Author Archives: lindaessig

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About lindaessig

Linda Essig is Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at Baruch College and principal/owner of Creative Infrastructure. The opinions expressed on Creative Infrastructure are her own and not those of Baruch College

Bricks and Mortar

Posted on January 17, 2011 by lindaessig

An article in yesterday’s NY Times about Arena Stage’s new “Cradle” for new play development and a tour I had this morning of the newly renovated Chandler Center for the Arts are reminders that sometimes infrastructure for the arts is … Continue reading →

Posted in Arts education, Arts funding, arts infrastructure, Arts policy, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

Realignment

Posted on January 15, 2011 by lindaessig

Today, I was re-viewing Ben Cameron’s* fabulous TEDTalk of last fall because I’m requiring my arts entrepreneurship students to see it.  Cameron makes several important points, among them (and forgive the paraphrasing) that the arts are in a period of … Continue reading →

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Mama LaMaMa

Posted on January 14, 2011 by lindaessig

Sometimes, a person singlehandedly builds the infrastructure for artistic creativity and innovation.  We lost such a person yesterday.  I only met Ellen Stewart once, in the mid 1980s.  I was working with Paul Zimet’s company, The Talking Band, and we … Continue reading →

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“Peaceful Assembly”

Posted on January 13, 2011 by lindaessig

President Obama delivered a tender, inspiring, and thoughtful speech last night in memory of the victims of the recent shooting in Tucson.  At first blush, one might wonder what the speech has to do with infrastructure for the arts. It … Continue reading →

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A Performance — and a Shooting — in the Desert

Posted on January 11, 2011 by lindaessig

I live in Arizona.  I’m a transplant to the desert from the east coast by way of Wisconsin.  I mention this because, like each of us, I have a unique reaction to the events of Saturday.  There are 300 million … Continue reading →

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Experiential learning at PHX:Fringe

Posted on January 10, 2011 by lindaessig

Most entrepreneurship educators will agree that experiential learning is a critical component of the education of the young entrepreneur.  I’m fortunate to have been involved with the Phoenix Fringe Festival since its inception (with the help of a seed grant … Continue reading →

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A Moment of Silence

Posted on January 8, 2011 by lindaessig
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Siloing the Arts at a Young Age

Posted on January 8, 2011 by lindaessig

A few days ago, I wrote, “To encourage [students] to be truly creative, we, as educators, need to give our students room to play, to explore, to experiment, and to cross traditional disciplinary boundaries.  Unless we do, we fail them.”  … Continue reading →

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Arts giving: Tax deductions or tax credits?

Posted on January 7, 2011 by lindaessig

One of my concerns about our very decentralized arts funding structure is that so much depends on the tax deduction for charitable giving.   This concerns me less because of rumblings about repealing the deduction and more because the beneficiaries of … Continue reading →

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Design training and an uncertain future

Posted on January 6, 2011 by lindaessig

I got into a facebook discussion yesterday with Randy Gener, senior editor of American Theatre Magazine about a piece my colleague Richard Isackes wrote about theatre design curricula.  While I agree with much of which Richard writes, he – and … Continue reading →

Posted in Arts education, Arts entrepreneurship, Higher education, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments