The Arts Politic » Issue 1

Issue 1

THE ECONOMY ISSUE: Our guide to making the arts a resounding priority during these uncertain economic times.

COVER ART

“Pray”
The front cover.
By THE LOVE MOVEMENT

“Rainy Day Economics”
The back cover.
By BRIDGETTE RAITZ

LETTERS FROM THE EDITORS

The Founding Editors bid you welcome to the inaugural issue of The Arts Politic with two letters (from the Executive Editor and the Editor) that address the impetus for this magazine and your role in the greater arts politics dialogue.
By DANIELLE KLINE & JASMINE MAHMOUD

LETTER TO THE POLICYMAKER

“To The Public Policy Makers”
An engaged citizen and Minnesota resident, writes to her state senator, and other policymakers, in support of the “Legacy Amendment.”
By JUDY CLIFFORD

OPENING ACTS

BRIEFS & TRENDS
“Spring to Summer, 2009”
Atypical White House invitation to the arts community; public art watch; state-by-state arts funding; new NEA & NEH leadership & more.
By THE EDITORS

BOTTOM LINE
“Twitter Challenge with Mayor Cory Booker”
The Executive Editor chronicles her tweets with Mayor-cum-poet, Cory Booker, whose staff stood against his artistic pursuits.
By DANIELLE KLINE

DIALOGUE
“Artists at the White House”
TAP spoke with activists who attended the historic White House arts briefing—Judy Baca, Dudley Cocke and Jeff Chang—as well as White House Poetry Jam performers Ayelet Waldman, Eric Lewis and Mayda del Valle.
Interviews by JASMINE MAHMOUD

COLUMNS
“Our Fishy Nonprofit Sector”
By BRANDON WOOLF, who revisits early 20th–century tax language to carve out a better understanding of present-day nonprofit arts operational structures.

“Africa, African Accents and African-Americans: Name That Relationship!”
BY RONAMBER DELONEY, who examines HBO’s latest show, The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, to question global representations of blackness.

SPECIAL REPORT: THE ARTS AND THE ECONOMY

Click here for more about the SPECIAL REPORT.

“America’s Cultural Recovery”
Cultural recovery as national recovery.
By ARLENE GOLDBARD

“Marshall Plan Modernism: The CIA and the Big Little Magazine”
1950s CIA-led arts and magazine funding.
By GREG LONDE

“Connectivity and Creativity: Learning the language of the creative economy”
Economic-termed arts development in Happy Valley, North Carolina.
By ARDATH GOLDSTEIN WEAVER

“Whose economy?: Understanding who benefits from arts-led economic and urban development policies”
A critique of art-led economic policies.
By DOREEN JAKOB

“Strategies for Arts Survival”
Enumerating strategies for nonprofit arts groups.
By JOHN R. KILLACKY

“TAP*MAP: The Economic Landscape”
With regional voice-portraits of the economy’s effect on art making, arts communities, and arts industries.
Compiled by THE EDITORS

“Arts Policy Strategies for the Economic Downturn”
A policy brief detailing strategies for an economic-and-whole-scale recovery of the arts.
By DANIELLE KLINE and JASMINE MAHMOUD, Founding Editors

EXHIBITION

Visual artwork:

“Industry,” “Before Theater,” and “After Theater”
By JEREMY NOVY

“And Now the Cupboard is Bare”
By NAT SOTI

“Untitled”
By ALONSO SANCHEZ

“Some Cry, Some Don’t,” and “New Life”
By DENNIS REDMOON DARKEEM

“Wall Street Sign”
By JIM COSTANZO

“Wait to See”
By BETH LORAINE BOWMAN

“My Sonnet 66 (After Shakespeare)”
By TOMAS OLIVA

“Boys”
By ERIN MCELROY

“Corporate Cookie Jar”
By ART HAZELWOOD

POETRY

“Visions of Infinity in the Milwaukee Art Museum”
By REBECCA MANERY

“Government Support,” and “Public Policy”
By LILY MULHOLLAND

“Are the Arts a Luxury We Can’t Afford during a Recession?”
By DUDLEY COCKE

LIBRARY

BOOK/TALK: Victoria Grieve speaks about her latest book, The Federal Art Project and the Creation of Middlebrow Culture, and FAP’s relevance to contemporary arts policy.
Interview by JASMINE MAHMOUD

BOOK/TALK: Susan B.A. Somers-Willett (poet, and author of The Cultural Politics of Slam Poetry) talks about the White House Poetry Jam and the troubling commercialization of slam poetry.
Interview by RONAMBER DELONEY and JASMINE MAHMOUD

FILM/TALK: Filmmakers Liz Turner and Reese Dillard (Left Alone) discuss the economic implications of anti-same-sex marriage laws.
Interview by RONAMBER DELONEY

FILM & BOOK BRIEFS:
Abraham Obama, The Youngest Candidate, The Federal Theatre Project, Voices Carry
By CAITLIN MORRIS