The NWU explains that Databases such as Lexis Nexis, websites, and other new media contain thousands of articles written by freelance contributors, which originally appeared in the New York Times and many other publications. The Appeals Court decision means publishers will now have to share that revenue with freelance writers, or face potential litigation.

"This ruling is a major victory for the 5,400 free-lance writers who are members of our union, and for creative workers around the world," said Jonathan Tasini, the lead plaintiff in the case and the NWU's president. "As of this moment, a federal court has supported our view that copyrighted material is being illegally sold every day by media companies. We hope companies everywhere will come to us to negotiate a fair deal for writers rather than face a costly legal tsunami."

"The Court of Appeals has stated a simple but powerful legal principle -- publishers can't sell what they don't own," the union quotes award-winning NWU member Gerald Posner as saying. "I'm not a conglomerate. I don't have any divisions or subsidiaries. The words I write are my principle asset. By affirming that I own what I have created, the court has increased the economic value of my work, and eased the path to independent writing, research, and scholarship."

Noting that the ruling comes just as" online publishing is exploding and as many publications are expanding and leaning on freelance contributors to supplement the work of their regular staff," the NEW YORK TIMES stated that "It could force the companies to offer retroactive electronic-right payments for everything from opinion pieces submitted for op-ed pages to full-length magazine pieces, and for photographs and graphics. Alternatively, it could force the publishers to go into their databases and pull out any freelance work covered by the ruling."

However, the Times also pointed out that because many media companies now require freelance writers to sign contracts that allow electronic republication of the work without additional compensation, recent work is less likely to be effected.

The ruling overturns an earlier opinion in the case issued in 1997 by former Federal District Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor which interpreted the Copyright Act in finding that publishers were simply creating a "revision" of a print article when they sold the articles to electronic databases and other media.

In order to facilitate compensation for the electronic sale and re-sale of copyrighted works, NWU has established Publications Rights Clearinghouse, (PRC) a transaction-based licensing system for freelance writers.

"We're already sending money to writers from legal copyright usage so we can do so easily in this case," Tasini said. He noted the PRC's expanding relationship with the Copyright Clearance Center, which can handle the technical processing of thousands of daily transactions.

Sources/resources:

NATIONAL WRITERS UNION -- http://www.nwu.org/nwu
Contact: Jonathan Tasini: 212-254-0279

Felicity Barringer
"Freelance Writers Win Appeal in Copyright Suit"
THE NEW YORK TIMES -- http://www.nytimes.com
September 28, 1999

In the U.S Senate, a nonbinding resolution sponsored by Senator Robert C. Smith, (R-NH) said that federal arts funding should be withheld from the museum unless it cancels the show. The resolution was attached to the appropriations bill by voice vote, according the WASHINGTON POST.

Scott LoBaido was arrested by police outside the museum last week after he flung fistfuls of horse manure at its facade, according to CBC INFOCULTURE. LoBaido, who believes the exhibition is Catholic bashing, said he was just expressing himself creatively.

However, on October 2, SENSATION: YOUNG BRITISH ARTISTS FROM THE SAATCHI COLLECTION opened at the museum as scheduled. Chris Ofili's "Holy Virgin Mary" -- the work incorporating elephant dung to which Giuliani vehemently objected last week -- was encased in plexiglas for its protection.

"As members of the artistic community, we deplore Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's attempt to suspend funding from the Brooklyn Museum of Art over the exhibition "Sensation: Young British Artists from the Saatchi Collection," began a full-page letter published by the PEN America Center in the NEW YORK TIMES. "We support the creative and curatorial independence of the Museum and of other cultural institutions and believe that government should not be allowed to make its support of the arts subject to the personal aesthetic or religious views of public officials. Such a development would seriously compromise the artistic freedom and vitality that have made New York City a world capital for the arts, literature and culture."

