Call for proposals: Arizona Historical Advisory Committee Goldwater statue project

The Arizona Historical Advisory Commission is seeking proposals for a commemorative, site-specific sculpture of Barry M. Goldwater for placement in National Statuary Hall, U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C. The RFP requirements http://www.spo.az.gov/docs/Notices/Solicitations/AHAC-Goldwater2012.pdf should be reviewed carefully before submitting a proposal. RFP is open April 29, 2011 through July 29, 2011.

Americans for the Arts: U.S. House makes deeper cuts in Arts Endowment budget

From Americans for the Arts:

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAKES DEEPER CUT TO NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS 

The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed H.R.1, a appropriations bill written to target at least $100 billion in domestic spending cuts in the current fiscal year. This legislation includes a $43 million reduction for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)—from the current $167.5 million to $124 million. This represents the deepest cut to the NEA in 16 years. Representatives narrowly passed an amendment to the originally proposed appropriations bill on Thursday by a vote of 217-209, which increased an already dramatic cut to total the $43 million reduction. The Senate, which may be more supportive of the NEA, will begin its consideration of the appropriations bill starting February 28, following a week-long recess in observance of Presidents Day. For more information about the federal budget process, please contact Associate Director of Federal Affairs Gladstone Payton at gpayton@artsusa.org.

Al Simpson announces retirement from Buffalo Bill Memorial Association board

Al Simpson has announced his retirement as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Buffalo Bill Memorial Association. Here are some details from the BBHC:

The Honorable Alan K. Simpson (former U.S. senator, R-Wyo.) today announced his plan to retire as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Buffalo Bill Memorial Association, effective in September, 2011. Simpson joined the board in 1968 and became its chairman in 1998. The Buffalo Bill Memorial Association is the legal entity that operates the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, one of the world's highly respected museums of the American West.

"It has truly been a rare honor and privilege to chair this incredible board," Simpson said. "Now it is time to 'hand over the gavel' to new leadership. I most certainly will stay involved - for I dearly love this place and these special people - and shall always continue to fully support the board and staff of this wonderful institution in all their good work - but someone else will now provide the central vision."

Simpson said that the Governance Committee of the Board of Trustees will begin the nomination process this spring and a new chairman will be in place effective at the time of the September meeting. "There are so many decent, loyal, dedicated people on this board and thus I am very confident the next chairperson will continue to be able to do many great and progressive things," he added.

The Association and the Center accomplished many fine projects under Simpson's leadership. Among those accomplishments, yet by no means all, were: the opening of a new Plains Indian Museum in 2000; the opening of the Draper Museum of Natural History in 2002; the acquisition of the Paul Dyck Plains Indian Buffalo Culture collection and the funding and implementation of the Papers of William F. Cody project in 2007; the reinstallation and reopening of the Whitney Gallery of Western Art and 50th anniversary celebration in 2009; and the planning and beginning of fundraising for the reinstallation of the Buffalo Bill Museum, scheduled for opening in 2012.

Simpson also was influential in completing an agreement with the Smithsonian Institution that brought Thomas Moran's 1893 painting Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone to the Center as part of the Whitney Gallery's 50th anniversary celebration. The historically significant painting was on exhibit at the Center for six months and offered thousands of visitors a rare and unique opportunity to see such a masterwork so near in proximity to the actual location it represents.

"One of the many things I am so very proud of is how excited our visitors are as they enjoy the Buffalo Bill Historical Center," Simpson said. "When I wander through the galleries on a busy summer day - or even on a slow winter day - and I see families gather around, expressing their fascination with these exhibits and being captivated by the stories they are seeing and hearing, it truly makes all of our efforts worthwhile."

"I am also very proud of our able and accessible Executive Director Bruce Eldredge and our most talented board and staff for having successfully weathered the recent economic downturn," Simpson said. "They all planned and managed so very carefully, and we have come out the other side in pretty good shape. Oh sure, there are still challenges - there always will be - yet this board and staff will always confront them and overcome them. They have already proven that many times over. God Bless 'em!"

