National Assembly of State Arts Agencies: Chattanooga 2008

LINC’s work was featured during three separate panel discussions at the annual National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA) conference in Chattanooga, September 11-14th. It was stunning to see a full room of State Arts Agency staff and representatives at Florence Kabwasa-Green’s presentation on the LINC funded research Artist Space Development:  Making the Case (Urban Institute, 2007); and Artist Space Development:  Financing (Urban Institute, 2007).   The following day, Creative Communities participants, Charlie McDermott, Massachusetts Cultural Council; Ken May, South Carolina Arts Commission; and Arni Fishbaugh, Montana Arts Council shared their LINC projects concerning demand/markets; training and professional development, and artist space with their State Arts Agency colleagues.  And in the last panel section of the last day of the conference, dedicated staffers came to learn more about the health insurance/health care information offerings from the Actors Fund and LINC.  In each session, I was encouraged to hear people asking great questions and offering new information to their colleagues concerning the efforts to improve conditions for artists in the United States. But time constraints such as they are, I left with the impression that there were more questions that we could have addressed. So, I’ll end my first blog entry encouraging people to be in touch with us here at LINC. We are happy to answer questions and provide more information.   For more information on how to participate in LINCs grant making programs or its national programs concerning health Insurance/healthcare for artists, please contact us at info@lincnet.net.