Art in the News
Read the latest arts news
On May 23rd and 24th 2015, the Des Moines Symphony Orchestra capped its season with the second iteration of Symphony in Sculpture—a musical tour of the John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park—which featured six new movements by Emmy Award-winning composer Steve Heitzeg.
United Performing Arts Fund (UPAF) recently held its 35th annual Ride for the Arts in the city of Milwaukee. The event, which supports UPAF's United Arts Fund campaign, has become one of the largest one-day recreational bike rides, with major sponsors like MillerCoors. This year, over 5,000 riders raised more than $550,000 as part of the United Performing Arts Fund campaign.
On June 1, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee announced his “Shared Prosperity for the Arts Package,” which will provide $7 million to city arts programs over the next two years.
Several bills are making headway in the Louisiana House and Senate to reform the state’s film tax credit program. The current film tax credit program covers 30 to 35 percent of filmmakers’ costs when they choose to film in Louisiana. Last year, the program cost the state $226 million with independent analysts reporting that the state only made 20 cents in tax revenue for every dollar invested in tax credits.
The Georgia Department of Education announced on June 1 that it created a new fine arts specialist position. The fine arts specialist will focus on the disciplines of music, dance, theatre and visual arts and will provide assistance for fine arts staff throughout Georgia’s school districts.
The New York City Council has passed a bill which will give the public more say in the city’s Percent for Art program. Since 1982, the Percent for Art program has allocated one percent of the budget for all city-funded construction projects for public art.
The Massachusetts Senate has approved a $38 billion budget for FY 2016, which includes $14 million for the Massachusetts Cultural Council, as well as $6 million for regional tourist councils. This proposed 16% increase is especially significant since the Senate Ways and Means Committee initially recommended the arts council to be funded at $12 million, which was the same funding level as FY 2015.
In a surprising turn of events, both the Oklahoma Senate and House of Representatives have now approved SB 839, which appropriates funds to help build a state popular culture museum, OKPOP. On May 21, the House initially rejected the bill on a vote of 44-49 and then reversed its ruling on May 22 with a vote of 51-40.
On May 20, 2015, the third annual Battle of the Biotech Bands, hosted by the Arts & Business Council of Boston took place at Boston’s Royale Nightclub. Described as a fun, community-driven, networking event, Battle of the Biotech Bands features bands associated with Boston-based biotech companies. The bands compete to raise money for a charitable foundation of their choosing.
On May 18, the North Carolina House of Representatives released its budget plan. In the plan, the House has proposed to revive the state’s tax credit for restoring historic and cultural buildings, which was allowed to expire last legislative session.
