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Arts Wire CURRENT features news updates on social, economic, philosophical, and political issues affecting the arts and culture. Your contributions are invited.
Contact Judy Malloy, editor.

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• Reports of Arts Community Losses Accumulate as Artists and Arts Administrators Cope with the Aftermath of Disaster; Stories of Survival and of Helping Hands Bring Light in the Darkness; In Union Square, Shrines Express a Collective Grief

• As Americans Gather to End Terrorist Attacks, Freedom of Expression is a Vitally Important Liberty: Bipartisan Coalition Urges Protection of America's Constitutionally Guaranteed Freedoms

• President Nominates Michael Hammond, Dean of the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, as New NEA Chair
• Bruce Cole confirmed as Chair of NEH
• MAAA Exec Dir Henry Moran Appointed Exec Dir of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities

• Conferences:
  The National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts: CREATING DIALOGUES

• Help for Artists and Organizations Impacted by WTC Attack:
  Government Agencies Provide Assistance with Housing or Work Space Needs, Income Loss
  Links to Other Resources
  FORD Foundation Commits $10 Million for Disaster Relief Including for Nonprofits
  CERF Provides Disaster Relief to Craftspeople
• Opportunities for Artists:
  Santa Fe Art Institute Offers Free Residencies to Artists Whose Spaces Have Been Compromised by the Terrorism
  Current Calls
• Job Opportunities:
  

• Elsewhere on the Net:
  Michael Richards, 1963 - 2001

Sculptor Michael Richards, whose studio in the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's (LMCC) World Views residency program was on the 92nd floor of Tower One, has been confirmed dead.

Located at 5 World Trade Center, (WTC) the offices of the LMCC were destroyed. The studio of the experimental theater company 3- Legged Dog, located in the shadow of the WTC, was also demolished.

Painter/printmaker Myrna Burks, whose studio is in the disaster zone at 75 Warren Street, now has no place to work. About 30 years of her work is stored in the space, which, as of last week, was inaccessible.

"We had a studio in the World Trade Center. On the 92nd floor of Tower 1. Until yesterday," the art/architecture collaborative Ocean Earth wrote on September 12, 2001. (in a statement published on The Douglas Kelley Show)

Ocean Earth's WTC studio was provided through the LMCC World Views residency program. But fortunately -- because of forthcoming exhibitions at the Rockford Art Museum in Illinois and at Spacex Gallery in Exeter, England -- not much of their work was destroyed. The work is described in their statement as offering "a vision of a world not dependant on petroleum and free of the conflicts and hostilities attending our reliance upon it."

Theaters in the area have been particularly hard hit. Tribeca Playhouse, (run by the Worth Street Theatre) Soho Rep, The Flea Theatre, and Access Theatre are all located below Canal Street.

"A major source of income for these companies comes from renting their space to other companies as performance venues," emphasizes Mark Rossier, The Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York. (A.R.T./NY) "They have seen a huge number of cancellations, in addition to lost box office revenue. This is the group which has seen the heaviest impact, and because of the continued uncertainty about when the neighborhood will return to normal, they are likely to continue to be hardest hit."

Additionally, Rossier reports that eleven theatres below 14th Street were closed Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday missing performances and losing ticket income.

"Even after opening on Friday, many found business slow because of audience uncertainty about going into those neighborhoods," he added. "Finally, New Georges and Lost Tribe Theatre had scheduled performances in the Ohio Theatre and on the Yankee Clipper, (which is docked at Pier 25) respectively. They have had to cancel performances and have lost press coverage."

"Now, we walk memory's long marathon to honor our 5,000 dead
now we watch a million New Yorkers work courageously together to meet the initial test
daily tasks small to heroic, delivering socks, pulling two-ton
girders off fallen firefighters atop creaky broken floors
ignoring fear everpresent, unknown particles filling the air-
now we see whether Americans can meet the next human challenge:
Protect the innocent & reject Terror in all its disguises,
even strutting on TV in our own leaders' garb?
Or merely act a mirror of its latest highrise profile?
The sometimes bitter juices of justice, law, human rights, & peace?
Or shot after shot of eternal bloodthirst?
Eliot Katz, WHEN THE SKYLINE CRUMBLES, September 2001

The staff of the Lower East Side Tenement Museum (located about four blocks from the World Trade Center) staff are all safe.

"As thousands of people staggered up Allen Street from the Financial District, the Museum opened its offices and tenement building to minister to the dazed and dusty survivors," President and Founder Ruth J. Abram writes on the Tenement Museum's web site. "Providing water, food, and bathrooms, the Museum staff made sandwiches, applied bandages and ice packs, helped people clean up and contact their loved ones, listened when people needed to talk, and offered hands and hugs to anyone in need."

In a Message to the Tisch School of the Arts Community, Dean Mary Schmidt Campbell writes: "Many members of our community witnessed aspects of the day's events. A number of our students had to evacuate their dormitories. Still others lost family members or friends. All of us here were deeply impacted emotionally."

On the Tisch website, she reports that the school community, along with countless New Yorkers, responded to this tragedy with incredible generosity, compassion and caring -- giving blood, volunteered for long stretches at nearby St. Vincent's Hospital, opening up their dorm rooms or homes to displaced students.

All of the staff, of The New York Council for the Humanities, which is located 200 yards from the site of the World Trade Center collapse, were able to escape the area without injury. However, their phones are out and as of last week they were not able to access their office. October National Humanities month events will go on as scheduled, they report.

On the morning of September 11, Simon Fulford, Executive Director of Art Start, was on his way to a computer store (which opened at 9 AM two blocks from the World Trade Center) when he saw on the sidewalk a small bird which had flown in to the window of an office building and broken its neck. "As I stepped over it I thought how sad that was and that, seeing as nobody would really take notice, it would simply be swept up and end up in the trash. What an awful burial, I thought. I stopped, picked it up and buried it in a flower bed just a few feet away. I then continued on to the train," he writes by email.

He arrived at the concourse between the first and second explosions and was able to get away safely. In relating his story, Fulford urges that our country take into consideration the consequences of bombing a country such as Afghanistan -- both on innocent people in that country and on the needs of the homeless and of children in our own country.

"At every fire station, at least in this area, are mounds of flowers, candles, cards. At my local station, an elementary school drew pictures and wrote statements, which are posted," said Cynthia L. Cooper, a playwright and journalist living in Manhattan.

Last week she told Arts Wire that "The thing you don't see on tv, is that the rest of NY outside of the WTC and emergency centers, is very quiet, and actually the weather has been beautiful. People are subdued, thoughtful, and just quiet.

Cooper also emphasized the remarkable art works and performance which have been occurring in Union square.

The Artists Network describes a performance at Union Square last week in this way:

"At 12 noon Saturday, over 100 artists all wearing black filed onto Union Square at 14th Street in New York City where many people have been gathering for the last 10 days to grieve and to try to make sense of what happened on September 11. A hush fell over the crowd at Union Square as the artists took their places in a semi-circle. For one hour they stood in silence wearing face masks and placards silk-screened with "OUR GRIEF IS NOT A CRY FOR WAR."

In a statement circulated by email, writer/performance artist Marty Pottenger writes:

"Today I finished making two long (1' by 30') canvas banners which now hang from a fence at Union Square. It's a park where Emma Goldman and Abraham Lincoln spoke and where the first U.S. Labor Day parade was held just over 150 years ago. (I was in a "close-to-inspiring" play last year there recreating and celebrating that parade.) The banner is in two parts. In foot high letters against a watercolor blue and white background (I was going for the balance of attention from sky and clouds) in English, Gandhi's "PEACE WILL NOT COME OUT OF A CLASH OF ARMS, BUT OUT OF JUSTICE LIVED." Below this is the same size blue banner but blank with markers and pens hanging at either end for people to write whatever they want to. Next week we will be hanging the same size banner and text in Arabic, Hebrew, Chinese, Spanish, Farsi and Russian...."

Pottenger also writes that "Over a couple thousand people are there at Union Square at any one time. 5 white cellists are playing Bach under a circle of trees, as 10 black young men are playing trumpets and trombones in the center of a circle of 300 hundred people. Hundreds of photos of the missing people are on trees, fences, lampposts, with scores of candlesburning below them. The subway stop is a fence of pictures of the missing loved ones. It's big. So much of NYC will seem different from the heartrending images, memories and experiences."

Sources/resources

THE NEW YORK CITY ARTS COALITION DISASTER RELIEF PAGE-- http://www.nycityartscoalition.org/sept11.html

George Chaiken and Peter Fend
"Public Statement of Ocean Earth"
THE DOUGLAS KELLEY SHOW -- http://dks.thing.net/Chaiken%26Fend.html

"How Will The Theater World Cope with The Economic Consequences of The World Trade Center Disaster?"
THEATER TALK -- http://www.theatertalk.playbill.com
On Friday, September 28 at Midnight on Thirteen/WNET, THEATER TALK will present a special pre-season show, focusing on the problems confronting New York's theater community as a result of the tragic attack on The World Trade Center.

