Pews announced, Visual art takes a beating

Sorry to be the bringers of bad tidings. Pew fellowships in the Arts announced this week, and boy Oh boy, it wasn't good news for people in Philadelphia in cutting-edge visual arts scene. Rather, young people very often selection procedure employed in other disciplines such as architecture and jazz or traditional art areas like – all clay and jewelry are disciplines that have a strong economic model and that need this support less than non-traditional Visual art.

From left to right: Germaine Ingram, photography by James Wasserman;still from Kara downturns and slumps Aloof Hills, courtesy of the artist James Sugg, courtesy of Iron Pig theatre company.

Here are the ones who won:
Max Apple (Written fiction.)
Melanie Bilenker (jewelry maker)
John Blake, Jr. (Jazz violinist/composer/Arranger)
Downturns and slumps Kara (video artist)
William Daley (clay artist)
Orrin Evans (jazz Pianist/composer/Arranger)
Germaine Ingram (tap performer/Choreographer)
Hanna Khoury (violinist/classical Arab music)
Tina Morton (documentary filmmaker)
Jenny Sabin (architect/Designer)
James Sugg (solo theater artist/sound designer/author)
Charles "Chuck" Treece (multi-instrumentalist/producer/songwriter)

We do not know the majority of these artists and assume they are deserving and congratulate them all.

However, once the scene of Visual Arts in Philadelphia is so exciting, we read this movement by Pew away from cutting-edge visual arts as a bellweather future actions from Pew. in other words, the focus of the Pew is offset a loss for individual visual artists do not work across traditional areas. we do not want to question the Commissioner procedure, the level of names for this award secret first entry — which is a whole other debate Will take this as. an institutional shifts towards.

It is our conviction that one reason artists have moving to Philadelphia and staying here is the Pew (obviously cheap rents, proximity to New York and the enormous amount of energy in the art scene is Philly now other great reasons). but this shift in focus to Pew that the Council PA for the Arts has put their scholarships suspended, good is a low blow to the burgeoning art scene.

On the bright side, search Pew has moved beyond the usual suspects; in the meantime we must save our wounds, and move to think the Knight Foundation Arts Challenge.

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