This first one is more of a project to contribute to than use, but ultimately useful just the same. Via the Americans for the Arts blog, an artist in Pennsylvania, Amy Scheidegger, got a little steamed when she overheard two teenagers dismissing the arts as a valid pursuit. “Art is, like, the most worthless degree anyone can get. Like, haha, they have a degree in making shit with popsicle sticks.” Scheidegger decided she was going to put together a book of responses to the idea that art is worthless, an Artistic Rebuttal Book.
She has put out a call for entries to be included in the book.
“For anybody who wants to contribute to the book with their own statement on the importance of art, or where art is hiding that the normal non-artist doesn’t see, or statistics about how much money is spent in any art-related field, whatever you want really, that cites the importance and everywhere-ness of the art we live and breath, now’s your chance to voice your love of art!
YOU don’t even have to be an artist, maybe you just know one (married one, birthed one or just appreciate their hard work, etc) And the statement can be about any kind of art as well: theater, dance, music, visual, the written word, movies, you name it,”
March 12 is her deadline so she can take an abridged version to law makers on Arts Advocacy Day. May 15 is her hard print deadline.
Second tip of the day:
You may or may not know that Facebook has changed their Pages layout. Those are the non-personal pages that businesses can make for themselves. Thanks to the Technology in the Arts Twitter feed, an article about how to best use the new features came to my attention. You should read the tips if you have a Facebook Page account because the changes become permanent whether you opt-in or not on March 1 and some settings you may have turned off will get turned back on by default.
One thing they don’t talk about that I have finally gotten to work with the upgrade is the Username function. I could never get a short, easy to remember username to register so I could actually post a Facebook address that wasn’t 60 characters long and full of arcane symbols. (e.g. www.Facebook.com/mytheatre) I was always told the name was available, but when I confirmed I wanted it, the webpage just hung. Today, first try I finally won the battle and have a nice brief address. If you too have had this problem, the solution may be at hand!