Plans are underway for the largest National Poetry Month ever, according to the Academy of American Poets which, in April 1996 inaugurated the yearly celebration of poetry. This year the Academy is proposing that the U.S. Postal Service honor America's literary heritage with a new series of stamps devoted to the nation's poets. On their web site -- http://www.poets.org -- they invite nominations of poets for future stamps.

"During the month of April, poet cowboys and poet judges, poet cabbies and poet dentists will versify in every igloo, tepee and leaking condo in this great abstract notion of a country as we define ourselves in books, performance and happenings where the word comes first," the League of Canadian Poets, which observes National Poetry Month/Mois National de la Poesie in Canada, writes on their website at -- http://www.poets.ca "There will be someone to bless every broken spirit and every cracked sidewalk. Poems will be scribbled on walls, outhouse catalogues, napkins and notebooks as Canadians celebrate the written word...."

In April 2001, there will be a Poetry Festival at The Carl Sandburg House in Flat Rock, NC; a POETRY FOR LUNCH series featuring Iowa Writers' Workshop Graduate Students reading their work at the Iowa City, Iowa Public Library; and a celebration of the 25th anniversary of Brick Books in Toronto, Canada.

On POETRY ON THE AIR on Nevada Public Radio, students from Gilbert Magnet School will read poetry throughout the month. In Ketchikan Alaska, community members will read their favorite poems on KRBD-FM for the community's sixth annual ONE POEM A DAY WON'T KILL YOU celebration.

Among many other National Poetry Month events are:

NEW YORK CITY
March 30-April 1
Cooper Union
PEOPLE'S POETRY GATHERING

"In the spirit of the Brazilian cordel (string) poets who hold forth in marketplaces, with their poetry chapbooks strung across stalls, the Peoples Poetry Gathering stretches a clothesline of poems from around the world across the streets of Lower Manhattan."

The Gathering will transform Lower Manhattan into a poetry village for three days and nights. Poets -- including Stanley Kunitz; Robert Bly; Galway Kinnel; Yusef Komunyakaa; Ed Hirsch; Brenda Hillman; John O'Donohue; and Tracie Morris -- will join with traditional calypso duelers; logger and fisherman poets from the Pacific Northwest; a Korean P'ansori singer; Gypsy (Rom) poets and musicians; and Cambodian men and women who banter back and forth in poetry and song.

The event features day long open mics; a midnight reading of Poe in the Marble Cemetery; an evening of poets and preachers; a night of erotic poetry; a New York heavyweight poetry bout; a poetry dance party, and Oliver Platt reading Dr. Seuss. It closes with a concert by poet/rock star Patti Smith.

"City Lore and Poets House in collaboration with the Open Center, the Asia Society, Cave Canem, The Kitchen, St. Marks Church, the Poetry Society of America, Yara Arts, A Gathering of Tribes, Youth Speaks, the Culture Project, the New York Public Library and others invite you to celebrate this nation's and the world's oral and written poetries at the second People's Poetry Gathering."

For more information, visit http://www.peoplespoetry.org or call City Lore at 212-529-1955.

April 11
Town Hall
A TRIBUTE TO POET LAUREATE STANLEY KUNITZ
Last October, poet Stanley Kunitz, who is 95 years old, succeeded Robert Pinsky as U.S. Poet Laureate. A founder of the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts, and of Poets House in New York City, Kunitz taught for many years in the graduate writing program at Columbia University. His books of poetry include PASSING THROUGH: THE LATER POEMS, NEW AND SELECTED; (1995) NEXT-TO-LAST THINGS: NEW POEMS AND ESSAYS; (1985) SELECTED POEMS 1928-1958 which won the Pulitzer Prize; THE TESTING-TREE; (1971) and INTELLECTUAL THINGS. (1930) He lives in New York City and in Provincetown with his wife, the painter Elise Asher.

In this Tribute, The Academy of American Poets, in partnership with THE NEW YORK TIMES, will present Lucille Clifton; Mark Doty; Marie Howe; Galway Kinnell; Yusef Komunyakaa; Sharon Olds; Robert Pinski; Gerald Stern, and C.K. Williams reading with the Poet Laureate from his collected poems. The event is co-sponsored by Poets House, the Poetry Society of America, and the YMCA National Writers Voice.

"....Since I came to realize, in my middle years, that I was occupying two worlds at once, that of my living and that of my dying, my poems have tended to hover between them," Kunitz said in a 1997 interview with poet Mark Wunderlich in AMERICAN POET. "More recently I expressed a desire to write poems that are natural, luminous, deep, spare. ... I recognize that there is a great area of unknowing within me. I try to reach into that chaos of the inner life, to touch those words and images that will help me face the ultimate reality..."

For more information about the Tribute, call 212-274-0343 x27

WASHINGTON, DC
April 29, 2001 3:00 PM
The Holocaust Memorial Museum
CHAMBER MUSIC SERIES: HERMAN BERLINSKI'S CELAN
Steven Honigberg, Director
William Sharp, Baritone
Kathryn Honan-Carter, Mezzo-Soprano
Harold Robinson, Double Bass
Edward Newmann, Piano
The world premiere of Herman Berlinski's CELAN, inspired by the life and work of poet and Holocaust survivor Paul Celan. Also on the program: the world premiere of Lori Laitman's HOLOCAUST 1944, based on poems by Jerzy Ficowski, David Vogel, Tadeusz Rozewicz, Karen Gershon, and Anne Ranasinghe; and the Washington, DC debut of POEMS FROM THE HOLOCAUST by American composer Allan Blank.

In addition to innovative chamber pieces that convey themes related to Holocaust history, the Holocaust Memorial Museum's Chamber Music Series features works by composers who suffered under the Nazi regime, or whose works were banned during the Nazi era. All concerts are free. For more information, call 800-400-9373 or visit http://www.ushmm.org

In Provincetown, MA -- with a Keynote Address by Eileen Myles; a reading by Featured Poet Rafael Campo; a series of seminars including "Literature of The Sea"; (Jim Morgan) and "Provincetown & The Sea: An uneasy alliance"; (Kathe Izzo leading a community forum) and many associated events such as a Sunset Dune Tour with Poetry on the Beach -- poetry and the ocean-steeped heritage at the tip of Cape Cod are intertwined in THE SEA: THE THIRD ANNUAL PROVINCETOWN POETRY FESTIVAL.(April 13-16)
For more information, call 508-487-4992 or visit http://www.ptownpoets.com

In Austin, TX, the AUSTIN INTERNATIONAL POETRY FESTIVAL 2001 welcomes poets and the public to Austin, Texas "to enjoy the music, art, passion, and drama of poetry in the Capital of the Lone Star State." More than 200 poets from 22 states, Australia, Canada, Mexico, Sri Lanka, Trinidad, and the United Kingdom -- including Texas Poet Laureate James Hoggard; 1994 National Slam Champion Gayle Danley; David Watts and Joan Baranow; and Cyrus Cassells -- will be showcased in readings at bookstores, bars, coffee houses, galleries and art centers throughout Austin. (April 19-22, 2001) Sponsored by City of Austin Arts Council, Texas Commission On The Arts, Austin Writers League.
For more information, call 512- 502-8294 or visit http://aipf.org

In Sacramento, CA, Poetry Works, Poets & Writers, and The Poetry Shack will present A NIGHT OF MUSIC + SPOKEN WORD: POETS, MUSICIANS, SINGERS, DANCERS, DOOR PRIZES, + BEST OF OPEN MIC on April 21, 2001, 8:00 PM at The Poetry Shack -- featuring Angela Dee Alforque, Luke Breit, Felicia, Ted Finn, Reubi Freyja, Terry Guilford, Johnny Heart, Be Davison Herrera, Jack Herrera, Selwyn Jones, Joe Montoya, Terry Moore, Straight Out Scribes, Viola Weinberg, Cornel West & The 'Z' Jazz Trio, with special guest appearances by musicians from the groups; Draw Pinky & The Joe Montoya Band, along with other surprise musical guests. Open Mic to follow. $50.00 in cash prizes!
Info: 916-553-4510 or visit http://www.angelfire.com/ca4/poetryworks

Canadian poet P.K. Page's poem, "Planet Earth"will be read in over 100 places around the world including at Mt. Everest Base Camp and on the summit of Mt. Everest. The readings are sponsored by Dialogue Among Civilizations through Poetry. Appropriately, "Planet Earth" is a "dialogue poem" which opens with a quote from Pablo Neruda's "In Praise of Ironing". ("It has to be spread out, the skin of this planet, has to be ironed, the sea in its whiteness and the hands keep on moving, smoothing the holy surfaces.")

With the Council of Literary Magazines & Presses, (CLMP) the Academy of American Poets is sponsoring Get Some Poetry! a promotion highlighting -- with special subscription offers, excerpts, and weblinks -- the 45 literary magazines who sponsor National Poetry Month:

                    AGNI
                    AMERICAN BOOK REVIEW
                    ANOTHER CHICAGO MAGAZINE
                    BOMB MAGAZINE
                    COLORADO REVIEW
                    FENCE
                    NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW
                    NORTHWEST REVIEW
                    OPEN CITY
                    OSIRIS
                    PARNASSUS: POETRY IN REVIEW
                    PLOUGHSHARES
                    POETRY
                    POETRY FLASH
                    POTATO HILL POETRY
                    POTPOURRI PUBLICATIONS
                    SENECA REVIEW
                    SHENANDOAH
                    THE AMERICAN POETRY REVIEW
                    THE GEORGIA REVIEW
                    THE KENYON REVIEW
                    THE PARIS REVIEW
                    THE POTOMAC REVIEW
                    THE SEWANEE REVIEW
                    TIN HOUSE
                    ZYZZYVA

National Poetry Month is made possible in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency. Libraries Council, the Library of Congress' Office of the Poet Laureate and more than 100 other sponsoring organizations.

Sources/resources:

THE ACADEMY OF AMERICAN POETS - http://www.poets.org/
To find out about National Poetry Month events in your area, check out their calendar of events at http://www.poets.org/cal/ If you're hosting an event and would like them to list it on their site, go to http://www.poets.org/cal/SubmitEvents.cfm

THE LEAGUE OF CANADIAN POETS -- http://www.poets.ca

ELECTRONIC POETRY CENTER -- http://www.epc.buffalo.edu

THE LAST SUNDAY SLAM -- http://poetryscenestealers.tripod.com
San Diego's ongoing slam

DIALOGUE AMONG CIVILIZATIONS THROUGH POETRY -- http://www.dialoguepoetry.org

PEOPLE'S POETRY GATHERING -- http://www.peoplespoetry.org

"Stanley Kunitz Named Poet Laureate"
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS WEB SITE -- http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2000/00-103.html

THE HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM -- http://www.ushmm.org

THE SEA:THE THIRD ANNUAL PROVINCETOWN POETRY FESTIVAL-- http://www.ptownpoets.com

AUSTIN INTERNATIONAL POETRY FESTIVAL 2001 -- http://aipf.org

POETRY SHACK -- http://www.angelfire.com/ca4/poetryworks

THE URBAN LIBRARIES COUNCIL -- http://www.urbanlibraries.org -- will sponsor a series of "Luminous Moments" --a month-long celebration of poetry readings at major public libraries across the country h

"Governors and legislators of all parties continue to demonstrate their support for the public benefits that the arts provide their constituents. This support is reflected in the fact that appropriations to state arts agencies have more than doubled since 1992 and have exceeded the overall growth rate of state general funds for five consecutive years," says NASAA CEO Jonathan Katz. "This is due, in part, to the growing recognition of the value of the arts in learning, in economic development, and in the lives of families and communities."

According to the survey, appropriations for all state arts agencies totaled $446.9 million in 2001, up from $399.8 million in 2000. Based on this figure, per capita spending is now $1.56, which is 82 cents higher than in 1992.

However, NASAA also reports that although overall funding is up, fewer states than last year got increases, with 22 of 35 agencies receiving an increase of less than 10 percent. The overall health of state government budgets has a significant impact on the funding of state arts agencies, and the survey points out that future growth in arts appropriations is unclear since state budget growth is expected to slow.

State arts agencies provide grants to local cultural organizations, schools, community organizations and artists, as well as to other individuals and organizations. Each year, they sponsor some 28,000 grants and programs which benefit citizens in 5,600 communities, reaching almost every county in the U.S. "This is a remarkable achievement, since state arts agency budgets are a tiny fraction-.087 percent-of overall state general fund spending," NASAA emphasizes.

Sources/resources:

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF STATE ARTS AGENCIES (NASAA) -- http://www.nasaa-arts.org
NASAA is the membership organization of the nation's state and jurisdictional arts agencies. To learn more about your state's current appropriations for the arts, contact your state arts agency. State arts agency contact information and more background on their programs can be found on NASAA's website at http://www.nasaa-arts.org/new/nasaa/aoa/saadir.shtml or by calling 202-347-6352.

Expected to begin operating in the spring of 2002, the archive will offer information on many facets of the arts and culture, including nonprofit cultural organizations; artist labor markets; trends in public and private support for the arts; arts participation in America, public opinion about the arts; conflict over the arts; and arts and urban development.

Users will be able to obtain descriptive statistics based on the data or they can download files or sub-sets of files for their own analyses. "One should be able, for example, to track over time the percent of persons who have visited an art museum, read a book, or support historical preservation using various national and local surveys. Looking in detail, one could examine community resources for various types of persons families, youth, the elderly," explains Project head Ann S. Gray, data services reference librarian in the Princeton University Library's Social Science Reference Center. The Social Science Reference Center works extensively with digital data and supports reference, research and statistical data analysis in economics, politics, sociology and law.

"Better information leads to better decision-making in such fields as education, health, and social services. But there is a long history of barriers to reliable data for research about the arts and culture," emphasizes Stanley N. Katz, director of Princeton's Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies, which will work with the University's library in implementing the project.

Project head Ann Gray will work with the Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies as well as with a national group of advisers. She told Arts Wire that the Data Archive will deal primarily with numeric data files. "We will select files that we feel are useful for public policy decision making and research," she said. "For example, there are surveys of the public that ask questions about participation in the arts, such as concert attendance or participation in a local music group. There are U.S. Census Bureau data files that provide information on service industries, and the Bureau has conducted special analyses for the NEA Research Division. There have been surveys on artistic and cultural tastes, attitudes toward public spending on the arts, arts education. There are data on artists, and some current efforts to record and measure public conflict and the arts."

Recent surveys that look at the use of the Internet to gain access to and information about the visual arts, music, and literature will also be included. "These data could be used to address such questions as to what extent does Web use expose people to diverse and wide-ranging cultural sites and artistic forms, to what extent do persons gravitate to a few major sites that offer mainstream news and entertainment," Gray observed.

The Data Archive will attempt to demonstrate the utility of having quantitative cultural information available to the public, to policy makers, to the media, and to academic researchers, "with the hope that centers and arts organization that collect data will give it to us for long term storage and public access," Gray told Arts Wire.

She added that "We want to focus on high quality data and will have a resource group of experts to assist us in making those judgments. We want studies that are methodologically sound, objective, well documented, and useful."

The value of the Archive will be proportional to the number of researchers, policymakers, journalists, and members of the public that will use it as a resource for their work, Ann Gray emphasized. "We will promoting it at various venues and we will seek the support of arts service organizations, data collectors and producers, and foundations to provide us with their reactions and with their data."

In response to a question from Arts Wire about whether the archive would include artist produced information on cultural policy -- such as (if available in text format) the interviews with 300 artists, scholars in the documentary film THE NEA TAPES, produced by the artist duo Eidia -- Gray said that it is not in the plans for the first year. The initial emphasis will be on high quality numerical data. But she also said that she would not rule out housing data about works of art as well as artists' texts at some point in the future.

The Pew Charitable Trusts support nonprofit activities in the areas of culture, education, the environment, health and human services, public policy and religion. Based in Philadelphia, the Trusts make strategic investments to help organizations and citizens develop practical solutions to difficult problems. Establishing the data archive is a component of The Pew Charitable Trusts national culture program, called "Optimizing America's Cultural Resources, a five-year initiative designed to strengthen policy and financial support for nonprofit culture.

"If we want to ensure that arts and culture are bolstered by informed policy-making, we must have comprehensive and credible data to make our case convincingly," said Stephen K. Urice, the program officer in charge of the national culture initiative.

Other comprehensive electronic sources of Cultural Policy information include Americans for the Arts' NATIONAL ARTS POLICY DATABASE; the Center for Arts and Culture CULTURAL POLICY RESEARCH SCAN; and the Arts Wire CURRENT archives.

Sources/resources:

THE PEW CHARITABLE TRUSTS -- http://www.pewtrusts.com

"Princeton receives grant to create national data archive for policy and the arts"
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY -- http://www.princeton.edu/pr/news/01/q1/0307-pew.htm

THE PRINCETON UNIVERSITY CENTER FOR ARTS AND CULTURAL POLICY STUDIES -- http://www.princeton.edu/~artspol

"The NEA TAPES documentary premieres" Arts Wire CURRENT -- http://www.artswire.org/current/1999/cur092199.html#events September 9, 1999

AMERICANS FOR THE ARTS NATIONAL ARTS POLICY DATABASE -- http://camt.artswire.org/clearinghouse/index.cfm -- is a bibliographic database documenting information on the arts and culture in the United States.

CENTER FOR ARTS AND CULTURE CULTURAL POLICY RESEARCH SCAN -- http://www.culturalpolicy.org/research/scan.htm -- is a project to inventory ongoing research projects and initiatives in the field

ARTS WIRE CURRENT ARCHIVES -- http://www.artswire.org/current/archive2.html

SMALL PRESS BOOK FAIR

170 independent publishers will exhibit and sell their books at the Small Press Center during THE THIRTEENTH ANNUAL SMALL PRESS BOOK FAIR. In addition to the Small Press Co-Op Bookshop and the Readers and Writers Cafe, events include:

MARCH 24, 2001

11:00 AM - 1:15 PM
READINGS FROM SMALL PRESS AUTHORS including among others:
Judy Seto, Scheherazade AudioVisions; (drama) Charles Potts, Tsunami; (poetry) boice-Terrel Allen, Rattlecat Press; (fiction) Penny Cagan, Chatoyant; (narrative poetry) and Frank Murphy, Windsprint Press.( fiction)

2:00 PM - 3:30 PM
TWENTY FIVE YEARS OF THE BEST OF SMALL PRESSES, THE PUSHCART PRIZE
Bill Henderson, founder and publisher of the annual anthology of the most outstanding short stories, poems and essays from small presses will take a retrospective look at independent presses and discuss the importance and role of independent presses in the 21st Century -- with Joan Murray, Co-Poetry editor and Anthony Brandt, Essay Editor of the 25th edition of the Pushcart Prize. Writers published by the Pushcart Press over the past 25 years include: Raymond Carver, Rick Moody, Susan Minot, and Mary Karr.

3.30 PM to 4.30 PM
FIRST AMENDMENT PUBLISHING PANEL: FREE SPEECH UNDER FIRE
First Amendment attorney Michael Bamberger, Sonneschein, Nath & Rosenthal; David Horowitz, Executive Director, the Media Coalition; Chris Finan, President of the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression; (ABFFE) and Sander Hicks, Senior Editor, Soft Skull Press -- will take a topical look at First Amendment issues affecting publishers and booksellers. Lloyd J Jassin, Law Offices of Lloyd J. Jassin, will introduce the speakers.

MARCH 25, 2001
12.00 PM - 2:00 PM
READINGS FROM NOTED SMALL PRESS AUTHORS including:
Susan G. Miller, Kaleidoscope Kare Press; (poetry) Chia Chen, East Meets West Press; (fiction) Lauri Huyghue; (poetry) Tad Crawford, Allworth Press; (fiction) Bob Jacob, The Spirit That Moves Us Press; (poetry) and Alfred Kessler, Ken Harvey, The Spirit That Moves Us Press. (poetry)

2.30 PM - 3.15 PM
EDITH WHARTON AND LANGUAGE, LOVE AND L'AMOUR
Broadway actress, writer, and story teller Penny White will present a program, LANGUAGE, LOVE AND LUST based on the biographical writings,letters and poems of Edith Wharton, an author originally published by a small press, who has been chosen by the SPC as Small Press Author of the Year for 2001.

3.30 PM - 4.30 PM
MEET THE PUBLISHERS
An opportunity for members of the public to ask questions directly to the publishers. Panelists -- including Tad Crawford, Publisher of Allworth Press; Helene Silver, Publisher, City & Company; Cheryl Hudson, Co-Publisher, Just Us Books; and Malachi McCormack, Publisher, Stone Street Press -- will cover publishing with small presses, becoming a small press, and other relevant small press topics.

The event is a part of the March celebrations of Small Press Month, which the Small Press Center cosponsors with the Council of Literary Magazines (CLMP) to increase public awareness of independent and small presses. Small Press Month is being observed across the nation in March for the fifth year in a row.

"In a time marked by the advent of e-commerce, e-publishing and e-books, the role of small presses is rapidly changing," Small Press Month states. "Fifty thousand independent publishers account for $14.3 billion in book sales. (according to a Book Industry Study Group/Publishers Marketing Association survey published in 1999) Often able to be more flexible than the larger conglomerates, these adventurous, independent presses are effectively incorporating the latest technological and tactical marketing techniques into their publishing programs, putting them on the cutting edge of publishing today."

Admission tralia, in addition to Canada and the U.S," says Loss Pequeno Glazier, Fesitival Director and Director of the Electronic Poetry Center. "The festival will focus on works in networked and programmable media, kinetic/visual works, hypertext, and multiple practices in digital media. This festival hopes to follow in the tradition of great New Poetry festivals of the past, providing a context for readings, conversations, and social interactions and a locus for the coming together in a non-hierarchical manner of the different views, practices, and theories that define this emerging field."

Pre-festival events on the afternoon of the 18th will inaugurate the festival. Then, from April 19-21, there will be three full days of morning and afternoon panels highlighted by featured readings in the afternoons and evenings. Panels and round table discussions will provide the opportunity for digital practitioners, scholars, and electronic editors/publishers to engage in conversations on crucial, controversial, and/or critical questions about these evolving forms.

Panels include:

VOCABULARIES, OBJECTS, PROCEDURES, PART I
Charles Bernstein, Chair
Loss Pequeno Glazier (USA) - "Thinking Procedure"
Inna Kouper (Russia)
Janez Strehovec (Slovenia) "The Digital Poetry Objects"

WEB AS MEDIUM
Patrick Durgin, Chair
Bill Marsh (USA) - "Art, Organization, and Reality Brokering C. 2001"
Deena Larsen (USA) - "Exploring New Roles for Digital Poetry"
Alan Sondheim (USA) - "Avatars, Programs, Lists, and Writing"
Barrett Watten - "Beyond the Demon of Analogy: www.poetics"

E-PUBLISHING PANEL
Chris Funkhouser (USA) - "Editing and Design 2K+: the Cybertext Issue of Newark Review"
Mike Kelleher (USA) - "What Is Electronic Writing?"
Jennifer Ley (USA) - "Sustainability: On Line Publishing and the Literary Gift Economy"

Plus Digital Readings/Presentations by Lucio Agra; (Brazil) Giselle Beiguelmanl (Brazil) Nazura Rahime; (Malyasia) Xavier Leton; (Belgium) Reiner Strasser; (Germany) Jim Rosenberg; (USA) Inna Kouper; (Russia) Tammy McGovern; (USA) Katherine Parrish; (Canada) Lawrence Upton; (UK) Komninos Zervos; (Australia) the Purkinge Group; (USA) and many others.

For complete information, visit the Electronic Poetry Center web site at http://www.epc.buffalo.edu

The Council of Literary Magazines & Presses' (CLMP) annual DIRECTORY OF LITERARY MAGAZINES, published by Asphodel Press, is a comprehensive guide to the changing world of literary magazines. Containing listings for over 500 literary magazines in the United States and abroad, the Directory provides valuable information to readers, librarians, publishers, booksellers, and writers.

Information includes: type of material published; magazine description; (in the editor's own words) recent contributors; unsolicited manuscripts received/published per year; simultaneous submissions policy; reading period; payment to contributors; contact information and much more.

For more information, visit http://www.clmp.org/about/dir.html

Asphodel Press -- http://www.moyerbell.com

Deadline: May 1, 2001 - P.S. 1 CONTEMPORARY ART CENTER provides free, non-living studio space for a one-year period through its National Studio Program at the Clocktower Gallery in New York City. The Program begins September 1st and ends August 31st of the following year. P.S. 1 provides each artist with an individual and private studio space in which the artist can work within a professional and international art community. The participating artists have access to their studios seven days a week. There are no printing, photography, or welding facilities. There is a $10 application fee. For information, contact: P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center, Attn: National Studio Program, 22-25 Jackson Avenue, Long Island City, New York, NY 11101; phone 718-784-2084; email mail@ps1.org or visit http://www.ps1.org

Deadlines: May 1, 14 - THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS offers two funding opportunities to arts organizations this spring. The NEA's Challenge America Fast Track Grants help develop the arts and integrate them more fully into the life of rural and underserved communities nationwide. It challenges America's communities to build partnerships and expand understanding about the vital role of the arts in enhancing national creativity, community spirit, and the preservation of our living artistic cultural heritage. The Challenge America program's application deadline is May 1st. Secondly, the NEA awards funds to organizations that provide children and youth learning 9 opportunities in and through the arts. The Arts Learning program has an application deadline of May 14th. For information, contact: The National Endowment for the Arts, Nancy Hanks Center, 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W., Washington D.C. 20506; or visit http://www.nea.gov

Deadline: May 2, 2001 - THE FUND FOR U.S. ARTISTS AT INTERNATIONAL FESTIVALS AND EXHIBITIONS (The Fund), a public-private partnership of the National Endowment for the Arts, the U.S. Department of State, The Pew Charitable Trusts, and The Rockefeller Foundation, administered by Arts International, makes grants to individual performing artists and performing arts organizations that have been invited to participate in international festivals outside the U.S. The Fund is particularly interested in supporting applicants invited to festivals in areas of the world where U.S. work is less frequently seen, including Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The Fund supports artists working at a professional level, with U.S. citizenship or permanent resident status. Application deadlines each year are May 2nd, September 5th, and January 16th. For information, contact: Kay Takeda, Program Manager, Advised Funds & Regranting Programs, Arts International, 251 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10010; phone 212-674-9744; email: thefund@artsinternational- .org or visit http://www.artsinternational.org

Deadline: May 4, 2001: THE SUNDANCE INSTITUTE'S FEATURE FILM PROGRAM supports next generation filmmakers by offering Screenwriting and Filmmaking Laboratories each year at Sundance, Utah. Designed to offer emerging screenwriters and directors the opportunity to develop new work, the labs offer a uniquely creative environment under concentrated guidance of veteran filmmakers. Sundance is particularly committed to supporting a diverse and daring group of films while helping a variety of talented individuals develop narrative feature film projects. For information, email: featurefilmprogram@sundance.org or visit http://www.sundance.org

RPI RECEIVES $360 M GIFT FROM ANONYMOUS DONOR; NEW ELECTRONIC MEDIA AND PERFORMING ARTS CENTER AMONG FUNDED PROJECTS

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) has obtained a gift of $360 million, the largest gift ever to any public or private university in the United States, according to the Institute..

The anonymous donor who pledged $130 million to the Institute in December 2000 has now replaced the earlier gift with one almost triple in size. The earlier gift was directed toward the construction of two major facilities: The Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies and the Electronic Media and Performing Arts Center.

Positioned on this bluff overlooking the Hudson, The Electronic Media and Performing Arts Center will host intercollegiate competitions and exchanges, house shows and concerts, and provide a venue for appearances by internationally recognized figures from science, the arts and humanities, and politics -- celebrating the fact that performance and communication are central drivers in world culture, RPI states.

The Center will feature a series of performance spaces, including an 800-person auditorium, a 400-person theater, and two proposed "black box" theaters which can be reconfigured in innovative ways for experimental performances. Among the Center's goals are to facilitate access to state-of-the-art new media technologies. In addition to artist residencies and collaborations with current research at the Academy of Electronic Media, the Center will encourage the integration of electronic media and artistic endeavors in which technology is not the central focus.

The new gift is unrestricted. Among RPI's plans are to more than double its research activity and its graduate enrollment in the next five years by creating new programs in biotechnology and information technology.

For more information, visit http://www.rpi.edu

CHICAGO, IL -- For an exhibition, B(U)Y THE FOOT, which will benefit Northern Illinois University (NIU) Art Museum programs, over 50 local artists were invited to draw, write, paint, collage, print and perform other actions on rolls of drawing paper which temporarily cover the gallery walls of the NIU Art Museum.

The event began March 15, and the finished 420 linear feet of artwork will be sold for $10 per foot during closing festivities Friday, April 6. The process of creating artworks is progressive in that artists claim an area of paper -- with the possibility of other artists' works continuing, relating to, interacting with or possibly undermining earlier works.

Visitors are encouraged to drop by periodically to watch the artists work and to experience the constantly changing gallery environment as the walls are transformed during this three week period. For details, visit http://www.vpa.niu.edu/museum/buythefoot.html

The Craft Emergency Relief Fund (CERF) invites galleries throughout the United States to join together this September for the fifth annual A Month for CERF. A Month for CERF is a month-long event in which galleries across the country stage unique and creative events to raise funds and visibility for CERF, a national nonprofit organization that helps professional craftspeople suffering career-threatening emergencies.

Last year, 62 galleries from around the country participated in A Month for CERF and raised over $27,000 for professional craftspeople in crisis.

"In 2001, our goal is to have 100 galleries around the country join us in our efforts to help professional craftspeople quickly recover from emergencies and return to their work," noted CERF Executive Director, Cornelia Carey. "A Month for CERF gives galleries an easy way to pitch in and help CERF help craftspeople in need."

For information on how to support CERF and participate in A Month for CERF, call Cornelia Carey or Dave Lovald at 802-229-2306 or send an e-mail to: dave@craftemergency.org

Website: http://www.craftemergency.org

Opportunities for Artists

Members and supporters of the Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass, Pilchuck Glass School and UrbanGlass have created a special fund at the Craft Emergency Relief Fund (CERF) to help glass artists who suffered damage in the February 28 Pacific Northwest earthquake.

The Glass Earthquake Fund has been created with leadership gifts from Dale and Doug Anderson; Ann and Bruce Bachmann; Joan and Milton Baxt; Lisa and Ron Brill; the Florida Glass Art Alliance; Glass Alliance of Los Angeles; Amye and Paul S. Gumbinner; Jon and Judith Liebman; Pilchuck Glass School; and Carol and Don Wiiken.

"We are very pleased to join with CERF in establishing this special way of helping glass artists who suffered in the recent earthquake. We want glass artists to know that we have been very concerned about them in the wake of this significant natural disaster and we're here to help," said Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass and Pilchuck board member Doug Anderson.

Since February 28, CERF has spoken to a number of Seattle area glass artists who were affected by the earthquake. "Their stories range from complete devastation of work and equipment to very minor damage," noted CERF's Executive Director Cornelia Carey. "We thank Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass, Pilchuck, UrbanGlass and many others for stepping in and helping so generously by creating this fund."

The Crafts Emergency Relief Fund helps professional craftspeople sustain craftsmaking as a livelihood by providing relief to craftspeople who have suffered career-threatening emergencies in their lives. CERF is the only organization of its kind in the United States.

Sources/resources:

For more information about CERF, call 802-229-2306 or visit http://www.craftemergency.org

"Art Venues in Seattle's Pioneer Square Hit Hard by Quake"
Arts Wire CURRENT -- http://www.artswire.org/current/2001/cur031301.html
March 13, 2001

Details about these and other opportunities are available on Arts Wire's Web Site at http://www.artswire.org/current/calls.html To submit "calls" for either artists or organizations, send email to artswire@artswire.org

Deadline: ongoing, site-oriented sculptors from all over the world, especially from Eastern Europe, North America and Latin America, THE CHIANTI SCULPTURE PARK, TUSCANY, ITALY

Deadline: ongoing, original plays by women, HALLIE FLANAGAN SERIES, WINGS THEATRE COMPANY, NYC

Deadline: ongoing, artwork relating to Gay Pride, Lesbian Pride, Bisexual Pride, Transgender Pride, Queer Pride, "PRIDE", GAY ART GALLERY, WASHINGTON, DC

Deadline: ongoing, artists who reside in Fulton County and throughout the State of Georgia, PUBLIC ART ARTISTS REGISTRY, THE FULTON COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL

Deadline: for May 20th event, performances - Middle Eastern, Jewish and other world music, THE ISRAELI/PALESTINIAN CRISIS NEW CONVERSATIONS FOR A PLURALIST FUTURE AT UCLA, OPEN TENT MIDDLE EAST COALITION

Deadline: April 1, 2001, poetry, 2001 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Awards, THE POETRY CENTER AT PASSAIC COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE, NJ

Deadline April 1, 2001 - revised listing, two-dimensional works inspired by television images, "TELEVISION" TO BE INSTALLED IN THIRTY RETAIL STORES ACROSS SAN MATEO,CA

Deadline June 1 2001, Digital art created on a Macintosh computer, MACWORLD

Deadline: June 1, 2001, California visual artists all media, CALIFORNIA WORKS JURIED ART COMPETITION

Deadline: July 1, 2001, www bandits; websites that play with the ideas of highbrow vs. lo-brow, real or virtual, lost and found, PIXEL PLUNDERC, YEAR ZERO ONE

Deadline: November 15, 2001, mail art on "Love at first sight", PCAM, PORTLAND, OR

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 joblist@artswire.org

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, Integrated Arts, (Berkeley, CA)

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, Yuba Sutter Regional Arts Council, (Marysville, CA)

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR - ACTING, Department of Drama, Catholic University of America, (Washington, DC)

ARTIST IN RESIDENCE, (Part-time), (teaching/gallery/workshop), Babson College, Babson Park, MA)

UNIVERSITY ART MUSEUM REGISTRAR, Weatherspoon Art Gallery, University of North Carolina, (Greensboro, NC)

DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION & PUBLIC PROGRAMS, The Heckscher, (Huntington, NY)

EDUCATION DIRECTOR, Actors Theatre of Louisville, (Louisville, CA)

EDUCATION COORDINATOR, (Part-time), Pascal Rioult Dance, (New York, NY)

EXECUTIVE COORDINATOR, Arts International, (New York City, NY)

PRINT AND GRAPHICS COORDINATOR, Williamstown Theatre Festival, (Williamstown, MA)

MUSIC RECORDING SESSION COORDINATOR, Milken Archive of American Jewish Music, (New York City, NY)

MUSIC LIBRARY ASSISTANT/RECEPTIONIST, (independent classical music recording company) (New York City, NY)

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH AND PLANNING, Policy and the Arts National Data Archive, Princeton University, (Princeton, NJ)

DIRECTOR, MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS, University Cultural Programs, University of California, (Davis, CA)

FINANCIAL & OPERATIONS MANAGER, The Brooklyn Arts Council, (Brooklyn, New York)

DIRECTOR OF MARKETING AND PR, The African Continuum Theatre Company, (Washington, DC)

DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS AND SUPPORT SERVICES, Meany Hall for the Performing Arts, University of Washington, (Seattle, WA)

CURATORIAL ASSISTANT, Japanese Art Department, The Asian Art Museum, (San Francisco, CA)

DIRECTOR OF MARKETING AND DEVELOPMENT, (Connecticut museum)

SUPERVISOR OF GRAPHIC DESIGN, (Los Angeles museum)

GRANT WRITER, The Shakespeare Theatre, (Washington, DC)

ASSISTANT TO THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, The Bronx Museum of the Arts, (Bronx, NY)

ASSISTANT MUSEUM MAINTAINER/HANDYMAN, The Brooklyn Museum of Art, (Brooklyn, NY)

ASSISTANT TO THE DIRECTOR, Concert Halls, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Inc., (New York City, NY)

ASSISTANT TO THE VICE PRESIDENT, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Inc., (New York, NY)

INTERNSHIPS, Richard Foreman/Ontological-Hysteric Theater, (New York City, NY)

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

The BETWEEN SOUND AND VISION website-- http://www.betweensoundandvision.org -- documents an exhibition held earlier this year at Gallery 400, The University of Illinois at Chicago.

