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• US computer and video game software sales totaled $11.7 billion in 2008.
• Sixty-eight percent of American households play computer or video games.
• Forty percent of all game players are women.
• The average game player is thirty-five years old and has been playing video games for twelve years.
• Twenty-five percent of Americans over the age of fifty play video games.

Source: The Entertainment Software Association¹

From computer-mediated poetry, read on a laptop computer while sitting in a wireless café in Paris, to touring works of performing arts, such as composer Pamela Z’s Baggage Allowance, an installation and performance based on her world travels, new media artworks are becoming an integral part of the global cultural environment.

Beyond Price: Value in Culture, Economics, and the Arts; Edited by Michael Hutter and David Throsby; Cambridge University Press, 2007, 324 pages

Before the house lights dim at a production of Romeo and Juliet, I look for myself and I am delighted to find myself as I was many years ago: A teenaged boy sitting by himself. I recognize him because he keeps checking the number on his ticket against the number on the armrest. All in all, he is pleased with his seat. He wears a sweater and tie. He reads his program with the intensity I used similarly to scrutinize the actors’ biographies, the director’s notes, and the advertisements for after-theater dining.

The current economic climate has forced many nonprofit arts organizations to confront underlying issues. Tensions mount, dollars are scarce, and unresolved weaknesses or fissures often grow. We have seen heartening examples of artists, donors, audiences, and funders rallying to support the art and organizations that they love. In some cases, streamlined, more focused organizations are forging ahead with renewed determination. But in other cases, the economic downturn may herald the time to close the doors.

Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy
Penguin Press, 2008, 352 pages. ISBN-10: 1594201722

In late January GIA polled its 309 member organizations about their organization's responses to the economic downturn. 117 (38%) members responded, which provides a healthy sample of the membership.

Members reported their expected 2009 arts grantmaking would likely compare to 2008 as follows:

• 41% expected that 2009 would be the same as 2008.
• 13% expected that it would be reduced to 90% of 2008.
• 12% expected that it would be reduced to 80% of 2008.
• 11% expected that it would be reduced to 70% of 2008.

Ralph Smith, the 2007 Conference Chairman, issued a challenge in his welcome message – “that all who attend will leave with renewed energy, capacity and resolve to make a positive contribution toward meeting the challenges of our time.”