"It's difficult to express how much all of us appreciate and respect Al's leadership," Bruce Eldredge, the Center's executive director, said. "He has helped us accomplish great things, and we're happy he's not 'going away' but will continue to help us accomplish even more, just in a different way."

Telling the story of Wyoming's "Cowboy Senator"

Americans for the Arts plans to welcome and educate new members of Congress

This is a couple weeks old but bears re-posting:

November 04, 2010—Americans for the Arts President and CEO Robert L. Lynch gave the following statement on the Election Day results:

“Frustration with the nation’s lack of economic recovery is clearly top of mind among voters and candidates. Likewise, nonprofit arts organizations have also felt the sting of the recession with state and local government arts funding dropping as much as 16 percent, and private charitable gifts to the arts declining $1.2 billion in just two years. Additionally, individual artists have been experiencing unemployment at twice the rate of other educated, professional workers.

As our newly-elected leaders at the federal, state, and local levels focus on creating jobs and growing the economy, it is imperative that they understand the profound role the arts play in spurring economic growth and job creation. The nation’s 100,000 nonprofit arts organizations are part of the small business sector, and the nation’s 2.2 million professional artists are among the millions of business entrepreneurs fueling the economy. It is also important that our newly-elected leaders appreciate the connection between arts education training and the development of creative and innovative workforce skills, which are essential to future workers to compete effectively in the 21st Century global economy.

For the past four years, the House of Representatives initiated several hearings to spotlight the role of the arts in both the economy and in workforce development, yielding more than $100 million in new public investments in the arts and culture. Americans for the Arts looks forward to working with the bipartisan Congressional Arts Caucus and Senate Cultural Caucus on Capitol Hill to continue educating freshman members on how the arts fuel our nation’s economy. We want to congratulate three of the four Caucus members who were up for re-election on their convincing win last night and look forward to working closely with them in the 112th Congress. They are Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Representative Todd Platts (R-PA), and Representative Louise Slaughter (D-NY). We also look forward to working with Representative Jerry Moran (R-KS) and Representative Mark Kirk (R-IL), both already champions of the arts in the House, as they move into their newly elected Senate seats.

At the state government level, several arts champions— based on their record in other public offices or platform statements—have been elected as Governor. They include Governors-elect Jerry Brown (D-CA), Tom Corbett (R-PA), Neil Abercrombie (D-HI), Lincoln Chaffee (I-RI), Mark Dayton (D-MN), John Hickenlooper (D-CO) and Rick Snyder (R-MI).

Locally, there were 232 Mayoral elections in cities with a population of over 30,000. Among the many new promising arts champions, Providence, RI Mayor-Elect Angel Taveras and Louisville, KY Mayor-elect Greg Fischer identified the arts as a way to harness local talent and creative energy to power the economy.

Americans for the Arts will soon begin conducting the next installment of national research to document the size, impact, and trends of the nonprofit arts industry for its Arts and Economic Prosperity IV study. The previous study demonstrated that the nonprofit arts industry generates $166.2 billion of economic activity annually, which supports 5.7 million full-time equivalent jobs.”

Next Steps:

Americans for the Arts will be undertaking a number of comprehensive initiatives to welcome and educate new members of Congress, but we can’t do this without you! Starting today and in the next few months, we ask you to:

• Send a letter of congratulations to each elected leader representing your community (federal, state, and local levels) and identify yourself or your organization as a resource on arts policy issues.
• Ask all freshman members of Congress to begin thinking about joining the bipartisan Congressional Arts Caucus or Senate Cultural Caucus. We will be sending more information about this in the coming weeks.
• Work with your state and local arts advocacy organizations to develop a unified message to your newly-elected state and local leaders.
• Save the dates of April 4-5, 2011 to come to Washington, DC for National Arts Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill. We especially need grassroots advocates representing the districts and states of newly elected Congressional members.
• Become an official member of Americans for the Arts Action Fund, it’s free and it helps you stay connected to all the latest political breaking news impacting the arts.