The exhibitions roots are in the extended circle of composers, performance artists, visual artists and poets associated with experimental composer, John Cage, who in 1969 edited NOTATIONS, (Something Else Press) a book of scores by over 150 artists which employ visual elements to convey suggestions for musical sounds.

Documented in the exhibition/website are graphic notations by Philip Corner, David Dunn, Dick Higgins and Yasunao Tone; sculptural instruments by Jeremy Boyle, Heri Dono, Joe Jones, Alison Knowles, Minoru Sato, (m/s) Charlotte Moorman, Carolee Schneemann, Dan Senn, William Stone, Trimpin, and Yoshi Wada; and installations by Phill Niblock, Paul Panhuysen, Achim Wollscheid and Brandon LaBelle.

Also included is work by Jack Ox which extends visual sound translation; poetry by Kenneth Goldsmith in collaboration with Joan La Barbara; and Hildegard Westerkamp's sound recordings of ambient noise which expand on Cage's famous 4' 33" and bring the exhibit full circle to its origin.

For each composer, the website offers a page with not only biographical information and lists of works but also images of the works and in some instances, sound clips.

The exhibition was curated by Hannah Higgins, Dasha Dekleva, Kristina Dziedzic, Jeremy Boyle, Laila Korn, and Nathaniel Braddock, with contributions from the Sound and Vision seminar, Department of Art History, the University of Illinois at Chicago. A CD is also available.

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 Arts and Cultural Council for Greater Rochester.

THE ARTS AND CULTURAL COUNCIL FOR GREATER ROCHESTER is the local arts agency for the Rochester, New York metropolitan region. The Council's website -- http://www.artsrochester.org -- is a collaboration between Rochester's arts and cultural organizations, including WXXI (a local PBS affiliate) and Rochester Institute of Technology. (RIT)

The site includes artists and arts organization websites of the week; opportunities; a calendar; artists community news; and resources for the arts community such as information about health insurance, legal assistance, small business assistance, taxes, and exhibition spaces.

The site currently features THE MAGYAR AMONG US, an exhibition produced by the Council which pays tribute to Hungary's culture and history, with emphasis on the revolution of 1956 -- including accounts by ten local Hungarians describing their experiences in the revolution and their perilous escapes across a border sealed by Soviet troops. "Stories and crafts connect Hungarians to their heritage Forty-five years ago, Rochester welcomed a sudden wave of new citizens from Hungary," the site states. "The Gallery at One Bausch and Lomb is the site of the Arts and Cultural Council for Greater Rochester's exhibition paying tribute to Rochester's Hungarians."

Also featured is a call from ARTWalk and the Southeast Area Coalition (SEAC) for the 2001 BENCH CONTEST. Residents in the Greater Rochester Area are invited to submit models for artistic benches or other sitting places to be installed along the stretch of University Avenue between the George Eastman House and North Goodman Street, known as ARTWalk. (Deadline May 1, 2001)

Visit the site -- which is currently produced with the help of the Ad Council and ICE Communications -- to find out more.

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) have launched SONGS OF THE CENTURY, a nationwide education initiative intended to promote a better understanding of America's musical and cultural heritage in our schools.

Scholastic Inc. will produce a curriculum for teachers, students and families that addresses core subjects through a discussion of the evolution of music from a historical, social, cultural and technological perspective.

In addition to hosting the Songs of the Century streaming audio, America Online (AOL) will provide distribution for the Songs of the Century curriculum through their AOL@SCHOOL service.

The intention is to partner with others in key areas, such as the Experience Music Project in Seattle to allow students to consider music from the technological perspective. The project will reach out to cultural and community based organizations to examine the eclectic array of songs, the evocative and entertaining nature of the repertoire and the educational value of the curriculum.

Official Songs of the Century ballots were sent out to hundreds of voters from all walks of life including local, state and federal elected officials; the music industry; teachers; members of the media and students. Participants were asked to keep in mind the historical significance of not only the song, but also of the record and artist. Voters identified 365 key recordings. SONGS OF THE CENTURY's top songs of each decade are:

DAWN OF A CENTURY (1890-1920)
Billy Murray, "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" (Victor, 1908)

THE JAZZ AGE (1920-1930)
Louis Armstrong, "When the Saints Go Marching In" (Decca, 1938)

THE GREAT DEPRESSION (1930-1940)
Judy Garland, "Over the Rainbow"(Decca, 1939)

THE SWING ERA / THE WAR YEARS (1940-1950)
Bing Crosby, "White Christmas" (Decca, 1942)

AMERICAN BANDSTAND (1950-1960)
Bill Haley & the Comets, "Rock Around the Clock" (Decca, 1955)

THE 'SIXTIES (1960-1970)
Aretha Franklin, "Respect" (Atlantic, 1967)

THE ROCK ERA (1970-1980)
Don McLean, "American Pie" (United Artists, 1971)

THE 'EIGHTIES (1980-1990)
Tina Turner, "What's Love Got to Do With It" (Capitol, 1984)

END OF THE MILLENIUM (1990-2000)
Nirvana, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (DGC, 1992)

Distributed to schools throughout the country, the Songs of the Century curriculum will help further an appreciation for the music development process, including songwriting, musicianship, recording, performing, producing, distributing and the development of cultural values. For the inaugural phase of the project, the cross-curricular program will be provided free of charge to 10,000 fifth grade teachers in key areas nationally.

For more information, visit http://www.arts.gov/endownews/news01/songs.html

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