Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: June 16, 2009

The Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site in Philadelphia is seeking proposals for its 2010 tour season and beyond. There are two funding categories: Exhibition, approval providing a budget of up to $7,500 and approval to exhibit at the historic site; and Exhibition Development, providing up to $2,500 with no guarantee of exhibition. Full details are available at this website.

The Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site "was once the most famous and expensive prison in the world, but stands today in ruin, a haunting world of crumbling cell blocks and empty guard towers. Known for its grand architecture and strict discipline, this was the world's first true penitentiary, a prison designed to inspire penitence, or true regret, in the hearts of convicts. Its vaulted, sky-lit cells once held many of America s most notorious criminals, including bank robber Willie Sutton and Al Capone." Tours today include the cell blocks, solitary punishment cells, Al Capone's Cell, and Death Row. A critically-acclaimed series of artists installations is free with admission.

Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site
2027 Fairmount Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19130

Job in the Arts (Photography)

Deadline: February 1, 2009

The Photography and Media Program in the Art School at CalArts is seeking applications for a full-time, regular faculty position beginning August 2009. Responsibilities include teaching two courses per semester, supervision of independent study projects, participation in student reviews, and advising at undergraduate and graduate levels. Applicants must have significant exhibition record and/or related professional activities, as well as experience teaching at both the undergraduate and the graduate levels. Applicants must have at least three years of college-level teaching experience. MFA or equivalent education required. Applicants’ artistic practice should be centered in photography and/or related media, such as video and network practices. Applicants should be very well versed in contemporary art, photography, and media theory and practice. The ideal candidate will have experience teaching courses that cover a range of topics in photography, video, and related media, anchored in an integrated theory of contemporary art practice, and specifically in areas of image and information theories and practices, video history, photography history, and issues in contemporary media and network culture.

Please mail a letter of application, CV, and documentation of work [e.g., slides, DVDs, videos (NTSC only), CDs, publications, and URLS], three letters of recommendation, and a SASE if you wish to have your materials returned to:

Natalie Bookchin
Photography and Media Program
School of Art
CalArts
24700 McBean Parkway
Valencia, CA 91355

No Bailout for the Arts?

While government bailouts are being offered or considered for financial institutions, the auto industry, homeowners, and so many other needy and worthy sectors, one group is quickly and rather quietly falling apart: our nation's arts organizations. In the past few months, dozens of opera companies, theater companies, dance organizations, museums and symphonies have either closed or suffered major cash crises.

OpEd in yesterday's WaPo; read it here.

Opportunity for Fairfax County (Virginia) Artists

Deadline: January 19, 2009

The Arts Council of Fairfax County awards Strauss Fellowships to support and encourage Fairfax County’s finest creative artists in all disciplines. Strauss Fellowships recognize professional working artists’ achievements and their demonstrated history of accomplishments; they promote artists’ continued pursuit of their creative work. Strauss Fellowships are an investment in the sustained growth and development of the arts in Fairfax County as well as a way to honor artists’ commitment to an artistic discipline, their professional activity in Fairfax County, and their contributions to the quality of life in Fairfax County.

This is a competitive grant program where the recipients are determined by their work’s merit. No specific project needs to be carried out with the funds granted – Strauss Fellowships award outstanding achievement in work that has already been completed.

Download the prospectus here.

Bar (Art) Coasters



I'll let Mike Licht tell you all about these bar coasters. Read it here.

Webminars: Bootcamp for Artists

For about a decade, while I was the co-owner of the Fraser Galleries in DC and Maryland from 1996-2006, I co-developed a highly successful one day seminar titled "Success as an Artist," which over the years, the many thousands who took part in it, eventually dubbed "Bootcamp for Artists."

I am now taking the basic modules and principles of that one day seminar, modernizing the tactics and re-inventing the approach into a series of webminars in partnership with CFX Network Webminars.

The first in a series of webminars for artists will take place on
Sunday, February 01, 2009 at 11:00 AM (ET).

All the details are here.

More later, but you can start registering now.

New Orleans AIDS Monument



The New Orleans AIDS Memorial's design was achieved through an international design competition, which was won by my good friend and DC-based uberartist Tim Tate.

It has taken many years for the financing and all the committee meetings to actually build the monument, which is now one of the world's largest outdoor public art glass sculptures, but it is now officially open, as it opened on November 29, 2009, timed to do so in coordination with the World's AIDS Day.

It is called the "Guardian Wall," and it consists of metal rings in the shape of a ship's portal. Inside each ring is a cast glass face, consisting of faces of people who have been affected by HIV. Each glass disc is 18 inches in diameter.



According to Tate, "it represents the faces of those who have passed on due to HIV, looking down from heaven and guarding over and keeping safe those who are currently living with HIV. It stands not only as a memorial to those lost, but an empowering statement to those living with HIV."

Set in NO's historic Washington Square Park, per the news release:

The New Orleans AIDS Memorial will provide a healing sanctuary for family and friends and will promote understanding of the human tragedy of the AIDS epidemic. It (was the) goal for the monument to create a public landscape where anyone who has been touched by AIDS can find comfort and consolation within a dignified and creative community setting.

The memorial, made of concentric bronze circles framing inspirational multicultural cast glass faces, will provide a powerful yet comforting reminder of the meaning behind the memorial. Leading up to the memorial, a pathway of granite stones, inscribed with names of loved ones, will allow visitors to reflect on the way this disease has forever transformed our world.

Congrats to Tate on this latest accomplishment!