Today in Arts Issues

"This ain't your mother's publishing business"... Booksquare looks at some of the many changes the publishing industry may need to make if it wishes to be solvent for the next few decades, with suggestions including not being limited to the book as a way to tell a story and borrowing techniques from smaller independent publishing houses.

Meanwhile, in Europe: The gloomy economic forecasts have a lot of people predicting bad things to come for the arts. This Agence France piece stares into a crystal ball and worries about donors-- and State arts sponsorships-- pulling back. This has already begun to happen here with the fall of the house of Lehman. This article in the Guardian questions whether (and how) economic hard times will alter the content rather than the business of art. While this piece looks at how messages of freedom and human rights are transmitted through art and how the arts have pioneered and energized positive social change. If you want an interesting (and pershaps inspirational) story, read up on how Winston Churchill built roads, sent secret convoys and blasted quarries to save Britain's artistic treasures from the German onslaught in WWII.

Turning stateside... a group of civic and arts leaders in Arkansas is saying that the arts and creative industries can be a way to help that state's stagnating economy, while in Indiana, the Indianapolis Arts Council is participating in their city's fight against crime as a way of helping create broader support and recognition for the needs of the arts. Meanwhile, this opinion piece in the Richmond Times-Dispatch (that's of Richmond, VA) points us to studies showing the immense (and positive) impact nonprofits have on the economy. Finally, click here for a PDF "Congressional Arts Report Card" compiled by the good people at Americans for the Arts.