165032
Strengthening Mental Health through The Arts (Including Mine!)
Americans are stressed—the COVID-19 pandemic, racial injustice, polarizing politics, remote learning for students, unemployment, a fragile economy—so it is no surprise that mental health issues are spiking across the country. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that one-third of the population is showing signs of anxiety or depression—a tripling over just the previous year. The Kaiser Family Foundation reports that nearly half of Americans believe the pandemic is harming their mental health. As community leaders seek to maintain the wellness and mental health of their residents amidst challenged budgets, new research shows the arts are an effective resource in reducing depression and anxiety and increasing life satisfaction—improving both quality of care and the financial bottom line. The arts are a proven contributor in keeping us mentally healthy, helping us heal when we are not well, and reducing healthcare costs. The NEA as well as local and state arts agencies support arts programs that address a vast array of mental health and personal well-being issues. With those benefits, it is no wonder that 73% of Americans favor government funding for arts in healthcare programs and 68% of Americans agree that the arts improve health and the healthcare experience.
0
164993
Spotlight on Nolen V. Bivens, Interim President and CEO
A Director Emeritus and former Board member of Americans for the Arts, Brigadier General Nolen V. Bivens, U.S. Army Ret., is currently serving as our Interim President and CEO. He serves as Chair, National Leadership Advisory Council for the National Initiative for Arts & Health Across the Military, and Military community advisor for the National Endowment for the Arts Military Healing Arts Network Creative Forces program, among other roles. “As a senior military leader, I had to find answers to problems that traditional military training didn’t prepare me to deal with. Getting service members to address personal trauma was one of those problems. Following tours in Iraq and training to return, it became apparent to me that service men and women weren’t always taking care of themselves. Individuals who encountered some great trauma were not taking advantage of medical resources and it was showing up in all sorts of ways—from ever increasing suicides to family violence. They weren’t taking advantage of the traditional therapies available for various reasons such as fear of losing their clearances or being stigmatized as a weak leader. I found that many of them simply wanted to engage in activities which would free their minds of the stress they were experiencing. The arts were a way to do this without telegraphing the need for help.”
0
165001
AI Generated Art: Copyright Critique
News about Beethoven’s unfinished Tenth Symphony being written by a computer; the debut of the robot-composer who writes in the style of Bach; and the computerized protégé of the Master of Light and Shadow “New Rembrandt.” The artificial intelligence revolution has entered the sphere of art and music, a creative domain. In 2018, when the AI-generated portrait Edmond de Belamy, from La Famille de Belamy (Belamy Portrait) sold for $432,500, it attracted significant attention from the art community. Developers of the Belamy Portrait have created AI-art generation algorithms using Generative Adversarial Network framework in machine learning. Critics have taken issue with the originality of the AI generated artwork on grounds that the computer codes written to produce the images are borrowed. In fact, the creators of the Belamy Portrait—a French art collective called “Obvious”—acknowledged that the algorithm was a modified version of a code first developed by Robbie Barrat (a 19-year-old artist and programmer) who had openly shared his “modified DCGAN algorithm” on github. These concerns have raised questions about how copyright protection would apply in the context of AI-generated art.
0
164991
Creativity Drove the Inauguration—It Should Drive the Recovery, Too
On Inauguration Day, we witnessed an explosion of arts, culture, and creativity in Washington, DC. Arts and culture were the backbone of the entire day—they carried the symbols of a broken country knitting itself back together, they celebrated our history and articulated visions of our shared future, they consolidated in striking images and economical language the whole complex ethos of a new presidential administration dedicated to unity, hope, and an American Renaissance. It was an inspiring thing to see, and hopefully bodes well for the position, and support of, arts, culture and the creative economy in the Biden/Harris Administration. In the days and weeks to come, President Biden will step into complex negotiations to build and then pass first the American Rescue Plan, a $2 trillion relief package, and then a subsequent large-scale workforce and infrastructure recovery bill—and this is where the rubber meets the road when it comes to how much, and in what ways, the new administration thinks about the centrality of arts, culture, and the creative economy. There can be no national recovery, no American Rescue, without the creative economy, and the 5.1 million creative workers who make it up.
0
164814
Member Spotlight: Sasha Dobson
Sasha Dobson has been the outreach coordinator for the Lied Center for Performing Arts since 2012. She serves as the primary project manager for the Master Classes for university students and community members, Pre-Performance Talks, and the Performance Fund program, which offers free tickets to youth in the community and their summer high school programs (Lied Center Triple Threat Broadway Intensive and the Lied Center Piano Academy).
