WAC staff members and board chair join arts agency colleagues at Assembly 2012 Oct. 4-6

Arts leaders from across the nation converge in Washington, D.C., October 4-6 for Assembly 2012, the annual meeting of the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA). The event is a major gathering of public arts grant makers, convening representatives from the nation's 56 state and jurisdictional arts agencies.

Wyoming will be represented by Wyoming Arts Council staff members Rita Basom, Camellia El-Antably and Annie Hatch, all from Cheyenne, and Board Chair Karen Stewart from Jackson. 

Hosted by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Assembly 2012 brings together state arts agency staff and volunteer leaders, federal agencies and cultural leaders from across the nation. Participants use the Assembly as an opportunity to exchange best practices for serving citizens and to discuss the unique role that the public sector plays in improving economic, civic and educational opportunities across America.

This year's conference explores creative placemaking, with NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman addressing participants about ways that the arts and design are revitalizing communities and enhancing quality of life. Conference sessions also address creative economic development, cultural tourism, effective use of data and new frontiers for cultural resource development.

"NASAA conferences are where all of us as state arts agencies gather to learn from each other as well as from national experts on public policy and public-sector leadership," says Arni Fishbaugh, NASAA board president and executive director of the Montana Arts Council. "Participants from across the country come away with information and ideas that they can immediately put to use in their state to enhance their agencies' services to citizens."

The meeting is seasoned with performances by local artists and excursions through downtown D.C.'s Penn Quarter. Featured artists include internationally acclaimed mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves, The Washington Ballet and U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey.

"We are honored to host NASAA Assembly 2012 in the District of Columbia," says Lionell Thomas, executive director of the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, "We welcome the opportunity to showcase our many achievements here in the District and to share the outstanding creative talent that is such an important asset to our community."

The National Assembly of State Arts Agencies is the membership organization that unites, represents and serves the nation's state and jurisdictional arts agencies. Founded in 1968, NASAA represents their individual and collective interests, empowers their work through knowledge and advances the arts as an essential public benefit. To learn more about NASAA and state arts agencies, visit www.nasaa-arts.org.

National Book Festival Sept. 22-23 in D.C. features NEA Literature Fellows

The National Endowment for the Arts sends this info about this weekend's National Book Festival:

At this year's National Book Festival, many of the poets and writers at the Poetry & Prose Pavilion will celebrate their roles as NEA Literature Fellows, one of the nation's most prestigious competitive awards for new and established authors. The Poetry & Prose Pavilion, sponsored by the NEA, is part of the Library of Congress’s twelfth annual literary festival, which takes place on September 23-24, 2012, on the National Mall in Washington, DC. 

This year's lineup at the Poetry & Prose Pavilion includes T.C. Boyle (San Miguel), Giannina Braschi, (United States of Banana), Junot Díaz (This Is How You Lose Her), Stephen Dunn (Here and Now), Jeffrey Eugenides (The Marriage Plot), Nikky Finney (Head Off & Split), Paul Hendrickson (Hemingway’s Boat: Everything He Loved in Life, and Lost: 1934-1961, Laura Kasischke (Space, In Chains), Philip Levine (News of the World), Margot Livesey (The Flight of Gemma Hardy), Thomas Mallon (Watergate), and Colson Whitehead (Zone One).

Nine of this year's presenters are NEA Literature Fellows (Boyle, Braschi, Dunn, Eugenides, Hendrickson, Jones, Kasischke, Levine, and Livesey); Jones and Hendrickson just received their Fellowships in 2012.

"[This] program ... I feel is essential to fostering the arts -- particularly for beginning or out-of-the-way artists whose work is not immediately apprehended in a commercial way," said author and Creative Writing Fellow (78, 83) T.C. Boyle in the NEA Literature Fellowships publication.

