Art Resources

Keeping at-risk kids out of jail -- it's an art

Author: Luis J. Rodriguez

Tough on crime' gang injunctions just funnel teens into jail. But one former gang member knows firsthand how a little care and attention can make a true difference.

Forty years ago, I was a gang member and a tagger, an aerosol graffiti artist. No doubt this was vandalism -- my canvases were the walls of businesses, homes, schools, any public place.

I was just the sort of kid City Atty. Carmen Trutanich is targeting with his proposed civil injunction against taggers, a court order that would allow taggers to be arrested for merely hanging out together, an act that for most of us would be legal.

Now I am a homeowner, co-founder of a thriving cultural center and bookstore, a writer/poet with 14 published books and a gang intervention expert. I am a father, grandfather and law-abiding citizen. I invite you to listen to my story and judge whether the city attorney's injunction is right for Los Angeles.

At age 16, in 1970, I was a high school dropout and drug user. I had met a youth worker at the community center that served my East L.A.-area neighborhood. He saw something in me I couldn't see: an artist, a leader, a contributing member of the community. He offered me a deal -- if I returned to school, he'd help me get training and work as a muralist.

Who knows why I finally agreed -- for two years, I had told this guy to drop dead. But he never gave up on me. I learned mural painting at the old Goez Art Gallery on 1st Street. I had a mentor in Alicia Venegas. The youth worker persuaded the principal of the high school to let me come back, even though I had been kicked out for fighting when I was 15. I graduated. Then, from 1972 to 1973, I painted murals at the youth center, a local library branch and several businesses, the latter with 13 other gang members.

And yes, I was still in the gang, but now I had something more; I had found footing on new ground where seeds of change could take root. It wasn't easy. Between ages 15 and 18, I was arrested for rioting and attempted murder. I reached a crossroads at 18, when I faced a six-year prison sentence for resisting arrest and assaulting police officers.

The gang called to me, as did the heroin in my veins, but so did a radical healing path. I began heroin withdrawal in jail. I would go on to remove myself at great risk from gang warfare. But first I had to face the judgment of the court.

Fortunately for me, I lived in a different time than today. A plea deal was in front of the judge. He received letters of support from my community. He got reports about how I had finally obtained my high school diploma and about the murals I had painted. I had one foot in "the life" and another in transcendent possibilities. This judge somehow knew I could be pushed in one direction or another. He chose to keep me out of the state prison system, to allow me to walk out a free man with time served for a lesser offense.

The Walt Disney Company to Acquire Marvel Entertainment for $ 4 Billion

Author: BofA Merrill Lynch.

BURBANK, CA.- Building on its strategy of delivering quality branded content to people around the world, The Walt Disney Company has agreed to acquire Marvel Entertainment, Inc. in a stock and cash transaction, the companies announced today. Under the terms of the agreement and based on the closing price of Disney on August 28, 2009, Marvel shareholders would receive a total of $30 per share in cash plus approximately 0.745 Disney shares for each Marvel share they own. At closing, the amount of cash and stock will be adjusted if necessary so that the total value of the Disney stock issued as merger consideration based on its trading value at that time is not less than 40% of the total merger consideration.

Captain America Salutes Marvel Entertainment, IncBased on the closing price of Disney stock on Friday, August 28, the transaction value is $50 per Marvel share or approximately $4 billion.

"This transaction combines Marvel's strong global brand and world-renowned library of characters including Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, Captain America, Fantastic Four and Thor with Disney's creative skills, unparalleled global portfolio of entertainment properties, and a business structure that maximizes the value of creative properties across multiple platforms and territories," said Robert A. Iger, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company. "Ike Perlmutter and his team have done an impressive job of nurturing these properties and have created significant value. We are pleased to bring this talent and these great assets to Disney."

"We believe that adding Marvel to Disney's unique portfolio of brands provides significant opportunities for long-term growth and value creation," Iger said.

"Disney is the perfect home for Marvel's fantastic library of characters given its proven ability to expand content creation and licensing businesses," said Ike Perlmutter, Marvel's Chief Executive Officer. "This is an unparalleled opportunity for Marvel to build upon its vibrant brand and character properties by accessing Disney's tremendous global organization and infrastructure around the world."

