Literature Fellowships, American Jazz Masters Fellowships, and National Heritage Fellowships in the Folk & Traditional Arts were retained, and the Arts Endowment indirectly supports visual artists through grants to arts organizations and through programs such as Continental Harmony which fosters community-based music commissioning.

The National Medal of Arts -- this year awarded to the Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation, Rudolfo Anaya, Johnny Cash, Kirk Douglas, Helen Frankenthaler, Judith Jamison, Yo-Yo Ma, and Mike Nichols -- continues to honor (but not fund) individuals and organizations who, in the President's judgment, deserve special recognition for their contributions to the excellence, growth, support and availability of the arts in the United States.

But six years after Congress stripped individual artists of direct support by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Congressional ban on individual artist fellowships for this country's artists remains. Artists working in most disciplines in dance, design, media, music, theater, and visual arts are no longer able to look to the National government for direct support of their contributions to our culture.

In the May 7, 2002 issue, Arts Wire CURRENT asked its readership to comment on the impact this continuing lack of recognition has had on American artists.

The responses -- available in toto at http://www.artswire.org/grants.html -- affirmed a compelling need to support individual artists on a National basis.

Some courageously brought to light the problems which have inhibited individual artists from effectively lobbying for support -- from the observing that when NEA Individual Artists Fellowships were available, insider panels gave some artists repeat grants while ignoring many of equal stature and accomplishment who repeatedly applied; to delineating a lack of individual artist representation in National arts lobbying organizations.

Some proposed creative approaches, including rotating regional panels and issue-focused fellowships.

Some strongly urged the reinstatement of national recognition of individual artists while at the same time they affirmed local and community funding of individual artists.

"Fellowships supplement or provide complete funding for working artists. Individual artist fellowships permit artists to work with full focus," filmmaker and musician Sharon Berman observed. "Fellowships bestow upon artists culturally acceptable proof of their worth and respectability. In a country where art is considered a luxury and artists encounter tangible oppression, a fellowship is a passport into areas where artists are not often able to travel."

"The soul of this country suffers without artists with freedom to work with support and validation from community," said composer/musician Pauline Oliveros "The NEA before its political rearrangement assisted individual artists to great effect. I was one of those artists."

Paul J. Rickey, Jr., an art instructor at Linn-Benton Community College in Oregon, stressed that Congress has committed economic censorship in removing Federal funding for individual artists. He believes that "the right wing in Congress is out to stifle the free expression of individual artists."

Lawyers should attack this in court "because Congress is abridging the freedom of speech of artists. That clearly is unconstitutional," he stated.

At the heart of many responses was a sense that the message which Congress' action in depriving individual artists of direct National support was one that not only impacted the stature of American artists but also the stature of our Nation. Although many State Art Agencies and some foundations give fellowships directly to individual artists, this continuing support -- very much needed given the many artists in this country deserving of grants -- should augment rather than replace a National recognition of America's creative citizens.

Linda Frye Burnham, who founded HIGH PERFORMANCE magazine and co-founded the 18th Street Arts Complex and Highways Performance Space in California, Art in the Public Interest in North Carolina, and the Community Arts Network on the Internet, emphasized that "Without this vote of governmental confidence in individual artists, the U.S. is a throwback to the days of patronage and private control of culture. The policy of granting funds exclusively to organizations is a shabby one, by default painting artists as irresponsible, untrustworthy and undeserving."

She also observed the effects of the withdrawal of National funding for artists fellowships has had on artists, saying that "This policy infantilizes creativity, making it a job for hire. It is demoralizing, and I have seen it demoralize the artists around me to a devastating degree."

New York City-based artist, writer and producer of cultural events Paul Skiff strongly stated that "The U.S. government operates with practically no awareness at all about the relevance and importance of individual examples of high achievement in the arts. After more than 40 years of government programs to support the arts we still do not have a national program that even comes close to matching the creative strength, forward-looking vision or leadership that is practiced by our individual artists."

Skiff, who currently assists the College Art Association with the production of an annual conference for over 5,000 artists and scholars, pointed out that in 2002-2003 the total arts funding in the United Kingdom will be approximately 600 million dollars, and in 1999 the United Kingdom allocated 1.5 million British pounds to individual artists grants -- just for the categories of new work, experimentation and risk.

"Compare these resources to the 115 million dollars talked about as the total NEA endowment," he stated. "Each U.S. taxpayer gives approximately 30 cents of their tax money to government arts programs. In the U.K. the government spends approximately 15 dollars per each citizen on arts and culture. The government of the United States is so far out of line with what most leading nations do to support the arts that its attitude amounts to an example of American backwardness."

Artist Diane Torr, who grew up and went to college in the U.K., but has been living and making art in New York for over 25 years, confirmed that "When comparing the U.S. and Europe, in terms of support for individual artists, I would say there is more support from the U.K. via the Arts Council as there is more money available, less competition and deadlines twice a year. It is also possible to access funding through the European Union."

Artist Debby Kline, Board President of COVA, (Combined Organizations for the Visual Arts) pointed out that "By disallowing individual artists the opportunity to request and receive governmental funding, our leaders have happily disassociated themselves from work that could be critical to our government or from work that could be considered subversive by certain individuals or groups. While that may be understandable on an immediate basis, as a result, the United States is no longer the global, cultural leaders that we once were."

