Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Cover Your “A’s” (Art, Assets and Archives)
Okay, I know. Life moves fast and, most of the time, it’s hard enough to think about anticipated events, yet alone the unexpected. But, unforeseen emergencies like fire, theft and flood, happen everyday. So, how does one prepare for such events? Luckily, our awesome friends at the Craft Emergency Relief Fund (CERF) are making it as simple as ever. Each month in 2010, CERF is offering one, easy-to-implement tip on how to cover your "A's" (art, assets and archives, that is) and we’ll be posting them right here on the SpringBlog. This month, CERF asks you to find a “SOL:”
Without a SOL*, You May Be “Out of Luck”
Find a *Safe Offsite Location to store copies of your images and critical records such as business documents, sketches, and process notes. A SOL is a place 50-100 miles away from your studio that is unlikely to be affected by the same disaster. Read more about SOLs and safekeeping your Artist Business online at studioprotector.org
Monday, January 11, 2010
Where to Find the Goods.
Minnesota and the Twin Cities are bursting with arts and culture. Pick any day of the week and you can’t throw a snowball without hitting some kind of happening. If you’re like me, the two downsides to a thriving arts scene is 1) not being able to see and do everything, all the time, and 2) learning about a great lecture, opening, reading, etc. that wasn’t even on your radar, after it’s already over. To honor both of these rather fortunate misfortunes of our fair arts scene I ‘ve put together a little list of local sites and blogs that write about the arts, before and/or after the event.
Note: I am not Google, I can’t keep track of everything all the time [see: point #1 above] so this list is just a list. If you have suggestions, favorites or what could be seen as an obvious, and embarrassing omission from my list, let me know! We have comments, we have Facebook, we have Twitter. (You could even send something by mail! if you want to warm my nostalgic little heart with a handwritten letter, wink, wink).
More Notes: Thanks to Art Happy Hour for the blog topic (I’ll have a cold, drinkable-thank-you for you at the next AHH!)
Okay, on with the show. (In no particular order)
Quodlibetica
Writing. Arts. Literature.
Surely, some teacher, somewhere in your life tried to instill in you an appreciation for critical thinking. The folks over at quodlibetic took that to heart and then put that heart on their sleave. In their words:
“Quodlibetica is a space to argue eloquently and whimsically about art, find out what’s happening in the Twin Cities art scene, and engage with writers, artists, and critics, who like to think.”
Minnesota Playlist
Information and inspiration for Minnesota’s performing arts
They’ve got your theater scene pretty well cover and then some. Talent lists, classifieds, articles, blogs. Reviews, Etc. It’s hard to keep up, really, but so fun to try because it means our stages runneth over. Encore!
Life of Cyn
More than just music but definitely a place to get music scoops among many other musings from film to food and beyond.
“Author of West Bank Boogie: 40 Years of Music, Mayhem and Memories, and an arts and culture and news journalist. I provide updates, reviews and commentary of music, film, current events, politics, literature, theater, restaurants and happenings in the Twin Cities and beyond.”
Minnesota Microphone
MN to the Mic to the Max!
St. Paul slam poets did something really nice for their home own last year. They won the 2009 National Poetry Slam Championship. If you haven’t had a chance to sample the slam poetry and spoken word scene in the Twin Cities you are in for a treat. If you don’t know where to find a calendar of events, articles, follow-ups, media, and interviews about what’s happening, then look no further, Minnesota Microphone is answering your call.
612to651
There are certainly more blogs about hip-hop than diamonds in Lil Wayne’s mouth, but 612to651 is unique because it takes a good hard looks at Twin Cities hip-hop and more so “immigrant, refugeee, and diasporic hip-hop in Minnesota.”, and it’s not just type flying into the digital void, keep an eye out for the the book and documentary.
CakeIn15
This is a new one for me, in fact, I just heard about it last night after watching the live stream of Jeremy Messersmith’s intimate performance (check the Snoop Dogg cover) at The Cake Shop (it’s a house). Art, fashion, music, theater, photography, and interviews. I’m hooked just for the streaming music performances.
“… features short concert reviews, CD reviews, photo blogs, art & theatre reviews, as well as thoughtful insights on various multi-media.”
La Current
Sightings. Stories. Stuff.
Not to be confused with The Current (of our home town radio fame), this blog is what it says “Sightings, Stories, Stuff”, what you see is what La Current finds and it runs the gamut from curious, to whimsical and on down to just great.
Twin Cities Daily Planet
TC Daily Planet covers a lot of ground in one location. I wouldn’t make them your one-stop-art-scoop-shop just because they have more tentacles than you, but they are definitely word tossing in the blog reader. Also, if all of this makes you want to consumer more, they have this handy-dandy list of blogs that is a might bit longer than mine (but definitely comes in 2nd on the charm factor)
Chris Roberts at Minnesota Public Radio would like to give you the mic.
“Each week Minnesota Public Radio News asks three people from the Minnesota arts scene to be "Art Hounds." Their job is to step outside our own work and hunt down something exciting that's going on this weekend.”
It’s fun. You get to be on the radio and tell the world what moves you. You should do it. Seriously.
There you go. A reasonable and manageable list of resources. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to go out and find yourself some arts. Good luck! And if you get a chance let me know how it goes.
Other blogs topics/titles rattling around in my head: Cast your vote and see what happens!
-Show me the Crit.
-Embarrassing art moments from my past (just keepin’ it real)
-Pictures of everyday stuff that looks like art… or maybe it is!!!
