When I think of Romare Bearden, I can actually reproduce in my mind colorful depictions of African American factory workers going about their laborious routines. I am less familiar with the artist’s abstract works, which are at the root of his vision. Now, in part through a $45,000 grant from National Endowment for the Arts […]
It seems that ever since the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) was created, it has been under siege. Although it is a tiny agency, less than 0.006% of the $3.54 Trillion federal budget, it has had enormous impact on the quality, abundance and diversity of the arts in America through its 140,000 grants, totaling […]
Counting my blessings is a mental exercise I do during the holidays. I don’t plan it. It just seems to pop into my head along with the strains of “Let It Snow.” This year, perhaps triggered by the loss and restoration of county funds for the arts, I began to count our collective blessings as […]
In many ways, it’s been all about the people – five decades of forward-thinking arts advocates, civic and business leaders, arts patrons, individual artists, volunteers and arts professionals – coming together to create a one-of-a-kind organization: ArtsWestchester. It began as a conversation among volunteers in a living room in 1965. Now it is a nationally recognized private arts council, the […]
Good news was in the air…at least in Westchester. A 3% increase for the arts in the Westchester County budget passed with no tax increase thanks to the county executive and your county legislators. Here at ArtsWestchester, we also breathed a sigh of relief as Congress included in its recent actions level funding of the […]
Every year, when the final figure for the NEA budget is announced, (this year $146 million) the nation’s arts community breathes a collective sigh of relief. It’s certainly not because the agency’s funds are hardy enough to trickle down to all the various localities in the country. It’s more because although its budget is modest, […]
Conferences are great tools for encouragement, inspiration and in some cases confirmation. The Grantmakers in the Arts (GIA) conference this week in Philadelphia did not disappoint. Foremost in the encouragement category was the wave of support for individual artists and the creative ways in which funds are being directed to them both as masters of […]
Like Ed Koch, I frequently ask the question, “How’re we doing?” Mine is not a personal question, not quite a global one, but more or less a national one. My yardstick is more moral than monetary. I tend to fall back on President Kennedy’s standard that, “This country cannot afford to be materially rich and spiritually poor.” […]
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