Also at the Poetry & Prose Pavilion, student state champions from the 2012 Poetry Out Loud National Finals.  Kristen Dupard, who earned both the 2012 Poetry Out Loud National Champion and Mississippi State Champion titles, along with second-place winner and Vermont State Champion Claude Mumbere, and third-place winner, Utah State Champion MarKaye Hassan will recite classic and contemporary poetry that earned them titles during this year’s national poetry recitation contest. Poetry Out Loud is sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation. 

Visit the National Endowment for the Arts and Library of Congress websites for interviews with current and past Book Festival authors, audio clips, downloadable materials, and interactive features. The NEA (@NEAarts) will live-tweet from the NEA Poetry & Prose Pavilion via Twitter. Look for #natbookfest – the official National Book Festival hashtag – to follow news from the festival.

The Poetry & Prose Pavilion is one of several pavilions where more than 100 writers and illustrators will discuss their work. Pavilions include Children, Teens, Fiction & Mystery, History & Biography, Contemporary Life, Poetry & Prose, SciFi Fantasy & Graphic Novels and Special Programs pavilions, plus the Family Storytelling Stage featuring authors and musical acts popular with young children. Last year, more than 100,000 book fans attended the festival.

The 12th annual Library of Congress National Book Festival will be held on the National Mall between 9th and 14th Streets on Saturday, Sept. 22, 2012, from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and on Sunday, Sept. 23 from noon to 5:30 p.m., rain or shine. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact the National Book Festival Information Line at 888-714-4696 or visit the National Book Festival website.

Cat Urbigkit's "The Guardian Team" chosen as Wyoming book for National Book Festival

Pinedale's multitalented writer and photographer Cat Urbigkit has some great news:

The Guardian Team has been selected as the Wyoming book for this year's National Book Festival, which will be held Sept. 22 & 23 in Washington, D.C.

Congrats, Cat. It's been a good year. In March, she received an honorable mention in the Wyoming Arts Council's visual arts fellowship competition.

Smithsonian's lead design consultant to work with UW on new American Indian Center

Johnpaul Jones

From a UW press release:

Johnpaul Jones, lead design consultant for the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, has contracted to work with the University of Wyoming American Indian Studies Program to develop a project profile for a proposed American Indian center on the UW campus.

Jones' work with UW is partially supported by a grant from the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund.

Jones will visit UW Feb. 21-24 to meet with project stakeholders and begin gathering information for the project profile.

"We are pleased to have an internationally known Native American architect working with us on this project," says Judith Antell, director of the American Indian Studies Program. Jones' tribal affiliation is Cherokee-Choctaw.

The proposed center would house the American Indian Studies Program as well as provide space for cultural events and a research institute.

Jones is a founding partner of Jones & Jones, an architectural firm in Seattle. Some of his other notable projects include the Southern Ute Museum and Cultural Center in Ignacio, Colo., which opened in 2010; and the Institute of American Indian Art in Santa Fe, N.M.

For more information, call the American Indian Studies Program at (307) 766-6520.

Greybull's GPS Art Club chosen to create ornaments for Wyoming's Christmas tree for D.C. display

Greybull’s GPS Art Club has been chosen to design and create the ornaments for Wyoming’s tree for the 2011 National Christmas Tree display in President’s Park in Washington, D.C., the National Park Foundation announced today. [Shown above: Video from 2010 Christmas tree lighting ceremony.]

Local artists and local youth were selected from each U.S. state, territory and the District of Columbia to design and create 24 ornaments.  Twenty-three of the ornaments will be hung from the state or territory tree as part of the National Christmas Tree display in President’s Park.  One of the ornaments will decorate the White House Visitor Center Christmas tree, which showcases one ornament from all 56 states, territories and the District of Columbia.

“The decorating of the state and territory trees in President’s Park is a highly anticipated holiday tradition,” said Neil Mulholland, President and CEO of the National Park Foundation.  “We look forward to including the creations of Karyne Dunbar and the GPS Art Club, representing Wyoming during the 89^th annual celebration.”

As one of America’s oldest holiday traditions, the National Christmas Tree Lighting began on Christmas Eve in 1923, when President Calvin Coolidge lit a Christmas tree in front of 3,000 spectators on the Ellipse in President’s Park.  Since 1923, each succeeding President has carried on the tradition of what now has become a month-long event presented by the National Park Foundation and National Park Service.  In addition to the National Christmas Tree display, President’s Park hosts a variety of family-oriented holiday attractions, such as the Santa’s Workshop, nightly holiday performances, a Yule log, nativity scene, and model train display. 

“It is an honor to be selected because we are a small community, yet typical of so much of Wyoming, said Karyne Dunbar, artist and teacher. “We are excited to be a part of the National Christmas Tree display because Wyoming has a very wonderful blend of cultures that we can hope to represent with our ornaments.”

“Our participating young artists were quick to get involved as we discussed possible themes that would best represent our state. They have been inventive with materials, trying for a good blend of images that really say Wyoming mixed with Christmas sparkle and optimism.”

Four weeks of holiday events in President’s Park will kick off with the 89th National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony hosted by the National Park Service and National Park Foundation, the official charity of America’s national parks, on Thursday, December 1, 2011, at 5:00 p.m. EST. This year’s talent line up for the lighting ceremony will be announced in November.  Talent announcements, as well as other event details and a live web stream of the ceremony will be available at www.thenationaltree.org.  

Tickets for the event will be awarded via an online lottery system, providing the general public a chance to obtain free tickets to the ceremony.  The online lottery will be available beginning at 10:00 a.m. EST on Thursday, November 3 (or 9:00 a.m. CST, 8:00 a.m. MST and 7:00 a.m. PST).   The ticket lottery remains open through 9:59 a.m. EST on Monday, November 7 (or 8:59 a.m. CST, 7:59 a.m. MST and 6:59 a.m. PST). Visit www.thenationaltree.org for more information.

About the GPS Art Club: Students have been meeting with teacher Karyne Dunbar for after school studio time for the past 29 years. Both middle school and High School students can participate and adults have joined in activities from time to time. Art Club  members participate in art activities, special workshops, field trips and fund raisers. They provide prize money for purchase awards and scholarships.

FMI: www.nationalparks.org, http://www.facebook.com/nationalpark, http://twitter.com/goparks

"Dee and the Mammoth" going to the National Book Festival

Dee Susan Vittitow Mark sends this: "Dee and the Mammoth" by Gene Gagliano and Zak Pullen has been selected by the Wyoming State Library to be the featured book for Wyoming,at the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C. in September. Wyoming has a booth in the Pavilion of States tent on the National Mall. Gene and Zak will be part of the Wyoming Book Festival Road Show this fall. Dee and the Mammoth recently received the Wyoming State Historical Society Book Award for fiction.

UW Art Museum receives "Museums for America" grant from the IMLS

The University of Wyoming Art Museum is the recipient of a $74,875 Museums for America grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to help continue the "Collection Advancement Digitization Project."

Museums for America, the IMLS' largest grant, supports projects that build museums' capacity to serve its communities. This year, IMLS received 481 applications and will fund 160 projects.

The UW Art Museum will use the grant to digitally photograph its identified core collection of 6,628 objects. It also allows for the museum's collection to be integrated into the UW online search engine, which will provide increased curatorial and research opportunities, as well as professional high-resolution images for publication.

The Art Museum and Academic Affairs will each contribute additional funds to the project.

"We are excited to receive IMLS funds that will enable us to make our collections accessible to all," says Susan Moldenhauer, UW Art Museum director and chief curator. "This has been a long-term goal for the museum. Four years ago, IMLS assisted us with a complete content and valuation assessment of our collection. One result was identifying our core collection. Now we will be able to digitize the museum's most important objects."

