GIA Blog

National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Rocco Landesman confirmed his plans to step down at the end of the calendar year. “My intention has always been to serve one term, and we have been able to accomplish more than I had ever thought possible: sparking a national movement around creative placemaking, forging significant relationships with other federal agencies, creating an unprecedented healing arts partnership with the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, and increasing both the scope and impact of our research office.” NEA Senior Deputy Chairman Joan Shigekawa will serve as the acting head of the agency until a permanent successor is confirmed.

The Arts & Democracy Project will host a national conference call on Wednesday, November 28, 3:00pm EST / Noon PST. You are invited to join the conference call if you have a project to share, are looking to connect with other projects, or just want to learn about creative responses to Superstorm Sandy and other disasters. If you would like to present a project on the call, please email rsvp@artsanddemocracy.org by Friday, November 23. Go here to register to attend the call.

South Arts has announced the appointment of Suzette (Susie) Surkamer as executive director effective December 6, 2012. Since January, 2012, Surkamer has been the membership consultant for South Arts’ ArtsReady project. Surkamer earned a M.Ed. in dance education from George Washington University and a B.A. in dance from the University of Maryland.

In the election on November 6th, 2012, Portland, Oregon residents approved ballot measure #26-146 with 62% voting to approve. The success of the measure means a new income tax of $35 per income-earning resident will generate an estimated $12.5 million every year, starting in 2013 to be dispersed to Portland schools and to the Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) to fund the arts and music and art education.

The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) is pleased to announce the creation of an emergency relief fund to support individual artists in all disciplines impacted by Hurricane Sandy. The application will be posted on www.nyfa.org and www.artspire.org beginning November 21 and submissions will be accepted on a rolling basis. The program will be open to literary, media, performing and visual artists residing in Connecticut, New Jersey and New York.

The Penn Hill Group, an education policy firm in Washington, D.C. that is working for the GIA Arts Education Funders Coalition, has prepared a report to summarize the results of the election that took place in the U.S. in early November 2012. This report provides an initial analysis of the people, process, politics, and policies that are crucial to the consideration of federal education and job training policies in the next Congress and Administration. It is important to recognize that some of these dynamics will shift as agendas become clearer and leadership and committee positions get solidified, at which time we will provide an updated version of this memo at the start of the new Congress in January.

The Community Foundation of New Jersey, the Dodge Foundation, and other partners in the philanthropic and corporate community both locally and nationally have established the New Jersey Recovery Fund to help nonprofits and communities rebuild after Superstorm Sandy. The Fund will target grants and loans to support and strengthen the nonprofit sector as well as forward-thinking communities which need resources to implement innovative ideas and solutions.

From Randy Kennedy at The New York Times:

A pair of webinars are happening next week that look interesting. On Thursday, November 15, Understanding Parents' Role in Arts Education will be presented by Doug Israel, Director of Research and Policy, The Center for Arts Education. Narric Rome and Kristen Engebretsen of AFTA will moderate. The following day, Friday, November 16, 2012 Post-Election Impact on the Arts will feature AFTA Action Fund staff discussing this weeks' election.

Robert Lynch, President and CEO, Americans for the Arts, writes for Huffington Post: