Ford Foundation Grants to Aid Art Spaces and Housing - NYTimes.com

As part of an effort to increase the impact of its giving, the Ford Foundation is to announce a plan on Monday to dedicate $100 million to the development of arts spaces nationwide over the next decade. The plan is by far the largest commitment the foundation has ever made to the construction, maintenance and enhancement of arts facilities.

The plan, called the Supporting Diverse Art Spaces Initiative, is one of several large financing projects that have resulted from a strategic overhaul of the foundation’s operations since its president, Luis A. Ubiñas, took over in 2008. He has moved the foundation in the direction of bundling its hundreds of millions of dollars in grants — which have traditionally varied widely in their focus — into large programs oriented toward specific issues. Other recent commitments include $80 million to bolster public programs for the unemployed and underpaid, $100 million for secondary education in seven cities and $50 million to help cities buy foreclosed properties.

In addition to helping arts groups build new spaces and renovate and expand old ones, the latest initiative aims to encourage the construction of affordable housing for artists in or around some of these spaces and to spur economic development in their surrounding areas. Mr. Ubiñas said that during his travels around the country he had been astonished when he would visit an arts organization and find that “all around it have developed whole neighborhoods — of artists and their families, of businesses that cater to them, of diverse people who want to live in a thriving community.”

Even before its announcement the Ford Foundation had awarded a first grant under the initiative to a Minneapolis nonprofit group that builds mixed-use developments centered on moderately priced housing for artists. That group, Artspace Projects, has received more than $1 million toward, among other things, transforming an abandoned public school in East Harlem into such a development, in partnership with El Barrio’s Operation Fightback, a New York community organization.
The project is to include 72 units of housing for artists and their families and a large space that can be used for art exhibitions, cultural events, conferences and gatherings of community groups.

Ford Foundation Grants to Aid Art Spaces and Housing - NYTimes.com

National Endowment for The Arts

The National Endowment for the Arts is the nation's largest and most important arts organization. While a major source of money for arts groups around the country, it has historically been something of a sleepy bureaucracy, still best known to some for the culture wars of the 1990s.
Rocco Landesman, the colorful theatrical producer and race-track aficionado who brought hits like ''Big River,'' ''Angels in America'' and ''The Producers'' to Broadway, has been nominated as the next chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, the White House said on May 12, 2009.
Since the 1990s the agency has been trying to rebuild its image on Capitol Hill, along with its budget. The current allocation stands at $145 million, and though President Obama has requested $161 million for 2010, that is still short of its high of $176 million in 1992.
Mr. Landesman, who would fill the post vacated by Dana Gioia, is expected to lobby hard for more arts money. But he is not famous for his skills as an administrator or diplomat. Rather, he is known for his energy, intellect and irreverent -- and occasionally sharp-elbowed -- candor.




National Endowment for The Arts News - The New York Times

Regrouping and reopening

Since the move to Grand Junction in 2007, Wildflower has been very low key and has quietly, and infrequently, operated in the background.  Blue Star Mothers commitments and activities have taken the forefront and very little has been done as far as laser engraving and artwork production.

We are shaking off the dust and airing out the studio and will be back in production full scale this month.   At this time we are also planning a move into a stand alone location and out of the garage and home office.

Additionally we are redoing the main website at www.wildflowertech.com as an online store with shopping cart features.

You can follow us on facebook -- check the fan box on the right for a link.

9 Tips for Breaking into Photojournalism

"If you wanted to break into a new industry, who would you ask? Somebody who knows all about it, right?
Well, that’s why we got Jason Geil ( whose photos have been published in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Rolling Stone Magazine) to give us some real-world tips about how to get started in professional photojournalism.
If you already make loads of money as a professional photographer, this article isn’t for you (although we still love you)."

Photojojo » 9 Tips for Breaking into Photojournalism:

Installation Exhibition

In the Gallery in Ft St John, British Columbia
Exhibition

Epilog Laser: 'Light' Woodworking

By Michael Dresdner
"“There are just some things only a laser will do,” explained Mike Dean when I asked him why a small shop or hobby woodworker would need a laser. “It’s the perfect tool for massively expanding your woodworking options. You can customize in ways you could only dream about before, and it is as easy as printing to a computer printer. If you can print, you can laser. It’s unbelievably easy to use.”

Mike, along with his two partners, Steve Garnier and John Doran, owns Epilog Laser, a company taking firm aim at the woodworking market. Although large shops and specialized manufacturers have been using lasers to cut wood for some time, Epilog is working to put that technology within our grasp."


Woodworker's Journal eZine:

Ceramics Classes

All of my knowledge and experience with clay seems to have no bearing on whether I can operate a wheel or not.

I started classes in January and signed up for the wheel throwing since it is something I have never done. It might go down in history as something I have never done. I am struggling but I will admit I am gaining a little in each class.

My plans on making use of the stido access have been thwarted by other committments and family health issues but I do manage to at least make the weekly classes. Maybe tomorrow I can shape my leather hard cup from last week into something recognizable.