I was enormously privileged to spend a large chunk of Saturday past observing the eleven young people who competed as finalists for the 2009 (Florida) GRADY-RAYAM PRIZE by singing arranged Negro spiritual songs.  These were all high school juniors and seniors of Afro-ethnic descent, but we could not have brought together an otherwise more diverse group of personalities and [...]

  Last week Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK)  introduced a measure to prohibit spending of federal “stimulus” funds on a host of specific concerns, among which are listed arts centers, theaters and the programs associated with them.  A colleague subsequently wrote me to express alarm at the thought that arts organizations - especially those with bricks and mortar concerns - should look ahead to [...]

On Friday 30th January I had the pleasure of participating in the 3rd Annual Principals’ Appreciation breakfast put on by Scott Evans and the fine people connected with the Orange County Arts Education Center (www.ocaec.org), where there was frank table talk among educators, corporate representatives and arts executives about the scariness of the current economic environment.  In [...]