Category Archives: Arts funding

Catch 23 in Kansas

Posted on February 1, 2013 by lindaessig

Wichita Public Radio did a story this week* about the before-and-after effects of the decimation and then partial restoration of the Kansas Arts Commission, now the Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission.  The change is not just rhetorical.  The piece lists … Continue reading →

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It’s Complicated

Posted on January 3, 2013 by lindaessig

Relationships are complicated.  Perhaps none are more complicated than the relationship between art and money.   What makes the relationship so complicated isn’t “love,” but “value.”  Economic theories from Adam Smith to Karl Marx focus on the distinction between value-in-use (a … Continue reading →

Posted in Arts entrepreneurship, Arts funding, Arts policy, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

Entrepreneurship, the Arts, and Creative Placemaking

Posted on December 6, 2012 by lindaessig

Thanks in no small part to the NEA’s Our Town program and its sister consortium of funding partners, ArtPlace, there has been a lot of activity – both actual and in the blogosphere — during the last two years about … Continue reading →

Posted in Arts entrepreneurship, Arts funding, arts infrastructure, Arts policy, Culture and democracy, Higher education, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Swimming Upstream: Why I’m an L3C Skeptic

Posted on November 19, 2012 by lindaessig

I’m swimming against a current of alphabet soup with this post, publicly expressing some skepticism about the hot topic of last week, the L3C, a forum about which was livestreamed on newplay.tv: L3C and the Arts: Understanding the Potential of … Continue reading →

Posted in Arts entrepreneurship, Arts funding, arts infrastructure, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 10 Comments

Election Eve

Posted on November 5, 2012 by lindaessig

I spent an hour yesterday listening to the launch announcement for  In the Intersection: Partnerships in the New Play Sector, Diane Ragsdale’s book-length documentation of a convening hosted by the Mellon Foundation and the Center for the Theatre Commons, then … Continue reading →

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What to Read?

Posted on October 21, 2012 by lindaessig

Next spring, I will be teaching a short one-credit course for grad students “Readings in Arts Policy.”  The format is such that over the course of 7 ½ weeks we will read and discuss arts and cultural policy (in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Arts education, Arts funding, Arts policy, Higher education | Tagged , , , | 11 Comments

Opportunity Creation and the Phoenix Fringe Festival

Posted on September 18, 2012 by lindaessig

I was talking with a friend recently – a friend far removed from the arts – who suggested that I must be poised to make a lot of money since I know something about (arts) entrepreneurship. What my friend doesn’t … Continue reading →

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Why Arts Entrepreneurship?

Posted on July 6, 2012 by lindaessig

After “Hey Where’d Your Creativity Go?,” the questions I get asked most often is, “WHY Arts Entrepreneurship?”  It seems fitting that for the 100th posting on Creative Infrastructure, I answer that question.  There are many reasons why I decided to … Continue reading →

Posted in Arts education, Arts entrepreneurship, Arts funding, arts infrastructure | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

It’s Not the Economy

Posted on June 20, 2012 by lindaessig

For years I’ve said that the economic impact argument doesn’t work for the arts and arts advocacy.  We keep making it, but it’s not working. A comment by John Shipley on Ian David Moss’s Createquity blog brought into clear focus … Continue reading →

Posted in Arts entrepreneurship, Arts funding, arts infrastructure, Arts policy, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments

Of Missions and Diversity

Posted on April 30, 2012 by lindaessig

But at the end of the day, and let me be very clear about this: at the end of the day, the job that I am entrusted to do is to find plays that I believe as artistic director will … Continue reading →

Posted in Arts funding, Arts management | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments