Thursday, December 31, 2009
Blog on Hold
Feel free to send a Facebook friend request.
Our best hope for recovery in the D, lies in Creativity!!!
Saturday, October 10, 2009
The Arts Need More Than Lip Service
From Americans for the Arts
Unlike "letters of support" from previous administrations, this year's message is significant and historic because it is the first time that National Arts and Humanities Month has been recognized by an official Presidential Proclamation. By issuing this historic public statement in his first year in office, President Obama has taken this opportunity to recognize the contributions that our cultural assets make to America's diversity, humanity, and economic health.
Hundreds of supporters and members of local councils came to the Statehouse to mark the 25th anniversary of the creation of local cultural councils. Daniel R. Hunter, of Massachusetts Advocates for the Arts, Sciences and Humanities, said it's difficult to get people to support the arts. Hunter said the arts are also good for the economy and attracting tourists. "We've demonstrated the arts and culture are good investments," Hunter said. "They generate state revenues. They create jobs."
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Innovative Ways to Support the Arts
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Make The D - The Art-Space Capital
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Possibilities & The Grassroots
There are some people in the Metro-Detroit Region and across the state who look at the state of the city and see it as hopeless & undeserving of any kind of support. They go through life with narrow minds and a limited view of the world, not seeing the possibilities that lie in the D and are ignorant to what a thriving metropolis can mean to the state.
Then you have the members of the Creative Community and other activists & advocates who want to make their neighborhood or the city as a whole a better place. They most often have very little in the way of resources, yet they are committed to taking a stand and doing their part to improve the landscape by any means at their disposal, even if it is on a minor level.
It is in dark & dire times such as these we are going through now that imagining the possibilities, is more important than ever. I posted a piece from the newspaper with the headline, "In Dark Times, Be a Light in the Region." As optimistic as I try to be, fighting off feelings of bleakness about the situation we are in, is a constant battle; but I tell myself that sooner or later the D will realize what creativity & possibilities can do to turn things around.
Recently Crain's Detroit Business had a special feature "The D's Next Decade, 10 ideas, projects that can create Detroit's future." While one of the pieces made note of the Design 99 effort of starting an artist enclave, and used the example of another effort to attract artists to Paducah, Kentucky (and another effort based on that model) there were no other mentions of the what the power of the Creative Community can achieve if properly nurtured.
Ric Geyer, who owns the 4731 Gallery & Studios building had a piece on "Could Detroit become known as ‘The City that Listens?" I dropped him a line and mentioned it would be nice if the foundations, corporations and other entities would listen to ideas from the grassroots members of the Creative Community.
A problem I see with regional efforts to revitalize the city and region is a lack of inclusion in what efforts should be taken to restore the D to something resembling a world class city.
Two books I’ve read in recent years, by the same set of authors, principals of Collaborative Economics, are Civic Revolutionaries, 2004, and Grass Roots Leaders for a New Economy, How Civic Entrepreneurs Are Building Prosperous Communities, 97. Both books touch on thinking regionally and innovatively and define what kind of role persons such as myself can play in helping the city & region and talk about how Civic Entrepreneurs, who can come from a variety of backgrounds (including community advocates) play an integral role in turning cities and regions around.
Another book which was most inspiring, The Creative City, by Charles Landry, founder of the consulting group Comedia had this comment that validates the idea of embracing persons who might have radical thoughts on how to improve the D.
“The creative individuals need to be brought into play at strategic points because, though not everyone in the creative city needs to be creative, it depends on a critical mass of open-minded, courageous and fresh thinkers. A handful of strategically placed creative people can transform a city if they are in the right positions of influence – not necessarily of power.”
An early news piece about the One D effort, quoted an Urban Studies Professor as saying the average Joe is the real key to success, but I believe the Creative Community can have the biggest impact in turning the city around, we just need a major spark.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Making the D More Hip & Happening
Thursday, September 3, 2009
D is for Deviant
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Funding Innovative Ideas
The recent Community Foundation Challenge for Arts & Culture is a concept that needs to spread to helping emerging and smaller - struggling organizations. While the participating organizations are all worthy of support, we need to take things to the next level to fund innovative ideas from creative minds on the visionary fringe.
