eNews - October 2009 Edition
From the Executive DirectorThe impact of the recession has hit WSAC: our state funding has been reduced 26% and our approved staffing reduced from 17.6 full-time staff to 15. As a result, we are reducing program emphasis in Folk Arts and Community Arts Development. Effective October 1, we are eliminating three full time positions: Financial Analyst 2; Community Arts Development program manager; and Folk Arts program manager.
Mike Yonker has been a Financial Analyst for WSAC since 1992. His steadfast work ethic and attention to detail have ensured timely payments, accurate records, and clean audits. We are deeply grateful for Mike's good nature and attention to detail.
Bitsy Bidwell has been the manager of the Community Arts Development Program since 1987. She has also served as the Accessibility Coordinator, and has been a nonprofit management workshop maven and de facto advice columnist for arts organizations throughout the state. As a repository of arts management how-to, institutional memory, candid advice, and good cheer, Bitsy has strengthened countless arts organizations and left a legacy beyond measure. We are deeply grateful for her service, expertise, friendship and boundless energy.
An agency re-organization is underway that includes adding two new multi-tasking positions: a full-time Program Manager with supervisory responsibility for a newly established team that includes arts education, grants to nonprofit organizations, folk and traditional arts, and other community services; and a part-time Community Projects Manager position.
Willie Smyth who has served as the Manager of the Folk Arts program since 1991, will be assuming the part-time Community Projects Manager position with responsibilities that include a scaled-back Folk Arts role, plus responsibilities for other projects.
We’ll keep you informed as we complete our transition to new budget realities while continuing to ensure the arts are thriving and celebrated throughout the state.
Keep in touch,
Oct. 1It's hard, sometimes, standing
"Oct. 1" ©2008 by Poet Laureate Sam Green; from his book, The Grace of Necessity.
New Artwork InstallationEndless by Annie Han and Daniel Mihalyo of Leadpencil Studio in Seattle was installed on the west side of the Science and Technology Building at Bellevue College in September 2009. The artwork has two elements: a two-part welded stainless steel rod staircase and twelve concrete columns. The artwork includes lighting to maximize evening viewing. This is the first permanent installation by Leadpencil Studio.
A representative committee of college administrators, faculty, staff, and students began meeting in March 2007. They established criteria to select an artist. They determined that they desired an artwork that would lighten and soften the campus hardscape. They wanted an artwork that would respond to the new science building design, be experiential with space, suggest or echo science, and have a multiplicity of readings and interpretations.
Artwork acquired through Washington State’s Art in Public Places program becomes part of the State Art Collection - a collection of over 4,600 works of art located at state agencies, public schools, colleges and universities throughout the state.
Articles and InformationGovernor Gregoire has appointed Beth Takekawa to the Arts Commission. Beth is executive director at the Wing Luke Asian Art Museum, a community-based cultural institution in Seattle's Chinatown/International District, and the only pan-Asian American museum in the country. Beth has over 20 years of experience in various aspects of community economic development, working in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors in finance and administrative management. Beth studied music performance, ethnomusicology, and history, and completed her degree in music at Hunter College in New York City. The Governor has also reappointed Commissioners Shauna Woods, Kent Carlson, Jean Mandeberg, Rosita Romero, and Lanie McMullin.
Be one of the 10,000 communities and millions of people who celebrate National Arts and Humanities Month every October. Check out the new and improved national arts events map today and include your October calendars, program information, and volunteer opportunities.
The Artist Clinic, which offers vouchers to uninsured artists to cover a portion of their visits to Seattle's Country Doctor Community Clinic, with special hours just for artists, was featured in a recent edition of The Stranger, In Art News: Where the Sick Artists At? by Jen Graves.
ArtsEd Washington has released the results of an extensive study examining the effectiveness of the organization’s Principals’ Arts Leadership (PAL) program. In Anchoring Arts Education: Principals’ Arts Leadership (PDF), principals and teachers at many of the PAL schools reported increased student engagement in the classroom and significantly decreased behavioral issues throughout the school as a result of the program.
In August, the Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs in Seattle, distributed $250,000 in federal stimulus funds to help preserve dozens of jobs at 22 Seattle arts and cultural organizations. In September, 4Culture, the cultural development agency serving King County, announced federal stimulus funding awards totaling $250,000 to help preserve jobs at 40 arts and cultural organizations throughout the region. Earlier this year, WSAC provided $285,000 of the ARRA stimulus funding to 24 non-profit cultural organizations across the state.
OpportunitiesThe Washington State Arts Commission and Humanities Washington are seeking applications for Washington's poet laureate, to promote poetry throughout the state for a two-year term. Deadline: 10/23/09.
The Federal Way Senior Center is seeking two artists to create temporary site specific art installations (PDF) on the exterior surfaces of a small complex of buildings that serve as the Center’s Community Pantry and house other related activities. Deadline: 10/19/09.
The City of Port Townsend is seeking an individual artist or team of artists to create an art project within its refurbished downtown waterfront area. This revitalized waterfront area, scheduled for completion in 2010, stretches from the new Northwest Maritime Center at Point Hudson to Quincy Street. The preliminary budget for artwork is $70,000 which has been allocated under the City's Percent for the Arts program. Deadline: 10/14/09.
