Post office gets all arty

Did you know that the U.S. Postal Service has issued a sheet of stamps featuring abstract expressionist painters? Read more about it HERE.

Salon Contra recap: Nevan Lahart and Kathryn Cornelius

Visiting Irish artist Nevan Lahart will spend one month in DC creating an installation in NoMa. We met him at Salon Contra this past Monday night. Ellyn Weiss writes about this hilarious encounter HERE.

Save the Date!

www.humanrightsartfestival.com

25th Annual Mayor's Arts Awards

The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities
is pleased to invite you to the 25th Annual Mayor's Arts Awards

Presented by
The Honorable Adrian M. Fenty
Mayor, District of Columbia

Hosted by
Dr. Anne Ashmore-Hudson
Chair, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities


Honors of Distinction
Félix Angel
Inter-American Development Bank, Cultural Center
2010 Mayor's Award for Visionary Leadership in the Arts

Michael O'Sullivan
The Washington Post
2010 Mayor's Special Recognition Award


"...and the 25th Annual Mayor's Arts Awards Finalists are"
- Gloria Nauden
Executive Director, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities

EXCELLENCE IN AN ARTISTIC DISCIPLINE · Cathedral Choral Society · Ira Blount · Lawrence Bradford · Pan American Symphony Orchestra · Peter Waddell · Step Afrika! · The Suzanne Farrell Ballet · Theater Alliance Of Washington DC · Transformer · EXCELLENCE IN SERVICE TO THE ARTS · Dance/Metro DC · Kim Roberts · Margery E. Goldberg · Washington Project For The Arts · OUTSTANDING EMERGING ARTIST · Andrew Wodzianski · Brian W. Grundstrom · Sarah Elizabeth Koss · Helanius J. Wilkins · Luciana Stecconi · Michelle Herman · INNOVATION IN THE ARTS · Daniel Pheonix Signh · Fotoweek DC · GALA Hispanic Theatre · Miriam's Kitchen · Taffety Punk Theatre Company · The Theatre Lab School Of The Dramatic Arts · Velocity Dance Festival · OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO ARTS EDUCATION · Citydance Ensemble, Inc. · Duke Ellington School Of The Arts · The Shakespeare Theatre Company · The John F. Kennedy Center For The Performing Arts/ Education Dept. · The Washington Ballet · Washington Performing Arts Society · MAYOR'S AWARD FOR ARTS TEACHING · LANGUAGE ARTS · Kathy Echave · Mark A. Williams · PERFORMING ARTS · Gregory E. Lewis · Premila Mistry · Thomas Kingston Pierre, Jr. · Rebecca Stump · Benjamin Whelan-Morin · VISUAL ARTS · Stephanie Basralian · Daniel A. Foley · Eric Michael Ginsburg · Bill Harris · Charles Jean-Pierre · Vinson Irby · Andrea Perll · Lindy Russell-Heymann


Monday | March 22, 2010 | 6:00pm

Historical Society of Washington, DC
801 K Street, NW (at Mount Vernon Square)
Washington, DC 20001

Valet Parking Available $10
This event is free and open to the public
This invitation does not guarantee admission

For more information contact Victoria.Murray@dc.gov

CityDance Catalyst Promo!

Check out this promo video for CityDance Ensemble's upcoming concert: Catalyst!

March 13 & 14, 2010 at the Lansburgh Theatre, Harman Center for the Arts.

Tickets: 202.547.1122, harmancenter.org Still on sale but going fast! Get yours today!

Catalyst: CityDance in Concert (Promo 2) from CityDance Ensemble on Vimeo.

MPA Call for Entries!

Fantastic Journeys: Call for Entries!

EXHIBITION DATES

June 17 – July 31, 2010

CASH AWARDS of $1,500

SUBMISSION DEADLINE

April 12, 2010, 5 pm

TO ENTER

• Artists may submit up to four images. Images must be sent on a disc in 300 dpi resolution jpeg format. Please do not email images. Each image should be labeled with the artist’s last name, first name and image number (example, smith.jane1.jpeg). Cover and disc must both be labeled with artist’s name, title of piece, length and year created.
• A hard copy of a list of images. Include artist name, title of piece, sales price, medium, size and year done.
• Artist statement
• Current resume
• Self-addressed, stamped envelope if you would like your submission returned. Only submissions with SASE included will be returned.
• Completed entry form
• Entry fee of $25.

