News from SFAC, April 2009

1. The Director's Desk: A Message from Luis R. Cancel
2. Nancy Pelosi’s Office to Host 2nd Grants Panel on Arts, Humanities, Libraries and Museums
2. Bill Fontana’s “Spiraling Echoes” Extended
4. Louise Bourgeois “Crouching Spider” to leave San Francisco
5. Teaching Artists Research Project Seeks Input On Line
6. Arts Education Workshops
7. WritersCorps Calendar Items

The Director's Desk: A Message from Luis R. Cancel
Arts Advocacy Day in Washington, DC, was just last week and I joined a delegation of 28 individuals from throughout California in the nation’s capital. We were brought together by Brad Erickson (of Theatre Bay Area), our state captain for Americans for the Arts, for the purpose of urging our federal representatives to increase and continue federal support for the arts.

While our California advocacy delegation worked the Hill, Rep. Louise Slaughter and Todd Platts, the Co-Chairs of the Congressional Arts Caucus, held a hearing where Bob Lynch, President of Americans for the Arts was joined by music legends Linda Ronstadt, Wynton Marsalis and Josh Groban who each addressed the need to support the arts and in particular, the need for the federal government to support arts education. Watch Wynton Marsalis' Nancy Hanks lecture from Arts Advocacy Day.

The Congressional staff members we met with were very responsive, and this trip drove home the importance for the arts community to have a physical presence in the halls of Congress – the place is swarming with numerous special interest groups and lobbyists all pushing their agendas. If the cultural sector is not present, its priorities and issues will get pushed to the side.

Several of the key issues we promoted included the proposal to increase the level of funding for the NEA to $200 million, and an increase of $53 million for Arts in Education in the FY10 Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill. We also sought to change the tax laws so that individual artists who donate their artwork to museums can take the full market value deduction, instead of the current language that limits the deduction to the cost of the materials. For a city with so many museums and individual artists, this change could lead to many important gifts for our museums.

Overall, we were pleased to meet with our California federal representatives and hope they will heed our request for continued federal support of the arts.

Luis R. Cancel
Director of Cultural Affairs

Save the Date! Nancy Pelosi’s Office will host the 2nd grants panel on Arts, Humanities, Libraries and Museums on Tuesday, May 5th
The Office of Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi will host its 2nd “Arts, Humanities, Libraries & Museum Grants Panel” at San Francisco’s Museum of Modern Art on Tuesday, May 5th at 2:30pm. This informative panel will include representatives from federal and local agencies, including the San Francisco Arts Commission’s San San Wong, Program Director of the Cultural Equity Grants, as well as private foundations. Stay tuned for more information.

RSVP email for Workshop is: SpeakerRSVP@mail.house.gov and the subject line must read GRANT WORKSHOP. People should include their names, organizations, and contact information in the body of the email.

Grants Newsletter sign-up and overall grants information from Nancy Pelosi's office is available here: http://www.house.gov/pelosi/grants.html

And please note, before this workshop date there is an April 27th deadline for the San Francisco Arts Commission’s Neighborhood Festival Grant supporting neighborhood fairs and festivals where art and culture are the main component for strengthening community ties. Guidelines and application for these $3,000 grants are posted at http://www.sfartscommission.org/CAE/grants.

The Arts Commission is pleased to report that the sound installation by Bill Fontana in City Hall, “Spiraling Echoes”, has been extended.
In part due to the sensation that has stirred in Bay Area contemporary art circles, and the extensive press coverage about this site-specific piece, the sound installation will be extended to August 2009. There’s still ample time to come and listen to the unique aural experience in the Rotunda of City Hall, Civic Center’s architectural crown jewel. And if you’ve already heard the work, come back with a friend this time! City Hall is located at 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place in the heart of Civic Center. Also, check out the SFGTV CultureWire story on Bill Fontana and “Spiraling Echoes” at www.sfartscommission.org.

Louise Bourgeois “Crouching Spider” to leave San Francisco
The “Crouching Spider” sculpture by Louise Bourgeois has become a beloved iconic centerpiece of Pier 14 at the corner of the Embarcadero and Mission Street. Installed in November 2007 as part of the Arts Commission’s Public Art Program, this piece will soon be moving on, so now is your chance to bid farewell to the Louise Bourgeois “Spider”.

Teaching Artist Research Project Solicits Artists and Program Managers for On Line Survey
The San Francisco Arts Commission’s Education program has been working with the University of Chicago on the Teaching Artist Research Project (TARP) which aims to deepen the impact of arts education and make teaching artists’ work more sustainable and sustaining. TARP is asking all teaching artists and arts education program managers in San Francisco and Alameda County to respond to an on-line survey. To register for the survey please go to http://teachingartists.uchicago.edu and then please forward this message to your contacts in the field of arts education. All those who complete the survey (an investment of about 15 minutes) will receive a free CD of stories about teaching artists from the archives of Ira Glass’ This American Life radio program.

The Arts Commission’s Education Program has a number of workshops coming up in the next several weeks.

Check out these dynamic topics and for more information, contact Keegan Finberg at artsedassistant@sfgov.org. All workshops are free.

Exploring the Elephant, April 14th and April 15th, 9:30-11am at SF Public Library Main Branch.
This workshop for teaching artists is centered on techniques for overcoming personal bias in the classroom. With David Maier, Berkeley Repertory, School of Theater To register, go to: exploringelephant.eventbrite.com

Performance and Cultural Competencies, April 16th, 5:30-7pm at Southern Exposure, 417 14th Street at Valencia
David Maier from Berkeley Repertory will showcase the theater’s unique education programs, focusing on the development of their own trainings in cultural competencies. To register, go to: culturalcompetencies.eventbrite.com

Photography Frees the Soul, April 24th, 5:30-7pm at SFAC Gallery, 401 Van Ness Avenue
Learn how to teach documentary as expressive art form through the Sixth Street Photography Workshop. KQED’s Kristin Farr will showcase the SparkED integrated lesson, “Art Frees the Soul”. To register, go to: photographyfrees.eventbrite.com.

Writers Corps Calendar Items
Days I Moved Through Ordinary Sounds Book Launch and Reading
April 15th, 7-8pm at City Lights Bookstore, 261 Columbus Avenue. Free

WritersCorps at June Jordan’s Poetry for the People
April 29th, 7 pm, Barrows Hall, UC Berkeley, Lipman Room, 8th Floor. Free