Brewed Fresh Daily

Are you reading the Bruce Blog on a weekly basis? You should be. Marc Lefkowitz talks about an interesting idea:

Now that an arts levy is off the ballot, it's safe to wonder why none of our elected officials thought it could stand on its own, apart from the convention center. Bruce blog suggests a new strategy the next time the arts levy comes up�bill it as the arts incubator levy. That's right, folks, our hard earned cash will go directly toward launching fledgling arts organizations. The support from our arts leaders is already in place for a Cleveland arts incubator, a space that provides guidance, operational support, offices and computers for groups like, well, Hotel Bruce. A few months back, Bruce blog had a conversation with Tom Schorgl of the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture � the anointed leader of the arts levy movement � about an arts incubator. Schorgl floated the idea that if voters ponied up the $14 million annually in sales tax, that he would like some of that money to go toward creating an arts incubator. Bruce blog thinks at least half of a future arts levy should go toward an incubator and the other half toward sustaining the existing arts organizations in town. What do you think?

I think it's a great idea. Last night I was over at a show that Brenda Stumpf did to raise money so that she can crate and ship her work to shows in New Orleans and Berlin. You know something? If she was selling enough of her work, she wouldn't have to raise funds. I talked a little with Brenda about how she spends her time, and she's working very hard to promote herself and her work. She's making contacts all over the world and has an international vision. Why aren't we helping artists with a work ethic like hers with the administration of marketing them (and the area) as creative people from a creative place? Another thing, who "annointed" anyone as the leader of the arts levy movement? If they did, where are the results? I've heard people say we've been working on this arts stuff for 10 years now. Where are the results? If there, aren't any results, when will we have something tangible to show for are efforts? 5 years? 10 years? How many artists leave in that amount of time? I'd like to hear how much of a percentage would go to funding something like this. CPAC seems to do lots of studies, have they done (or anyone else for that matter) a feasibility study on it? What about support? Who's polling the artists and politicians about it? I invite your comments and emails about it.