Make checks payable to:

McLean Project for the Arts

For further information email Nancy Sausser:

nsausser@mpaart.org

McLean Project for the Arts,

1234 Ingleside Avenue,

McLean, VA 22101

Phone: 703.790.1953

TDD 703.827.8255

www.mpaart.org

Save the Date: March 21st Sunday Circus!

Call to Photographers! Portraits of DC

PORTRAITS OF DC: A Photo Competition

CALL TO PHOTOGRAPHERS!

The DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities,

FotoWeek DC, and DC Counts Campaign;

are partnering to issue all DC artists, at all skill levels,

a challenge: to capture the diverse beauty reflected in

the faces of Washington residents. Like the census, we seek portraits

representing people of all ages, races, and ethnic groups in each quadrant

of the city. Fifty-one portraits will be selected and exhibited at Social,

a Columbia Heights Restaurant.

Entry Deadline: Tuesday | March 30, 2010 | 7PM

Click here to view the Call to Artists and to obtain an application

For more information, visit www.dcarts.dc.gov

or contact Zoma Wallace at zoma.wallace@dc.gov

Check out the DC Irish Writer's Festival! Now through March 15th!

opening this thursday the dc irish writers festival 11th - 15th march 2010 all events are free! please help us make season 5 possible. we need you to make our brilliant and unique programming happen. contribute here now other march events! selected events check back for updated and added events march 5th - april 4th nevan lahart residency at noma march 8th pinkline salon contra with nevan lahart march 8th solas nua book club let the great world spin by colum mccann march 9th fishamble: the new play company forgotten by pat kinevane march 10th - april 21st beginner irish language classes march 11th - 28theverything between us by david ireland 11-13, 18-20 march at the annenberg center for the performing arts, philadelphia. 15-16 march at the alleyway theatre, buffalo. 23-28 march at flashpoint, dc. march 17th irish book day march 17th at 8pmcraicdown part 2! monday, march 22nd at 7pm fishamble play reading series monged by gary duggan directed by rex daugherty march 29th at 7pm irish popcorn! free irish films the tiger's tail directed by john boorman and starring brendan gleeson beyond march... april 1 - may 8, 2010 bart o'reilly old lines from the luminous state thursday, april 8th, 2010 lunchtime talk with artist bart o'reilly monday, april 12, 2010 solas nua book club confessions of a fallen angel by ronan o'brien monday, april 19th 7pm fishamble play reading series noah and the tower flower by sean mcloughlin directed by linda murray thursday, april 22nd evening panel withbart o'reilly and selected critics on modern irish painting monday, april 26th 7pm irish popcorn! free irish films cinegael paradiso directed by robert quinn starring bob quinn may 10, 2010 solas nua book club the holy city by patrick mccabe monday, may 17th 7pm fishamble play reading series the pride of parnell street by sebastian barry directed by des kennedy monday, may 24th 7pm irish popcorn! free irish films a song for rebecca directed by norah mcgettigan starring gemma doorly june 10 - july 3, 2010 the american premiere of johnny meister + the stitch by rosemary jenkinson directed by des kennedy june 14, 2010 solas nua book club the truth about love by josephine hart monday, june 21st 7pm fishamble play reading series rank by robert massey directed by colin hovde monday, june 28th 7pm irish popcorn! free irish films tara road directed by gillies mckinnon starring andie macdowell july 12, 2010 solas nua book club john the revelator by peter murphy monday, july 19th 7pm fishamble play reading series strandline by abbie spallen directed by dan brick monday, july 26th 7pm irish popcorn! free irish films when brendan met trudy directed by kieron j. walsh starring peter mcdonald thursday, 11th march nick laird and glenn patterson in conversation with chris agee the goethe institut at 8pm 812 7th street nw metro: gallery place/chinatown ________________________________________ sponsored by the northern ireland bureau, our opening night of the festival promises to be an exciting conversation about new writing in northern ireland punctuated by readings from nick laird and glenn patterson. friday, 12th march christine dwyer hickey the arts club of washington at 7pm 2017 i street nw metro: foggy bottom __________________________________________ christine dwyer hickey is the author of tatty, the gambler andlast train from liguria. saturday, 13th march claire kilroy busboys & poets at 4pm 1025 5th street nw metro: mount vernon square _______________________________________ claire kilroy is the author of all summer (winner of the rooney prize), tenderwire and all names have been changed. saturday, 13th march the yellow bittern: the life and times of liam clancy the goethe institut at 8pm 812 7th street nw metro: gallery place/chinatown _______________________________ a special screening of the yellow bittern - a new feature documentary from alan gilsenan about liam clancy, the man that bob dylan called "just the best ballad singer i'd ever heard in my whole life". sunday, 14th march chris agee busboys and poets at 4pm 1025 5th street nw metro: mount vernon square ______________________________ chris agee is a poet and the editor of the irish pages. sunday, 14th march philip o ceallaigh busboys and poets at 5.30pm 1025 5th street nw metro: mount vernon square ______________________________ philip o ceallaigh is the author of notes from a turkish whorehouse and the pleasant light of day. monday, 15th march gerard donovan busboys and poets at 6.30pm 1025 5th street nw metro: mount vernon square ______________________________ gerard donovan is the author of schopenhauer's telescope ( long-listed for the man booker prize) and julius winsome.

The cameras they carried at DCist Exposed

Rafael Valero writes about some images he saw at the DCist Exposed show HERE.

Examining the Human Condition

Do you want to know how to react when he makes you crazy? Find out in this review of the Hillyer Art Space's current exhibit HERE.

PinkLineProject friends get discount for tkts to CityDance performance this wknd. http://ping.fm/R8ZWV

"Drag: Jason Horowitz" reviewed

What happens when you mix large, extreme close up photographs with red wine in a tiny gallery? Find out HERE.

Dance reinterpreted

I was hashing things out with dance professor Kate Mattingly about an all-white team winning a recent major step dance competition, and then right after that we went to see a reinterpretation of Yinka Shonibare's exhibit at the African Art Museum by two young dancers from the Washington Ballet and by Holly Bass Perform...ance Projects in a work called "African Futures:DC". Read what Kate has to say HERE.

Think Pink!

""think pink.!!!!""FUNNY FACE 1956
by dividu

Thanks Joe!

G40 opens tonight

See Teri Memolo's cans at G40, which opens tonight, along with a lot of other great art. Marisa Plumb writes an excellent review of the show HERE.

Alternative art spaces are great!

Showing art in alternative art spaces is nothing to pooh pooh. See why HERE.

Come shmooze with art nerds!

Fundraiser for Haiti!

WE ARE THE DIFFERENCE: REBUILDING HAITI

A Red Carpet Fundraiser

When:

Saturday March 13th, 2010

6PM-11PM

Where:

District

2473 18th Street, NW

Washington, DC 20009

Because the arts are a prominent part of Haitian culture, the event will include a musical performance, a fashion show and live painting component.

Hosted by actor Leo Breckenridge from the award winning short "U Street DC", the evening will center around the musical performance of singer/songwriter Ayanna Gregory, who has shared the stage with icons such as Maya Angelou, the Last Poets, Bill Cosby, Stevie Wonder, Dick Gregory, Isaac Hayes, Will Downing, Lou Donaldson, Jennifer Holiday, Amiri Baraka, and Sonia Sanchez. Witness live paintings by artists Rachel and Rebecca Crouch and Charles Jean-Pierre and enter the silent auction for a chance to take home original pieces. Finally, enjoy a taste of the runway with a fashion show featuring the most recent collections of designers featured in Vogue Media.

ALL proceeds will go to Partners In Health (PIH). The organization was founded by Paul Farmer - anthropologist and ethnographer - who has done extensive work in Haiti and regarding biomedicine. PIH is focused on providing health care to the most disenfranchised communities and is actively involved in the rebuilding efforts. Go here to learn more about PIH.

Tickets begin at $20 and must be purchased in advance, HERE.