For more information, call Nicole Crawford, curator of collections, at (307) 766-6529 or emailncrawfor@uwyo.edu . Questions for the Institute of Museum and Library Services can be directed to Kevin O'Connell, Congressional Affairs Officer, at (202) 653-4628 or koconnell@imls.gov .

For additional information about the UW Art Museum, call (307) 766-6622 or visit the museum's webpage atwww.uwyo.edu/artmuseum or blog at www.uwartmuseum.blogspot.com .

"Imagine learning from the masters" is a guiding principle of the UW Art Museum's programs.  The museum is located in the Centennial Complex at 2111 Willett Dr. in Laramie.  The museum and The Museum Store are open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday.  Admission is free.

"An Evening of Poetry at the White House May 11

From a press release:

The President and Mrs. Obama will host a celebration of American poetry and prose by welcoming accomplished poets, musicians and artists as well as students from across the country to the White House next week. Participants include Elizabeth Alexander, Billy Collins, Common, Rita Dove, Kenneth Goldsmith, Alison Knowles, Aimee Mann and Jill Scott who will read, sing, and showcase the impact of poetry on American culture. The President will make opening remarks at this event held in the East Room, which will be pooled press and streamed live on www.whitehouse.gov starting at 7:00 p.m. ET.

  

As part of this special event, Mrs. Obama will host a daytime workshop for hundreds of students from California to New York on May 11th at 2:00 p.m. ET, where students will work with and learn from many of the evening’s performers.  First Lady Michelle Obama and administration officials will deliver brief remarks to highlight a new study detailing the importance of arts education. This event will be streamed live on www.whitehouse.gov and students all over the country will be invited to watch the workshop. This event is open press but space is very limited so please RSVP to firstladypress@who.eop.gov.

First Lady Michelle Obama kicked off the White House Music Series in 2009 with a Jazz Studio, and since then has hosted a celebration of Country Music, Classical Music, Motown, a Fiesta Latina, a salute to Broadway, Music of the Civil Rights Movement and a dance tribute to Judith Jamison. Many of these events included evening performances as well as daytime educational workshops designed to educate and inspire talented young people to use their gifts to develop a future for themselves in the arts community whether as a hobby or as a profession.

Watch Wyoming's Sara Ellingrod in live webcast today for Poetry Out Loud semifinals in D.C.

Sara Ellingrod (center) receives her first-place award for the Wyoming Poetry Out Loud competition  March 1 from Secretary of State Max Maxfield (left) and Wyoming Poet Laureate David Romtvedt.

Sara Ellingrod, a ninth-grader at Arvada-Clearmont High School in Sheridan County, will be representing Wyoming in the national finals today in Washington, D.C. She will be competing against 16 other state champions from the Western states from 5-8 p.m. (EDT) at the historic Lincoln Theater.

Ellingrod will be one of the youngest competitors. She also comes from one of the smallest schools -- there are 23 students in grades 9-12 at Arvada-Clearmont. This is the second straight year that a student from her school has represented Wyoming at the national finals.

Poetry Out Loud is co-sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation. In Wyoming, the Poetry Out Loud program is administered by the Wyoming Arts Council. For more info, contact Linda Coatney at the WAC at 307-777-7742.

You can watch the semifinals and finals live by clicking here

FMI: http://nea.gov/national/poetry/index.html#

Kennedy Center's ARTSEDGE offers arts education resources for educators and families

ARTSEDGE is the online arts education by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Since the Kennedy Center’s opening in 1971, schoolchildren, parents and educators have turned to us as the nation’s premiere cultural resource.  Embracing this responsibility, the Kennedy Center instituted ARTSEDGE in 1996 as its educational media arm, reaching out to schools, communities, individuals and families with printed materials, classroom support and Internet technologies.

The full impact of ARTSEDGE might be measured by considering that of the eleven million people who participate in Kennedy Center Education Department programming each year, four million do it through ARTSEDGE resources.

