Stringfellow's Jackrabbit Homestead project, a Web-based multimedia presentation (and forthcoming book) featuring a downloadable car audio tour exploring the cultural legacy of the Small Tract Act of 1938 in the Morongo Basin near Joshua Tree National Park. Historical evidence resides in several hundred mostly abandoned desert shacks built by people taking advantage of the 1938 homestead program to dispose of “useless” federal lands from the public domain -- “one of the strangest land rushes in Southern California history" (L.A. Times). Some cabins have been reclaimed by artists. There's also a March 28 "cabin-related" art show at the 29 Palms Creative Center & Gallery. (Thanks Patricia Watts and Facebook.) [LINK] Posted by Linda Frye Burnham

Today CAN brings you "A Proposed Job Swap To Save American Capitalism" by choreographer and MacArthur Award-winner Liz Lerman. In her opinion piece, Lerman asks: Do Wall Street executives deserve big bonuses during hard times? Does increased arts funding have a place in an economic stimulus package? She lists the qualities in artists' resumes that make them the perfect hire for getting the economy back on solid footing, including their demonstrated willingness to work ridiculous hours for no pay and keep working until they get the job done right; their utter inexperience with bonuses; their lack of need for financial incentives and their willingness to work on a project because they love and believe in it; and their ability to work on a tight budget and work well with others. As for what Wall Street executives would gain from working as artists? Read on.... [LINK] Posted by Linda Frye Burnham

Application guidelines for arts grants funded by and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 are now available on the NEA's Web site. The National Endowment for the Arts has received funds to help preserve jobs in the nonprofit arts sector that are threatened by declines in philanthropic and other support during the current economic downturn. This program will be carried out through one-time grants to eligible nonprofit organizations for their own job-preservation projects and to designated local arts agencies for subgranting. Organizations may request a grant amount of $25,000 or $50,000 for a project starting on or after July 1, 2009. All grants are non-matching and will be awarded for the amount requested. All applicants must be previous NEA-award recipients from the past four years. Electronic application through Grants.gov is mandatory (registration required). Deadline: April 1, 2009 (ten days prior is recommended). [LINK] Posted by Linda Frye Burnham

Audiences will be asked to decide the fate of small beleaguered community organization in Matrix Theatre Company’s new interactive play, "Decide Tonight," in Detroit, Mich. Neighborhood Resources Inc., facing mounting debt and long-deferred maintenance of its facilities, has been offered a lifeline, says Nicole Rupersberg in The Detroiter: It can sell its building and land and merge with DGC, a much stronger and larger social-service organization. By the end of the night, the audience/community members must choose a future. Running March 6-April 5, 2009, it's the latest production from the Collective Playwrights Workshop at Matrix, which has created a large body of work about life in contemporary Detroit. "Decide Tonight" grew out of a story-sharing experience called Jambalayas, a hallmark of the Matrix Inclusive Theatre Initiative that brings together groups who may never encounter each other in everyday life. [LINK] Posted by Linda Frye Burnham

A film about a French mountain reforested with 68 million trees by a forester and a botanist will be featured in the 11th Annual Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital. "Aigoual, the Rebirth of a Forest" by Marc Kahanne will have its U.S. premiere at the National Arboretum, March 18-2009, introduced by American Forests' Deborah Gangloff, who will talk about the importante of the arboretum's research. Presented collaboratively by 101 local, national and global organizations, the films screen March 11-22, 2009 at 52 venues throughout D.C., including museums, embassies, libraries, universities and local theaters. There's a welcome film on the festival's Web site by Philippe Cousteau, including clips from nine festival films. The site also features a Green Film Forum where you can view short films, submit your own films and learn more about environmental filmmaking. [LINK] Posted by Linda Frye Burnham

Just added to CAN's BlogNet -- blogs from the field appearing automatically on CAN's front page -- is Independent Arts & Media. Indy Arts is a nonprofit service group for new public media and community arts. The San Francisco-based organization describes itself as a "producer's co-op and media/culture incubator with a mission to expand civic dialogue by increasing access to independent voices." Indy Arts was founded in 2000 to provide resources and support for media, arts and cultural programs and producers who are "doing important work, but who lack support from existing commercial media outlets and traditional arts institutions." They see themselves as "strengthening the culture of democracy," and the blog reports on news at the intersection of art, politics and technology as well as local learning and organizing events of interest to media artists. [LINK] Posted by Linda Frye Burnham