Please direct all questions to WeAreTheDifferenceHaiti2010@gmail.com
Visit us at www.WeAreTheDifferenceRebuildingHaiti.com

BE THE DIFFERENCE!

Salon Contra with Allison Marvin

Tuesday, March 23
7-9pm

@Pink Line Project HQ

RSVP to saloncontra@pinklineproject.com today!

PONGterview with Kristina Bilonick and WE ARE SCIENCE!

Pongterview: Kristina Bilonick & WE ARE SCIENCE! (WAS Edit) from Jon Lee on Vimeo.

For more information, go HERE.

Save the Dates!!

May 10, 17, 24 & 31
6:30 - 9:30pm

@ Gallery O/H
1354 H Street NE

What happens when somebody doesn't get into art school

Hitler is bummed that he the LA Museum of Contemporary Art chose Jeffrey Deitch as the new director and not him. See it HERE.

Surf report

The Spartan Readies for Battle from NiKE 6.0 on Vimeo.

Sign the Petition!

Support the MD Theatre for the Performing Arts by signing their petition!

Why YOU should support the proposed Maryland Theatre for the Performing Arts:

• Will bring world-class performers and events of all kinds from around the world -- Broadway, pop, dance, theatre, classical, family, experimental...something for everyone of every income and age, strengthening our local and regional community.

• Will offer an educational component that brings together students, teachers and the community in ways that complement the benefits offered by the existing Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts.

• During the construction phase of building MTPA nearly 500 new jobs will be added to our local economy.

• An additional $124 million will be added to our community's economy from construction.

• Will contribute an ongoing $25 million and $2.5 million in tax revenues into the local economy each year.

To learn more about the theatre, or find out other ways you can help please visit www.MarylandTheatre.net.

Design Challenge: $5,000 prize!

Are you an amateur graphic designer from the metro-DC area? Enter BLOSSOM!, the National Cherry Blossom Festival's Design Challenge, and be eligible to win a $5,000 tuition prize to Westwood College School of Design or a $250 cash prize. Entries are due by March 26, 2010. Go HERE for complete Contest details. Winners will be displayed at Cherry Blast on Friday, April 2, 2010. Please help spread the word and share this message with others who might be interested in entering, too.

UPDATE: I just learned that Eric Hilton is one of the judges! Neat!

G40 preview

I made a little amateur video after my visit to G40, an axhibit of street art by Art Whino, HERE.

Linn Meyers wall drawing at The Phillips Collection



CLEANING PIECE III Say nothing negative about anybody for a) 3 days b) 45 days c) 3 months. See what happens to your life. Yoko Ono, 1996.

"Philippa's Picks" in Capitol File

I got another opportunity to write about DC artists I like, this time in Capitol File magazine. Featured artists: Robin Rose, Laurel Lukaszewski, and Chris Tousimis. I spent a good amount of time talking to these three but had to condense our great conversations into 75 words each. Not an easy task given how interesting they are and the depth of their work and history.

I also got to interview one of my favorite museum directors ever, Dorothy Kosinski who has been leading The Phillips Collection only since 2008 but has been making quite a splash in the DC art scene. Actually she's not just one of my fave museum directors, she's one of my fave arty people ever. She's really energized the Phillips and I foresee more excellent stuff happening there as she returns the museum to its experimental roots.

Sacred Made Real reviewed

Blake Gopnik writes about the "Sacred Made Real" exhibit that recently opened at the National gallery of Art.

Art review from the WaPo

Review of the "Transhuman Conditions" show at the Arlington Arts Center and a neat show of work by the futurist artist Fortunato Depero exhibit at the Italian Embassy HERE.

Studio visit advice

Artists: Some really good advice for when someone visits your studio HERE. Hell, it's good advice for anyone expecting visitors.

Someone remixed "Art Is ____"

Back in December, Pink Line Project brought you "Art Is ___" with WE ARE SCIENCE! at The Phillips Collection. Months later, we find that someone has remixed our remix! We've really made it.

What do sausage-making, Olympics, & crayons have in common? Come to Patrick McDonough's opening 3-5pm on SUN to find out. http://ping.fm/y6PPP

Review of "On/Off the Grid" at Irvine Contemporary

Marisa Plumb reviews a terrific show at Irvine Contemporary for Pink Line Project HERE.