Eliot Katz
"When the Skyline Crumbles"
MOBYLIVES -- http://www.mobylives.com/Katz_account.html

THE LOWER EAST SIDE TENEMENT MUSEUM -- http://www.tenement.org/message.html
The Museum is developing a set of pragmatic and programmatic responses to address the issue of ethnic and religious tensions and tolerance in our country which they will be sharing with the public in the near future. "In the meantime, we hope that you will join us in standing against statements and acts of hate and terror," they state.

'A Message to the Tisch School of the Arts Community from Dean Campbell"
TISCH SCHOOL OF THE ARTS -- http://www.nyu.edu/tisch/

THE NEW YORK COUNCIL FOR THE HUMANITIES TEMPORARY WEBSITE -- http://www.culturefront.org
Applications for grants will not be accepted until further notice. and cannot be respond to already submitted applications and questions until after they regain access to our offices. Council staff are working at home and can be reached by e-mail at nych@nyhumanities.org

ART START -- http://www.art-start.org -- provides "at-risk" children and adolescents with opportunities to learn, create and communicate through the arts.

MARTY POTTENGER
Email: mpott@infohouse.com

THE ARTISTS NETWORK -- http://www.artistsnetwork.org/news/news14.html

"In the Wake of the Terrorist Attack, Artists and Arts Organizations Rally to Help Those in Need; Jamaican Sculptor Michael Richards Missing; LMCC Offices Obliterated"
Arts Wire Current -- http://www.artswire.org/current/2001/cur091801.html
September 18, 2001

Arts Wire notes that much more information was received than we were able to cover in this issue. In the ensuing weeks, we will continue to include as much as possible.

The Defense of Freedom coalition includes, among many others, the Alliance for Justice; the American Association of University Women; the American Civil Liberties Union; the American Humanist Association; the Benton Foundation; the Electronic Frontier Foundation; the Electronic Privacy Information Center; and the Human Rights Watch.

In these times when our country is coming together to morn losses and to heal physical and spiritual wounds, in these times when Americans are working together to bring the cowardly instigators of the September 11 attack to justice, Americans, the group emphasized, are also coming together to insure the continuance of their basic freedoms.

"As we respond to this national crisis - and respond we must - we must not take for granted our basic freedoms, including the steadfast commitment to civil liberties and tolerance of others. Nor should we be willing to sacrifice these fundamental values, nor look the other way as they are undermined. For if we do, the enemy will have won," said Anthony D. Romero Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union. (ACLU) Freedom of expression advocates point out that in the past few weeks, some elected officials have not adequately considered the impact of their actions on American constitutional rights; some corporations have hastily urged censorship; and, in some instances, freedom of the press has been under fire.

For instance:

• Last week in the middle of the night, a senate amendment was adopted which was aimed at reducing the judiciary to little more than a rubber stamp in the government's efforts to monitor Internet activity, the ACLU reports, stating that: "These proposals, which would apply to all people, could trigger law enforcement actions based on speculation and prejudice rather than fact. We cannot permit judges charged with safeguarding our constitutional rights to be seen as obstacles to our safety."

• There has been a backlash against some reporters, the FREEDOM FORUM reports. Noting that this country's Founding Fathers saw freedom of the press as the vehicle with which to protect our other freedoms, The Freedom Forum quotes columnist Mary McGrory as saying: "Ask any journalist who raised questions about (the president's) early handling of the crisis: They have been inundated with furious calls calling them a disgrace to their profession and even traitors."

• Clear Channel, one the world's largest radio networks, sent out a list of some 150 "lyrically questionable" songs to its radio stations -- recommending that the songs not be aired because they might offend listeners impacted by the attack. The songs which Clear Channel recommended censoring included:

  Louis Armstrong "What A Wonderful World"
  The Beatles "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"
  The Beatles "Ticket To Ride"
  John Lennon "Imagine"
  Creedence Clearwater Revival "Travelin' Band"
  The Doors "The End"
  Elton John "Rocket Man"
  Jerry Lee Lewis "Great Balls of Fire"
  Peter Paul and Mary "Blowin' in the Wind"
  Simon And Garfunkel "Bridge Over Troubled Water"
  Cat Stevens "Peace Train"
  Don McLean "American Pie"
  Frank Sinatra "New York, New York"
  Edwin Starr/Bruce Springstein "War"
  REM "It's the End of the World as We Know It"
  Talking Heads "Burning Down the House"
  James Taylor "Fire and Rain"

  All Rage Against The Machine songs were also included on the Clear Channel list.

