LINCnet.news

Welcome to the inaugural issue of LINC’s quarterly e-newsletter! The launch of LINCnet.news marks an important stage in LINC’s efforts to increase the exchange of information and knowledge about the impressive body of work that has taken place around the country to improve conditions for individual artists. As LINC enters its final four years, we are excited to share several exciting developments, each an important element of our final phase of work.

LINC’s new staff members – Karen Garrett (grantmaking), Robert Carabay (program assistance), Linda Park (knowledge and information), and Crista Farrell (research and development) – have made important strides in guiding the organization forward. One significant result of these efforts has been the recent re-launch of LINC’s website, www.lincnet.net, which features a host of new components including rich information resources from our National Artist Health Insurance Initiative and our National Artist Space program. In preparation for the second round of ARTOGRAPHY: Arts in a Changing America, the team launched www.artsinachangingamerica.net, a new website dedicated to the exploration of exemplary artistic practice in the context of changing demographics in communities across the country. And, we are also pleased to announce funding from the MetLife Foundation for the launch of LINC’s artist space awards (anticipated launch spring 2009).

Finally, it is a pleasure to announce our most recent round of grant making, securing our work with the San Francisco Foundation (Bay area); Department of Cultural Affairs, Chicago; Pratt Center for Community Development for its work with ArtHome (New York); Montana Arts Commission; and LegalArt, Miami. Visit www.lincnet.net/creative-communities for more information about these local projects.

We encourage you to peruse our new resources, ask questions, and provide us with any feedback you may have. We look forward to hearing from you!

Arts in a Changing America

In September 2008 LINC entered a new phase of its grant and documentation program ARTOGRAPHY: Arts in a Changing America with the launch of www.artsinachangingamerica.net. One of ARTOGRAPHY’s first grantees, the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance (MIBA), is currently featured on the website. MIBA is focused on preserving and extending the art of basket making within Maine’s Native American community.

Using the Documentation Fund offered by ARTOGRAPHY, MIBA embarked on an in-depth collaborative project with the Hudson Museum at the University of Maine. MIBA and the Hudson Museum created video profiles of basketmakers discussing their personal stories and artistic practices. The video pieces offer insight into the challenges that this community of artists face in a changing world: difficulty in attracting a younger generation of artists; diminishing access to raw materials; the possible loss of language and unique basket making techniques. The picture that emerges is that of a resilient community deeply anchored in a strong creative tradition. We encourage you to view this compilation of profiles online here.

ARTOGRAPHY is a grant and documentation program to address the demographic changes taking place in the country and capture how arts organizations develop their practices in relation to this complex issue. To learn more about MIBA and the ARTOGRAPHY program, visit www.artsinachangingamerica.net/section/view/grantees.

Conversation between Ms. Fidelma McGinn of Artist Trust and Mr. Jim Brown of Actors Fund
September 17, 2008

To jump start our campaign to raise the visibility of health insurance / health care resources for artists, LINC asked two partners working in this theme – Fidelma McGinn of Artist Trust (Seattle, WA) and Jim Brown from Actors Fund (New York, NY) – to introduce some of the issues, headway, and future steps for both of their organizations’ work in providing health insurance / health care support to individual artists.

The conversation between Fidelma and Jim took place on September 17th, 2008. In this telephone exchange, the two LINC partners talked not just about the challenges that artists face in accessing quality, affordable health care, but also some of the emerging trends in the field of health care and health insurance (“retail” clinics, low-cost concierge providers, diagnosis-based cost) and how they see the future of health care shaping up across the country as well as in local communities.

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