Photos from last night's Finnish Embassy event!

Finland took the LEED on Green last night!

For more photos go here and here. Thanks to Cory Oberndorfer for an awesome backdrop and to Tracy Clayton and Vincent Gallegos for the photos! And most of all, thank you to the Embassy of Finland and Ambassador Pekka Lintu for showing us a great time!

Finland takes the LEED on Green: Photo Slideshow from The Pink Line Project on Vimeo.

CityDance in Concert: Catalyst

Special Discount for Pink Line Project Fans!
$10 off all $35 and $55 tickets!

Call 202.547.1122 and or Buy online and use promo code "7234"

March 13 at 8Pm
March 14 at 4PM
@ Lansburgh Theatre

Concluding a blockbuster performance season featuring a standing ovation at the VelocityDC Dance Festival and November's sold-out Latitude performances at The Kennedy Center, CityDance's U.S. season finale featuring the Washington, DC premiere of Paul Taylor's Images and a collaboration between Artistic Director Paul Gordon Emerson and Grammy nominee Christylez Bacon promises to be an event that should not be missed.

The groundbreaking concert features:

• CityDance's premiere of Paul Taylor's masterwork Images (check out our video series about this dance)

• An encore performance of Paul Taylor's powerful Last Look (as seen at the 2009 VelocityDC Dance Festival last fall)

• A premiere of Paul Gordon Emerson's new work Little Adorations with live accompaniment by Grammy nominee Christylez Bacon

• A first look at +1/-1 by Choreographer-in-Residence Christopher K. Morgan. +1/-1 will have its world premiere at the Gala Opening Night of the Sareyyet Ramallah Dance Festival in Ramallah in the Palestinian Territories on April 19 when CityDance takes the stage with the Sareyyet Ramallah Dance Company.

Don't miss your last chance to see CityDance in DC this season before the company takes off on its five-week tour of the Middle East in April. For more information on the company, visit them at www.citydance.net. Buy your tickets now!

Limited $20.00 rush tickets will be made available 24 - 48 hours in advance of show times.

$100 VIP Ticket Package
Saturday, March 13 Only!
Receive premiere seating
Post-performance reception with the artists
Limited seating! Purchase today:
Buy online call 202.347.3909 or email CityDance

More creative space in DC

More creative space in DC. YAY! Read more about it HERE.

TONIGHT! Check out VJ Um Amel @ the Fridge!

VJ Um Amel is a poet, activist and digital artist critically examining the nature of digital information and cyber existence in a post-9/11 world. On Thursday, February 25, Um Amel will present Call 2 Presence, an interactive live cinema performance at The Fridge DC art gallery.

In her 30-minute performance, VJ Um Amel (Arabic for ‘Mother of Hope’), an animated cyborg who is also a mother, invites the audience to collectively choose how the story will proceed.

This is how it works: two projections will go on simultaneously. The main projection will show the cinematic story of Egyptian-American VJ Um Amel, along with her robot companions, Femme Bot and Shashi, as they move in and out of media from 1950s Egyptian cinema to present day video games, full-length films, and the Internet in search of Um Amel’s child. Um Amel is a feminist cyborg who shape-shifts from animation to avatar, VJ to mother, from machine to human. Within the film, VJ Um Amel explores her mother’s past as an opera singer and film star in 1950’s Cairo. In this world, she finds love, life, romance, and how to move her hips without glitches.

In its essence, the first projected video asks what hope looks like in the 21st century. Yet as the story progresses, the audience will get to determine how the story ends. They will text their choices by phone, or simply sit back and watch the plot unfold.

On the second projection, there will be a continuous visual display of images as controlled by the audience. The audience will text any key words that describe their reactions and emotions to the performance to a provided phone number. Their texts will automatically generate images from Flickr based on the key words.

Call 2 Presence is an exciting opportunity to utilize crowd participation technologies focused on educating people through art. In Um Amel’s opinion, “a shared procedural literacy among collaborators in digital and new media productions might provide a key to 21st century democratic practices.”

In other words, only the collective can provide the answers to the artist’s posed questions. In a true 21st century democracy, the crowd tells the story together.

Come help VJ Um Amel tell the story on Thursday, February 25 at The Fridge DC art gallery. Doors open at 7:30pm and the live cinema begins at 8pm (30 minutes and then Q&A). After Party from 9pm-11pm to follow. Tickets ($10) are available online.

Check out Call 2 Presence for more information.

Andrew Wodzianski, Artist and Pop-Up Gala Participant

Andrew answers the Proust Questionnaire. Follow Cultural Development Corporation's Pop-Up Gala creation process on their blog, Pop-Up Gala.

Emerge Exposed: Pink Panel - Tickets on Sale Now!

Buy your tickets today to see the Pink Panel on Photography for the Emerging Collector!

Tickets: $8 in advance, $10 at the door.

Tuesday, March 16th 7-9pm

@Long View Gallery

1234 9th St. NW

Washington, DC 20001

Panelists:

George Hemphill, Gallerist

Leena Jayaswal, Associate Professor at American University

Max Hirshfeld, Photographer

Philippa Hughes, Moderator

Guided tour of the Transhuman Conditions exhibition @AAC

Check out this video tour from James Huckenpahler of GW New Media. A behind the scenes look with Jeffry Cudlin of the Arlington Arts Center at the exhibition, Transhuman Conditions.

[Link to the video]

DIY uses social media tools

DIY is alive and well in DC and using social media tools to make a buck! Read more about it HERE.

Hamiltonian Artists Fellowship Program

Hamiltonian Artists Fellowship Program is Now Accepting Applications for 2010-2012 Term.

Deadline: Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Hamiltonian Artists, a 501(c)3, is pleased to announce its third annual open call to new, emerging artists to apply to our two-year Fellowship Program, aimed to aid in the professional development of visual artists.

Please refer to the website for application requirements, restrictions and forms. The application process will close at 5:00 pm on on Tuesday, March 2, 2010, and any applications received after that date will not be considered.

http://www.hamiltonianartists.org/apply.html

Please do not hesitate to email or call us at the gallery with any additional questions.

Best of luck!
Hamiltonian Artists is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing professional development opportunities for creative artists early in their careers. We offer a competitive two-year fellowship program to new, innovative visual artists in all media through an annual competition. Artists from around the nation are encouraged to apply.

Hamiltonian Artists
1353 U Street, NW
Suite 101
Washington, DC 20009
202.332.1116
www.hamiltonianartists.org
www.hamiltoniangallery.com

Attention Virginia Art Lovers!

On February 21 the Appropriations Committee of the House of Delegates voted, 15-7, to cut state funding for the Virginia Commission for the Arts by 50 percent in 2010-11 and to eliminate the agency completely as of July 1, 2011. The Senate Finance Committee has adopted the proposal in the budget bill submitted by Governor Kaine not to make further cuts in state funding for the Commission for the Arts.

There will be votes on the House and Senate floors later this week on the proposals from the two committees. The different versions of the 2010-12 budget bill approved by the two house of the General Assembly then go to a Budget Conference Committee to resolve the differences.

WHAT YOU SHOULD DO NOW

Virginians for the Arts is encouraging all of its members to do two things:

1. Contact your representatives in the General Assembly, both Delegates and Senators (fax and phone calls best), protesting the recommendation of the House Appropriations Committee. Legislator contact information can be found on the web here.


2. Write a letter to the editor of your local newspapers with the same message.

These actions must be taken in as soon as possible (at least by end of the week) in order to have any impact on the final decisions on the state budget.

Please take action and help us spread the word with other arts advocates in every way (website, email, social networking, etc.)

