Art Works Blog

The Arts and Livability

June 9, 2010
Washington, DC On Monday, the NEA's research team convened 30 experts in urban and rural planning, community development, sociology, economics, and arts administration for a day-long forum titled "Arts and Livability: The Road to Better Metrics." We were interested in brainstorming...

Postcard from Chicago

June 8, 2010
Washington, DC Onstage at the Museum of Contemporary Arts symposium. Photo by Richard Cahan I just spent a few days in Chicago, one of my favorite cities. One of the great things about this trip is that we were hosted throughout the trip by the MacArthur Foundation. Bob Gallucci, the foundation?s...

Art Works in Illinois

June 7, 2010
Chicago, Illinois Anish Kapoor's Cloud Gate (popularly known as "The Bean") is one of the public artworks installed at Chicago's Millennium Park. Kapoor has reportedly said, "What I wanted to do in Millennium Park is make something that would engage the Chicago skyline ... so that one will see the...

History Lesson: The NEA & Opera

June 4, 2010
Washington, DC The LA Philharmonic received an NEA grant to support The Tristan Project , a restaging of Richard Wagner's Tristan and Isolde co-produced with the Paris Opera with video art by Bill Viola. Photo couresty of Matthew Imaging While the NEA Opera Honors is only a few years old, the Arts...
Alan Gilbert. Photo courtesy of the New York Philharmonic

The Relativity of Conducting

June 3, 2010
So there you are, in charge of one of the most treasured orchestras in the country. Looked up to. Respected. And there in the front row, one of your musicians is your mother. You know, the person who took care of you for years---now you're her boss. That?s the situation Alan Gilbert faced when he...

Thank Goodness for the Goodman!

June 3, 2010
Chicago, Illinois In this scene from Tracey Scott Wilson's The Good Negro , (l to r) Rutherford (Demetrios Troy), James (Billy Eugene Jones), and Henry (Teagle F. Bougere) rouse congregants to join them for a non-violent march. Photo courtesy Goodman Theatre Before moving to Washington, DC , I...

Rocco's Kind of Town (Chicago is . . . )

June 2, 2010
Washington, DC Chicago native and 2006 NEA National Heritage Fellow Mavis Staples is actually a second-generation honoree---her father Roebuck "Pops" Staples received the award in 1998. Photo by Tom Pich Chicago's no slouch when it comes to nicknames---The Windy City, the City of Big Shoulders, Chi...

Great American Voices for Great American Heroes

May 28, 2010
Washington, DC JiYoung Lee and other young artists from Washington National Opera's Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist program performed at the Great American Voices launch event, which was held in the Renwick Gallery's Grand Salon. Photo by Keith W. Wood, The Boeing Company From 2005-2007, the NEA's...

Another View of Operation Homecoming

May 28, 2010
Washington, DC At the September 12, 2006, launch event for the Operation Homecoming anthology, contributors and fans alike crowded the Library of Congress to celebrate. Photo by Kevin Allen Operation Homecoming anthology contributor Christy De'on Miller, a retired U.S. Army mission specialist,...
L to R: Brad Fleischer and Arian Moayed in the world premiere production of "Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo" by Rajiv Joseph, directed by Moisés Kaufman, at the Center Theatre Group/Kirk Douglas Theatre. Photo by Craig Schwartz

The Collision of Forces

May 27, 2010
"I think that when those two things collide---the political forces of the world and the primal nature of one's own being---sparks fly." So says playwright Rajiv Joseph in the NEA's newest podcast as he discusses, among other things, his play, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo . Certainly sparks fly...

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