Animating Democracy has commissioned "Community-Based Arts Organizations: A New Center of Gravity," a seminal essay by Ron Chew, making a case for greater support for small and mid-sized, "value-based" organizations. "Amid changing demographics, a new political climate, technological advances, and globalization," says Chew, these organizations "offer artistic excellence and innovation, astute leadership connected to community needs, and important institutional and engagement models for the arts field. ... They often work in partnerships that cross silos and sectors to connect art organically with other areas such as health, community development, humanities, and social justice." The essay reviews histories, strategies of and support for such organizations as Houston's Arte Publico Press, Oakland's East Bay Center for the Performing Arts, and the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago. Chew is former director of Wing Luke Asian Museum in Seattle. [LINK] Posted by Linda Frye Burnham