She suggested that as a mutual trust building measure: "if our government cannot directly support freedom of expression then perhaps they could support individual artists or artist groups who would address problems that face our country. Artists have the ability to think critically about situations from all sides, so the NEA could create some grants to artists to solve national problems or crises using art as a common language."

Indeed, in England, The Arts Council of England has lead the way in integrating artists into post 911 discussions of public policy. In a speech at the National Portrait Gallery this Spring, Peter Hewitt, Chief Executive of the Arts Council of England, argued for a strong central space for the arts in the post 911 climate -- with artists playing a pivotal role in conveying the meaning of September 11 and its aftermath to future generations. Art, he said is "the focal point around which we can share and dispute meanings that help to populate and energize an open public space for reflection, expression, empathy, dissent and disagreement.. a bridge to coax the private and intimate into a shared public setting."

"As producers/directors of a documentary and archive on the subject of arts funding 'the nea tapes', (which was started 1995 in response to the crusade to eliminate the NEA), we observed first hand the politics behind the abandonment of the individual artists fellowships," wrote artists/videomakers Paul Lamarre and Melissa Wolf, who collaborate as Eidia.

"Individual artists fellowships can be reinstated if individual artist lobby their elected representatives for the fellowships and at the same time inform the general public about the importance of this funding," they emphasized.

Filmmaker/musician Sharon Berman also urged the arts community to lobby on a large scale for direct funding for artists. "Consult with as many different kinds of agencies as possible to see how they have successfully worked with the government-what works, what doesn't work, and what they have learned overthe years. Also consult with governmental agencies to find out what prevailing perceptions about Art are," she advised. Additionally, she suggested that a series of PBS public service announcements could help contradict popular opinion that Art is a luxury and not a necessity.

Strongly stating that "Artists are the voice of individual free speech in this county and it is economic censorship to not fund artists with public moneys," Paul Lamarre and Melissa Wolf also cautioned that artists cannot rely on large arts advocacy organizations, foundations and the museums to do this for them and that much foundation-sponsored research concerning the needs of artists in this country is now being done by corporations, such as Rand -- without individual artist input and concern for the individual artist.

Artists "must fight for what they deserve, an equitable federal arts funding agency and reinstatement of individual artists grants," they emphasized

Howver, Paul Skiff pointed out that the diversity and lack of cohesiveness of the "arts community" make effective lobbying difficult.

He also described the difficulties in persuading Congress that grants for individual artists are important. He noted that art education and access to the arts have been stressed over creativity in much recent arts lobbying efforts, and he suggested that effective lobbying will begin with demonstrating that support for individual artists is also important.

"As a participant representing one of the co-sponsors of the 2002 Arts Advocacy Day, my experience with making office visits on the Hill is that most elected officials are currently not persuaded this is an important matter deserving much attention," he said. "So, in part, the task of gaining a re-instatement of grants for individual artists is to first of all educate the government officials about the gravity and consequences culture has for national self-interest."

He emphasized that "It must be established that examples of individual achievement are absolutely necessary for the cultural credibility of this society. Without the promotion of leading individuals in the arts there are no positive foundations on which to base any emphasis put on educational standards or access. Furthermore, without examples of high individual achievement in the arts there can be no international respect for, nor impetus to understand as well as respect, the importance of the nation's culture."

Florida-based photographer Joel B. McEachern observed that a lack of inclusion of working artists on the process has been detrimental in advocacy and funding decisions.

"I'd like to see more working artists actively involved in the 'process' so to shift and expand the group decision-making dynamic and protect their interests as artmakers," he said. "Simply, art decisions should be made with artists -- not for them. Last year, I corresponded with a major foundation who was doing a research project on the state of the arts in America. Working artists were nearly absent from their blue-ribbon panels. I likened it to the horse racing industry. Everyone's opinion, from the jockeys to the bettors, seemed to matter; everyone's except the horses, explaining why many artists feel the industry rides at their expense."

Although the majority of the responses shared the conviction that restoring direct National funding of American artists was an important goal for this country, some suggested reasons why the arts community hasn't in the past rallied to restore NEA Individual Artist Fellowships.

Artist Clayton Campbell (Santa Monica, CA) observed that the mechanism for selecting recipients was, at the time when Congress deprived artists of fellowships, perceived "as closed shop so its own community wasn't prepared to vigorously defend it".

That needs to be changed, he emphasized. "The most egregious examples," he noted "are not about censorship, but artists and their circles who year after year would be pulling down grants, 'living' off the NEA while 95% of applicants never stood a chance and followed the strategy conveyed to them by the NEA that 'if you apply year after year you will eventually, maybe, receive a grant.'"

He suggested that in bringing back grants to artists, rotating regional panels and restriction on repeat grants would be key in broadening the program, saying that "It is most important that grant recipients not be panel members for at least five years after having received a grant, and that any individual receiving a grant would not be able to reapply and be awarded another grant for at least five years."

Oakland, Ca -based writer Gary Larson, the author of THE RELUCTANT PATRON THE US GOVERNMENT AND THE ARTS, 1943-1965 and a former staff member of the NEA in the 1980's and early 90's, shares "the conviction of those who believe that it would be important to restore a full range of individual artist fellowships at the NEA -- beneficial not only for the artists involved, but also for the larger culture in which they operate," but he wouldn't want to make that change unconditionally. "The agency itself, and the manner in which it is administered, need some attention, too, having drifted pretty far off course in recent years," Larson observed. "Admittedly painted into a corner by an unsympathetic Congress and an unenlightened White House, the NEA and its partisan leadership have often exacerbated that situation by relying more on their political instincts than on the advice and expertise of the peer advisory panels entrusted with reviewing grant applications."