Under the deal, Disney will acquire ownership of Marvel including its more than 5,000 Marvel characters. Mr. Perlmutter will oversee the Marvel properties, and will work directly with Disney's global lines of business to build and further integrate Marvel's properties.

Metropolitan cuts major loan shows by a quarter

Author: Jason Edward Kaufman

Director doesn’t rule out entry fees for special exhibitions

new york. The Metropolitan Museum of Art will present fewer major loan exhibitions in future, says the museum’s director Thomas Campbell. In his first major interview since taking on the post (published in The Art Newspaper, September 2009), Campbell said that economic pressures require a reduction in the number of marquee exhibitions and lavish publications.

Annually, the Metropolitan has been mounting 30 to 35 exhibitions, including 10-12 major loan shows, 10 medium-sized shows, and various smaller installations. He estimates there will now be 20-25% fewer large, expensive loan shows. The reductions will not be apparent for some time because the museum makes public its schedule no more than a year in advance.

Campbell, who became director in January, inherited a calendar with exhibitions booked as far ahead as early 2013, but he would not disclose revisions he has made other than the rescheduling of two shows slated for the current fiscal year. An exhibition about the Belles Heures of Jean de France, Duc de Berry, has been moved from autumn 2009 to spring 2010—coinciding with an exhibition of medieval tomb sculptures from the Court of Burgundy—and a survey of early American furniture by Duncan Phyfe has been moved from spring 2010 to spring 2011.

Campbell remains committed to maintaining a menu of international loan shows, but he acknowledges that “the economic circumstances will affect us profoundly”. The endowment, which in recent years yielded one-third of the museum’s operating budget, remains down more than 25% from its $2.8bn level in summer 2008. The museum reduced its operating budget from $220m in fiscal year 2009 to $206m for the current fiscal year, and since January has cut more than 350 positions from its workforce, which now stands at around 2,200 employees. Campbell does not rule out charging admission fees for special exhibitions, one of a number of options that will be considered to balance the books.

The process by which exhibitions are approved at the museum will also change. During the tenure of Campbell’s predecessor, Philippe de Montebello, department heads and curators brought exhibition proposals straight to the director, who decided whether to undertake the projects. Campbell plans to convene a programmatic committee comprising department heads, curators, conservators, editors, educators and operations staff. They will present and discuss ideas for exhibitions and publications, and advise the director who will retain ultimate authority. The group has yet to meet, and is not likely to do so until the museum hires a successor to associate director for exhibitions Mahrukh Tarapor, who retired in June and remains on contract as an advisor to the director.

"Call for Artists : National Indigenous Photographers' Forum 2009"

Author: Fitzroy, VI, AU

Centre for Contemporary Photography invites Indigenous photographers, artists and arts workers from across Australia to attend the National Indigenous Photographers' Forum in Melbourne. Renowned Indigenous artists and curators join key photographic industry specialists and educators from across Australia in presenting the Forum for emerging and established photographers and photomedia artists. Wayne Quilliam, who promotes his work at absolutearts.com will be a Forum Speaker. The first ever National Indigenous Photographers' Forum will be held over two and a half days and presents an opportunity for Indigenous artists and photographers to further develop industry and technical knowledge, establish contacts and network with Indigenous artists and curators from across Australia. Sessions on Monday and Tuesday will be presented in the Supper Room at the Melbourne Town Hall and Wednesday sessions will be at The Ian Potter Centre, NGV Australia, Federation Square.

The keynote address will be delivered by Dr Brenda L. Croft, Lecturer, Indigenous Art, Culture and Design, University of South Australia, at the conference dinner on Monday 12 October, 7pm at Tjanabi @ Fed Square, The Atrium, Federation Square, Flinders Street, Melbourne.

Forum Speakers INCLUDE

Indigenous photographers/artists: Destiny Deacon, Fiona Foley, Ricky Maynard and Wayne Quilliam; key photographic industry specialists: Peter Eastway, Chris Shain and Les Walkling; public and commercial gallery representatives, Djon Mundine, Indigenous Curator, Contemporary Art, Campbelltown Arts Centre, Stephen Gilchrist, Curator, Indigenous Art, National Gallery of Victoria and Grant Smith, Manager, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi.