News
PAFA presents the fourth and final installment of The Review Panel Philadelphia on Wednesday, April 3, at 6pm. February’s edition attracted over 100 attendees, and this month’s promises discussions that are sure to entice people into the Hamilton Auditorium. The April panel of critics includes Jennie Hirsh, Katherine Rochester, and Robert Storr. The four local exhibitions, chosen by David Cohen and his panelists are JG: A Film Project by Tacita Dean at Arcadia University Art Gallery; Christine Hiebert at Gallery Joe; Joyce Robins: Ceramic Painting/Painted Ceramic at Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery; and White Petals Surround Your Yellow Heart at the Institute of Contemporary Art. The panel discussions, for the uninitiated, run approximately 90 minutes and feature a brief presentation, a critical debate and an opportunity for the audience to respond.
The Pew Charitable Trusts took a major leap when they announced a restructuring of its culture program, making the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage its primary vehicle for arts funding. Very cool – executive director Paula Marincola is now presiding over continued grants in support of specific artistic projects—raising the maximum size of the awards from $250,000 to $300,000—as well as a new funding program intended to help organizations make longer-term, more engaging investments. The Center’s grants budget will increase by $2 million annually, from $8 million to $10 million. They’ve made plans to phase out the Philadelphia Cultural Leadership Program by the end of 2015, adding 20 percent to each of its project grants as unrestricted operating support.
Philadelphia Sculptors has been named a finalist in the 2013 Philadelphia Knight Foundation Arts Challenge for their proposed project “Making Waves: Activating the Waterfront”! If awarded, the project envisions a collaboration with the Independence Seaport Museum on Penn’s Landing to place sculptures outside the Museum and along the waterfront. The grants are announced in April, so wish them luck over the next few weeks.
Speaking of Philadelphia Sculptors, the Arts and Business Council of Greater Philadelphia has just announced its 2013 awards recipients. Philadelphia Sculptors and the Globe Development Group have been selected as the recipients of the “Small Business with an Arts and Cultural Organization” award. The awards are given out at the annual Arts and Business Council Awards Celebration in May. Congrats to the winners!
Opportunities
The Vera List Center for Art and Politics invites applications for the 2013-2015 Vera List Center Fellowships, two eight-month linked to the Vera List Center’s curatorial focus theme for 2013-2015, Alignment. The fellowship is part-time, non-residential, and carries a US$10,000 stipend. The fellows are supported by a student research assistant, with access to a wide range of activities throughout The New School, and enjoy extensive library privileges, meetings and informal gatherings with New School faculty and others. Past fellows have included Maurice Berger, Wendy T. Ewald, Bouchra Khalili, and Elisabeth Sussman. Journalists, historians, visual and performing artists, critics, curators, and cultural practitioners working in any field where they engage art and politics are encouraged to apply. The initial application deadline is April 8, 2013, followed by reviews by members of the VLC staff, the VLC Advisory Committee, past Fellows and New School faculty. Finalists are then invited to expand on their proposals in mid-April to early May, and in late May fellowship appointments are announced. Fellowship terms can last up to 8 months at any point between fall of 2013 and spring of 2015. For details on the fellowship, application form and procedure, visit the Vera List Center. www.veralistcenter.org/fellowship
Midwestern State University’s Ceramics Department is hosting an Artist In Residence program, with a one year minimum, to be held September 1, 2013 through August 31, 2014 (the beginning date is flexible from now until September 1). This self-directed residency provides studio access, materials and firing, a small office with internet access and storage space, university privileges as given to full time faculty, a small furnished apartment located at a private residence three miles from MSU (details TBD during the interview process), a minimum stipend of $6000 (to be discussed during the interview process, and the possibility of an exhibition either at a local venue, MSU, or the Wichita Falls Art Museum. To see images of the ceramics studio at Midwestern, go to stevenhilton.com. For initial consideration, please e-mail or make the following available by website/blog by April 15 : Letter of interest with a paragraph on what you would like to accomplish while at MSU, resume or CV, artist’s statement, 15-20 jpegs of recent work, if available, 10 jpegs of student work, contact information (email and phone) for 3 references (please make one a former professor). Send to Steve Hilton (steve.hilton@mwsu.edu), or snail mail to Midwestern State University, Juanita and Ralph Harvey School of Visual Arts. (940) 613.7041. The application deadline is April 15 or until position is filled.
Artist News
Erin Riley’s donation of Nudes 7 is to be auctioned off April 13 at the 24th Annual Benefit Art Auction for her alma mater Massachusetts College of Art & Design in Boston. Also, she recently did an interview with The Ether Collective, a new arts website that looks promising.
Kevin Finklea is showing work in a four person show at Reuten Galerie in Amsterdam, showing alongside friend Henriëtte van’t Hoog. More to come soon, with a show in Zürich to follow.
The Agnes Etherington Art Centre has chosen ICA Associate Curator Anthony Elms as the 2013 Rita Friendly Kaufman Lecturer, another achievement for Elms, who was recently selected as one of the 2014 Whitney Biennial curators. His planned lecture, “Moments to remember are just like other moments,” discusses his approach to curating; expect lots of artist conversation and ephemera, two of his common themes. Proud to claim him for Philadelphia.
