No Jumper post this week as I have the great honor to be blogging on two other sites. Laura Zimmerman at the Minnesota-based McKnight Foundation invited me to submit a post on the subject “What is the role of an artist in the world today?†for its new State of the Artist blog. My post, The Professional Lens: Are we a sector of underemployed ‘professional’ artists or successful ‘pro-ams’? is now live. I hope you will find time to read it and comment.
Additionally, Arlene Goldbarb (writer, speaker, social activist, and consultant) and Barry Hessenius (author, consultant, public speaker, and well know for Barry’s Blog) have asked me to contribute to their online event, Clout: A Blogfest on Art and Political Power. The question they’ve posed to guest bloggers: “The way we’ve been doing arts advocacy for the past 30 years isn’t working; what would you do to develop real political clout?” Arlene and Barry have done a terrific job priming this converation in the form of a debate between the two of them. Check it out at the link above; and I hope you’ll check back throughout the week to read my post (The NEA: An idea whose time has come and gone?), as well as the posts by my fellow bloggers (all of whom I adore): Dudley Cocke (Roadside Theater), Roberto Bedoya (Tucson Pima Arts Council), and Ra Joy (Arts Alliance Illinois).
My sincere thanks to Laura (and the McKnight Foundation), Arlene, and Barry for the opportunity to participate in these important discussions.
I’ll be taking a hiatus from Jumper the next few weeks due to travel and other deadlines but I’ll be back in April, with the tulips.
Tulip fields in Holland
D.