This series features the many Americans for the Arts members doing transformative work for arts education, public art, advocacy, arts marketing, and more. An Americans for the Arts Membership connects you with this network of more than 6,000 arts leaders and gives you access to latest professional development and research.
0
164965
Announcing New Blog Series Highlighting the Impact of COVID-19 on Intentionally Marginalized Artists
2020 reinforced just how much we depend on data and storytelling to drive conversation, make decisions, and take action. Throughout 2020, Americans for the Arts collected data and stories from over 20,000 artists and creative workers across the country whose personal and professional lives were upended by the coronavirus pandemic. What we've found has been sobering, such as 95 percent have experienced a loss of income and over 60 percent are unemployed. Though the crisis rages on, it is important to reflect on how artists and creative workers fared in 2020, and especially emphasize the experiences of those who are and have been intentionally marginalized. Over the next few months, I will share research highlights in a blog series called The Impact of COVID-19 on Intentionally Marginalized Artists and Creative Workers.
0
164948
The 10 most read ARTSblog posts of 2020
“How do you measure … measure a year?” I won’t even try to measure the sum total of the dumpster fire that was 2020. But looking back on one of the most difficult years of our lifetime through the readers of ARTSblog paints an illuminating—if not entirely unexpected—picture. In a year when social media was often loud and angry (though also entertaining—if only our blog could skateboard to Fleetwood Mac while drinking cranberry juice!), ARTSblog remained a steadfast space for our members and the arts & culture sector to learn from each other, share our struggles and successes, and most of all stay connected in an unbelievably isolating time. The year’s most read blogs reflect how 2020 shaped the field’s fears and furies, but also our hopes and optimism for the present and future of the arts.
0
164807
Member Spotlight: Donna Briggs
Located in the historic 1850s gold rush town of Jacksonville, Oregon, Britt Music & Arts Festival is the Pacific Northwest's premier outdoor summer performing arts festival. Since 1963, Britt has annually presented dozens of summer concerts, featuring world-class artists in classical music, jazz, blues, folk, bluegrass, world, pop, and country music. President and CEO Donna Briggs oversees a full-time staff of 14 and seasonal staff of 45, manages the operations of a four-month summer music festival, and maintains relationships with internal and external stakeholders along with future supporters.
0
164679
Member Spotlight: Lawren Desai
Lawren Desai is the executive director and curator of a/perture cinema in downtown Winston-Salem, North Carolina. In January 2020, a/perture cinema celebrated its 10th anniversary of serving the Winston-Salem community the art of film and providing a communal cinematic experience. As an art house cinema, a/perture’s mission is to entertain and engage the community through the art of film by showcasing informative, educational, thought-provoking, and inspiring films—the films that enrich our lives, engage our minds, promote diversity, and build community. Desai spoke with us about the inception of a/perture cinema, the organization’s adaption to COVID-19, as well as the organization’s plans going forward.
0
164758
Envisioning My Future Self: Reflections from a Future Leader of Color
When I look into the future, my vision is a little blurry. The year 2020 caused me to reflect in a way I never have before. In a year of uncertainty, the last thing I would like to be is unsure of my path. My wariness mirrors my feelings towards the arts and culture field, which is my career focus. The arts are struggling as performance venues, museums, dance centers, and so many other large and small arts organizations closed their doors due to COVID. Not only do the arts have to navigate the current state of the world, but there is another issue that plagues the field, namely racial inequity. Along with the pandemic, the ongoing conversation of race and the treatment and lack of representation of African Americans in the arts and entertainment sectors came to the forefront. Unfortunately, the demand for equality is still prominent, after years and years of constant toil. As much as I put my chosen career path on a pedestal, the arts struggle with this issue as well, making it harder for Black people to excel to higher positions or step foot in the door at all. You would think that a field that relies so much on diversity, and champions itself on representing different ideals and backgrounds, would have more representation. The sad truth is that the arts are far behind in the race for equality, equity, and inclusion.
0
164685
Pop-up Art Inspires Hope in Downtown Salina, Kansas
While we long for the time when we can gather to experience the arts together, at Salina Arts & Humanities we found a solution for the month of October while celebrating National Arts & Humanities Month: pop-up art installations. As we returned to work from stay-at-home orders and furlough, we discussed new ways of changing lives and building community. We asked: How can we follow public health guidelines, encourage engagement in the arts, hire local visual artists and writers, and inspire creativity in our newly reconstructed downtown? The staff at Salina Arts & Humanities (who wrapped trees and poles in cotton fabric to kick off the downtown project) in collaboration with three poets, three yarn artists, and three chalk artists pulled off an active recognition of National Arts & Humanities month in Salina, Kansas, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.
0