The letter was signed by Woody Allen, Ida Applebroog, Eric Bogosian, Chuck Close, Joan Didion, E.L. Doctorow, Jeanne Finley, Spalding Gray, Barbara Kruger, Tony Kushner, Steve Martin, Joyce Carol Oates, Grace Paley, George Plimpton, Rob Reiner, Martha Rosler, Robert Wilson and many others, including art dealer Mary Boone who, according to the Times, was arrested last week because her current exhibition -- sculptor Tom Sachs -- features a vase full of live 9-millimeter cartridges for visitors to take home as souvenirs.

ARTNET.COM MAGAZINE reports that New York art institutions also expressed their support for the museum last week in a letter sent to the Mayor. The letter was signed by Philippe de Montebello, director of the Metropolitan Museum, Glenn D. Lowry, director of the Museum of Modern Art, and 22 other representatives of museums and art organizations.

And on the Friday evening before the exhibition opened, the New York Civil Liberties Union organized a protest rally and candlelight vigil in front of the museum.

"I share the feeling that I know many New Yorkers have that there are parts of this exhibit that would be deeply offensive," the Washington Post quotes Hilary Clinton, who is expected to run against Giuliani for U.S. Senate, as saying. "I would not go to see this exhibit." But she also emphasized that "it is not appropriate to penalize and punish an institution such as the Brooklyn Museum."

In a New York Times review of the show, Michael Kimmelman called the exhibition "uneven." "The best work in the exhibition basically does what all good art should do: It makes you think," Kimmelman wrote. "That includes Ofili's art. He has several large pictures in the show, all of them incorporating elephant dung, one way or another. They're basically abstract, brightly colored, meticulously made works of swirling shapes and beautifully stippled surfaces, throwbacks to 60's psychedelic art, with occasional bits of text woven into them, conveying a lightness of spirit that has to be weighed against what his detractors are now saying about him."

However, Kimmelman also noted that "...the failure to predict at least that 'Sensation' might genuinely hurt people who are not art insiders, accustomed to what young artists do, suggests the extent to which the art world is out of touch."

The Times reports that the museum is expected to ask Judge Nina Gershon of Federal District Court in Brooklyn to order the city to make the payment. While the Mayor can hold up the check, by law the City Council has final authority over spending and the budget.

The city's lawsuit claims the exhibit violates terms in a lease requiring the museum "to educate and enlighten school children and the public," and to provide free admission on most days, according to an Associated Press report on the FREEDOM FORUM web site. The museum did not intend to allow children under 17 to view the exhibition unless accompanied by an adult, and Exhibit tickets are $9.75.

But artnet.com, which called the city's lawsuit "an ironic spin on family values", reports that last week the museum's board voted to remove the age restriction.

BACK STAGE commented that as New York City mayor, Giuliani has a solid history of attempting to slash the Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) budget -- proposing a 75% cut in his last budget. He also wanted cultural programs and institutions to raise private funding in order to be eligible for DCA funds. "In fact, one gets the sense that the mayor, if he thought he could get away with it, would sell all the city property he could including cultural institutions such as City Center and the Public Theater in a move toward privatization of the arts," Back Stage concluded..

In its extensive coverage of the controversy, earlier in the week the Times reported that Deputy Mayor Joseph J. Lhota, Deputy Mayor Randy L. Levine and the city's Corporation Counsel, Michael D. Hess, accused the museum of "hucksterism" and of perpetrating a "scam" by conspiring with Christie's to enrich British collector Saatchi by inflating the value of his art collection.

The Times noted that to avoid conflicts of interest, some museums do not exhibit private collections unless they have been promised to the museum. However, both Christie's, which has sponsored many international exhibitions, and the museum said the accusations were unfounded.

MAJORITY SAY BMA SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO SHOW SENSATIONS

A majority of Americans say the Brooklyn Museum of Art should be allowed to display the controversial SENSATION exhibit, according to a new poll conducted last week by the First Amendment Center and the Center for Survey Research and Analysis at the University of Connecticut.

The Freedom Forum reports that by a margin of 57% to 39%, Americans agreed that the museum should have the right to show the exhibit. Likewise, a majority of Americans (60%) say that the government should not be able to ban the exhibit even though public funds are used to support the Museum.

"These results are good news for artists on two fronts: Most Americans believe that art is valuable enough to be funded by government and important enough to be protected from government," said Kenneth A. Paulson, executive director of the First Amendment Center. "The First Amendment doesn't require government to fund art. But once a funding decision is made, government officials cannot withhold money because they disapprove of specific ideas. This survey suggests that Americans understand and respect that distinction."

Sources/resources:

Associated Press
"First Lady Defends Museum"
THE WASHINGTON POST -- http://www.washingtonpost.com
September 28, 1999

David M. Herszenhorn
"Brooklyn Museum Accused of Trying to Lift Art Value"
THE NEW YORK TIMES -- http://www.nytimes.com
September 30, 1999

Associated Press
"Senate Balks at Museum Funds"
THE WASHINGTON POST -- http://www.washingtonpost.com
Thursday, September 30, 1999

Andy Newman
"Art Dealer Is Arrested for Exhibition of Live Ammunition"
THE NEW YORK TIMES -- http://www.nytimes.com
September 30, 1999

The Associated Press
"NYC strikes back, files suit to evict Brooklyn Museum"
FREEDOM FORUM -- http://www.freedomforum.org

Roger Armbrust
"Rudy G. vs BMA Merely Mayor As Republican"
BACK STAGE -- http://www.backstage.com/

John Kifner
"Culturati View Controversial Art Exhibit in New York"
THE NEW YORK TIMES -- http://www.nytimes.com
October 1, 1999

"Protester hurls dung at Brooklyn Museum"
CBC INFOCULTURE -- http://www.infoculture.cbc.ca/
October 1, 1999

Michael Kimmelman
"'Sensation': After All That Yelling, Time to Think"
THE NEW YORK TIMES -- http://www.nytimes.com
October 1, 1999

"Majority of public support Brooklyn Museum's First Amendment right to display controversial art"
THE FREEDOM FORUM -- http://www.freedomforum.org

"Brooklyn Museum Sues Mayor Giuliani"
ARTNET.COM MAGAZINE -- http://www.artnet.com/magazine/frontpage.html

"NYC Mayor Guiliani Threatens to Withhold Brooklyn Museum"
Arts Wire CURRENT -- http://www.artswire.org/current/1999/cur092899.html
September 28, 1999

PEN AMERICA CENTER -- http://www.pen.org/
Visit the site to sign the petition

CHICAGO, IL -- last week The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) and Performing Arts Chicago (PAC) announced a new partnership, according to the Chicago SUN-TIMES.

"The missions of our two institutions are so intertwined," the Sun-Times quotes Susan Lipman, PAC artistic director as saying. "We're both committed to challenging, innovative work, to supporting artists in every way possible and to bringing the best of such artists' work to Chicago audiences."

The two institutions will share performance spaces, housing for visiting artists, and will jointly work on education and audience building. The partnership will also foster collaborations between visual and performing artists, and technology transfer -- with, forinstance, SAIC's electronic sound department collaborating with new musicians booked by PAC.

Sources/resources:

Hedy Weiss "2 of Chicago's cultural groups are linking up"
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES -- http://www.suntimes.com
September 30, 1999

SCHOOL OF THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO (SAIC) -- http://www.artic.edu

NEW YORK CITY, NY -- As announced earlier this year, the American Symphony Orchestra League has moved its headquarters to New York City. The new office is located at: 33 West 60th Street, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10023-7905 Telephone 212- 262-5161; Fax 212-262-5198

Also, as planned, the League will maintain a smaller Washington, D.C. office, primarily for its government affairs department, at the current address (please note new suite number): 1156 15th Street, NW, Suite 805, Washington, D.C. 20005-1704 Telephone 202-776-0212; Fax 202-776-0224

The executive offices and all other departments, including the editorial office of SYMPHONY magazine, management and artistic services, member services, development, and human resources and administration have moved to Manhattan.