The site is visited each day by more than can be held if every theater in the Kennedy Center complex was filled to capacity.

In an education landscape that is evolving with new ideas of how, when and where we teach, learn and create, the ARTSEDGE team has revisited every part of what— and how—we offer resources.

We are expanding our content to serve a new definition of educators, encompassing classroom and out-of-school teachers, with the single-minded goal to support arts-based student learning, whether in the classroom or an informal learning environment, like the home.

We’re focused on ways to support innovative teaching with the arts, and meet changing trends in education and to accommodate the ever-evolving impact of technology in our lives. Our collection of free digital resources—including lesson plans, audio stories, video clips, and interactive online modules—has been streamlined for easier browsing and upgraded to leverage best practices in educational media and multimedia-supported instruction.

“The redesign is a wonderful extension of the original ARTSEDGE mission, set over 15 years ago,” says Darrell M. Ayers, Vice President for Education at the Kennedy Center, “to connect people to people, to provide arts-centered learning experiences, and to lead the way in digitally-supported arts learning for all citizens.”

"Green River Cliffs Wyoming" by Thomas Moran acquired by National Gallery of Art in D.C.

From the Billings Gazette:

The National Gallery of Art in Washington has acquired the celebrated landscape painting "Green River Cliffs, Wyoming" by 19th-century American artist Thomas Moran.

The painting goes on view Friday and will remain in a special installation through June. It is a gift of collector Vern Milligan and his two children.

"Green River" was featured in a 1997 retrospective of Moran's work at the gallery. Milligan purchased the painting at auction in 1994 for $2.7 million.

Gallery Director Earl A. Powell III says the museum was lacking a grand, panoramic view of the American West.

Moran completed the work 10 years after his first trip west in 1871. His work has been increasing in value in recent years. A 1878 Moran piece sold for $17.7 million in 2008.

National Museum of the American Indian features webcast of Native American writers Feb. 5

The annual conference for The Association of Writers and Writing Programs in Washington, D.C., features some interesting off-site events that will be simulcast on the web. Here's one that showcases Native American writers:


Reading & Webcast, The Florida Review Native Issue

Location: National Museum of the American Indian, Rasmuson Theater, 4th St and Independence Ave, S.W.

When: Saturday, Feb. 5, 1-3 p.m.

Cost: Free and open to the public

Website: http://www.americanindian.si.edu/

Description: In celebration of the special Native issue of The Florida Review, a reading, live webcast, and book and issue signing. Featured writers include Sherwin Bitsui, Orlando White, Santee Frazier, Sara Marie Ortiz, Allison A. HedgeCoke, and Toni Jensen. 

Call for entries: Split This Rock Adult Poetry Contest

Split This Rock Announces its Fourth Annual Adult Poetry Contest

Benefits Split This Rock Poetry Festival - Washington, D.C.

$1,000 awarded for poems of provocation and witness

Jan Beatty, Judge

Submission Guidelines:

Send up to 3 unpublished poems, no more than 6 pages total, in any style, in the spirit of Split This Rock (see below).

Postmark Deadline: November 1, 2010

Include one cover page containing your name, address, phone number, email, and the titles of your poems. This is the only part of the submission that should contain your name. Enclose a check or money order for $25 (made out to "Split This Rock") to:

Split This Rock Poetry Contest
1112 16th Street NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20036

The reading fee of $25 supports Split This Rock Poetry Festival. Simultaneous submissions OK, but please notify us immediately if the poem is accepted elsewhere. For more information, info@splitthisrock.org.

Prizes:
•First place receives $500; second and third place receive $250 each.
•Winners receive free 2012 festival registration.
•The 1st-place winner will be invited to read the winning poem at Split This Rock Poetry Festival, 2012.
•Winning poems will be published here, at SplitThisRock.org.

Details:
Submissions should be in the spirit of Split This Rock: socially engaged poems, poems that reach beyond the self to connect with the larger community or world, poems of provocation and witness.

