Politics of Creativity

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79505992984157623112009-02-21T08:42:27.733-06:00Politics of CreativityThere are 38 million people working in creative industries in America. Creativity is one the key characteristics of the American spirit, economy and promise.Tom Tresserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05396511190539528756noreply@blogger.comBlogger84125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7950599298415762311.post-36420144611065239802009-01-20T16:25:00.002-06:002009-01-20T16:31:20.201-06:00Change Has Come to Washington, and It has Its Own Blog

Minutes after Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States, a new blog was launched on the official home page of the White House!Welcome to the new WhiteHouse.gov. I'm Macon Phillips, the Director of New Media for the White House and one of the people who will be contributing to the blog.A short time ago, Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States

Tom Tresserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05396511190539528756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7950599298415762311.post-21370330146849251872009-01-12T18:31:00.004-06:002009-01-12T18:44:59.012-06:00Do You Know the Way to San Jose? It's Through the Arts...

In an article. "Arts and City Success: Remembering Leonardo," Kim Walesh tells us that San Jose sees the arts and creativity as essential to its future."Our city, the “capital of Silicon Valley,” is known chiefly as America’s continuing birthplace of high technology ideas and products. But we also care passionately about the arts and their creative power for our people and future. Our goal is

Tom Tresserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05396511190539528756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7950599298415762311.post-69377426179509942232009-01-06T06:06:00.002-06:002009-01-06T06:14:21.022-06:00Where Are The New Leaders We Need?

Talk about the spectacle of failed leadership, I'm sure you've been following the circus surrounding our governor here and the brazenness of his corrupt practices and his defiance. In Chicago we see abundant evidence of gross corruption and incompetence of the state, county and city government on a daily basis. These people are clownishly venal and are literally bankrupting our local government,

Tom Tresserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05396511190539528756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7950599298415762311.post-82682678139728795122008-12-24T09:10:00.000-06:002008-12-25T09:17:18.129-06:00Friedman Says "Time To Reboot America"

Globe trotting multiple Pulitzer Prize winning author Thomas Friedman reflected in a recent New York Times column on the disparities he saw traveling from Hong Kong to New York City. Basically, America's infrastructure has fallen to pieces. We've invested in the wrong things."...we’ve fallen into a trend of diverting and rewarding the best of our collective I.Q. to people doing financial

Tom Tresserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05396511190539528756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7950599298415762311.post-50783258271132997592008-12-20T12:27:00.004-06:002008-12-20T12:39:37.469-06:00Street Artist Arrested 13 Times Creates Obama Iconic Graphics

Why would Barack Obama invite a graffiti artist with a long rap sheet to launch a guerrilla marketing campaign on his behalf? Modern Painters magazine visited Shepard Fairey, who created the Democratic nominee's iconic "Hope" and "Progress" posters, in his Los Angeles studio to find out. Read the story.Shepard Fairy created the Andre the Giant sticker and "Obey" street art projects. His new muse

Tom Tresserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05396511190539528756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7950599298415762311.post-29442968502508385372008-12-19T17:33:00.001-06:002008-12-19T18:08:32.397-06:00We're All Nonprofits Now

The White House has just announced plans for a $17.4 billion bail out of the auto industry. According to the Institute for Policy Analysis, America and European governments have already chipped in an unbelievable $4.1 trillion in total financial bailouts. So what's another $17 or so billion added to that mountain of cash.So, if you're a nonprofit advocate and you find yourself begging to a funder

Tom Tresserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05396511190539528756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7950599298415762311.post-47105787226022382742008-12-17T15:44:00.002-06:002008-12-19T17:51:31.169-06:00Artists Role in Re-building America?

President-Elect Obama has talked about a massive stimulus package to re-build America and put people to work. What role could artists play in this new program. Author, educator and cultural activist Arlene Goldbard says, plenty."Artists dedicated to public service can teach co-create plays and murals with people young and old run community darkrooms and workshops beautify the built

Tom Tresserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05396511190539528756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7950599298415762311.post-38156827752325924352008-12-16T14:40:00.003-06:002008-12-16T14:43:35.448-06:00Science Key to Helping Economy, Leaders Say

National leaders in politics, business, research and education, including Princeton University President Shirley M. Tilghman, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and U.S. Rep. Rush Holt, met on campus today and called for renewing America's commitment to science and technology. Such an effort, they said, may be the best long-term cure for the nation's ailing economy. Read the full story at

Tom Tresserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05396511190539528756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7950599298415762311.post-48770056939032360582008-12-14T19:45:00.004-06:002008-12-14T19:51:55.591-06:00Who Creates "Value" in America?