The work of artist Michael Richards, who was killed in the September 11 attack, is an enduring symbol of the importance of protecting the freedom of expression of artists whose work uncompromisingly expresses justice and injustice in troubled times.

In Tar Baby vs. St. Sebastian, (1999) Richards reacts to the history of the Tuskegee Airmen, the heroic World War II air force pilots at whose alma mater black men were used for live experiments on syphilis. The sculpture, which echoes Renaissance depictions of Saint Sebastian pierced with arrows, consists of the artist's cast body in the uniform of the airmen -- brutally pierced with fighter planes.

It is just such a powerful work which, in the aftermath of the terrorist attack, narrowminded censors could attempt to suppress in the name of protecting public feelings.

Americans should "think carefully and clearly about the balance between national security and individual freedom, and we must acknowledge the fact that some will seek to restrict freedom for ideological and other reasons that have little to do with security," The ACLU emphasized.

Sources/resources:

IN DEFENSE OF FREEDOM AT A TIME OF CRISES-- http://www.aclu.org/congress/l092001b.html

To endorse In Defense of Freedom as an individual, send e-mail to endorse@indefenseoffreedom.org
Include your name, affiliation (if any), city and state, and a brief comment (optional).
If you would like to endorse In Defense of Freedom on behalf of an organization, email sshin@dcaclu.org for more information.

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION -- http://www.aclu.org

FREEDOM FORUM -- http://www.freedomforum.org

RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE --- http://www.ratm.com/entry.html

"I am deeply honored by President Bush's confidence in me," Hammond said. "The National Endowment for the Arts is an increasingly important agency. The arts can help heal our country and be a source of pride and comfort. If the Senate confirms me, I would eagerly welcome the opportunity to serve our nation."

Michael Hammond has served as Dean of the music school at Rice since 1986, and he wrote the architectural program for Rice's new Alice Pratt Brown Hall, (designed by Ricardo Bofill) which now houses the Shephard School of music.

Before coming to Rice, Hammond was the founding dean of music for the new arts campus of the State University of New York at Purchase, New York. He was also responsible for planning the facilities and curriculum of the music school there and later served as president of the college. Before going to New York, he had been director of the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music in Milwaukee. He has also served as the founding Rector of the Prague Mozart Academy in the Czech Republic, now the European Mozart Academy.

Hammond has held positions as associate conductor of the American Symphony with Leopold Stokowski, conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic, musical director and conductor of the Dessoff Choirs in New York City, and as Composer in Residence for the Milwaukee Repertory Theater. He worked with Donald Kendall of Pepsico and Brooks Jones at the Purchase Center for the Performing Arts in founding Pepsico Summerfare. He is currently director of Canticum, an ensemble for the performance of Medieval and Renaissance vocal music, and he is a vice-chairman of the board of Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan.

The nomination will be sent to the U.S. Senate for confirmation. If confirmed, Hammond will succeed Bill Ivey, a folklorist and musician.

Sources/resources:

THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS -- http://www.arts.gov

THE SHEPHERD SCHOOL OF MUSIC -- http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~musi/ offers undergraduate, Masters, and DMA degree programs. All of the Department's theory teachers are composers. A strong emphasis is put on analysis and theory as an extension of the creative process, and students are encouraged to discover the unities, as well as the transformations, in musical thought across different styles and eras. "A composers development is nurtured through a balance of analysis and craft courses, which involve both a close study of the common practice era and contemporary compositional techniques," the School states.

Art historian Bruce Cole, a Distinguished Professor in the Henry Hope School of Fine Arts at Indiana University Bloomington, has published both scholarly monographs and surveys aimed at the student and general reader. Mainly devoted to the art of the Italian Renaissance, his works include GIOTTO AND FLORENTINE PAINTING (Harper & Row, 1976) and ITALIAN ART 1250-1550. (Harper & Row 1987)

He has served as Visiting Professor at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and has held the Hohenberg Chair of Excellence at the University of Memphis.

During the confirmation process, in response to a series of questions posed by Senator Edward Kennedy, (D-MA) chair of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, Bruce Cole affirmed "a crucial, and necessary role in our democracy" for the NEH, according to NHA-ANNOUNCE.

He told the Committee that "The importance of the humanities is recognized in the National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities Act establishing the NEH. This act states 'That a high civilization must not limit its efforts to science and technology alone but must give full value and support to the other great branches of scholarly and cultural activity in order to achieve a better understanding of the past, a better analysis of the present, and a better view of the future.'"

In his testimony Cole particularly emphasized the importance of humanities scholarship. "Serious scholarship adds directly to our knowledge and understanding of the humanities and forms the basis for public humanities programming such as NEH-supported television documentaries and museum exhibitions. Humanities scholarship also informs and enriches classroom teaching," he stated.