This theme can be interpreted broadly and may include — but is not limited to — work addressing politics, economics, government, war,leadership; issues of identity (gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, disability, body image, immigration, heritage, etc.); community, civic engagement, education, activism; and poems about history, Americana, cultural icons.

Contest Judge Bio: Jan Beatty

Jan Beatty's new book, Red Sugar, was published by the University of Pittsburgh Press in Spring, 2008. Other books include Boneshaker and Mad River, winner of the 1994 Agnes Lynch Starrett Prize. Beatty's poetry has appeared in Quarterly West, Gulf Coast, Indiana Review, and Court Green, and in anthologies published by Oxford University Press, University of Illinois Press, and University of Iowa Press. Awards include the $15,000 Creative Achievement Award in Literature from the Heinz Foundation, the Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry, and two fellowships from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. For the past thirteen years, she has hosted and produced "Prosody," a public radio show on NPR-affiliate WYEP-FM featuring the work of national writers. Beatty directs the creative writing program at Carlow University, where she runs the Madwomen in the Attic writing workshops and teaches in the MFA program.

FMI: http://www.splitthisrock.org/contests.html

Michelle Obama and the arts

Two articles from the Washington Post about Michelle Obama's support of the arts.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/20/AR2010102005387.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/13/AR2010101305185.html?waporef=obinsite

Reminder: Wyoming artists have until Sept. 2 to submit images of "The People's Tree"

Dear Wyoming Artists:

Wyoming and the Bridger-Teton National Forest have been asked to provide the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree (“the People’s Tree”) for 2010. Along with the tree, we will be providing 75-smaller trees for Congressional Offices, agencies & organizations headquartered throughout D.C. as well as 5000 handmade ornaments. Of particular interest to Wyoming artists, is the opportunity to have your piece of art depicting a 65-foot tall Wyoming-grown Christmas tree selected to be the official artistic impression for the project. The selected artist’s rendition of the tree will be displayed in the Office of the Chief of the United States Forest Service in Washington D.C.

We are asking for your participation by providing your artistic talents and imagination depicting the 65-foot tree & showcasing all that is special about Wyoming. Wyoming Artists should have their finished pieces of art available to be judged by September 2, 2010. The judges will vote for ‘Wyoming Forever West Award’, which will be displayed in Wyoming’s State Capitol. In addition, the artwork chosen which best depicts a 65-foot Wyoming Christmas tree will travel with the selected tree to Washington, DC. Images of the top 10 pieces of art will be made into note cards/holiday cards to be sold as a fundraiser for the project. Information about each artist will be printed on the back of the note cards, to provided added recognition to the ten artists.

To have the artwork reviewed by the selection committee, it must meet the following requirements:

 Any medium may be used: including but not limited to: acrylics, oil, watercolor, textile, metals, photography, stained glass, etc..

 25-35 inches high & 20-30 inches wide

 Framed if appropriate, or otherwise designed to be easily hung on a wall.

 Deadline to have a digital photo of the artwork to us will be September 2, 2010

The theme of the 2010 U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree project is “Wyoming- Forever West”. You can learn more by visiting the project website at www.capitolchristmastree2010.org

Please e-mailCapitolChristmasTree2010@gmail.com, or call Kniffy Hamilton at 307-413-1945 to acknowledge your interest or if you have any questions.

Thank you in advance for your participation.

