Small Grants Seminar

Co-hosted by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities and the folks at Artomatic.

When: Monday, May 8th at 6:00 PM at the Warehouse Café.

As most of you know, there will be an Artomatic later this year, and all DC artists considering participation in Artomatic 2006 this fall should consider this seminar.

The Small Projects Program offers grants up to $1,000 for individual artists and arts organizations. The program seeks to make grant funds more accessible for small scale arts projects with budgets under $3,000 and gives priority to individuals and organizations new to the Commission's grant program.

Projects may include but are not limited to the following: arts presentations; technical assistance services to aid fundraising, marketing, and managerial efforts; documentation of activities and artistic product through photography, brochures, portfolios, "demo" tapes, or slides; or art related conferences, workshops and seminars which enhance and strengthen artistic and professional development.

The deadline for the Small Projects Program is June 2, 2006 at 7pm. Program Officer for the grant is Tania Tam, who can be reached at 202-724-1400.

If you are planning to participate in AOM 2006, then plan ahead and apply for a project grant to expand your AOM 2006 participation!

Job in the Arts

Exhibits Administrative Assistant, Smithsonian Institution.

Announcement Number: 06AM 6054. Administrative Assistant in the Department of Exhibitions and Special Projects, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution. GS-7, salary $35,671 - $47,669 + benefits.

The incumbent provides administrative support to departmental staff in a fast paced creative environment. Establishes procedures for ordering supplies and equipment, generates purchase orders and purchase card transactions, maintains long-term exhibition and special projects calendars, establishes and maintains filing systems, makes travel arrangements, assists designers with the layout and production of labels and exhibition graphics, organizes the office's electronic data.

Experience in PeopleSoft, Excel, Word, and graphic production software is preferred. Position closes April 28, 2006. Salary: $35,671.00 +.

Please see Announcement Number 06AM-6054 at www.sihr.si.edu for application instructions.

Bethesda Literary Festival

The Bethesda Literary Festival takes place in various venues throughout Bethesda April 28-30 April.

We will be hosting three authors this year:

On Saturday, April 29, 2006 the Fraser Gallery hosts Frank Warren, sole founder, curator of the PostSecret Project and editor of the best-selling book of the same title. Commencing at 7PM, Warren will be discussing the project and the book and signing copies of the book.

On Sunday, April 30, commencing at noon, we will be hosting author Barbara Kline as she discusses her behind-the-scenes memoir: White House Nannies, which reveals the nation's capital as you've never known it before.

Also on Sunday, commencing at 1:30PM, talented area photographer Grace Taylor will speak and answer questions about her book, A Tibetian Odyssey. Taylor spent a month in Tibet and her book contains many images and comments from her journal. When Taylor had a show of her Tibet images in Baltimore, Glenn McNatt, art critic of the Baltimore Sun, wrote that "the art of photojournalism lives in the strong, black and white works of Grace Taylor" and also "Taylor has a wonderful sense of light and shadow and a natural empathy for people that allows her to suggest something of her subjects' personalities through the smallest gestures and most fleeting expressions."

Bring your own book or they will be available for sale from the authors. To reserve a copy of any of the books ahead of time, call 301/718-9651 or email us at info@thefrasergallery.com.

Opportunity for Photographers: Slideluck Comes to DC

Deadline: April 28, 2006

Slideluck Potshow I: Washington, DC.

Born in the tiny living room of a NYC photographer who is fond of food, drink, friends, and photos, Slideluck Potshow is a slideshow and a potluck all at once.

This has grown into an inspiring and spirited event that regularly brings hundreds of creative folk to interesting New York City venues.

To get a better sense of what this event is about, then visit this website for photo galleries from past events, archived slideshows, feedback, or even recipes.

And now Slideluck comes to DC in a surprising venue!

They are looking for submissions and this is your invitation! Show them anything you like, but keep in mind, you are allowed a maximum of five minutes. There is no theme, so feel free to submit portraits, stories, outtakes from a job, personal work, it's up to you.

The submission guidelines can be found at this website.

Ignore the dates on the site, and keep in mind these two:

Submission Deadline: Friday, April 28th, 2006.

Show Date: Saturday, May 6th, 2006 at the Numark Gallery.

After you have prepared your submissions, email Karine Aiger for FTP instructions.

Then, bring a tasty dish (you MUST bring some kind of dish/food), and something good to drink, and join them for a fantastic slideshow!

More on Google and Miro

Theory Now's Mark Cameron Boyd, in response to Cindy Engquist's previous points on the subject:

Your "understanding" of the issue is absolutely correct, in that "for visual arts, an image was protected but not an idea or concept... so no one can copy Dali's melting watches, but anyone can paint a melting watch of their own." This is one of the risks that artists take, in addition to the "risk" of even making "art," that their work is no longer "their own" once it enters the "public arena."

In addition to the "meaning" of their work being misinterpreted, misunderstood or misrepresented, artists have to realize that it can be appropriated and even "misused" for other purposes than their own. However, Ms. Engquist is correct in her assumption that Google does not have "the right to exploit any artist’s work for its own marketing purposes," but they are already more than questionable in their "marketing" procedures, as the information about possible Chinese "dissidents" that Google has reportedly released to the Chinese government approaches nothing less than criminal negligence.

Ms. Engquist states: "Even if misuse of an idea of an image or concept is not legally enforceable, the damage to the artist and the impact on the artist’s future income can be significant." True, but only those who have the time and money to engage in extensive litigation over the "misuse" of their images, or the supposed misuse of an "idea," will be able to determine these "intellectual property issues" for the rest of us.

Call for Artists

I'll be jurying our 10th Annual Juried Competition, and now is the time to start preparing as entries are due May 19, 2006.

All the details, entry forms and prospectus are at this website.

More on Google and Miro

Reader Cindy Engquist offers a different point of view in my issue with Google and Miro posted here. Cindy writes:

This is not pettiness at all. This is an intellectual property issue, a marketing issue, and a legal issue.

Google’s "party line" is that they are "honoring" artists by doing interpreted renditions symbolizing the the artists’ work in their Google logo, but the fact of the matter is, Google is using the artists’ concepts and ideas for Google’s own profit. From a marketing standpoint it is very creative, timely, and differentiating that Google does an ever-changing representative logo. It helps to make them distinctive as a search engine and a company. But Google does not have the right to exploit any artist’s work for its own marketing purposes without paying for the right to use the artist’s work, not to mention without even asking permission for temporary rights.

This is a legal as well as an ethical issue.

The team at Google is either: a) creative and exploiting; or b) creative and uniformed about the legal and ethical ramifications of what they are doing. I would hope it’s merely the latter, because some people might be willing to forgive them for being uniformed as long as they make reparations. However, there’s really no excuse for a business of Google’s stature to be uninformed.

The team at Google is not doing this out of goodwill (by so-called "honoring" the artists). Anything like this is always about money.

Best regards,

Cindy

I responded to Cindy that as far as intellectual property, it was my understanding that for visual arts, an image was protected but not an idea or concept... so no one can copy Dali's melting watches, but anyone can paint a melting watch of their own. Cindy responded that she "believe[s] that there is a rather large gray area between misuse of an image and misuse of an idea or concept. Even if misuse of an idea of an image or concept is not legally enforceable, the damage to the artist and the impact on the artist’s future income can be significant. I am aware of this through my own work, my research and work in the art licensing world, and my work and interactions with artists and graphic designers."