By Tom McClimon
January 31, 2011

Presiding over his first meeting as the new Chair of the Standing Committee on Tourism, Arts, Parks, Entertainment and Sports Committee (TAPES), New Orleans Mayor Mitchell Landrieu welcomed his fellow committee members and asked them to assist him in developing issues for the Committee to discuss. He announced that a special meeting of the TAPES Committee would be held May 5-6 in New Orleans to help plan for a meeting later in the year focused on the arts that would be international in scope. "The arts and the work of this Committee are vital to the sustainability and livability of our cities and I am both honored and pleased to chair this committee and work with mayors to further our committee's agenda."

The TAPES Committee heard from three presenters: Jason Schupbach, Director of Design, National Endowment for the Arts; Kathy Garmezy, Director of Government and International Relations for the Directors Guild of America; and Brett Egan, Director, DeVos Institute of Arts Management for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Shupbach briefed the mayors on the guidelines for the National Endowment for the Arts new grant program called Our Town, which will assist communities to leverage the arts to create more livable sustainable neighborhoods. One of the requirements of the grant applications is that each applicant will require signoff by the applying city's mayor. Full guidelines can be found online at: arts.gov.

Garmezy thanked the mayors for their resolution passed at the 78th Annual Conference of Mayors last year, which put them on record in support of strong digital anti-piracy measures. It is estimated that copyright theft annually costs the US economy $58 billion in total output, costs American workers more than 370,000 jobs and $16 billion in earnings, and costs federal, state and local governments over $3 billion in lost tax revenues.

Egan discussed with the mayors the various programs offered by the DeVos Institute for Arts Management of the JFK Center and ways mayors can tap into them. Much of their work centers on providing training and technical support for executive and artistic leadership of arts organizations.

Following the presentations, Grand Rapids (MI) Mayor George Heartwell talked about ArtPrize, his community's annual art competition which allows for the winners to be decided by public vote. Anyone can enter. In 2010, over 1,700 artists displayed their works in over 190 venues in which over 465,000 votes were cast. ArtsPrize is the world's largest arts prize.