As regards the role of the NEH in higher education, Cole said that he believed that the agency can best serve higher education by continuing to support model projects with long term impact -- such as annual summer seminars and institutes for college and university teachers. He added that "I understand that the Endowment has also been quite active in recent years in encouraging projects that make use of the Internet and other electronic technologies to teach history, literature, languages, and other humanities subjects. While I expect to continue to encourage humanities projects that employ digital technology, I plan also to consult with NEH staff and with humanities educators to explore other ways the Endowment might strengthen its work in higher education."

In response to the question: "Do you think that NEH should strengthen teacher training in the humanities in elementary schools?" he responded affirmatively, noting that the NEH already does this most effectively through its Seminars and Institutes for School Teachers program which help teachers renew and revitalize their understanding of specific areas of the humanities and better communicate them to their students.

He added that "I think that it is critically important that American elementary and secondary school children be taught by instructors who are well-versed in the subjects they teach. As someone who has helped design humanities programs for schools, I understand that promoting the humanities in the elementary grades, as well as in other grades, is of paramount importance and worthy of an appropriate level of NEH support."

Although the conservative NATIONAL REVIEW, which applauded the nomination, wrote that Cole "is not expected to become a provocateur in the mold of Cheney or William Bennett," it also emphasized that Cole, who helped found the Association for Art History as an alternative to the College Art Association, has been "a powerful force for traditionalism within his field."

He would replace author, folklorist, filmmaker, and arts administrator, William R.Ferris, who was appointed by President Clinton in 1997 and is scheduled to complete the term in November of this year.

Sources/resources:

NHA-ANNOUNCE -- http://www.nhalliance.org/news/ is a public news service provided by the National Humanities Alliance

John J. Miller & Ramesh Ponnuru
"Clean Cole; Meet the next NEH chairman"
THE NATIONAL REVIEW -- http://www.nationalreview.com/daily/nr053101.shtml
May 31, 2001

"Bush Announces Intention to Nominate Italian Renaissance Scholar Bruce Cole as Head of NEH" Arts Wire CURRENT -- http://www.artswire.org/current/2001/cur062601.html
June 26, 2001

A graduate of the Art Institute of Chicago's Goodman School of Drama, with an MBA in corporate strategic planning from Rockhurst University, Moran has been appointed to chair or serve on ten different National Endowment for the Arts advisory panels under six Presidential administrations.

As Executive Director of MAAA, non-profit regional arts organization based in Kansas City, he has worked in partnership with state arts agencies, with the National Endowment for the Arts, and with national and regional foundations and corporations -- all of which have partnered with MAAA to support critical cultural infrastructures and vital projects in the regto increase public appreciation of the value of the arts and the humanities, through projects, publications and meetings. Recent programs include The Coming Up Taller Awards which, in collaboration with the NEA and the NEH, recognize and reward ten outstanding community after-school, weekend and summer programs that celebrate the power of the arts and the humanities to encourage and engage children, giving them safe, stable environments in which to learn and providing them opportunities to develop their skills and aspirations.

Appointed by the President, the Committee is comprised of leading citizens from the private sector who have an interest in and commitment to the humanities and the arts. Its members also include the heads of federal agencies with cultural programs, such as the National Endowments for the Arts and the Humanities, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Department of Education, the Smithsonian Institution, the Library of Congress, the National Gallery of Art and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Sources/resources:

MID-AMERICA ARTS ALLIANCE WEB SITE -- http://www.maaa.org

PRESIDENT'S COMMITTEE FOR THE ARTS AND HUMANITIES -- http://www.pcah.gov

The National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts:
CREATING DIALOGUES

"A community school of the arts is a community in itself, comprised of diverse individuals and groups, each with its own unique perspectives, interests, and needs. At the same time, the community school field is as richly diverse as the communities served by each Guild school across the country. Thus the challenge we face, both within our institutions and collectively as a field, is to engage in meaningful, constructive dialogue around these differing points of view" - Conference Program Committee 2001

The Guild's 64th annual national conference in New York City will present an opportunity for a broad range of individuals and institutions within the community arts school movement to engage in an extended conversation. Throughout the conference, the multiple voices and perspectives of institutions and constituents will be presented and juxtaposed. In addition to widening their horizons and developing new skills, participants will focus on several key issues:

Some confirmed featured speakers are:

Jacques d'Amboise, Founder, The National Dance Institute
Schuyler Chapin, Commissioner, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs
Dawn Ellis, Consultant
Alice Griffin and Anne Green, Founding Partners, Griffin Green Consulting
Jonathan Katz, Chief Executive Officer, National Assembly of State Arts Agencies
G. David Peters, Director, School of Music, Indiana University at IUPUI, Indianapolis
Jane Remer, Consultant
Andy Silverstein, Dorfman Abrams Music, LLC
Susan Kenny Stevens, LarsonAllen

Key issues to be addressed include:

How can we create and foster communication within our institutions, ensuring that the voices of students, faculty, parents, administrators and trustees are truly heard and understood by the others? How can the arts serve as a common denominator in creating this dialogue?

Can the sharing of our divergent experiences contribute to one another's successes? What can urban, rural and suburban-based institutions of all sizes teach one another? What can more established institutions learn from the experience of new and emerging schools? What issues and concerns do educators across different arts disciplines share? What can we learn from the experiences of other cultural and educational organizations?

Delegates will explore and directly experience the conference theme through interactive sessions that emphasize creativity, diversity and the free exchange of ideas. Topics will include: Arts Programs in Public Housing Communities; Promising Practices in Public School Partnerships; Educational Partnerships with Cultural Organizations; Visual Arts Programs with a Difference Music Technology: Creative and Instructional Tools for Students and Teachers; Stress Relief through the Arts; Helping Artists Become Educators; Practical Fundraising; How to Hire and Work with a Consultant; Leadership and Communication within Your Board

On November 16 an Adaptive Music Technologies Workshop will include a Tour of Lighthouse Music School, a pioneer in the field of music education for visually impaired students. The workshop will present a hands-on workshop introducing adaptive music technology for people of all ages who are visually impaired, including an introduction to accessibility issues and adaptive computer/musical equipment and software as well as preparation of large print and Braille music.

The mission of NGCSA (The National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts) is to foster and promote broad access to high quality arts education designed to meet community needs. To that end, it provides service, advocacy and leadership for community arts education organizations.

For more information, visit http://www.nationalguild.org

Government agencies, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, (FEMA) the U.S. Department of Labor, the Small Business Administration, (SBA) and State of New York are working to assist those in need of housing, those in need of legal and stress management assistance, and those with loss of income.

If they haven't already done so, artists and arts organizations who are victims of the World Trade Center terrorist attack are urged to contact FEMA which is coordinating the efforts.

For housing assistance, personal property, vehicle and public transportation, disaster unemployment; disaster legal services, information and referrals, call FEMA at 800-462-9029 TTY: 800-462-7585

FEMA has also provided a complete list of Government disaster program contacts on their website at http://www.fema.gov/nwz01/nwz01_117a.htm

SOURCES/LINKS TO OTHER RESOURCES:

FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY (FEMA) -- http://www.fema.gov

"Assistance: World Trade Center Explosions and Fires"
THE SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (SBA) -- http://www.sba.gov/disaster/newyorkfires.html
When a disaster occurs, the SBA assists not only small businesses, but also makes loans to businesses of all sizes, nonprofit organizations, homeowners and renters.

NYC EMERGENCY INFORMATION -- http://home.nyc.gov/portal/index.jsp?pageID=nyc_home

THE NEW YORK CITY ARTS COALITION DISASTER RELIEF PAGE-- http://www.nycityartscoalition.org/sept11.html
Provides information both on programs available and on individuals and organizations who are offering support
People who have resources to share can send information to Norma Munn at munn@nycityartscoalition.org

"America Begins to Heal"
AMERICANS FOR THE ARTS WEBSITE -- http://www.artsusa.org
Contains information, updates, and an opportunity to donate

CRAFT EMERGENCY RELIEF FUND (CERF) -- http://www.craftemergency.org

THE SEPTEMBER 11 PROJECT intends to work first with New York arts and media arts organizations as an electronic clearinghouse, a presenter of exhibitions and programs with affiliated organizations, and a space for cultural workers to communicate and find collaborators. An open, town hall meeting will be held Monday, October 1st at the School of Visual Arts, 209 E. 23rd St, at 8 PM. "Bring your ideas, projects, concerns."
For information, contact:
Robert Atkins -- robertatkins@earthlink.net-
Kathy Brew -- kbrew66933@aol.com
or Suzanne Anker sanker@adm.schoolofvisualarts.edu

or visit the RHIZOME RESOURCE PAGE at http://rhizome.org/911/

"Helping Museums Affected by the New York City Disaster: Information and Resources"
THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF MUSEUMS http://www.aam-us.org/helpnyc/helpnyc.htm

INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF ART CRITICS -- http://www.aicausa.org/
Provides a forum for the art community to give or get help

HERITAGE PRESERVATION NATIONAL TASK FORCE ON EMERGENCY RESPONSE -- http://www.heritagepreservation.org/programs/TFC.HTM

The money will help families of individual victims and assist nonprofit organizations whose operations were disrupted by the violence.

"We have been overwhelmed by these events -- the images of destruction and death, the sense of vulnerability," said Susan V. Berresford, the foundation's president. "We have also seen stunning examples of heroism, service and endurance. Our foundation has made its home in New York City for more than 50 years. This is our immediate community, and we want to help."

Referring to the money designated for nonprofit groups, she said, "much of the richness of life in this city has to do with the wide range of nonprofit organizations that serve in so many ways -- helping the poor, improving education, promoting civil and human rights, supporting the arts."

For more information, visit the Ford Foundation website at http://www.fordfound.org/

The Craft Emergency Relief Fund (CERF) helps professional craftspeople sustain craftsmaking as a livelihood by providing relief to craftspeople who have suffered career-threatening emergencies in their lives.

"We are doing a Greater NY area mailing to all of our contacts making sure that they know we're here to help if needed. While our funding is limited to professional craftspeople, we are happy to refer and guide artists in other media to places for support," says CERF Executive Director Cornelia Carey.

CERF have not yet heard of any craftsperson who lost his/her life in the tragedy. But they are expecting to hear from craftspeople who have been dislocated from live/work space and/or have lost a love one. "Like the Nisqually Quake, we never know what to expect in terms of how many will need our help so we encourage anyone who can to make donations to help CERF help," Carey said.

Sources/resources:

CRAFT EMERGENCY RELIEF FUND (CERF) -- http://www.craftemergency.org

"September is A MONTH FOR CERF -- Galleries Across the Country Host Events to Help Craftspeople Recover From Career-threatening Emergencies"
Arts Wire CURRENT -- http://www.artswire.org/current/2001/cur082101.html
August 21, 2001

Opportunities for Artists

"In response to the horrors and destruction in New York City and Washington, D C, we at the Santa Fe Art Institute would like to contribute to the support and normalization of life in America," The Santa Fe Art Institute states.

As respite for artists whose living spaces or studios have been compromised by the terrorism, they are is offering two to four week residencies in beautiful, quiet residence spaces with studios The residencies are available during the fall and winter at no cost to the artists.

Please send a letter (and slides if possible) to The Santa Fe Art Institute, 1600 St Michaels Drive, Santa Fe, NM 87505 Or email to info@SFAI.org

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

Deadline: October, 2001, Poetry, benefit chapbook "911 Poetry" about the recent World Trade Center/Pentagon tragedy, CIRCLE MAGAZINE

Deadline: October 1, 2001, Visual Artists, POINSETT STATE PARK ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE, WEDGEFIELD, SC

Deadline: November 1, 2001, Postcards from anyone who wants to say something, write something, draw, paint, make or photograph something about what happened on September 11/2001 in New York, POSTCARDS TO NEW YORK, MACY GALLERY, TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY NY

Deadline: November 5, 2001 - extended, Performing Arts/Emerging fields, CREATIVE CAPITAL GRANTS

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

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF ART /COMPUTER DESIGN, Art Department of Shippensburg University, (Shippensburg, PA)

PRINCIPAL LECTURER, Dance Studies, University of Wolverhampton, School of Sport, Performing Arts and Leisure, Walsall Campus, (ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM)

INSTRUCTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY, (tenure track) Orange Coast College, (Costa Mesa, CA)

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR - TENURE TRACK, Department of Communication, The University of California, San Diego, (San Diego, CA)

SENIOR DIRECTOR, CULTURAL AFFAIRS, The Americas Society, (New York, NY)

SENIOR COLLECTIONS MANAGER, The New-York Historical Society, (New York City, NY)

MANAGING DIRECTOR, part-time, Zephyr Dance, (Chicago, IL)

ART CENTER COORDINATOR, (part-time) Mattawoman Creek Art Center, Smallwood State Park, (Marbury, Md)

GENERAL MANAGER, - Revised Announcement, The Weidner Center for the Performing Arts, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, (Green Bay, WI)

ARCHIVIST / MEDIA DOCUMENTS MANAGER, (part-time) The Kitchen, (New York City, NY)

LITERATURE TEACHER/WRITER/LITERACY SPECIALIST - CONSULTANT, (relisted) Flatbush Youth Initiative, (Brooklyn, NY)

PLAYWRIGHT/TEACHER - CONSULTANT, Flatbush Youth Initiative, (Brooklyn, NY)