Sources/resources:

AMERICAN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA LEAGUE -- http://www.symphony.org/

"American Symphony Orchestra League Moves Headquarters to NYC"
Arts Wire CURRENT -- http://www.artswire.org/current/1999/cur062299.html
June 22, 1999

WASHINGTON, DC -- The U.S. Senate has voted final passage of the FY2000 Interior Appropriations Bill -- including a $5 million increase for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and a $5 million increase for the National Endowment for the Humanities, (NEH) bringing NEA to a proposed funding level of $103 million and NEH to $115.7 million, according to the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies. (NASAA) A House-Senate conference committee, scheduled to begin last week, will reconcile the Senate's proposed increases with the level funding for NEA and NEH contained in the bill passed by the House. Source:

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF STATE ARTS AGENCIES (NASAA) WEB SITE -- http://www.nasaa-arts.org

MIAMI BEACH, FL -- As the City of Miami Beach Cultural Arts Council formally announces its grant recipients for the 1999/2000 arts season, a new study released by the City of Miami Beach has revealed that the Beach economy gets a $100 million boost from its vibrant arts community. Miami Beach performing arts is the most dynamic economic driver in terms of creating wealth and opportunity in Miami Beach according to the 1999 Economic Impact Study conducted by Florida International University (FIU) for the Mayor's Economic Council.

"Cultural arts are woven into the fabric of the Miami Beach community, they're part of the attraction as to why people want to live here and visit here," said City of Miami Beach Mayor Neisen Kasdin. "The distinctive flavor of arts and culture in Miami Beach is a product of Miami Beach's unique personality and the FIU study proves it's in the city's best interest to devote energy and resources to the arts."

The FIU study shows that the arts scene has never been stronger, with culture as the number one potential economic driver for Miami Beach. Every dollar spent on producing performing arts in Miami Beach generates at least $2.55 in revenue for the community, whereas hotel/lodging and real estate generate $1.87 and $1.73 per dollar respectively.

For more information contact Mailly Madrigal at madrigal@nixongroup.com

OUTRAGEOUS: SPECTACULAR VISUAL COMMERCE AND ITS DISCONTENTS
1999 SPE Western Regional Conference and Exhibition

"An emphasis on spectacle and consumerism continues to shape late twentieth-century visual culture, including the contemporary art market. Art and photography that embrace the values and pleasures of consumerism often find wide acceptance and large audiences. Work that is critical of dominant values, on the other hand, is often misrecognized, misunderstood or dismissed as ;politically correct'. Given these conditions, how will oppositional art and criticism survive in the future? The 1999 Western Regional SPE conference will examine the relationships among art and commercial interests in an effort to clarify the place of critical thought in visual commerce."

The conference will start Friday Evening with an opening reception for a show of the same title juried by Bruce Yonemoto. Saturday, November 13th will be a full day of panels and speakers, beginning at 10 AM ending at 7 PM.

Sessions include:

"Snapshots Felix Gonzalez-Torres, an exhibition and catalogue initiated by Art Resources Transfer", presented by Meong Hwa Jeong

"The New Americans a virtual migrant dialogue" presented by Ruben Martinez

"Infiltrators, Subversives, and Information Providers- The Convergence of Art and Commerce" with rTmark, Dr. Ben Attias, Todd Gray, and others

"Projections intermission images and Other Interventions" with David Antin, Karen Atkinson and Anne Bray

and more.

Society for Photographic Education (SPE) is a nonprofit, national membership organization dedicated to providing a forum for the understanding of new and traditional photographic media as a means of expressing creativity and cultural insight. For more information, contact Hillary Mushkin at hmushkin@scrippscol.edu tel: 909-607-4434
SPE website: http://www.spenational.org/

AIRWORLD RADIO

Thundergulch and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council present Kevin and Jennifer McCoy's AIRWORLD RADIO THE VOICE OF GLOBAL CAPTIAL. Broadcasting from the heart of New York City's financial district, Airworld Radio is an automated, algorithmically controlled monolog of consumer culture, created by sampling from the spectrum of corporate PR language. Airworld Radio broadcasts from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM, Monday through Friday on 87.9 FM, providing a soundtrack for the after work commute. Airworld Radio is best received from below 14th street in Manhattan, or from Jersey City, New Jersey. A simulcast can also be heard at http://www.airworld.net

For more information, contact Thundergulch at email tgulch@artswire.org web site: http://www.thundergulch.org

THE POCKET PROJECT:
A COLLABORATIVE WORK BY WOMEN ARTISTS OF NEW MEXICO AND NEW YORK

The pockets are a collaborative project involving two groups of women artists, Rainbow Artists of New Mexico and Entitled, Black Women Artists of New York. Each group is based on the principle of inclusion, and provides a sisterhood and a sanctuary for its members.

"The exhibit is very innovative in that it combines the traditional sewing skills of women with modern mixed media methods," Albuquerque artist Thora Guinn told Arts Wire. "Each artist produced a large pocket which contains significant materials or designs to tell a special part of that woman's story. For example, the Rainbow Artist coordinator of the exhibit, Edna McIver, produced a pocket upon which are the mementos of her mother's daily life."

There will be close to fifty artists and fifty pockets in the exhibition. Some of the participating artists from Entitled are Cora Marshall from New Britain, CT; Marcia Odle' McNair from Westbury, NY; Jamillah Jennings from Brooklyn NY; and Gail Shaw Clemons from New York, NY. Some of the Rainbow Artists participating in the exhibit in addition to Edna McIver are Joan Fenicle of Placitas, New Mexico; Pat Ryan of Albuquerque, New Mexico; Fran Whitside and Thora Guinn also of Albuquerque New Mexico.

The groups have plans for a venue in New York for The Pockets Projects in the coming months. For more information, contact Thora Guinn at email: tandt@umn.edu

The Rainbow Artists' web site is http://www.rainbowartists.com
The web site for Entitled is http://www.entitled-bwartists.com/

Following is a small sample from the searchable database of current funding opportunities for artists and arts groups available in Arts Wire's MONEY conference to Arts Wire subscribers. To add your listings to MONEY send email to zarwan@artswire.org Please mention Arts Wire when you apply. MONEY is compiled by Elijah Zarwan.

November 9: MEDIA ALLIANCE seeks entries for its 2000 Media Action Grant, which provides organizations with up to $1000 in support for media arts conferences, workshops and events designed to strengthen upstate media arts communities and networking at the statewide level. Events should take place between January 1 and June 30, 2000. Grant money is not intended to duplicate funds from the New York State Council on the Arts. Contact: Media Alliance, c/o WNET, 450 W 33rd St, New York, NY 10001, e-mail mediaactiongrant@hotmail.com, or phone (212) 560-2919.

December 4: RCCA: THE ARTS CENTER seeks entries for two exhibitions to celebrate the opening of their new 36,000 square foot facility in downtown Troy, New York. Blurred Boundaries is a curated group show of fine art and crafts reexamining the traditional boundaries between these two disciplines, while Factory Direct will examine the connection between art and industry. To request a prospectus, call (518) 273-0552, extension 222.

December 8: The NEW YORK FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS COMMUNITY ASSETS PROGRAM offers grants of $40,000 to support the infrastructure of groups with budgets of between $100,000 and $1 million. For more information, contact NYFA, Community Assets Program, 155 Avenue of the Americas, 14th Floor, New York, NY 10013, or call (212) 366-6900, extension 345.

December 15: GREENWICH HOUSE POTTERY'S ANNUAL JURIED EXHIBITION, "Artists on their Own," seeks submissions. Work in ceramic and ceramic mixed-media, whether sculptural, functional, or ceramic-based installation art from artists without exclusive gallery affiliations will be considered. Send #10 SASE to Jane Harstook Gallery, Greenwich House Pottery, 16 Jones Street, New York, NY 10014 for prospectus. $20 application fee.

January 31: GLIMMER TRAIN PRESS seeks entries for its Very Short Fiction Award. $1200 prize plus publication for stories of less than 2,000 words. For further information, contact the press at 710 SW Madison St, Suite 504, Portland, OR 97205, or call (503) 221-0836.

January 31: The MARIE WALSH SHARPE ART FOUNDATION - offers free studio space in Tribeca to fourteen artists through their Space Program, 1999. For more information, please send SASE to 711 North Tejon Street, Suite B, Colorado Springs, CO 80903 or call (719) 635-3220.

The Department of Commerce's Telecommunications and Information Infrastructure Assistance Program (TIIAP) promotes the widespread availability and use of advanced telecommunications technologies in the public and nonprofit sectors. As part of the Department's National Telecommunication and Information Administration (NTIA), TIIAP awards grants for model projects, demonstrating innovative uses of network technologies.

1998 TIIAP awards included $375,000 to the University of Colorado at Boulder for using Internet-based technology to provide rural areas and people with disabilities access to performing arts; application is now.

An application that outlines the program's goals and objectives and is available at http://www.ntia.doc.gov/otiahome/tiiap/Application/Applicat.html It is valid only for the FY1999 Grant Round, and should be considered informational. For a copy of the published version, send email to tiiap@ntia.doc.gov or a fax to 202-501-5136

TIIAP NETWORKS FOR PEOPLE CONFERENCE

TIIAP will hold its annual NETWORKS FOR PEOPLE conference on November 1-2, 1999, at the Key Bridge Marriott Hotel in Arlington, Virginia. The forum is an opportunity for leaders, including those from arts and culture programs, and/or for potential TIIAP applicants to discuss how people are using information technology to change the way they live.

On November 1, Keynote Speaker Gary Chapman, Director of the 21st Century Project University of Texas at will talk about "Where is Information Technology Taking Us?" Sessions include "Network Technologies and Organizations"; "Cutting Edge Technology on an Outdated Budget"; "Sustaining Telecommunications Technology Projects When the Federal Money Stops"; and "Haves and Have-Nots: Case Studies in Bridging the Digital Divide".

Plenary sessions on November 2 will focus on "Creating the Global Village" and "Foundations and the Future".

For more information on both the TIIAP Program and the Conference and/or for online registration for the conference, visit http://www.ntia.doc.gov fax: 202-501-5136

Opportunities for Artists

This conference offers the chance to meet in a physical space to talk about the nature of writing and reading on the internet today. They invite papers which debate, discuss or demonstrate:

TEXT : NARRATIVE : INVENTION

TEXT : COMMUNITY : CREATIVITY

TEXT : PUBLISHING : OWNERSHIP

For more information visit http://trace.ntu.ac.uk/incubation/ The complete call is also available at http://www.artswire.org/current/calls.html

Deadline: February 15, 2000, proposals for tea cups, CELESTIAL SEASONINGS: A LOOSE INTERPRETATION V, JURIED COMPETITION AND EXHIBITION

Deadline: February 18, 2000, Film, Video, Arizona State University Art Museum, 4th Annual OUTDOOR SHORT FILM AND VIDEO FESTIVAL

emerging & professional artists who have completed their formal education, NFAA FELLOWSHIPS IN THE VISUAL ARTS, residencies, Miami Beach, Florida

Details about these and other opportunities are available on Arts Wire's Web Site at http://www.artswire.org/current/calls.html

MANAGING DIRECTOR AMERICAN FESTIVAL / APPALSHOP CENTER PROJECT, (Whitesburg, KY)

STUDIO MANAGER, Dance Gallery Foundation, (Ann Arbor, MI)

INTERACTIVE DIGITAL ART PROFESSOR, Department of Media Study
SUNY/Buffalo, (Buffalo, NY)

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH, Creative writing/fiction, Colorado State University, (Fort Collins, CO)

PUBLIC ART COORDINATOR, (Library & Recreation/ Cultural Arts), (Aurora, CO)

PROJECT ASSOCIATE, Open Studio: The Arts Online, Benton Foundation, (Washington, DC)

EXHIBITION DESIGNER / PREPARATOR, The Art Gallery at the University of Maryland, (College Park, MD)

REGISTRAR, ExhibitsUSA, (Kansas City, MO)