There is also the current: "The New Economy Initiative for Southeast Michigan, an innovative philanthropic effort to help restore southeast Michigan to a position of leadership in the new global economy. Ten national, regional and local foundations have committed $100 million to this unprecedented eight-year initiative to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship in new and existing enterprises in the region."
Here are my Awesome Ideas on how to provide funding opportunities to individuals & projects that can make the D a more creative place.
Creative Visionaries Program
(Funded through the New Economy Initiative)
Modeled after the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship program but with a bit of a twist, that being a focus on creative projects and include persons with great ideas but who may not yet be established.
"The MacArthur Fellows Program awards unrestricted fellowships to talented individuals who have shown extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction. There are three criteria for selection of Fellows: exceptional creativity, promise for important future advances based on a track record of significant accomplishment, and potential for the fellowship to facilitate subsequent creative work.
The MacArthur Fellows Program is intended to encourage people of outstanding talent to pursue their own creative, intellectual, and professional inclinations. In keeping with this purpose, the Foundation awards fellowships directly to individuals rather than through institutions. Recipients may be writers, scientists, artists, social scientists, humanists, teachers, entrepreneurs, or those in other fields, with or without institutional affiliations. They may use their fellowship to advance their expertise, engage in bold new work, or, if they wish, to change fields or alter the direction of their careers.
The Foundation does not require or expect specific products or reports from MacArthur Fellows, and does not evaluate recipients' creativity during the term of the fellowship. The MacArthur Fellowship is a "no strings attached" award in support of people, not projects. Each fellowship comes with a stipend of $500,000 to the recipient, paid out in equal quarterly installments over five years."
The Creative Visionaries Program could involve several levels of support such as:
Creative Visionary - $500,000,
Creative Community Leader - $250,000
Emerging Creative Leader - $100,000
Creative Pioneer - $50,000
Angel Patrons Program
Embracing Creative Vision and Nurturing Creative Pursuits
(Set-up on the Community Foundation website)
In 1999 I was one of three grand-prize winners of $50,000 through a competition sponsored by Absolut Vodka called Absolut Angel. One of my co-winners idea was actually an idea I had a couple of years earlier shortly after I started using the internet and there have been similar ideas that have been out there.
The idea was Art Angels which is a website is set-up for individuals and groups to post a profile of a project or program they are seeking support for and persons who want to make a donation can look for something they would like to fund.
The Angel Patrons Program could help get the ball rolling for projects and individuals who might have trouble securing funding from the foundations.
Creative Innovation Fund
(Could be a part of New Economy Initiative or set-up as a separate fund)
This would be modeled on the Federal Empowerment Zone, “Innovation Fund” which was intended to fund innovative projects by emerging nonprofits that might have difficulties being funded by traditional sources. There was $10 million available, unfortunately the arts weren’t considered that innovative and received a token amount.
This fund could be used to help supplement both the previous programs so persons who receive initial support could get additional funding if needed instead of submitting a number of proposals to different foundations.
How they all tie together
To be eligible for the either the Creative Visionaries Program & Creative Innovation Fund, individuals or groups would put up their profile and project request on the Angel Patrons site, which would be reviewed, and potential candidates would be nominated and grants would be made periodically on a discretionary basis.
The Innovation grants would work as follows: they could be used to supplement both the Angel Patron and Visionary recipients; a challenge grant could be issued to Angel Patron - project requests, which could catch the eye of potential benefactors; grants could provide full funding for certain Angel Patron projects or programs.
So the Angel Patron site would be the one-stop proposal submission portal for multiple funding possibilities and perhaps some of the foundations or corporations or groups that do special fund-raising events for different causes could use it to dole out support.
The Creative Economy segment of the New Economy needs new models of funding that looks at projects & programs that individually may not have a major financial pay-off but collectively can improve the Creative Climate that will help attract & retain Creative Professionals and Creative Businesses.