News from the Sector

Group: Montana near bottom of widening philanthropic gap
Missoulian (MT), 7/22/2008
"The philanthropic gap has widened even further between the 10 states with the most private foundation assets and the 10 states with the least, including Montana, a Helena group said Monday. In 1988, the average total foundation assets in each of the top 10 states was $9.26 billion, compared with an average of $63 million in Montana and the nine other states with the least foundation assets, according to the Big Sky Institute for the Advancement of Nonprofits of Helena. . . . The latest statistics - for 2005 - showed the top 10 states with foundation assets averaging $36.8 billion, compared with the bottom 10 states' average of $766 million. . . . In 2005, the top 10 states averaged $171 per capita in making grants, while the 10 bottom states averaged $34, for a gap of $137."
http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2008/07/22/news/mtregional/news10.txt

Indiana Arts Commission Revises Funding Formula
Inside INdiana Business, 7/25/2008
"The Indiana Arts Commission (IAC) has established a new regional funding formula to distribute public arts funding more equally around the state. The adjustments to the IAC's regional block grant distributions are designed to more fairly reflect the geographic size and population of each region. The new formula will be introduced in stages. Fifty percent of the change will be implemented in fiscal year 2010 and the rest will take place in fiscal year 2011."
http://www.insideindianabusiness.com/newsitem.asp?ID=30637

Looking for Equity in Arts Financing
New York Times, 7/24/2008
In New York City, the Cultural Equity Group has asked city officials "for $15 million in the city budget that would go to so-called culturally specific organizations, serving blacks, Hispanics, Asian-Americans and American Indians. The money — to be used for things like programs and administrative support — would be separate from financing awarded by city agencies, like the Cultural Affairs Department. That agency’s grant panels do not use culturally specific criteria when awarding money. . . . [T]he Cultural Equity Group’s quest has reignited a lively debate in the arts world about just what cultural equity means."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/24/arts/24group.html

Shaking Down Philanthropies
Wall Street Journal, 7/26/2008
"A proposed bill [in California] would have required foundations with more than $250 million in assets to report the racial, gender and sexual orientation of their board members, staffs and grantees. The bill's sponsors recently agreed to drop the issue in return for a political payoff of millions of dollars from 10 of the state's biggest charities. . . . The message, from the bill's supporters, he says, was that 'well-heeled philanthropy is too busy spending money on opera and museums of fine art to make their resources available to minority and low-income communities.'" The article warns, "With similar legislative initiatives being discussed in New York, Florida, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and even in Congress, the great philanthropy shakedown may be coming soon to a neighborhood near you."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121702556081886019.html

Comcast Illegally Interfered With Web File-Sharing Traffic, FCC Says
Washington Post, 7/30/2008
"A majority of the Federal Communications Commission has concluded that cable operator Comcast unlawfully disrupted the transfer of certain digital video files, affirming the government's right to regulate how Internet companies manage Web traffic. . . . Comcast has said it delayed the files to assure that enough bandwidth remained available for other users on its network. But the company did not disclose its practices until public interest groups and the video-sharing site [BitTorrent] complained to the FCC, alleging that the company had set itself up to be a secret gatekeeper of content, picking and choosing which applications to favor."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/29/AR2008072902077.html

Faster and Stronger
Wall Street Journal, 7/28/2008
The Wall Street Journal highlights the work of ConnectKentucky, a nonprofit that has "expand[ed] the availability and use of broadband Internet connections in the state's rural areas. According to ConnectKentucky, 95% of the state's households can now buy high-speed Internet service, up from 60% in 2004. ConnectKentucky's efforts, funded 90% by the state and 10% by private businesses and foundations, show how public-private partnerships, as well as a willingness by local governments to work with less-established telecommunications providers, can drive increased access to high-speed Internet service and spur economic development."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121676442873775111.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

High Cost of the FCC's Free Wireless Network
ABC News, 7/28/2008
"The Federal Communications Commission may set aside spectrum for a free wireless broadband network. . . . But the plan comes with a peculiar hitch: in order to win the spectrum and use other portions of it for paid services, the network operator must filter or block all 'pornographic' text or images, and all text or images (of any sort) that might be 'harmful' to a 5-year-old."
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Technology/AheadoftheCurve/story?id=5463261&page=1

Senate OKs bill for 'Net access
Berkshire Eagle (MA), 7/29/2008
"A major public investment in expanding broadband Internet access to unserved communities in Western Massachusetts cleared the Legislature yesterday, carrying the possibility of finally linking the region to basic technology enjoyed by businesses and residents in virtually every other corner of the state. The state Senate unanimously approved legislation creating the new Broadband Institute that will be given $40 million to work with private providers to help underwrite the cost of building the infrastructure needed to connect the entire region to high-speed Internet. The goal is to wire all 32 unserved communities with high-speed broadband in the next two years."
http://www.berkshireeagle.com/ci_10029718

State's 'digital divide' persists
San Jose Mercury News (CA), 7/25/2008
"The use of computers and the Internet by Latinos and low-income Californians continues to lag behind other groups, according to a survey released Thursday by the Public Policy Institute of California. Slightly less than half of Latinos surveyed have home computers, compared to rates of 79 percent and above among black, Asian and white Californians, the survey found. While computer usage by blacks and whites in California has increased, there's been a decline in computer usage by Latinos and Asians, though Asian use remains much higher than that of Latinos. The drop appears to be correlated with income, with a sharp divide in computer usage between those making less than $40,000 and those making more."
http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_9993182

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Culture and Communities
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Artists to get their space in Elgin
Chicago Daily Herald, 7/25/2008
Minneapolis-based Artspace has chosen Elgin, IL, to be the location of its second co-op for artists in the state. "The 29-year-old not-for-profit group has 23 projects in 14 states. Artspace uses federal, state and local grants to convert neglected warehouses and old buildings into apartments, studio space, galleries and other commercial-use spaces."
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=223334&src=5

Culture highlight of plan for city
Bradenton Herald (FL), 7/24/2008
"Downtown Bradenton may be beyond recognition in 10 years. Local leaders developing a cultural master plan for the district say they want to see a downtown Bradenton that has public art displays, a trolley system and events every weekend. . . . The Bradenton Business and Cultural Alliance hired [Cultural planning consultant Bill Bulick, of Portland, Ore] to help local leaders implement arts and culture as an economic engine for downtown. The alliance received a $234,000 grant from the Knight Foundation."
http://www.bradenton.com/local/story/758751.html

State gives $250,000 to Hagerstown arts school
Baltimore Examiner (MD) - AP, 7/24/2008
"The state is giving a quarter-million-dollar boost to a planned, arts-oriented high school in downtown Hagerstown [MD]. . . . Gov. Martin O'Malley says the project will be an anchor for development in the city's blossoming Arts and Entertainment District."
http://www.examiner.com/a-1504043~State_gives__250_000_to_Hagerstown_arts_school.html

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Education and the Creative Workforce
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Calligraphy teaches Chinese bankers strategy
Washington Post - Reuters, 7/28/2008
"Is managing a bank in China complicated? No more so than executing a fine work of calligraphy. That, at least, is the opinion of Tang Shuangning, president of Everbright Bank, a fast-growing lender that recently applied for a stock market listing. . . . Tang is not the only elite Chinese financier to have a passion for the arts. Xiang Junbo, president of the Agricultural Bank of China, has written screenplays. Wang Yi, vice-president of the China Development Bank, which owns 3 percent of Barclays, has received praise for music compositions. . . . That businessmen want to prove their artistic bona fides is part of a deeper trend of Confucian beliefs reasserting themselves in China."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/28/AR2008072802459.html

Ear damage not confined to rockers
Calgary Herald (Canada) - Canwest News Service, 7/24/2008
"Recent studies in the U.S. and in Britain . . . suggest that among the general population, as many as one in six people has some form of tinnitus, a disease of the microscopic nerve endings in the inner ear that causes sufferers to hear ringing, buzzing, humming, roaring or chirping sounds in their head. For about four per cent of the population, the sounds never stop and often are piercingly loud. But among musicians, the overall number is as high as 40 per cent, the studies indicate, and might be highest among classical string players who generally sit in the rows immediately in front of the high-decibel brass sections in symphony orchestras."
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/reallife/story.html?id=8a213650-c86e-43a8-b9e5-b3446495ff16

How to make a live/work space a reality in your house
New York Daily News, 7/29/2008
Artists spaces in suburbia: "Although commuting to work has become a part of the American cultural landscape, recent sharp increases in the price of gasoline and other energy fuels now has many people who would have never considered living and working in the same space thinking seriously about doing just that. As a result, the demand for live/work space has begun to outrun the supply of buildings that can be remodeled to fit the needs of those who want to take advantage of the idea. That could change soon, however, now that a growing number of developers are looking to create live-work spaces in suburban areas."
http://www.nydailynews.com/real_estate/2008/07/29/2008-07-29_how_to_make_a_livework_space_a_reality_i.html

Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading?
New York Times, 7/27/2008
"As teenagers’ scores on standardized reading tests have declined or stagnated, some argue that the hours spent prowling the Internet are the enemy of reading — diminishing literacy, wrecking attention spans and destroying a precious common culture that exists only through the reading of books. But others say the Internet has created a new kind of reading, one that schools and society should not discount. . . . Some Web evangelists say children should be evaluated for their proficiency on the Internet just as they are tested on their print reading comprehension. Starting next year, some countries will participate in new international assessments of digital literacy, but the United States, for now, will not."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/books/27reading.html

Montrose art teacher will add her voice to education policy making
Grand Junction Sentinel (CO), 7/22/2008
"The U.S. Department of Education took 25 teachers from more than 1,000 applicants who wanted to assist the department in policy making for one year. . . . Only one is an art teacher. . . . The teachers are expected to give advice on policy matters, based on their classroom experiences, and take on projects to improve education in their home states."
http://www.gjsentinel.com/hp/content/news/stories/2008/07/22/072308_1B_local_teacher.html

New preschool for arts in Springfield ready for September opening
The Republican (Springfield, MA), 7/26/2008
Springfield's new Prelude Preschool of the Arts is set to open this fall. "By offering a full-day arts-based curriculum to 39 children, the school at 127 State St. will be the only one of its kind in Massachusetts and one of only three in Northeast."
http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/07/new_preschool_for_arts_in_spri.html?category=Arts/Entertainment+category=Education+category=Springfield

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International Relations and Culture
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Art and Upheaval: Artists on the World's Frontlines
New Village Press, 2008
From the publisher: Playwrights confronting Apartheid; poets and actors taking on criminal gangs and dictators; painters alleviating poverty? Sounds implausible, but it's true. William Cleveland spent eight years traveling the globe to gather stories about artists working in communities facing political, social and environmental upheaval. He found that when the forces of creativity and destruction meet surprising things happen. His new book, Art and Upheaval, presents a striking picture of painters, performers and writers in the proverbial trenches struggling for freedom, making peace and re-building civil society in six global hot spots.
http://www.newvillagepress.net/newsroom/art-upheaval.php

Beijing Olympic Park to showcase China's intangible heritage
China View (Xinhua), 7/28/2008
"Thirty special exhibits that showcase China's intangible cultural heritage will be open to many visitors free from Aug.9-Sept.17, during the Beijing Olympics and Paralympics, local media reported on Monday. . . . These exhibits, built by 30 provinces and regions, display aspects of the Chinese intangible cultural heritage and traditional ethnic and folk customs and culture."
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-07/28/content_8791972.htm

India’s New Partnership: Bollywood and Hip-Hop
New York Times, 7/28/2008
"Hollywood and Bollywood have been flirting with new partnerships, from deals with Reliance Big Entertainment, an Indian production company, to Sylvester Stallone’s scheduled appearance in a Bollywood movie."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/28/business/media/28snoop.html

USIA needs to be revived to fight anti-Americanism
Deseret News, 7/23/2008
The role of public diplomacy in improving the image of the United States abroad has become a hot topic in Washington. In July three organizations -- the Brookings Institution, the Business for Diplomatic Action group and the Washington-based Public Diplomacy Council -- "will conduct hearings in Washington, New York and Los Angeles . . . to assess the views of interested parties. Key to the debate is whether the government's public diplomacy, or "soft-power" effort, should remain based in the State Department or should become a separate institution." John Hughes, a former director of the USIA, opines, "What a new president and Congress should do is revive the best of these past USIA programs, meld them with the newest technology, and create a new and even better USIA."
http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,700245146,00.html

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Creativity and the Law
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British ISPs Agree To Curb File Sharers' Internet Access
Wired, 7/23/2008
"Six British ISPs have agreed to a voluntary code proposed by the British government to curb subscribers' ability to use the internet if they're suspected of sharing copyrighted material without permission."
http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/07/uk-could-announ.html

Copyright's Paradox
Oxford University Press, 2008
From the publisher: Neil Weinstock Netanel explores the tensions between copyright law and free speech, revealing how copyright can impose unacceptable burdens on expression. Taking First Amendment values as his lodestar, Netanel argues that copyright should be limited to how it can best promote robust debate and expressive diversity, and he presents a blueprint for how that can be accomplished.
http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Law/IntellectualProperty/IntellectualProperty/?view=usa&ci=9780195137620

FCC approves Sirius Satellite acquisition of XM
Washington Post - Reuters, 7/25/2008
"Sirius Satellite Radio Inc's $3.3 billion purchase of XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc was approved with conditions by U.S. communications regulators on Friday, clearing the way for a deal that will leave just one U.S. satellite radio service. The FCC's commissioners voted by a 3-2 margin in favor of a proposal that would allow the deal to proceed as long as the companies met a series of consumer protection conditions, including a three-year cap on prices, setting aside 8 percent of their channel capacity for minority and non-commercial programming and payment of a $19.7 million penalty for past FCC rule violations. . . . As part of the order, the FCC also will conduct an inquiry into whether it should require that all satellite radios be built with technology that allows them to also receive high definition terrestrial radio signals."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/25/AR2008072502385.html

Image search engine could help photographers
British Journal of Photography, 7/28/2008
"TinEye is a Canadian 'image-to-image' search engine that allows photographers to submit their images, and, using advanced identification algorithms identify them by their pixels, shows instances of where and how they appear on the internet, effectively checking and matching their digital fingerprints. . . . The search-engine could become an integral part of the US-proposed Orphan Works legislation."
http://www.bjphoto.co.uk/public/showPage.html?page=806751

Music industry to tax downloaders
The Independent (UK), 7/24/2008
In the UK, "Internet users could face an annual charge of up to £30 to download music, under plans to be unveiled today that aim to tackle illegal file-sharing. Ministers are backing proposals that would enable millions of broadband users to pay an annual levy which would allow them to copy as much – previously illegal – music from the internet as they wanted."
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/music-industry-to-tax-downloaders-875757.html

New law proposed in response to exhibition
The Art Newspaper, 7/24/2008
"A committee in San Francisco’s city government has introduced a bill that would allow misdemeanour or felony criminal charges to be brought against any artist or financial backer who causes “the death, abuse or suffering of an animal” when making a work of art. . . . The proposal comes in response to a recent video installation by Algerian-French artist Adel Abdessemed at the San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) showing the killing of six farm animals."
http://www.theartnewspaper.com/article.asp?id=8065

Senate Introduces IP Reform Bill Bolstering Enforcement
Wired, 7/24/2008
"The U.S. senators floated a bill Thursday boosting copyright and trademark protection, legislation that would allow the attorney general to prosecute civil cases of infringement and one that allows for the forfeiture of hardware used to infringe. The measure, much of which mirrors a similar bill the House passed last year, doubles penalties and the statutory damages in trademark counterfeiting cases to a range of $1,000 to $200,000 for use of a counterfeit mark, and to $2,000,000 for willful use of a counterfeit mark. Most important, the measure, like the House version, creates an executive-level Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator, which would require Senate confirmation."
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/07/senate-introduc.html

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Public Investment in Culture and Creativity
To view other recent "Public Investment in Culture and Creativity" items, please click here.