Talking Points for These Contacts with Legislators and Letters to the Editor

• The House Appropriations Committee, on a divided vote, has made a short-sighted decision about state funding of the arts, proposing a 50 percent reduction in state funding for the Virginia Commission for the Arts in the first year of the new biennium, and eliminating the agency completely in the second year.
• The arts community recognizes the severity of the budget problems facing state government and expects to share in the budget cuts and has already been cut by 30 percent over the last two years.
• However, every dollar that the state invests in the arts through the Commission returns $7 in investment by private citizens, businesses, and local governments.
• The Commission made matching grants to Virginia local governments of half a million in FY 2009-2010 to support festivals and programs generating tourism and attracting business and cultural activity throughout the state.
• The Commission is funded at the lowest per capita level among state agencies of surrounding states.
• Elimination of the Commission would also mean the loss of Federal funds for arts in Virginia ($1 million in FY 2009-2010).
• The arts contribute to the economic vitality of Virginia communities. Localities such as South Boston, Richmond, Lynchburg, Blacksburg, Alexandria, and Petersburg are using the arts as a lynchpin for attracting business and economic development.
• Artists and arts organizations work in Virginia schools to expand educational opportunities for children so important to developing a creative workforce. The arts have stepped in to meet cultural education needs of our children where these programs are being cut in the schools. Funds provided by the Virginia Commission for the arts often represent the only opportunity for children in rural areas to be exposed to arts and culture.
• The arts provide jobs, and cultural tourism as an important part of Virginia tourism promotion efforts.
• Over the past two years the arts have faced large spending cuts, cancellations of performances, staff layoffs, and galleries closing. Minimizing further cuts in state arts funding is essential to the survival of Virginia's cultural infrastructure. CUTS OF THE MAGNITUDE BEING PROPOSED WOULD CAUSE ARTS ORGANIZATIONS, BOTH LARGE AND SMALL, TO CLOSE THEIR DOORS throughout the Virginia.
• We urge you to vote against the proposal of the House Appropriations Committee. The small investment the state makes in the arts has a major impact on local economic development, tourism, and education.

Thank you for your essential support! Action by our advocates will make all the difference!
Trish Poupore
Virginians for the Arts
(804)644-2787

BYT and Affinity Lab Launch Contest to Stimulate DC's Creative Class

Affinity Lab and Brightest Young Things are partnering up to offer memberships to the newly opened U St Affinity Lab (across from Velvet Lounge) to two businesses, non-profits, or arts groups with dynamic and innovative ideas in order to support DC's creative economy.

Here is a link to the Contest Post on BYT: http://www.brightestyoungthings.com/i-heart-dc/contest-d-c-s-creative-class-where-you-at/

Everyone always talks about D.C.'s hidden creative class; a chronically highly educated, over committed and extremely frustrated tribe who simply do not have the time or know-how to apply for arts and business development grants from local government or raise capital. More than likely you or your friends are members of this creative community: you might be an editor of a fanzine, the head of a small record label, a graphic novelist, the founder of a new non-profit, a local political organizer, the producer of a film, an events planner, or the head of a disturbingly niche oriented dating website. Whoever you are, you're contribution is vital to our community.

The Affinity Lab is dedicated to coaxing the fire of entrepreneurial spirits in the District of Columbia. With branches in Adams Morgan and U Street Affinity Lab serves as a base camp for creative businesses, start-ups and non-profits providing office space, business tools and a collaborative culture.

Imagine: Having access to an office space in which you can work, learn, meet and organize events.

Imagine: Having access to business tools like faxing, copying, printing, scanning, phones and internet without having to deal with Kinkos or incompetent and immoral telecommunications firm.

Imagine: Having immediate access to the Affinity Lab community of graphic designers, accountants, web developers and public relations svengalis.

Imagine: Having all of these resources for free.

Think about the freedom you'd have to focus on the fundamentals of your business once your structural distractions have been eliminated.

The Affinity Lab and Brightest Young Things challenges the members of D.C.'s creative class to take it to the next level. We are offering two, free, one-month, Affinity Lab memberships to people, artists, or businesses with dynamic and innovative ideas.

All you have to do is:

Describe your idea in 3 to 4 sentences and email it to ideas@affinitylab.com with the subject line: "Let's Do This"
From this group of contestants there will be 2 winners: an editor's choice and a popular choice. Affinity Lab will be in charge of the editor's choice while BYT readers will vote on their favorite submission in a future post.

Winners will be announced the first week of March.

Do women collect art differently?

Do women approach art collecting differently? Read Kate Mattingly's analysis HERE.