Take your blood pressure medicine or sit down and breathe deeply before you watch this segment from the December 14 edition of "60 Minutes." This is 12 minutes of education on how real estate speculators, banks, finance companies and the U.S. government all collided in a perfect storm of greed, stupidity and breach of the public trust. It should be played at every community meeting, political

Tom Tresserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05396511190539528756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7950599298415762311.post-70067353696545900042008-12-12T18:07:00.002-06:002008-12-12T18:16:54.281-06:00Go See "Milk" - Remembering a Creative Leader

Highly recommended -- The new movie, "Milk," starring Sean Penn as San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man elected to major office in the United States. If you want to see a true story of a VERY different sort of political leader, then you must catch "Milk." The movie traces the political trajectory of one person who confronts bigotry, builds community, inspires others to

Tom Tresserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05396511190539528756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7950599298415762311.post-85490252975086655312008-12-11T14:26:00.000-06:002008-12-12T18:18:00.754-06:00Can Obama Teach Us? Ye, He Can

Sam Ewen, CEO of Interference, a New York-based marketing firm, points how Obama's grassrots use of technology and his joyous spirit of inclusion propelled him to the presidency."The best guerrilla marketing campaign of '08 wasn't waged to launch a new cell phone or hype an animated feature film that entertains the kids yet speaks to adults. It was conducted on behalf of the old editor of the

Tom Tresserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05396511190539528756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7950599298415762311.post-44102262316225629352008-12-10T10:55:00.002-06:002008-12-10T11:06:06.276-06:00Calling All Artists - Time To Lead

Our governor was arrested at his home yesterday morning on corruption charges (I live in Chicago). The federal prosecutor accused the governor of embarking on a "political crime spree." This is a new low, even for Illinois. Do we need further proof that it's time to cultivate and harvest a new crop of leaders with new values who come from another place in our civic landscape?If you're reading

Tom Tresserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05396511190539528756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7950599298415762311.post-76852191580066919012008-12-06T09:20:00.002-06:002008-12-06T09:26:35.777-06:00Mini Musical Makes Political Point

Marc Shaiman, the openly gay Tony Award winning composer of the Broadway musical "Hairspray" wrote a mini-musical in one day to protest the results of Proposition 8. "Prop 8 - the Musical" has been viewed over 1.9 million times since it was posted to funnyordie.com on December 3.See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

Tom Tresserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05396511190539528756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7950599298415762311.post-6834242332733240152008-12-02T22:46:00.002-06:002008-12-02T23:08:50.387-06:00Oklahoma, Where Creativity is as High as an Elephant's Eye...

The Oklahoma Creativity Project aims to make the Sooner State "a world-renowned center of creativity and innovation in commerce, culture and education." The program is a partnership between a number of institutions, including the State of Oklahoma, the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education and the DaVinci Institute. The chairman of the board is V. Burns Harris, the President of Oklahoma

Tom Tresserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05396511190539528756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7950599298415762311.post-91185466952076082262008-11-23T17:31:00.000-06:002008-11-25T21:26:23.205-06:00"America Needs You!" Available from LuLu.com! Free download!

Years in the making! No kidding, this slim volume (48 pages) represents over 15 years work in the arts and activism arena. "America Needs You! Why You Should Become a Creativity Champion" lays out the argument for creativity as a national value. And, if you're reading this - you're a leader! Really. The printed book is only $10.49 (plus shipping). But you can download the text FOR FREE!"Tom

Tom Tresserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05396511190539528756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7950599298415762311.post-27252253243333673502008-11-20T21:11:00.000-06:002008-11-25T21:26:03.475-06:00"The Gift" - What is Art For? What is "Valuable?"

Writer and poet Lewis Hyde is profiled in the November 16 New York Times Magazine in an article, "What is Art For?" This is a theme Hyde has written and spoken on extensively and most notably, in "The Gift." Hyde was deeply influenced by the research of anthropologists who had studied "gift cultures" where status is accrued by giving stuff away."The ideas resonated deeply with Hyde. For nearly a

Tom Tresserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05396511190539528756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7950599298415762311.post-50451815090392995472008-11-16T13:57:00.000-06:002008-11-19T17:12:01.665-06:00"Creatives as Civic Leaders" Presentation for Artists Alliance

Tom gave a keynote presentation to the Alliance of Artists Communities annual conference in Seattle on November 15. The topic was "Creatives as Civic Leaders" and drew heavily on audience input and participation. Here is the presentation deck:"Creatives As Leaders"View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own.

Tom Tresserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05396511190539528756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7950599298415762311.post-18971354318625805302008-11-13T15:34:00.002-06:002008-11-13T15:39:55.899-06:00Should Artists, Arts managers (Any One) Be Fired If They Support An Unpopular Cause?

The artistic director of the California Musical Theater, a major nonprofit producing company here in the state’s capital, resigned on Wednesday in the face of growing outrage over his support for a ballot measure this month that outlawed same-sex marriage in California. Read the whole story in The New York Times.It would one thing if the theater produced anti-gay work. It would be another thing

Tom Tresserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05396511190539528756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7950599298415762311.post-51455591042070545602008-11-10T14:05:00.001-06:002008-11-10T14:07:29.024-06:00Power of Song to Help Change Nations

Tom Tresserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05396511190539528756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7950599298415762311.post-13384597176120037552008-11-09T14:56:00.003-06:002008-11-09T15:00:16.335-06:00Creative technology Helped Obama Win

From Chris Hughes:"Over the past 21 months, millions of individuals have used My.BarackObama to organize their local communities on behalf of Barack Obama. The scale and size of this community and its work is unprecedented. Individuals in all 50 states have created more than 35,000 local organizing groups, hosted over 200,000 events, and made millions upon millions of calls to neighbors about

Tom Tresserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05396511190539528756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7950599298415762311.post-10534616826824992012008-10-29T13:39:00.000-05:002008-10-29T14:04:53.758-05:00Vote Like Your Life Depends On It

Tom Tresserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05396511190539528756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7950599298415762311.post-29450960228075962852008-10-26T14:03:00.000-05:002008-10-29T14:04:00.972-05:00Whose Values Count?

Election eve thought on the role of artists in public life...There's a lot of talk in the press about "value" and "values." Value in the sense of "what is something worth" in economic terms and "whose values guides the politics and policies that decide what something is worth?" It seems that the financial and general press is learning something that we knew all along - that not everything with a

Tom Tresserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05396511190539528756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7950599298415762311.post-2841872807521547922008-10-23T11:46:00.002-05:002008-10-23T11:52:38.412-05:00Government Says Educated Folk Work More, Earn More

The Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration says that the more you go to school, the more you earn and the more likely to you will work (providing the entire global financial system doesn't slide into the sea along with the polar ice cap). So we need a smart and well-educated nation. People need the motivation and means to go to college and, especially, access to the sciences

Tom Tresserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05396511190539528756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7950599298415762311.post-72606699125911291122008-10-10T14:47:00.000-05:002008-10-22T14:53:32.332-05:00"First Vote" - an Irreverent Celebration Honoring First Time Voters

ONE NIGHT ONLY!!! Epic Theatre Ensemble in partnership with John Jay College of Criminal Justice present Kathleen Chalfant, David Strathairn, Nilaja Sun, and many more in FIRST VOTE '08 Are you prepared? An Irreverent and Celebratory Event Honoring First Time Voters ELECTION EVE: MONDAY, NOVEMBER 3rd, 7:30pm-8:30pm THE GERALD W. LYNCH THEATER

Tom Tresserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05396511190539528756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7950599298415762311.post-301547407739638002008-10-08T13:41:00.000-05:002008-10-22T14:47:19.210-05:00Brit Artists Form Coalition "to have a strong collective voice"

A new organization, the Featured Artists’ Coalition launched last week in Manchester, UK to campaign for the protection of performers’ and musicians’ rights. Formed by some of the best-known names in music, the Coalition will give artists the voice they need to argue for greater control over their music.Brian Message, co-manager of Radiohead and Kate Nash said: “It is time for artists to have a

Tom Tresserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05396511190539528756noreply@blogger.com0