Editorial: Cultural Affairs Office
Philadelphia Inquirer, 7/23/2008
The Philadelphia Inquirer applauds Mayor Nutter for reopening the city's cultural affairs office. "In launching the Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy on Friday - and naming an experienced leader in New Yorker Gary Steuer as culture czar - Nutter took another concrete step toward making the city's arts a focus of his administration. . . . For Nutter, restoring the office is a case of his arts policy following public dollars already pledged toward cultural grants by his administration. The mayor's first budget included a $2 million bump in the city's Cultural Fund, fulfilling another campaign pledge."
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20080723_Editorial__Cultural_Affairs_Office.html

Massachusetts House OKs tax breaks for film companies to build studios; measure moves to Senate
Patriot Ledger, 7/25/2008
"After a fierce and lengthy debate, the state House of Representatives voted Thursday night to give new tax credits to the film industry. The bill, which passed on a voice vote, would offer tax breaks to film companies that build studios in Massachusetts and is intended to solidify Hollywood’s growing presence here."
http://www.patriotledger.com/business/x1816443894/Massachusetts-House-OKs-tax-breaks-for-film-companies-to-build-studios-measure-moves-to-Senate

Pols should yell ‘cut’
Boston Herald, 7/28/2008
The Boston Herald speaks out against a bill approved by the state House that "would provide a 20 percent tax break for the cost of building new studios and production facilities. . . . The fact is that the film tax incentives are a proven lure to the industry, which happily doesn’t then have to make Vancouver look like Boston, and they are issued only when the cameras start rolling. With the studio credits, the state would be taking a chance that they won’t turn out to be empty monuments to big Hollywood dreams, courtesy of the struggling taxpayers."
http://news.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/editorials/view.bg?articleid=1109398&srvc=home&position=rated

See also Access and Equity above for articles related to equitable access to funding.

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Philanthropy, Voluntarism, and Business Partnerships
To view other recent "Philanthropy, Voluntarism, and Business Partnerships" items, please click here.

26% of Americans Volunteer, New Study Finds
Chronicle of Philanthropy, 7/27/2008
"Charities need to do a better job keeping their volunteers engaged and loyal, say the authors of a new report released today by the federal government. The report, from the Corporation for National and Community Service, says that more than one out of every three people who had volunteered in 2006 had not done so again in 2007. David Eisner, who heads the Corporation for National and Community Service, says nonprofit groups ought to be more strategic in the ways they recruit, manage, and retain volunteers."
http://philanthropy.com/news/updates/index.php?id=5284

Online Auctions Raise Big Bucks for Charity
BusinessWeek, 7/23/2008
"The Web has wrought a sea change in the way nonprofits raise funds through auctions. Charities have long hawked donated items through live auctions, where bidders try to outbid each other publicly, often with the help of a fast-talking auctioneer, or through so-called silent auctions that let potential donors browse through items, then submit bids in writing. But with online auctions, nonprofits say they can raise more money in less time, selling a coveted item or service, often donated by a celebrity or socialite—say, a meal with Warren Buffett or Michael Jordan's sneaker collection—to the highest bidder from across the Web."
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jul2008/tc20080722_430362.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index_technology

Philadelphia Orchestra Experiments With Online Membership Plan
Philadelphia Inquirer, 7/30/2008
Subscribers are declining; single-ticket sales are up. Problem is, subscriptions is far more efficient and cost-effective for arts organizations than single-ticket sales. So the Philadelphia Orchestra is trying a new membership program "that combines PhillyCarShare's last-minute flexibility with amazon.com's marketing acumen and maybe some of Starbucks' get-it-anyway-you-want-it solicitousness. The new program is called eZseat. Once you're a member, you can buy a ticket at a 25 percent discount at almost any time - from an hour before a concert to nine months before curtain."
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/magazine/20080730_Orchestra_marketing_membership_flexibility.html

Volunteering in America Strong, Retention Remains a Challenge, Report Finds
Philanthropy News Digest, 7/29/2008
According to a new report from the Corporation for National and Community Service and USA Freedom Corps, Volunteering in America: 2008 State and City Trends & Rankings, "nearly 61 million Americans volunteered more than 8.1 billion hours of service in their communities in 2007. . . . Although cross-sectoral support for volunteering has never been stronger, with corporations expanding their social responsibility programs, colleges and universities integrating service learning into their curricula, and political leaders from both parties embracing citizen service, keeping volunteers continues to be a challenge. According to the report, an estimated 22 million volunteers — more than one in three — stopped volunteering between 2006 and 2007."
http://foundationcenter.org/pnd/news/story.jhtml?id=222200018

See also Access and Equity above for articles related to equitable access to funding.

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Announcements from the Community

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