Among continuing problems with the Arts Endowment granting processes, he also cited a "steady decline in the quality of the membership of the National Council on the Arts (related, not coincidentally, to the arrival of six ex-officio members from the House and Senate a few years ago)"

In conclusion, Gary Larson stated: "So yes, let's turn back the clock to the good old days of individual fellowships at the NEA, but while we're at it, let's turn that clock all the way back (to the period before the arrival of Frank Hodsoll as chairman under Ronald Reagan, if truth be told) to a time when political considerations were not so likely to undermine the peer-review process."

Affirming a community arts approach, others who responded to Arts Wire Current's call for input on restoring NEA fellowships for individual artists suggested ways to broaden access to local funding and offered concrete examples of funding for artists in communities -- as well as a role for the Arts Endowment in continuing to stimulate such programs.

From Ohio, Thomas Mulready, Founding Director of the Performance Art Festival+Archives, reported that:

"We had our first ever Arts and Cultural Summit at City Hall here in Cleveland last week ....Our community is talking about forming a regional arts funding agency since Cleveland is the largest city of its size that doesn't have one. So artists have not had access to local funding in our region except at the State level (Ohio Arts Council), and at the national level (National Endowment for the Arts, which no longer funds individual artists.) Needless to say, this situation has been challenging to area artists.....We are studying issues such as cultural tourism, the role that artists play as urban pioneers, and the economic and intangible return on investment that the arts offer. Wish us luck."

Amy Molinelli, a Southern CA-based musician and dancer, originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, works with troubled youth and in the public schools.

She lauded the Bay area's artist-residency programs in the schools, saying that "To me this seems a natural area where government sponsored programs and the arts can work together. I also often wish that something like the WPA still existed that gave so many artists and artisans opportunities to use their art for the service of their community. I do not see this occurring now."

Pauline Oliveros, (Kingston, NY) whose retrospective, SOUNDING THE MARGINS A RETROSPECTIVE OF THE MUSIC OF PAULINE OLIVEROS, opens at the Lorraine Hansberry Theater in San Francisco on May 31, also encouraged the NEA to revitalize communities and foster the seeding of artist community relationships by directly stimulating communities to support individual artists who enhance their quality of life.

Paul Skiff, who has produced cultural events with a wide range of organizations -- from local community based groups, the commercial music business and educational institutions, to foreign government secretariats -- pointed to the Expansion Arts grants, (which focused on the arts in underserved communities) as another huge loss in NEA funding programs.

He said: "...in 1995 while working as manager of productions for the Olatunji Center of African Culture I took a phone call from the NEA offices informing me there would no longer be any grants given out under the category of Expansion Arts. The Olatunji Center was used as a model organization years before in constructing the Expansion Arts category. The center had received numerous grants over the years in this category. Each year the center produced and presented with a very wide range of local, national and international sponsors, education programs that reached a combined audience of over 100,000 people. Not any more."

Interdisciplinary artist Diane Torr described how in Europe artists from different countries can apply together for collaborative projects, and she suggested this as a potential National funding strategy.

"It would be as if I, in New York, have a project I would like to do with an artist in Oregon and an artist from Maine. (or any other States) We would get substantially more funding than if I was applying for funding for a project alone. The effect in Europe is to bring artists from different countries together - to share a common art project and ultimately to share a common culture, which is an amalgam of ideas from three different countries."

Singer/songwriter, producer of international and American music David Goldman thinks it will be hard to turn back the clock to restore individual artists fellowships

"what might be time better spent is to put together regional directories of those organizations that receive grants and what they receive for or what their needs are," he proposed. "If I know that a library or arts council needs such and such programming each year, I might be able to fit my program or art to theirs. As is it now I rely on ads in let's say the Westchester Arts Council promoting some programs they have, but I haven't seen a central Internet source."

He suggested building the reputation of each region's arts presenters by combining great programming with great attendance or innovation and by encouraging arts presenters to have open meetings with artists in their community "to get to know them, etc. and then work with the artists to get the grants for the artists' projects, thus giving the artist a de facto individual grant." However, noting that she is very supportive of artists connecting with their communities, and of communities supporting their artists and working with them in collaboration, Linda Burnham, Saxapahaw, NC, delineated the difficulties for individual artists in gaining this support. "...it is clear to me that gaining such support requires a huge administrative and public-relations art machine, and even then, some of the greatest artists who mean the most to their communities are suffering, facing 2003 with nothing in their coffers," she said. "Artists in their 50's, at their very peak, with incredible treasures to offer from their stores of experience, are reduced to begging from diffident foundations.

It is clear from the responses which Arts Wire Current received that Individual Artists Fellowships are important not only to the arts community but also to the country's image as a whole.

"Art is a good investment," said New York-based artist Ethel Lebenkoff. "Art or Enron that is the question. Artists provide a multi dimensional view of society alternative ways of thinking, a non commercial view."

When the NEA granted individual fellowships, Linda Burnham stated, "it was a vote for personal creative freedom. At least there was hope of national honor, recognition and a tiny windfall. Now it breaks my heart to see the despair and hopelessness in artists' eyes. Without a national policy that honors individuals in the arts, we are left without a coherent standard, a demonstrated belief as a people that individual creativity is vital to our nation."