Celebrate "Arts in Education Week" Sept. 12-18

From the Americans for the Arts web site:

On July 26, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution authored by Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) that would designate the week following the second Sunday of September as Arts in Education Week each year. Speier was joined by 101 of her colleagues in sponsoring this positive expression by Congress highlighting the important role that arts education plays as an “essential element of a complete and balanced education for all students,” said Speier. “Studies have shown that an arts education improves math and verbal SAT scores, and with students in China and other nations pulling ahead, we cannot leave our students at a competitive disadvantage.” Join us in marking September 12–18 as Arts in Education Week by learning more about arts education and what you can do in your community on our website. For more information on Arts in Education Week please contact Associate Director for Federal Affairs Gladstone Payton at gpayton@artsusa.org. 

For more ideas about celebrating and promoting arts education in Wyoming, contact AE coordinator Camellia El-Antably at the Wyoming Arts Council at 307-777-5305 or celant@state.wy.us

Details announced for 2011 U.S. arts budget

On Monday, the Obama Administration released the president's budget for Fiscal Year 2011. For information on the section that addresses arts funding, go to the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies web site at http://www.nasaa-arts.org

Congress considers Artist-Museum Partnership Act legislation

Some interesting news for museums and artists (source: online newsletter of the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies):

The Artist-Museum Partnership Act is pending consideration in the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee. The legislation would amend the Internal Revenue Code to improve the ability of museums to collect works by living American artists, with the incentive of extending to artists the right to deduct the fair-market value of gifts of their own work that they donate to museums, libraries and other collecting institutions. The charitable deduction enjoyed by collectors of artwork has been denied to artists since 1969. Currently, only the costs of the materials—canvas, paint, paper and such—may be deducted by artists when donating their own works.

The two bills—introduced in the House (H.R. 1126) by Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) and Rep. Todd Platts (R-PA), and in the Senate (S. 405) by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Sen. Robert Bennett (R-UT)—are collecting cosponsors in advance of consideration by the two tax-writing committees.

Congress votes for $12.5 million NEA boost

Thomas L. Birch, Legislative Counsel for the National Endowment for the Arts, forwarded this news to all state arts agencies today:

In back-to-back votes on October 29, both the House and the Senate passed the final version of the bill appropriating $167.5 million for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) in fiscal year 2010. The funding legislation agreed to by a House-Senate conference committee earlier in the week set the arts endowment budget for the year with an increase of $12.5 million above the 2009 level of $155 million.

President Obama had proposed raising the arts funding to $161.3 million, the same amount set in the Senate version of the legislation. The House had allocated $170 million for the arts endowment in the coming year.

The appropriations measure passed by the House and Senate also includes authority, requested by the president in the administration's 2010 budget, for the appointment of four additional members to the National Council on the Arts, returning the endowment's advisory body closer to the size it enjoyed before Congress decreased the board's membership several years ago.

The appropriations bill also includes a general provision prohibiting any agency, including the NEA, from any activity, publication or distribution of literature that "in any way [emphasis added] tends to promote public support or opposition to any legislative proposal on which Congressional action is not complete other than to communicate to Members of Congress. . . ." The bill urges the NEA to take immediate steps to ensure that all employees are aware of these provisions when conducting any activities funded by this appropriation. The legislative admonition is in apparent response to concerns raised in recent months by members of Congress and others over efforts by the Obama administration to engage in dialogue with various constituencies on issues of interest to the White House.

The Interior appropriations bill accompanies a continuing resolution to carry seven unfinished money bills through December 18 while Congress continues work to finish those remaining funding measures. The president is expected to sign the bill before the October 31 deadline when the current continuing resolution expires.

FMI: http://arts.endow.gov/

The Wyoming Arts Council receives approximately 45 percent of its annual budget from the NEA. The rest is provided by the Wyoming State Legislature. The WAC budget also includes a small amount of private funds.

