Art in the News
Read the latest arts news
On July 27, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper announced the launch of the Space to Create Colorado program. Inspired by Artspace’s recent construction of 30 affordable live and work units for artists and their families in Loveland, Co., Gov. Hickenlooper has decided to replicate the Loveland facility in eight mountain and rural regions throughout Colorado.
Words have the power to transform and, in the case of 16-year-old Aidan Kingwell of Oak Park, Illinois, they even have the power to save lives. Struggling with crippling depression, Kingwell read poet Mary Oliver’s “When Death Comes” and came to realize that her life was worth living, even at a time when she doubted it the most.
This month, Iowa Governor Terry Branstad signed SF 510, which directs the Iowa Department of Education to fund at least a 0.5 Fine Arts consultant position. Cut to 0.23 a year ago, the position is restored to its original status. It also means that Iowa Code now mandates this position, and the law directs that the position be funded on an annual basis.
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, recently announced a major new initiative that will see thousands of London schoolchildren being given the chance to participate in and learn about dance. The initiative is backed by award-winning choreographer Wayne McGregor and leading dance organizations.
After convening a conference meeting to reconcile the Senate’s and House’s proposed budgets, on July 8, the Massachusetts’ Legislature passed the FY2016 state budget. It includes funding the Massachusetts Cultural Council at $14.16 million.
Following the success of Americans for the Arts’ National Initiative for Arts & Health in the Military summit in February 2015, an invitation was extended to our President and CEO, Bob Lynch, to write a guest column for a spring issue of the NACo County News. NACo’s Veterans Affairs Committee features the guest column online: Arts Help Veterans Heal.
The Arts Partnership of Greater Spartanburg recently received a significant grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies to execute a public art project with a purpose as part of Bloomberg’s Public Art Challenge.
The DC Council approved its 2016 budget on Tuesday, June 30; in the budget, the Council included $200,000 in dedicated funding to research and draft a unified cultural plan for the District of Columbia.
On Monday, July 6, the Oregon Legislature approved House Bill 2171, which extends the sunset date of that state’s film tax credit program. Currently, the film tax credit program offers up to $10 million in total tax credits to film and television productions that film in Oregon. HB 2171 would extend the program by another eight years.
South Carolina arts advocates were shocked on June 30 when Governor Nikki Haley announced that she would veto 87 budget items—among the vetoes was #21 which would eliminate $1 million in new, recurring funds for grantmaking in arts education from the South Carolina Arts Commission’s budget.
