think negatively!

Negative Space

As part of planning an upcoming COSE Arts Network Education seminar on November 13^th I have had the pleasure of meeting and working with Sarit Zamir, who will present on the topic of financial organization and medium- and long-term savings options for artists and freelancers.

Sarit and her husband Gadi, a local artist, also collaborate on Negative Space, an organization concerned with the environmental and economic impact of current building and business practices in the city of Cleveland.

As far back as the 1950s and 1960s artists and musicians have sought out raw, often abandoned warehouse and commercial spaces to use for studios and rehearsal areas. In many cases informal co-ops would spring up and as a result arts and music scenes would develop around the new spaces. Sarit and Gadi share similar beliefs in working with tenants who are interested in energy savings and resource sharing opportunities, as well as cultivating a communal atmosphere. Please visit Negative Space and contact Sarit and Gadi to learn more about their project in the Collinwood neighborhood.

Greetings!

Greetings! I have recently taken over as COSE Arts Network Leader for Abby Maier, who has relocated to Vermont and very recently given birth to her first child. As I accept the reins of the Arts Network I will also take over the postings on Geniocity (although I understand Abby will reconnect in early 2009, posting as an individual artist). I will continue to post examples of local and national artist entrepreneurs, as well as links to resources and articles about creative endeavors in art, dance, music, theater and other areas.

First a note on my background. I was born and raised on the West Side of Cleveland and have been involved in music and the arts for at least the past 20 years. I have been a professional jazz and roots music bassist for the past 12 years, performing, recording and touring with various local and regional groups.

After studying the double bass with some professionals from Detroit and Cleveland, I enrolled in the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music in 1997. There I studied double bass, jazz theory and composition, African American music, European Classical music and a host of liberal arts. Following Oberlin, I was in a position that many artists and musicians find themselves; trying to figure out a career in the arts. Around that time I interned in the Department of Musical Arts at the Cleveland Museum of Art, and one of my mentors suggested I look into arts and nonprofit management.

That was 6 years ago, and in that time I have earned a Master on Nonprofit Organization from the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University, worked as an assistant program manager for a public library, and directed an arts-based educational outreach organization that provides service to underprivileged students and schools in the Cleveland area. All the while I maintained a full time schedule of playing and recording music in several jazz and roots music combos. Although I’ve missed more than my share of quality sleep, I am glad to have done it his way because it has allowed me to view and interact with the arts sector from two different angles, and in many cases each has positively guided the other.

On a completely different note…here is a link to a story I heard on NPR’s Studio 360 a few weeks back. It deals with how the visual arts world has been reticent to embrace computer-based art. In the audio segment we hear reasons why some in the visual arts community consider computer or digital art “gimmicky” when compared to more traditional methods. A similar parallel exists in contemporary music; consumers and musicians alike have started to question the form by which we consume music, and the value attached to buying and listening to music in MP3 and digital downloads. The English band Radiohead was famous recently for allowing their fans to not only download their new album In Rainbows prior to it being released on compact disc or vinyl, but to actually decide for themselves what it was worth and pay only that amount. Check out the NPR story and feel free to weigh in on the subject with comments or questions.

http://www.studio360.org/episodes/2008/09/26