Sources/resources

The complete responses are available at http://www.artswire.org/grants.html This article references all responses received by Saturday May 25.

Arts Wire Current invites further response and will add all responses received to the complete responses. (Note that email is not always completely reliable so if you sent a response and it is not posted, we apologize. Please resend it!)

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

U.S. SENATE MEMBERS -- http://www.senate.gov/contacting/index.cfm

U.S. HOUSE MEMBER CONTACT INFORMATION -- http://clerkweb.house.gov/mbrcmtee/mbrcmtee.htm

ARTS COUNCIL OF ENGLAND - http://www.artscouncil.org.uk

The announcement generated a mixed reaction in the United Kingdom -- where, according to the NEW YORK TIMES, a GUARDIAN U.K. cartoon depicted a B-52 bombing Britain with American novels -- but in this country, writers and advocates for writers welcomed the possibility that the prize might be opened to American writers.

The TIMES OF LONDON and the GUARDIAN U.K. reported that Lisa Jardine, a lecturer in renaissance studies at Queen Mary and Westfield College, London and Chair of this year's judging panel expressed concern that the character of the prize could be changed; that the sheer volume of entries could overwhelm the judging panel; that British writers might not be able to compete; and that a place of their own was very important for Commonwealth literary voices. Commonwealth writers also emphasized that many American literary competitions aren't open to writers in other countries.

But in New York City, Therese Eiben, Editor of POETS & WRITERS MAGAZINE noted that "The broadening of the Booker Prize's candidate guidelines to include writers from the U.S. is exciting news for U.S. writers. Right now in this country there are only a handful of nationally recognized literary contests. A new arena in which to compete, especially one that is already well known to serious readers in the U.S.-- as the Booker is -- can only help spread the good news that the literary arts are alive and thriving here."

David Fenza, Executive Director, The Associated Writing Programs, based in Fairfax, VA, observed that "One of the many great things about literature is that it helps national borders dissolve, making the foreign intimately known. If the Booker Prize were to become open to writers on other continents, its international spirit would advance what's most humane in the arts and humanities."

Some Commonwealth writers also looked at the possible expansion of the prize as a way of breaking down borders.

"I don't think there's enough exchange between the United States and other English-speaking cultures. We read a lot of each other's big books, but if there are new interesting authors emerging here, they don't get read in the States and vice-versa. Just as we have become more alert to South African and Australian voices due to the Booker, so we will with American authors," Kazuo Ishiguro, the 1989 winner of the Booker with THE REMAINS OF THE DAY, said in an interview with the Guardian. Kazuo Ishiguro was born in Nagasaki, Japan but now lives in London.

Although she noted that most prizes are not a central preoccupation for writers, Indian writer Arundhati Roy, author of THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS which won the Booker in 1997, told the Guardian that the prize was Prize for Fiction as part of a five-year deal with the financial service group. Expanding the prize to the United States would give Man Group's financial services a higher profile in this country.

In the past four years the prize was won in 2001 by Peter Carey, (Australia) for TRUE HISTORY OF THE KELLY GANG; (Faber and Faber) in 2000 by Margaret Atwood, (Canada) for THE BLIND ASSASSIN; (McClelland & Stewart) in 1999 by J.M. Coetzee (South Africa) for DISGRACE; (Secker & Warburg) and in 1998 by Ian McEwan, (British) for AMSTERDAM. (Cape)

Both the Man Group and the Booker Prize Foundation have stressed that the opening of the prize to US writers is only under consideration. It is also possible that a separate prize may be set up.

Observing that allowing U.S. writers to compete for the Booker is appropriate given the trend of internationalism in the book publishing industry, Poets & Writers Magazine Editor Therese Eiben pointed out that "Before the Internet and before multi-national publishing conglomerates, there was often significant lag time between a book's publication in the U.S. and other English-speaking countries. With online bookstores making titles published in one country readily available around the globe, that time lag is diminishing.

She and many other readers interested in contemporary literature read book reviews in periodicals produced in many countries, the Guardian U.K., for example, she noted. "It seems to me that English literature is very broad these days. It might be more appropriately named English-language literature, and the Booker Prize should be commended for recognizing that."

Sources/resources:

THE BOOKER PRIZE -- http://www.bookerprize.co.uk

John Mullan
"Prize Fighters";
"Distinguished former winners offer their opinion"
THE GUARDIAN -- http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4419437,00.html
May 23, 2002

Alan Cowell
"Booker Prize is Tempest-tossed Will it go to U.S.?"
THE NEW YORK TIMES -- http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/25/international/europe/25BOOK.html
May 25, 2002

ASSOCIATED WRITING PROGRAMS -- http://www.awpwriter.org

POETS & WRITERS -- http://www.pw.org

The Booker Prize claims to "reward the best novel of the year." In fact, the selection is made only from titles by written by citizens of the Commonwealth or Republic of Ireland and published in the UK. And although the rules don't say so, one assumes that submissions must be written in English. Under those constraints, the choice has a distinctiveness which is interesting but which can hardly be said to represent a "best novel" of anything beyond the taste of the London literati -- a small select group based mostly in the lower right-hand corner of the island, that is to say London and the South East. The Booker represents the choice of this tiny group of publishers, reviewers and authors and maybe that's fair enough.

But it's not. The reading public has a broad taste encompassing all kinds of fiction written in English, and the nationality of the author is not usually of great importance. So why create these artificial distinctions?

If the prize really does want to select the "best novel" (written in English) -- not that there can ever be such a thing anyway -- then it must consider ALL books in that category.

So I suggest two prizes. Let them keep their English Booker, but let's also create a new award which really does include all eligible books. It will be interesting. A different culture will arise. Surprising choices will be made. But the result will more truly reflect the tastes of the English-reading public around the world, and can only widen all our literary horizons.

(c) 2002 Sue Thomas - For permission to redistribute this contribution, please contact her at sue.thomas@ntu.ac.uk

Writer Sue Thomas is the founder and Artistic Director of the trAce Online Writing Centre. Her books include the novel CORRESPONDENCE, short-listed for the Arthur C Clarke Award 1992, WATER, 1994, and an anthology of contemporary short stories WILD WOMEN, 1994. Her online work includes a web-interpretation of Correspondence -- http://www.heelstone.com/meridian/thomas.html in RIDING THE MERIDIAN. She has over ten years experience of teaching writing in the UK and the US, and in 1994 she developed and validated the Master of Arts degree in Writing at The Nottingham Trent University. During that time she wrote A HANDBOOK FOR CREATIVE WRITING TUTORS.

The trAce Online Writing Centre -- http://trace.ntu.ac.uk/ -- will host the 2ND TRACE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON WRITING AND THE INTERNET from July 15-17 at The Nottingham Trent University. Visit the site to find out more.

SACRAMENTO, CA -- The Assembly Budget Subcommittee has voted to approve the Senate Subcommittee's recommendation to restore $7 million of the $14 million cut proposed by Governor Gray Davis. In a May Revise Budget, Davis, who has supported the arts in the past, recommended a devastating 57% cut to the California Arts Council -- from $34 million to $14.5 million.

Noting that due to a huge state deficit all programs are still susceptible to cuts, California Arts Advocates urges Californians in the arts to "Send a letter to those who voted against the restoration of funds thanking them for their time and consideration while explaining again why the May Revise Budget is not a 'fair share' cut. Rather, it is a devastating and crippling 57% cut from $34 million to $14.5 million that will eliminate programs that serve millions of Californians and completely dismantle the California Arts Council infrastructure built over the last 26 years. - Also include how this is important to you, your organization, or your community." For more information including contact information for legislators, visit the CALIFORNIA ARTS ADVOCATES Web site at http://www.calartsadvocates.org

CALIFORNIA ARTS COUNCIL -- http://www.cac.ca.gov

• THE MAGATHON: June 22 4:00 PM - 6:30 PM at the New York Public Library Periodicals Reading Room, Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street
• FAIR: June 23 12 PM to 5 PM at Housing Works Used Book Cafe, 126 Crosby Street

THIRD ANNUAL LITERARY MAGAZINE FAIR

"The goal of the weekend is to draw much-needed and much-deserved attention to the incredible range of print and on-line journals being produced across the country by independent and university publishers alike. The editors of literary journals perform the crucial tasks of discovering and championing brilliant new voices, while playing a critical role in the cultivation of many of America's most esteemed writers. The Lit Mag Marathon Weekend will offer a great opportunity for curious readers and writers to sample literary magazines and meet some of the most influential editors in the small press scene."

This year the LITERARY MAGAZINE FAIR has expanded to a grand LIT MAG MARATHON WEEKEND, June 22-23, 2002 -- including THE MAGATHON, a celebratory marathon reading on Saturday June, 22. Fifteen leading lit mag editors will read favorite selections from their latest issues. The reading will take place at the New York Public Library (NYPL) Periodicals Reading Room and will coincide with an opening of an exhibit of new literary magazines from NYPL's collection.

The Third Annual Literary Magazine Fair will take place on Sunday, June 23. "Last year with more than 100 journals participated from all over the country, half with editors on hand to meet and greet and sell. 3,500+ journals were sold that day, as hundreds of eager readers and writers bought armfuls of magazines at $2 a copy," they state. "This year even more space will be available at the bookstore and we aim to display copies of up to 125 different journals, again for sale for the low, low price of $2 each! For the first time this year, we are pleased to welcome web-based literary magazines to the Fair, which will be on display via laptop computers around the store."

The Lit Mag Marathon Weekend is produced by the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses in partnership with Fair founders Jenine Gordon Bockman of LITERAL LATTE and Rebecca Wolff of FENCE, with public support funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency and funding from the Lila-Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund.

All proceeds from the fair go to Housing Works, a non-profit organization whose proceeds support the New York City community of homeless people with AIDS.

Event's are free and open to the public. For more information, call 212-741-9110

COUNCIL OF LITERARY MAGAZINES -- http://www.clmp.org

TAOS SUMMER WRITERS' CONFERENCE

This summer in Taos, New Mexico, against a backdrop of desert and mountain, the TAOS SUMMER WRITERS' CONFERENCE features workshops in Fiction, Poetry, Creative Nonfiction, Travel Writing, Publishing, and more. Sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences of the University of New Mexico, this year's program also includes readings, writers' craft panels, and special events.

The 2002 faculty are Jonis Agee, Alison Hawthorne Deming, Elizabeth Hadas, Pam Houston, Laurie Kutchins, Sandra Lynn, E. A. Mares, Gregory Martin, Carolyn Meyer, Debra Monroe, Pat Mora, Daniel Mueller, Joseph Skibell, and Brent Spencer.

Limited spaces are still available in select workshops. Workshops currently still open include:

Elizabeth Hadas
THE PROCESS OF PUBLISHING
"Most unpublished writers view publishing as a blank wall that they must scale without a ladder. This workshop offers some windows into that wall. It is intended to help participants understand the way editors and publishers of fiction and nonfiction read and respond to queries and submissions...."
Elizabeth Hadas was director of the University of New Mexico Press for 15 years. Currently she divides her time between her job as special acquisitions editor at the University of New Mexico Press and freelance editing, consulting, and book reviewing.

Laurie Kutchins
THE UNRULY DRAFT: AN ADVANCED POETRY WORKSHOP
"You can write a poem in ten minutes, but it can sometimes take years to call it finished. That's one way of describing 'the unruly draft' -- the poem that is written but not complete, the poem that has not yet claimed its full potential. This workshop for intermediate and advanced writers of poetry will focus on revision as an integral part of the creative process...."
Laurie Kutchins' books of poetry include BETWEEN TOWNS and THE NIGHT PATH. Her poems have also appeared in appeared in THE GEORGIA REVIEW, PLOUGHSHARES, THE NEW YORKER, and THE KENYON REVIEW. She teaches creative writing at James Madison University in Virginia, and serves as an honorary member of the New York Writers Workshop.

Daniel Mueller
AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL FICTION: TURNING LIFE INTO LITERATURE
"Of the fiction I've written, much was largely invented while some required very little invention at all. If, as teachers of fiction writing often claim, being factually true to one's experiences is antithetical to writing good stories, what should a fiction writer's relationship to his or her life be? With this as our guiding question, we will workshop one another's fiction on the basis of structure, character, and style in our quest to uncover, and relate to the author, each piece's deeper meanings and defining principles..."
Daniel Mueller's books include the collection of stories, HOW ANIMALS MATE. He is a recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, Massachusetts Cultural Council, Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Henfield Foundation, and Universities of Virginia and Iowa. He joined the English Department faculty of the University of New Mexico in 2001

Brent Spencer
COMEDY IN FICTION: TRAGEDY = COMEDY + TIME
"Famed founder and editor of THE PARIS REVIEW, George Plimpton, once said to me, 'What we'd really like to see more of is humorous fiction . . . not yours, of course.' From Shakespeare to Nabokov and beyond, great writers recognize the comic aspects of tragedy, the tragic aspects of comedy. But striking that balance in fiction is hard. As Ernest Hemingway put it, 'A man's got to take a lot of punishment to write a really funny book.' And in Steve Martin's words, 'Comedy is the ability to make people laugh without making them puke.'...."
Brent Spencer is the author of ARE WE NOT MEN? a collection of stories from Arcade (1996) and THE LOST SON, a novel. (Arcade, 1995) He teaches creative writing at Creighton University in Omaha, and is editor of the Creighton University Press. His fiction has appeared in GLIMMER TRAIN, THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY, THE ANTIOCH REVIEW, THE AMERICAN LITERARY REVIEW, THE MISSOURI REVIEW, GQ, and elsewhere.

For more information about this year's TAOS SUMMER WRITERS' CONFERENCE visit http://www.unm.edu/~taosconf/

At New York University's Washington Square Campus, June 6 - 8, 2002, ART IN AN AGE OF UNCERTAINTY will focus on cultural preservation in a time uncertainty.

"In an environment where the cultural landscape has changed; where institutions, collectors, and the art trade in general are reassessing and in some cases rebuilding and restructuring -- planning to protect themselves, their publics, and their collections -- this conference raises questions, offers opportunities for discussion, and provides guidance and answers," they state.

Participants -- including among others John Belle, FAIA, RIBA, partner, Beyer Blinder Belle Architects and Planners LLP; Bonnie Burnham, president, World Monuments Fund; Walter Butz, Director of Marketing and Client Relations at ViaMat Art Care, a Zurich-based art transport company, specializing in art handling and transport for museums, galleries and private collections; Robert W. Ducibella, president and managing director, Ducibella Venter & Santore, which has provided security consulting and engineering services to cultural institutions, industry, and government since 1964; James Ingo Freed FAIA, Partner, Pei Cobb Freed & Partners; Timothy P. Hartung, FAIA, Partner in Polshek Partnership Architects; Brian Michael Jenkins, an authority on terrorism and sophisticated crimes; Kevin N. Lewis, a consultant on national security affairs to government agencies, private organizations, and, since 1979, a staff member at the RAND Corporation; James J. Lucey, Chief of Protection Services, National Gallery of Art; and Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney, a Democrat who represents the 14th district in New York City -- will consider the special issues that confront cultural institutions and organizations.

Discussions will focus on creativity in a post 911 climate; architecture, both from artistic and functional points of view; national and military policy towards protection of cultural institutions and objects both at home and abroad; security of artifacts and the public within American institutions; and the impact of these events and generalized anxieties on cultural expression itself.

Formal sessions will be augmented by evenings at the Museum of Jewish Heritage-A Living Memorial to the Holocaust and The Morgan Library, and an official visit to Ground Zero.

Conference directors are Lisa Koenigsberg, Director, Programs in the Arts and adjunct professor of arts, NYU School of Continuing and Professional Studies and Beverly Schreiber Jacoby, adjunct faculty, NYU School of Continuing and Professional, an art historian who is founder and president of a firm specializing in research, appraisal, technical and management services.

