Friday, October 31, 2008

Yes We Carve

Posted by John Stoehr on Fri, Oct 31, 2008 at 10:49 AM

Thanks to ArtsJournal . . .

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In Praise of Folly

Posted by Jon Santiago on Fri, Oct 31, 2008 at 9:55 AM

National Novel Writing Month countdown

My ever-practical sister and I have lurched through this dialogue so often I know it by heart. The conversation goes like this:

SHE: "Why would anyone want to do this?"

ME: "It's a personal challenge."

SHE: "Okay, but what's the point?"

ME: "To write 50,000 words of a novel in 30 days."

SHE: (sighing, rolling her eyes, AND waving dismissively) "I know that! What do you get for doing it?"

ME: "If you do it, you win."

SHE: "You win what, exactly?"

ME: (giddy as a third grader who knows the answer) "Personal satisfaction!"

SHE: (eyebrows scrunching, does cartoon double-take) "What??"

(At this point, ME excuses myself and leaves the room.)

Admittedly, I do a piss-poor job of explaining all this to her. But you know how it is: she's my youngest sister. Despite basking in the glow of my brotherly wisdom for years now, there's no sign at all that she's seen the light. She still thinks I'm a doof.

So be it. I rise in defense of doof-ish folly.

Every great stride, every boundary-bashing, limit-stomping achievement swept through old barriers when someone shrugged off "sensible" and embraced a carefree, "Why not?"

Gate-crashers make history, wallflowers don't.

This November, NaNoWriMo (as it's collegially known amongst us NaNos) celebrates its tenth year of joyfully pitching the hopeful and unwary into "30 days and nights of literary abandon."

In real life terms, this is like checking yourself into a psych ward of your own making and locking the door behind you; a self-created reality show without the lovely parting gifts and fleeting celebrity spotlight. It's crazy fun.

NaNoWriMo starts tomorrow. I'll be blogging about it here, cross-posting from my blog Vicious Bicycle.

Let's get busy.

Topics: Local Authors

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Arts get 'tough love' from top-ranked fund

Posted by John Stoehr on Thu, Oct 30, 2008 at 1:09 PM

From the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News . . .

Cincinnati's top-ranked fund provides a model to arts communities

In a survey of united arts funds conducted by Americans for the Arts, Cincinnati's Fine Arts Fund ranks number 1. Why? The strengths of tradition and corporate support. Also notable is that Cincinnati's program doesn't tolerate budget deficits. "Our donors and the corporations that welcome us into their workplaces expect us to make sure these organizations operate in a financially secure manner," says the fund's director. "Those that don't get some "tough love," she said. They get smaller checks."

Obama's speech on the arts

Posted by John Stoehr on Thu, Oct 30, 2008 at 1:00 PM

Sorry. I forgot to post the video of the speech.

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Arts and democracy

Posted by John Stoehr on Thu, Oct 30, 2008 at 10:56 AM

I wrote a story in this week's paper about the role of the arts in the democratic process.

Mostly, I explored a statement made by the novelist Stephen Elliott — that artists have empathy and are therefore liberal. I got a wide range of responses from a wide range of people: artists, an English professor, a philosopher, a political scientist, political pundits, and a poet.

While there was disagreement as to whether empathy is inherently political, there was no disagreement about whether the arts create empathy. Everyone agreed that engaging in the arts, trying to see the world through another person's eyes, is good for creating empathy.

Though empathy has an unhealthy side (creating enablers for those with drug addiction, for instance), empathy, people said, was good for being a citizen in a country as plural as ours.

Sadly, I was unaware of a speech by Barack Obama that touches in this very topic. If I had been aware, I would have incorporated his position on the arts in the piece (or would have written an entirely different kind of story; I probably will in the future, especially if Barry wins the election).

I found that speech today, thanks to a piece in the Los Angeles Times. Obama in fact has said he will make the arts a core element of his presidential policy. He wants to:

Reinvest in Arts Education

Support Increased Funding for the NEA

Promote Cultural Diplomacy

Attract Foreign Talent

Provide Health Care to Artists

Ensure Tax Fairness for Artists

You can read all about his policy position here (pdf).

Most interesting is the reinvestment category. Here's what he wants to do:

  • Expand Public/Private Partnerships Between Schools and Arts Organizations: Barack Obama and Joe Biden will increase resources for the U.S. Department of Education’s Arts Education Model Development and Dissemination Grants, which develop public/private partnerships between schools and arts organizations. They will also engage the foundation and corporate community to increase support for public/private partnerships.

  • Create an Artist Corps: Barack Obama and Joe Biden support the creation of an “Artists Corps” of young artists trained to work in low-income schools and their communities. Studies in Chicago have demonstrated that test scores improved faster for students enrolled in low-income schools that link arts across the curriculum than scores for students in schools lacking such programs.

  • Publicly Champion the Importance of Arts Education: As president, Barack Obama will use the bully pulpit and the example he will set in the White House to promote the importance of arts and arts education in America. Not only is arts education indispensable for success in a rapidly changing, high skill, information economy, but studies show that arts education raises test scores in other subject areas as well.

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