INSTRUCTOR/ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT, Cumberland County Playhouse, (Crossville, TN)

ADMISSIONS RECRUITER FOR MUSIC, California Institute of the Arts, School of Music & Office of Admissions, (Valencia, CA)

DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR, Art in General, (New YOrk City, NY)

(OFFICE MANAGER), BRIC/Brooklyn Information & Culture Inc.
(Brooklyn, NY)

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT, TADA!, (New York City, NY)

GALLERY EDUCATOR, GALLERY INTERN, The Queens Library Gallery, (Jamaica, New York)

Details about these and other jobs are available on Arts Wire's Web Site at http://www.artswire.org/current/jobs.html

To submit jobs to ARTS WIRE CURRENT JOBS, send email to artswire@artswire.org

Details about these and other jobs are available on Arts Wire's Web Site at http://www.artswire.org/current/jobs.html To submit jobs to ARTS WIRE CURRENT JOBS, send email to artswire@artswire.org

A growing list of links to job resources for artists and arts administrators is available on Arts Wire's Web Site at http://www.artswire.org/current/jobres.html

"Weblogs" -- such as Chicago-based ARTSCOPE.NET which continues to feature links to both Chicago and International news sources -- are making international arts news more accessible.

"I created ArtScope.net out of a vacuum for just such a thing here in Chicago, says Richard Donagrandi, who has a BFA in studio art from Michigan State, but makes a living from Internet development. "ArtScope.net seemed like a 'perfect-fit' opportunity. Chicago has a very lively and interesting arts community that goes largely unexplored by the general arts media. I felt Chicago needed a platform to express itself, and I had the skills and opportunity to make it."

Donagrandi says he used more technical-based online communities as a model for ArtScope.net which launched a year ago in August 1998. ArtScope.net hopes to be a vibrant arts community with the message board, and show directories, site reviews, reviews and news, and it will be expanding into an online gallery this fall.

"I just 'acquired' three performing arts correspondents; so we will also be expanding our performing arts coverage very soon, Donagrandi told Arts Wire. "ArtScope.net is building slowly, but solidly."

ARTS JOURNAL

Launched last month, ARTS JOURNAL is a daily digest of arts and cultural journalism which monitors and collects arts stories from more than 100 North American and European newspapers and magazines and posts direct links to the stories on the Arts Journal site at http://www.Artsjournal.com

"Very few publications make it obvious where their arts writing lurks," says editor Douglas McLennan, formerly arts columnist and arts reporter with the SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER. "It's usually hidden in sections with names anything other than 'arts.'"

McLennan, who grew up in Winnipeg, Canada, is a concert pianist who has performed internationally including a year as artist in residence at Beijing's Central Conservatory where he was the first Westerner on the piano faculty. "I also studied art history for a year at Columbia, and am very interested in the visual arts," he told Arts Wire. Three years ago he won a Pew sponsored National Arts Journalism fellowship, and he is currently working to develop a "Nightline"-style national weekly arts newsmagazine for public television.

"By far most of the arts writing out there is about popular culture - movies especially, and a lot of arts writing is not very informed - a lot of puff and fluff not reported critically," McLennan observes. "But there are some good writers out there too, and sometimes in some unlikely places."

The Arts Journal site which last week highlighted (among many other things) several Canadian censorship stories from the TORONTO GLOBE AND MAIL -- "Canadian Artist's Work Banned from Show: No dung - it's a robe made of maxi-pad feminine hygiene products" and "Cries of Censorship and Naivete: Photographs of Tibet" -- also features an "Arts Beat" column every weekend, which is available via email.

"I think there really is an audience for arts journalism if it's done well. It's just that editors often seem to think they have to write (or broadcast) down to an audience to get anyone to watch," McLennan says. "I happen to think it's the opposite -- give people something to challenge them and they'll pay attention."

ABSOLUTEARTS.COM

ABSOLUTEARTS.COM -- http://www.absolutearts.com -- is an arts news service from the Columbus, Ohio based World Wide Arts Resources.