For complete information, visit http://www.scps.nyu.edu/age Tel: 212-998-7130 or email: pav3822@nyu.edu

Opportunities for Artists

NEW YORK CITY, NY -- Engine 27, a non-profit foundation which has developed a unique audio creation and presentation facility equipped with computer controlled speakers and state-of-the-art sound spatialization software, is offering from 12 to 24 sound works residencies between September 2002 through July 2003.

Engine 27's mission includes the development of multi-channeled soundworks utilizing their advanced technical systems and promoting sponsored commissions, artists' residencies, and educational and public presentations. They are inviting sound artists, composers, musicians and media artists to submit proposals to produce a new audio work in Engine 27.

"We welcome artists without prior experience in digital technology. You will be accompanied by a programmer/engineer for the duration of your residency," they state.

Projects will fall under three residency program categories; Master/Mid-Career Artists, Emerging Artists and In-House Collaborations. Each residency will consist of 40 hours of studio time accompanied by an engineer/programmer. (Priority will be given to residencies focused on exploring the possibilities of our unique 16 channel sound system.) An honorarium of $1,000 will be given for the residency, and expenses for accompanying musicians or supplementary equipment will be provided.

The completed work of a residency will be scheduled as a concert or sound installation for public presentation in the gallery at Engine 27.

In-House Collaborations may include proposals such as

• developing educational sound works for children or teens,

• reconstructing existing spatialized sound works,

• creating novel interfaces for spatialization,

• developing their infrastructure through the incorporation of new tools.

• collaborating on in-house events with Engine 27 staff

At this time, they are not accepting residencies incorporating video or other image technologies other than their 24 channel computerized lighting system.

The deadline for application submission is June 14, 2002.

For more information, visit the ENGINE 27 website at http://www.engine27.org The complete "call" is also available on the Arts Wire Current "Calls" page at http://www.artswire.org/current/calls.html

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 jmalloy@nyfa.org

Deadline: June 7 postmark; June 14 in hand, 2002, Mid-career experimental filmmakers who are interested in crossing the digital divide but lack access and training, NEA INTERNATIONAL DIGITAL FILMMAKER RESIDENCY SQUEAKY WHEEL/BUFFALO MEDIA RESOURCES, Buffalo NY

Deadline: June 14, 2002, Individual artists, collaborative groups/collectives, and community-based groups to create site-specific art works for the Lower East Side Tenement Museum's storefront windows, NYC, The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, POINTS OF ENTRY STOREFRONT EXHIBITION

Deadline: July 12, 2002, Public Artist or Team of Artists, BASELINE ROAD CORRIDOR PUBLIC ART PROJECT, PHOENIX ARTS COMMISSION, Phoenix, AZ

Deadlines: July 15; December 15, 2002, Artists and Writers, Residencies, CALDERA, Cascade Mountain Range, Central Oregon

Deadline August 1, 2002, Writers, PLAY A JOURNAL OF PLAYS - submissions for inaugural issue

Deadline: August 31, 2002, Year-long artist's residency, WOONSOCKET NEIGHBORHOOD DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION, Woonsocket, RI

Deadline: through October 19, 2002, Craft Artists and Visual Artists, ARTS AND CRAFTS MARKET, Catskill, NY

Deadline: Ongoing, Film/video under 60 min, Screening, VIDEO 825, Los Angeles, CA

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, email them to joblist@artswire.org Please send a text file in the body of the message. (ie no attachments and no HTML) There is no fee for posting job listings. The deadline is Friday for the next week's listings. (which usually are posted on Monday) For the most part, job listings are not edited. The contents of the postings are the responsibility of the originating agency.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, 171 Cedar Arts Center, (Corning, NY)

EXECUTIVE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, (part to full time) ARTS & EDUCATION CENTER of greater Middlesex County, (New Brunswick, NJ)

VICE PRESIDENT, COMMUNICATIONS, Americans for the Arts, (Washington, DC)

DIRECTOR, UMKC Belger Arts Center for Creative Studies, The University of Missouri-Kansas City, (Kansas City, MO)

PROGRAM DIRECTOR NEW MUSIC, NEW DONORS, Meet The Composer, (New York City, NY)

ADMINISTRATIVE DIRECTOR, (arts center) (Lake Placid, NY)

REGISTRAR/COLLECTION MANAGER, Montclair Art Museum, (Montclair, NJ)

TRAVELING ART EXHIBITION MANAGER, September 11 Photo Project, (travel with the exhibition)

MANAGING DIRECTOR, Elisa Monte Dance, (New York City, NY)

DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION, Lincoln Center Theater, (New York City, NY)

EDUCATION DIRECTOR, 171 Cedar Arts Center, (Corning, NY)

PREPARATOR, New Museum of Contemporary Art, (New York City, NY)

HEAD HOUSE MANAGER, HEAD STAGE MANAGER, Merkin Concert Hall, (New York City, NY)

HOUSE SOUND ENGINEER, Musical Theatre Southwest, (New Mexico)

COORDINATOR, Summer Music Program, Metropolitan Transportation Authority, (New York City, NY)

MANAGER, ARTS CONSULTING FIRM, David Bury & Associates, (New York, NY)

PUBLICATIONS AND RESEARCH MANAGER, Aspen Music Festival and School, (Aspen, Colorado)

PRODUCTION MANAGER, University of Chicago Presents, (Chicago, IL)

PATRON SERVICES MANAGER, Planning & Development Department, Brooklyn Academy of Music, (Brooklyn, NY)

DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR, New Museum of Contemporary Art, (New York, NY)

DEVELOPMENT OFFICER, The Cape Museum of Art, (Dennis, MA)

FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION DIRECTOR, The Village of Arts & Humanities, (Philadelphia, PA)

SPONSORSHIP COORDINATOR - PLANNING & DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT, Brooklyn Academy of Music, (Brooklyn, MA)

WIG AND MAKEUP ASSISTANT/HAIRDRESSER, Costume Department
San Francisco Opera, (San Francisco, CA)

SPECIAL EVENTS ASSISTANT, Whitney Museum of American Art, (New York City, NY)

VISITOR ASSISTANT, Whitney Museum of American Art, (New York City, NY)

MEMBERSHIP ASSISTANT, Chamber Music America, (New York City, NY)

DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANT, Theatre for a New Audience, (New York City, NY)

DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT, Perkins Center for the Arts, (Moorestown, NJ)

ACTING/VOICE TEACHER, Chekhov Theatre Ensemble, (Brooklyn, NY)

ACTIVITY COORDINATORS - FINE AND PERFORMING ARTS, One World After-School, (New York City, NY)

OFFICE MANAGER, Brooklyn Academy of Music, (Brooklyn, NY)

BUSINESS MANAGER, New England Foundation for the Arts, (Boston, MA)

CAREER SERVICES ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, Office of Career Services, Parsons School of Design, (New York City, NY)

GRANTS MANAGER, Montclair Art Museum, (Montclair, NJ)

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, (New York City, NY)

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT, (part-time) University of Chicago Presents, (Chicago, IL)

GALLERY ASSISTANT/RECEPTIONIST, Marianne Boesky Gallery, (New York, NY)

ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE/OFFICE MANAGER, (art book publisher) (New York City, NY)

ALLEN LEE HUGHES FELLOWS PROGRAM, Arena Stage, (Washington, DC)

REPS FOR SUMMER WORK, The New Victory Theater, (New York City, NY)

INTERNSHIP, Marianne Boesky Gallery, (New York, NY)

INTERN (UN-PAID Roger Smith Gallery, (New York City, NY)

INTERNSHIPS, Arts at St. Ann's, (New York City, NY)

VISUAL ARTS PR, MARKETING INTERNSHIP, Blue Medium, (New York City, NY)

MUSEUM INTERNSHIPS, 2002 - relisted with changed info, Jersey City Museum, (Jersey City, NJ)

DEVELOPMENT INTERNS, Jersey City Museum, (Jersey City, NJ)

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

The University of Southern California, (USC) The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) have issued a call for presentations, Art, Performances, and exhibits for The 2nd Annual Conference and Exhibits on Race and Digital Technologies:" RACE IN DIGITAL SPACE 2.0., to be held in Los Angeles on the campus of USC during the weekend of October 10-13, 2002.

"Since the 1996 advent of a graphical interface for the Internet technology opened up the World Wide Web to the global masses, traditional communication systems within and between nation states have been fundamentally transformed," they state. They point to core issues such as the Digital Divide while at the same time they note that "...many scholars, individuals, grassroots organizations, and free speech activists, among others, have become increasingly concerned about efforts to limit these new technologies before their democratizing and liberatory potentials are fully realized."

In the wake of 9-11 they call attention to "urgent digital media problematics, such as the White House's recent decision to defund community technology centers, high-tech racial profiling and cyber-surveillance, decreased corporate philanthropy, living wage issues in high-tech employment, and high fees for online connectivity."

They envision plenary talks which address concerns including

• The Digital Divide, Post 9-ll;

• Tracking Bodies and Global Labor

• Entertaining Race Representing Race in New Media Environments

• Remaking Race, Authenticating "Other" Voices in Digital Spaces

• New Futures - Digital Theory Meets Digital Practice.

• Archiving and Preserving Other Experiences - The Role of Libraries in the Digital Age
• Globalism
• Surveillance/Technology/Borders
• Race and New Technologies/ Advertising
• Success Stories/Best Practices
• Educational Applications; Minority Business Applications Subcultural Practices
• Access - Anti-trickle down Theories vs. Actual Implementation
• Spirituality and Religion
• Critiques of Colonialism/Techno-colonialism
• Body Tech
• Art and Activism/the Hactivist
• Digital Philanthropy - Profiting as Good Digital Corporate Citizens
• Dot.Com Bust/ Who's Busted? A Disaster or Reprieve?
• Workers in New Media First, Second, and 3rd World Workers; Visa
• Issues + New Media
• Employment Needs
• Voices From Washington/Policy Decisions/Public Discourse on Technology
• Digital Citizens vs. Digital Consumers
• Digital Rights/Digital Piracy
• Media Coverage of New Technology
• Generational Technology Use/Age and Technology/ Youth Cultures
• Technologies Digital Video and Do it Yourself (DIY) Appeals
• Turntablism
• Web Art Streaming Media
• Digital Soundscapes

They encourage proposals for papers, art projects, performances and other modes of creative expression. The weekend will feature both the conference and selected exhibitions and performances.

For complete information about the conference and the presentations and art which it seeks, contact race@annenberg.edu

Send 250-500 word proposals to race@annenberg.edu no later than June 15, 2002. Snail mail copies may be sent to RDS 2.0/c/o Tara McPherson/Critical Studies/School of Cinema-TV/USC/LA CA 90089-2211.