4Culture is seeking qualifications from professional photographers; graphic designers; videographers; video editors; audio editors; interactive media and code programmers; web designers; art framers and conservators for the 4Culture Talent Roster. The roster is a tool available to 4Culture staff to help with selecting and hiring professionals for various projects developed throughout the year. Individual professionals, creative firms or businesses working in these fields, are invited to apply. Deadline: 10/26/09.
Jack Straw Productions is accepting applications for Artist Residencies. Open to established and emerging artists in diverse disciplines this is an opportunity to explore the creative use of sound in a professional atmosphere through residencies in recording studios and participation in various presentation programs. Deadline: 10/30/09.
Applications for the 2010 Denali National Park Artist-in-Residence Program are now being accepted. The Artist-in-Residence program at Denali National Park began in 2001, and offers artists the opportunity to pursue their work amidst the natural splendors of Denali Park. The park currently provides the use of the historic East Fork Cabin for ten-day periods from June through August. Deadline: 10/31/09.
The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is accepting applications for its largest museum grant program, Museums for America. The grants provide up to $150,000 in funding and support projects that strengthen a museum's capacity to serve its community. Deadline: 11/02/09.
The Puffin Foundation is accepting grant proposals from emerging artists in the fields of art, music, dance, photography, theater, video and literature. Deadline: 12/15/09.
TechSoup.org offers software donations to nonprofits from 35 major technology providers, including Microsoft, Cisco, Symantec, Intuit, and Adobe (for an administrative fee of as little as 5% of retail cost). To qualify, organizations must be a 501(c)(3) or a library.
EventsOnline - Join a national dialogue on the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and arts & culture policy at Barry Hessenius' blog - Barry's Blog. Each week through October 23rd, a panel, Barry, and commentators are tackling an issue ranging from funding for the NEA, to emerging leaders, and the role of artists.
Bellevue - Artist Trust and Bellevue Arts Museum are teaming up for Pecha Kucha: Craft and Punishment, October 7, from 5:30 to 8:30 pm at the museum. 10 different creative professionals spanning several disciplines give presentation that have 20 slides that change every 20 seconds.
Seattle - The Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, October 16-25, has been a part of the greater Seattle queer community and beyond since 1996 and has become the largest festival of its kind in the Pacific Northwest. The film festival is also an important venue for the local Seattle film scene and inspires members of our community to express creativity through film and video. This year, The Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival boasts a number of Northwest premiers and features work by a bevy of local filmmakers and artists.
Twisp - Methow Arts presents performance poet Glenis Redmond for Poetry and Soup (PDF) at the Cinnamon Twisp Bakery on October 16 at 6 pm. There will also be a workshop on Monday from 7-9 pm at the Confluence Gallery. Winner of the Southern Fried Poetry Slam and other significant accolades, Glenis Redmond is a captivating, energetic and passionate performance poet.
Seattle - CityClub is presenting Arts & Culture Series: A Conversation with Derrick R. Cartwright, incoming Director of the Seattle Art Museum, moderated by KUOW's Marcie Sillman, October 20, from 12:15 to 1:30 pm. In May of 2009, Seattle Art Museum (SAM) announced Cartwright as the Museum’s new Director. Prior to SAM, Cartwright was Executive Director at the San Diego Museum, director of the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College, and director of the Musée d'Art Américain Giverny in France.
Anacortes - The Anacortes Arts Festival will be presenting a performance by The Kusun Ensemble on October 23 at 7:30 pm at Brodniak Hall. The Kusun Ensemble is a group of musicians and dancers from Ghana, West Africa. It includes past members of the National Ballet and the Pan African Orchestra from Ghana. Although rooted in traditional music, the ensemble has developed a new brand of music and dance they have dubbed "Nokoko." They have created innovative rhythms and dances by fusing bass and lead guitar, electrifying jazz and African rhythms, and traditional Ghanaian instruments. This concert will be followed with free public multi-cultural arts workshops on Saturday, October 24.
Wenatchee - Performing Arts Center of Wenatchee is presenting the Khoomei-Taiko Ensemble on October 23 at 7:30 pm. The Khoomei-Taiko Ensemble is a collaborative partnering of ancient Mongolian and Japanese musical and cultural traditions including compositions with morin khuur (horsehead fiddle), Mongolian jaw harp, khoomei (throat singing), and taiko (drums). Among the connections explored in this effort are distinct cultural commonalities, traditional music forms, cultural practices and ritual elements shared by Mongolia and Japan. |
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The artists state: “The grid of columns suggests a rational portion of the new, existing and future structures within the campus environment where expansion is inevitable. It also expresses the organized framework within the science research where efficiency and accuracy are the foundation. Within that framework is mysterious form expressed as a stair which seems to be simultaneously growing and disappearing. Depending on the position of the viewer, the staircase can be seen as either solid or void, referencing the endless shifts in perception and the importance of contradictory inquiry.”