Funding Research

The Americans with Disabilities Act has been an important piece of legislation, opening doors to opportunities and enabling people with disabilities to gain access to employment, homes and quality of life. Since the passing of the ADA in 1990, the National Endowment for the Arts has been holding conferences with regional arts organizations to encourage access to the arts.

CLEA: Consortium for the Liberal Education of Artists

Here's a simple recipe for something magical: take a group of artists and educators with an unusual (and an unusually passionate) sense of mission, bring them to the exotic conference facilities of The Howard Gilman Foundation's White Oak Plantation in Florida, mix well. Then stand back to see what happens.

Arts in Education

In recent months, debate has been renewed over whether learning in the arts causes a "spill-over" effect on children's learning in other fields, directly or by transfer, and whether that "spill-over" is what should be measured. The discussion was heightened by the publication of a special issue of The Journal of Aesthetic Education titled "The Arts and Academic Improvement: What the Evidence Shows," with guest editors Ellen Winner and Lois Hetland.1

I have been an artist and arts administrator for over thirty years. Now that I'm on the other side of what painter Chuck Close calls "temporarily abled," I find my own profession not very accommodating. Unexpectedly,five years ago I was partially paralyzed from complications of surgery.

Museums seem to be the most problematic. My gallery visits are based on stamina, not driven by content. Are comfortable benches so contrary to the enjoyment of art? Group tours leave me behind: I often catch up just as the docent is leading the group on to the next room.

This piece was first published in the newsletter of the Grantmaker's Evaluation Network, Volume 9/Number 1, Winter 2001. It is published here with permission from Doug Easterling.

The Center for Arts and Culture, an independent think tank on cultural policy, began work on its Art, Culture and the National Agenda project in 2000. Scholars, artists, and practitioners from around the country were commissioned to write background papers on the most pressing concerns facing the cultural sector. With nearly 100 papers submitted to the project, the Center's board, research advisory council, and staff, in discussion with leading policymakers, crafted a set of four structural recommendations for the federal government.

2000, 218 pages, $19.95, Jossey-Bass

Don't let the medical bag with the big Red Cross on the cover of Alvin Reiss' CPR for Nonprofits fool you, the book is not about rescuing dying nonprofits. Instead it offers self-help for those willing to follow Reiss' prescription for breathing new life into organizations by identifying Challenges, developing a Plan and achieving Results.

Sitting around tables at a conference center last May, we each joined five other participants in imagining and illustrating possibilities for artists who work in community arts programs for youth. We were part of a group of around thirty people convened as a working group first in San Jose, California in May 2000 and again in October in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Our aim was to explore how to build understanding and action toward the sustainable involvement of artists and arts professionals in youth and community development.

2000, 16 pages, Business Committee for the Arts, Inc., 1775 Broadway, Suite 510, New York, New York 10019, (212) 664-0600.

Consider using arts images in advertisements to associate your company with quality and performance, giving a museum membership to new employees as a signing bonus, having an arts and crafts event in the workplace for employees' children, or inviting artists to show their work in your office or retail space to create traffic.