BASS SOLOIST/SECTION LEADER, All Saints Church, (Pasadena, CA)

PRODUCTION CENTER OPERATIONS ASSISTANT, New York University, TISCH SCHOOL OF THE ARTS, (New York City, NY)

NETWORK ADMINISTRATOR, (part-time) The Kitchen, (New York City, NY)

WEBMASTER/MARKETING ASSOCIATE, (arts/media) (Brooklyn, NY)

CONTROLLER, Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, (Katonah, Westchester)

DIRECTOR OF PROGRAM FUNDING, The Jewish Museum, (New York City, NY)

MANAGER OF DEVELOPMENT SYSTEMS AND RESEARCH, Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival, (New York City, NY)

DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT, The American Symphony Orchestra, (New York City, NY)

GRANT WRITER, The Leopold Project, (New York, NY)

ASSISTANT TO ARTISTIC ADMINISTRATOR, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, (Pittsburgh, PA)

OFFICE MANAGER, TADA! (New York City, NY)

BOX OFFICE ASSISTANT, The Pearl Theatre Company, (New York, 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

"While Michael's untimely death is a grave tragedy to us all, his life and work will be preserved by museums and galleries, and treasured by friends, family and new viewers, and recorded in the history of American art for generations to come." - joint statement by Christine Kim, Assistant Curator, The Studio Museum in Harlem and Franklin Sirmans, Independent Curator and Critic.

NEW YORK CITY, NY -- A Jamaican-American, Michael Richards was born in New York but grew up in Kingston. After receiving his BA from Queens College in 1985 and his MA from New York University in 1991, Richards completed the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program in 1993 and went on to the Artists-in-the-Marketplace Program at The Bronx Museum of the Arts the following year. He was an Artist-in-Residence at The Studio Museum in Harlem, at Socrates Sculpture Park, and at Franconia Sculpture Park. His work has been exhibited internationally.

"His work focused on allegory and metaphor, on certain potent icons -- a chariot with a broken wheel, a ladder made of feathers a forearm pierced with arrows," said Christine Kim, Assistant Curator, The Studio Museum in Harlem where Richards was an artist in residence in 1995-96.

Michael had been a friend of the Studio Museum for quite some time," Kim said. She described his recent sculpture in bronze as an image of him life size, kneeling over choking -- "heroic, monumental but with human aspect"

This year, Michael Richards was an artist in residence in the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's (LMCC) World Views, a program which gave artists windowed studio space in Tower One of the World Trade Center. He had a space on the 92nd floor, and is likely to have been working in his studio according to his friend Kira Lynn Harris.

In a joint statement Christine Kim and independent curator Franklin Sirmans describe Michael Richards' sculpture TAR BABY VS. ST. SEBASTIAN (1999) as "a seminal work in his series about the Tuskegee Airmen, where the artist's cast body in the uniform of the airmen is pierced with model airplanes."

St. Sebastian is the patron saint of soldiers and athletes because of his physical endurance, they explain. He was martyred for protecting the captured Christians he was supposed to imprison.

"One cannot help but notice the eerie connection between the imagery in Richards' work and his tragic death," they write. "Though ever forward in his conceptual art practice, Michael found sustenance in the subjects of the past, most specifically the triumph and tragedy of the famed Tuskegee Airmen. A team of World War II air force pilots, as famous for their flying skills as they were infamous for their alma mater, where black men were subjected to being live experiments on syphilis, the airmen represented a crucial space for dialogue and thought that Michael continuously mined."

A statement found in his computer was described last week in THE VILLAGE VOICE: "He notes that the Tuskegee airmen fought for democracy in the sky, but faced discrimination on the ground. They 'serve as symbols of failed transcendence and loss of faith,' wrote Richards, 'escaping the pull of gravity, but always forced back to the ground, lost navigators always seeking home.'"

Sources/resources:

Christine Kim and Franklin Sirmans
MICHAEL RICHARDS, 1963 - 2001
September 2001

THE STUDIO MUSEUM IN HARLEM -- http://www.studiomuseuminharlem.org/

C. Carr
"An Artist Dead, a Downtown Arts Organization in Ruins Lost Horizons"
THE VILLAGE VOICE -- http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0138/carr.php
September, 2001

Michael Richards
"Are You Down?"
FRANCONIA SCULPTURE PARK -- http://www.franconia.org/richardsinfo.html

The arts community is looking into setting up a foundation or a trust in Michael's name. For more information or to send a donation, send email to LOWER MANHATTAN CULTURAL COUNCIL at lowermanhattanculturalcouncil@hotmail.com

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