January, 2007

MARK YOUR 2007 CALENDAR WITH THESE IMPORTANT DATES

* February 28 - March 5 is Local Advocacy Week and Online Rally

The Alliance Regional Captain Network will spearhead and coordinate local advocacy events and meetings throughout New York State. Ten Regional Captains cover 58 of New York's 62 counties. You will be hearing from them as local events are scheduled. Last year the Online Rally generated about 3,000 emails to legislators….we will top that in 2007.

Regional Captains: Sarah Lentini, Arts & Cultural Council of Greater Rochester, Celeste Lawson, Arts Council in Buffalo and Erie County, Ron Thiele, Central NY Community Arts Council, Caroline Rubino, Arts Council for the Northern Adirondacks, Elaine Giguere, Delaware Valley Arts Alliance, Kay Stamer, Greene County Council on the Arts, Joanne Mongelli, Westchester Arts Council, Richard Driscoll, Community Arts Partnership, Diana Cherryholmes, Huntington Arts Council, Linda Walton, Harlem Arts Alliance

* March 6 is Arts Day in Albany

Participate in the Arts Showcase and Rally in the Legislative Office Building. Meet with your legislators throughout the day. The Arts Showcase will feature performances and tabletop exhibits from organizations and artists around the State in the WELL. We will put the arts front and center on the legislative agenda and before the many thousands of visitors trolling the Legislative Office Building.

Watch for a Request for Proposal for the Arts Showcase by email in early January and submit your proposal online. akfast, advocacy training, meetings with your members of Congress, and the annual Nancy Hanks Lecture on the Arts and Public Policy. The Alliance coordinates and leads the New York delegation on the Hill.

* September 9, 10 and 11: Arts Summit in Schenectady

Join your colleagues and friends in an interactive statewide Alliance Arts Summit hosted by Philip Morris and Proctor's Theatre in Schenectady. The Summit is designed as a focused interactive event and with full engagement for all participants and many 'behind the scenes' discussions about downtown transformations by the arts. Alliance members will receive registration priority and discounts.

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RURALS PROGRAM: A Quick Review of 2006

* Several veteran executive directors in the Rural Partnership retired this year. My best wishes and thanks for their many years of dedicated and inspired service to: Pat Joyce of Lower Adirondack Regional Arts Council (LARAC), Dee Sarno of Saratoga County Arts Council: The Arts Center (SCAC) and Sue Vahl of Cattaragus County Arts Council (CCAC). Other changes: Kelly Kiebala, long-time Program Director at Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council (GO Art) has left to take on leadership of the Orleans County Chamber of Commerce. Ellen Butz took over leadership of LARAC after many years as Director of Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts (ALCA).

* We welcome some new people into our statewide network. Anisia Kelly, formerly Program Director at Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts is now the Executive Director. Patti Hughes, is the new Director at Arts for Wyoming County; Anne Conroy-Baiter took over for Sue Vahl at Cattaragus; and Susan Kenny is the new ED of Roxbury Arts Group. Joel Reed has been Program Director at Saratoga County Arts Council under Dee; as of January 1st, he starts as SCAC director.

2006 Rural Arts Program Highlights:

* Three Rural Partners received and implemented NEA-supported Community Action Team grants. Central New York Community Arts Council (CNYCAC) hired Craig Dreeszen to help plan and implement an Arts Summit to explore the common needs of regional arts and cultural organizations and help them collaboratively address these needs. Genesee Valley Council on the Arts (GVCA) worked with two consultants to figure out how best to use a unique collection of WPA paintings to promote the arts and tourism in their area. St. Lawrence County Arts Council (SLCAC) worked with Elaine Giguere in developing the infrastructure to support their new main street facility in Potsdam.

* Lots of research and writing was done on issues of concern to the field that were identified during our 2005 statewide survey. These included transition & succession, and exploration of the values that community derives from the arts with an eye toward building new audiences and donors. This information was shared widely, through the Rurals list serve, our Member Memo, the 2006 Rural workshops and Alliance Regional meetings, and the Alliance website.

* In June, we began bi-monthly Rural Conversations as a way to provide a new and ongoing networking opportunity for Rural Partners. These conversations have been lively, have provided excellent sharing of information and concerns, and have helped focus our future work. For example, out of the last Rural Conversation (in early December) we have identified the need to quantify the impact of the arts in rural areas and taken the idea of the arts as an economic driver for upstate into planning for our 2007 advocacy efforts and arts summit planning.

Looking Ahead to 2007...
We'll continue the Rural Arts programs and services that you have found helpful and important. We'll continue to explore the value the arts brings to rural communities and ways to get this message out. Plans are to add up to 5 new Rurals to our Partnership in 2007. We will continue to explore ways to use our networking tools to keep you informed and engaged in our Rural Partnership and the Alliance statewide network.

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CONGRATULATIONS TO THE NYS MUSIC FUND GRANTEES

$19 Million in Music Grants Awarded by Fund Created
by "Payola" Settlement

The New York State Music Fund helps broaden access to music through second round of grants to 218 nonprofit contemporary music appreciation programs

New York, December 19, 2006 - Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors today announced 218 recipients of the second cycle of grants from the New York State Music Fund ("the Fund"), an innovative program created by the Office of the New York State Attorney General to make contemporary music of all genres more available and accessible to diverse audiences and communities within New York State. Nonprofit groups from over 75 towns and cities were awarded grants totaling $19 million for programs ranging from hip-hop to new classical music, and jazz to folk music from around the world. The Fund grew out of settlements with major recording companies investigated for violating state and federal laws prohibiting "pay for play" (also called "payola").

"The greater number and variety of applications since our first round demonstrate the vitality of this creative sector across the state and the need to level the playing field for all forms of music," said Jessica Chao, vice president of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, the nonprofit organization that developed and manages the grant program. "These 218 grants will go a long way toward fulfilling the Fund's mission of ensuring that people of all ages, backgrounds and interests have an opportunity to discover new and less familiar performers and artists."

The New York State Music Fund published guidelines and criteria and accepted grant applications in a number of categories, including music education and public performances of music by artists working in hip-hop, reggae, fusion, jazz, new classical and folk music of all cultures. Applications related to recording, distribution or broadcast through traditional and new media were also eligible. Special emphasis was placed on reaching underserved populations and broadening awareness of artists, genres or styles with limited access to commercial broadcast or other mass distribution vehicles. The Fund received a total of 402 applications for its second cycle.

Awards to the 218 grantees represent every region of New York State and range from $10,000 to $500,000. Diverse forms of popular or experimental music, including indie rock, salsa, electronic, fusion and reggae account for almost 37 percent of grants and more than 15 percent celebrate a spectrum of jazz; nearly 25 percent include new classical music. The state's ethnic or racial minority communities are served by close to a third of all programs, while 28 percent specifically target rural communities. The Fund's size and emphasis on music of our time in all its forms set it apart from other arts grant programs.

An Advisory Panel comprised of recognized leaders from a cross-section of the music world evaluated and recommended the applications based on criteria focusing on artistic merit and community impact. The panel included Carl Atkins, musician, composer, and professor at Rochester Institute of Technology; Don Byron, musician and composer; Joseph Dalton, arts reporter and critic; Richard Kessler, musician and executive director of The Center for Arts Education; Michael Orlove, senior program director for Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs; Elisabeth Perez-Luna, a producer, host and writer at WHYY-FM; Bobby Sanabria, musician, composer and educator; Daniel Sheehy, ethnomusicologist and director and curator of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings; and Elisabeth Vincentelli, Arts and Entertainment editor of Time Out New York.

Grantees include:

* Boys Club of New York (Harlem) $100,000
For the Music School, offering children age six to 20 comprehensive music education including lessons in a variety of acoustic and electronic instruments as well as music technology and band ensemble, training in technique and theory, and numerous performing opportunities playing a range of music including jazz, R&B, rock, funk and classical.

* Irish Arts Center/An Claidheamh Soluis (New York) $100,000
For the presentation of a concert performance by traditional Irish musicians, curated by scholar and performer Mick Moloney and filmed by Academy Award-winning director Paul Wagner, for broadcast on New York's public television stations.

* Just Buffalo Literary Center $70,000
To support the Interdisciplinary Program Series' headline performances and the school-based Williamsville/Buffalo Poetry, Music, Dance Celebration bringing together students from 37 schools to create new works culminating in a public performance.

* Pregones Theater (Bronx) $65,000
For "March is Music," a month-long Latin music festival presenting a broad selection of concert performances, public dialogues, and artist-led educational activities to showcase the diversity and dynamism of Latino musical heritage.

* Seagle Music Colony (Schroon Lake) $70,000
To present to Adirondack audiences the operas The Goose Girl by Thomas Pasatieri and Lysistrata by Mark Adamo, who will direct the opera and give a public lecture; and to workshop the first act of Stephen Schwartz's opera Seance on a Wet Afternoon.

* SUNY Cortland $500,000
For "Live from the Heart of New York," a two-year collaborative project comprised of seven local arts and community development partners, offering a broad spectrum of musical fare such as jazz, blues, folk and world music. The project will present a series of concerts and events incorporating a range of educational activities including composing workshops and master classes and use technology to enable "on demand" access via podcasts and broadcast.

* WXXI Public Broadcasting Council (Rochester) $165,000
To support "BackStage Pass," a series of broadcasts coupled with artist interviews in an hour-long, twice-monthly series for television, radio, and the Web featuring regional artists from Western New York representing a variety of multigenerational music and the Rochester International Jazz Festival.

This second cycle of funding also included a number of grantees that represented the "Special Initiatives" category, specially designed to address the music field's ability to monitor and maintain an open and fair marketplace. Grantees in this category include:

* Alliance of New York Arts Organizations (Mattituck) $115,000
For online courses and a blog for New York State musicians, composers, performers to learn how to distribute and promote their music online, protect themselves in the marketplace, and enhance their skills at making a living through music.

* Future of Music Coalition (DC) $250,000
For an initiative to inform New York State musicians and citizens through statewide forums and Internet resources about key arts and media policy issues related to supporting an open and fair marketplace for creativity and cultural diversity such as payola, media consolidation, copyright, and emerging technologies.

* WFMU (Jersey City) $400,000
To develop, host, and maintain a non-commercial digital library of "podsafe" music targeted to New York musicians and audiences. This web site will offer free legal music downloads, utilizing public domain material and songs licensed under Creative Commons by their creators.

For a full list of grantees, background on The New York State Music Fund and updates on future plans, please visit: www.rockpa.org/music. The web site also lists grant awards from the first cycle, which total $13 million. For information about the payola settlements related to the recording and radio industries, visit www.oag.state.ny.us.

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The Alliance of New York State Arts Organizations has a long history as New York’s service association for arts and cultural organizations. The Alliance provides leadership and vision, and delivers services, resources and tools that strengthen cultural organizations. The Alliance informs the field on statewide and national issues affecting the arts and assists local arts agencies in building community support.

P.O. Box 96
Mattituck, NY 11952-0096
Phone (631) 298-1234 / Fax (631) 298-1101