Remembering a worldly Wyoming poet

Wyomingarts, in the forms of WAC staffers Mike Shay, Linda Coatney and Marirose Morris, traveled to Laramie Wednesday evening to attend a memorial service for poet, UW writing professor and WAC roster artist Craig Arnold.

The memorial was held in the UW Art Museum lobby. Banners with some of Craig's poems flanked the podium. A long buffet table featured some dishes that even a gourmet cook such as Craig Arnold would have found intriguing.

The 41-year-old Craig disappeared during an inspirational quest for volcano poems. In April, he was hiking a rugged volcano on a remote Japanese island. Traces of his passage were discovered by search teams, but the body was not recovered.

At UW on Wednesday, we celebrated the life of a man. Poetry was obviously the best way to do this.

Several of the speakers read Craig's poems, and the rest used lines from his work. Russell Swenson from Houston, a former student of Craig's at University of Utah, read several selections, including the title poem from Craig's most recent collection from Ausable Press, "Made Flesh." Fiction writer Alyson Hagy and one of Craig's colleagues in the UW creative writing program, read "Asunder." English Department Chair Peter Parolin wrapped up the presentations with the poem "A Ubiquity of Sparrows," which was published in the summer 2009 issue of The Paris Review (read "Sparrows" and one other poem by Craig at http://www.theparisreview.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5922).

For a change of pace, Janice Harris read a "food remembrance" of Craig, celebrating another of the poet's passions. Janice's reading including a recipe for eggplant caponata -- she thoughtfully provided copies included with Craig's remarks and directions.

It was a somber yet celebratory occasion. Craig's father spoke of the incredible outpouring of support the family received from all over the world, but particularly from the University of Wyoming (Pres. Buchanan was in the audience) and from the state's Congressional delegation. Although Sen. Enzi, Sen. Barrasso and Rep. Lummis could not attend, all three sent staff members -- and Sen. Enzi sent a personal letter that was read aloud by Peter Parolin at the beginning of the evening.

Mr. Arnold spoke of all the letters and e-mails that came in from people they didn't know, people who had been influenced by Craig's work and teaching. He admitted that he and his wife had been a bit startled as they learned of their quiet son's influential life. He was a bit startled that the shy boy they knew, the one who wrote his first book at eight years old, would be the same one who urged other quiet boys and girls to come up and perform their work at poetry slams. As Peter said earlier, many of them would never have found their voice with Craig. "He gave those young people a gift," he said.

The ceremony ended with a wine toast to Craig.

Farewell, poet.

Preparations underway for October's National Arts & Humanities Month

This article by Adrian Versteegh was in today's edition of the New York Daily News Online:

Preparations are underway for the seventeenth National Arts and Humanities Month, a country-wide smorgasbord of public events, open houses, and media coverage coordinated each October by the nonprofit advocacy group Americans for the Arts. The official partner for the 2009 installment is Art21, the contemporary visual arts organization behind the Emmy-nominated PBS series "Art21 -- Art in the Twenty-First Century."

“Everyone recognizes the creative and cultural value of the arts and humanities,” Robert L. Lynch, president and CEO of Americans for the Arts and national coordinator of Arts and Humanities month, said in a press release. “National Arts and Humanities Month offers us a chance to celebrate the often overlooked economic, educational, and civic engagement values that the arts impart in our daily lives.”

Recognized by Congress and held annually since 1993, the month-long celebration grew out of National Arts Week, which was begun in 1985 under the auspices of the National Endowment for the Arts. National Arts and Humanities Month subsumes a host of cultural events across the country, including the Creative Conversations program, which features emerging arts leaders in local communities, and the National Arts Awards. Honorees at this year’s ceremony -- slated for October 5 in New York
City -- include Salman Rushdie, who will receive the Kitty Carlisle Hart Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Arts, and Robert Redford, who will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award.