August 18 | Culture driving the Californian economy

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A new study measuring the impact of art and culture in San Francisco has been released, whilst the Tate Modern invites visitors to participate in the creation of ceramics.

Art and culture at the heart of the San Francisco economy

A study published by the organisation Americans for the Arts has measured the impact of art and culture on the San Francisco economy.

Art and culture bring in $1.45 million to the city and provides 39,000 jobs, constituting 1% of the national total, estimated to be worth $166.3 million. Since 2012 and the arrival of a new mayor, Edwin Lee, financing for public art has increased by 14% whilst the 2014-15 financial year saw the city’s artistic organisations spend $780.6 million, with inhabitants spending $667.7 million in total on cultural events. More details via The Art Newspaper


 

A ceramics workshop to take place at the Tate Modern

From September 28 the Tate Modern is to offer visitors the opportunity to participate in ceramics workshops; the idea is conceptualised by artist Clare Twomey and is part of “FACTORY: the seen and the unseen” on the 5th floor of the new Tate building. The project has 8 tonnes of clay at its disposal and will set up a 30-metre long production line. Twenty volunteers will be on hand to help visitors.

The project is organised as part of the “Tate Exchange” program. The initiative which was launched last year saw 200,000 people participate in its first edition. This year, the Tate Liverpool will also host the program. More via the Guardian

 

Clare Twomey’s Dudson Factory (Tate/PA)


 

 

Kickstarter orients itself towards the arts

The crowdfunding platform, who has recently named Patton Hindle as Arts Director, has announced ambitious plans for financing artistic projects. Formerly of Artspace, Hindle now wants to help emerging artists and young galleries get off the ground.  

“I know that artists often have to make compromises at early stages of their careers to make ‘sellable’ work for their gallery exhibitions,” she says. “While that’s what allows the gallery model to carry on, I’m interested in exploring the modes within which Kickstarter can collaborate with artists to help them have an experiential or less commercial aspect to an exhibition within the gallery model.” Read the interview on  artnews.

 

Institute of Artivism / Instituto de Artivismo Hannah Arendt / Kickstarter