The site highlights museum and gallery and some alternative artspace exhibitions, as well as arts advocacy and news.

"Each day we publish arts related stories which include images and links to related websites, explains Jodi Melfi, World Wide Arts Resources. Abstracts from the daily web publication are available three times a week via email.

"We launched absolutearts.com at the end of July 99 after recognizing a need for arts news every day, not just weekly or monthly," Melfi told Arts Wire. "Our goal is to include arts news from around the world, although this is a challenge as the arts world outside of the US is just coming online."

Sources/resources:

ARTSCOPE.NET -- http://www.artscope.net

ABSOLUTEARTS.COM -- http://www.absolutearts.com
WORLD WIDE ARTS RESOURCES -- http://www:http://wwar.com

ARTS JOURNAL -- http://www.Artsjournal.com

Arts Wire's website at http://www.artswire.org is a central place to visit the cyberhomes of the diverse artists and art organizations who are Arts Wire members. This week CURRENT invites readers to visit the home page of THE COMMUNITY ARTS NETWORK.

THE COMMUNITY ARTS NETWORK, (CAN) an innovative linkage of the academic with the professional, partners the resources of Virginia Tech with those of the Art in the Public Interest (API) project, promotes information exchange, research and critical dialogue within the field of community-based arts, -- "that is, art made as a voice and a force within a specific community of place, spirit or tradition," the project writes on the CAN web site at http://www.communityarts.net/

Launched this summer, the CAN Web Site includes APINEWS; The CAN Reading Room; The Community Arts Training Directory; and CAN Archive.

APINews is a frequent newsletter reporting items of interest in the field of community-based arts throughout the United States and elsewhere -- such as "Capturing Your Community's Identity Through Literature," a guidebook from the Hub City Writers Project in Spartanburg, S.C. which is profiled in the current issue. APINews is edited by Linda Frye Burnham and Steven Durland, co-directors of API and former editors of HIGH PERFORMANCE magazine.

The CAN Reading Room is an online repository of articles, essays and other written materials. Currently it includes a report to the National Art Education Association (NAEA) Board of Directors on the use of arts grade points in the computation of the grade-point averages.

The Community Arts Training (CAT) Directory, a listing of trainers and training services in community-based artmaking throughout the U.S., is a project of the Community Arts Training Consortium, a national consortium originally called together by Kathie deNobriga and Alternate ROOTS.

CAN Archive is a repository of historic documents from the field of community-based arts, housed in The Special Collections Division of Virginia Tech's Newman Library.

Visit the site for more information.

ELSEWHERE ON THE NET

SEATTLE, WA -- Despite the fact that The U.S. Department of Education, the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, the National Association of Secondary School Principals, the National School Boards Association, the United States Conference of Mayors, and many arts education associations, groups and agencies have recommended the study of arts as part of the high school requirement for graduation, 65% of the higher-education institutions reporting that they compute grade-point averages (GPA) do not count grades in art, drama, dance or music, according to APINEWS. (based on a report to the National Art Education Association (NAEA) Board of Directors by NAEA Executive Director Thomas Hatfield)

"it is a disservice to the nation's students to have high-school arts graduation requirements in 32 of 51 states and university arts entrance requirements when admissions policies are in place that do not include arts course grades in the compilation of the GPA or to weight grades in arts courses," the report states. "It also seems inconsistent for institutions of higher education to circulate in recruitment literature notions of excellence in learning and intelligence, to establish arts departments and schools of the arts, to offer advance degrees in the arts, but not include an applicant's grades in the arts when grade point averages are calculated."

Sources/resources:

"Arts Grades Don't Count, Says Report"
APINEWS -- http://www.communityarts.net/api/apinews.html
Issue #2, September 1999
A summary of the report is included in The CAN Reading Room http://www.communityarts.net/readingroom/artgrades02.html

NATIONAL ART EDUCATION ASSOCIATION WEB SITE -- http://www.naea-reston.org
For a copy of the 18 page GPA Arts Report write to NAEA at 1916 Association Drive, Reston, VA 21091.