Cordially,

Mary Cernicek, U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree 2010 Coordinator

Michael Kaiser coming to Casper as part of his "Arts in Crisis" national tour

Work by Wilson glass artist Laurie Thal given as White House gift

Wilson glassblower/glass artist and two-time Wyoming Arts Council visual arts fellowship winner Laurie Thal has a friend at the White House. Laurie was exhibiting her work last November at the Washington, D.C., craft show when the State Department's Tracy Bernstein stopped to admire the work. She asked if Laurie had something with a peacock on it and Laurie pulled from a box the piece shown above. The peacock was designed by Laurie's partner, Lia Kass. The State Department's Senior Gift Officer Liza Ballantine saw the bowl and bought it. President and Mrs. Obama gave the bowl as a gift to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife during their Nov. 24 White House visit. In 1997, Laurie also made a glass ornament for the White House Christmas Tree for Bill and Hillary Clinton. Several of her pieces are on display at the Wyoming Governor's Residence in Cheyenne. FMI: http://www.thalglass.com/

Newsweek: NEA Chair Rocco Landesman uses Broadway skills to promote the arts

This profile of National Endowment for the Arts Chair Rocco Landesman, "Medici in Chief," appeared more than a month ago in Newsweek. But it's worth reading for insights on new directions for arts funding across the U.S. As many of you know, the Wyoming Arts Council gets approximately 40 percent of its budget from the Arts Endowment.

Read the entire article at http://www.newsweek.com/id/233404.

Here's an excerpt:

The just-announced "Our Town" program will use small, targeted grants to help arts organizations revitalize their communities. It draws on research showing that investments focused narrowly at the neighborhood level can produce social ties and a healthier local economy. In next year's budget request, the agency asks for $5 million to start work in 35 or so locations around the country: developing arts districts, sponsoring festivals, and commissioning murals and sculptures.

While the unusually large 2010 budget of $168 million gives Landesman more funding options than any chairman has had in more than a decade, he still calls the level "pathetic" and "embarrassing"—language that risks insulting people in and around Congress who sweat to secure even that much. (It sure seems to unnerve the NEA staff. Landesman says he had to call a meeting recently to insist once and for all that he's not going to tone down his rhetoric. "I said, 'Look, get on the page with me, because I'm not getting on the page with you.' ") Beyond limiting how much Our Town and the agency's other grants can accomplish, the small budget doesn't suit someone with Landesman's rapid metabolism. His options, he told me, are "either to tilt against the windmills and try to get our budget expanded when everybody's been cut back because of the deficit—that's unrealistic—or just pad around the agency and decide that Pacific Opera should get X and New York City Opera Y. Anybody can do that. Don't you think there are a lot of people who could do that just as well?"

"The Power olf Art" workshop in D.C.

The Lab School of Washington in Washington, D.C. will host its 17th annual workshop "The Power of Art: Teaching Students with Learning Disabilities" this spring. The Power of Art is a national competition which celebrates excellence in art education and innovative teaching methods. The Power of Art is held in conjunction with and generously sponsored by the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation.
　
The one day workshop provides art teachers with a better understanding of learning disabilities, original ways to teach, and how art can be used to teach academic skills. The Rauschenberg Foundation kindly provides hotel accommodations and limited travel funds. Because the late Robert Rauschenberg, Master of Modern Art , was not diagnosed until adulthood with dyslexia, he wanted to iterate the importance and value of art education in the classroom, especially those students with learning disabilities. His son, Chris Rauschenberg an artist and photographer will attend the workshop and meet with the teachers. This is a fantastic once in a life time opportunity for art teachers nation-wide who have a large or small population of learning disabled students.
　
FMI: http://www.labschool.org/content/powerart

Johnson wows the crowd at National Bookfest

Mystery writer and WAC fellowship recipient Craig Johnson of Ucross was one of the presenters at the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C. He read his work to some 700 people who crowded into a big tent on the National Mall. His talk is featured in a webcast at the Library of Congress web site. To watch, go to http://www.loc.gov/bookfest/2009/authors/Johnson-Craig.html

He's back home and will be reading from and signing copies of his books at locales close to his Sheridan County home. He'll be at the Clearmont Branch Library in Clearmont on Thursday, October 22, 7 p.m., and at the Tongue River Branch Library, Ranchester, on Friday, October 23, from 5:30-8 p.m.

FMI: http://www.craigallenjohnson.com/