Art and the Media

  =========================================

Five questions posed by some Long Island artists
by Carleton Palmer

As a result of a recent gathering of The Artists Group artists at the Mistretta Galleries, Megan Brand offered five questions to this Examiner originating in their Cultural Arts - NewsAction Committee.

1) Where is the Press??? No LI paper has a LI art section, why?
2) Where are the buyers?
3) Organize event days and hours so that they work together
4) One place for open calls for artist
5) One place for show information

Assuming the premises of the questions to have merit without further examining them himself, this Examiner recommended reinterpreting them as a list implying centrally coordinated actions.

Long Island Art News Project Objectives Management
Solicit “Long Island Current Art News Project Objectives” volunteers to pursue each of the listed objectives.
Develop an inter-team collaborative framework; coordinate team leaders.
Develop integrative strategies for the production of proposals, their submission, presentation and defense.
I. Information (News) Projects
A. To develop a comprehensive Long Island current art information journal.
B. To create a pool of current LI show and exhibition information.
C. To develop a resource to acquaint potential art buyers about LI resources.
D. To create a collaborative system between LI art venues to coordinate days and hours.
E. To create a pool for information concerning open calls available to LI artists.
Each of the lettered projects, and/or others, would be obliged to generate tasks including the following:

• Develop an intra-team collaborative framework.
• Describe the elements and features of such an information source.
• Identify successful examples.
• What technologies would serve this purpose, and how?
• Draft a general proposal to achieve this purpose.
• Identify and list likely sources of funding and support for this objective.
• Coordinate with other objective teams to draft targeted proposals.

Toward this end a forum topic “cultural-arts-news-long-island” was created on the same website as the Visual Art Links project, the Long Island Creative Arts Community List, Guide and Locator.
The fact that no comments have been made to the forum does not necessarily mean that the questions are without importance, and Doris Meadows, as promised in the recent Contemporary Arts Examiner first quarterly report, has offered some comments about the first, “Where is the press?”

Doris Meadows, Publicist

"Once upon a time daily newspapers all employed a classical music critic, a fine arts critic, a dance critic and a theater critic; they also had additional specialist reporters in each of these areas.
That was then, this is now. Print is under siege, particularly general interest daily newspapers. The ever-growing importance of the Internet has drawn the advertisers and readers that print publications once called their own. Presently only The New York Times and The Washington Post would even consider replacing a departing critic.
Newsday exemplifies this trend. The paper faces the same bottom-line pressures as other dailies. Additionally, focus group testing has led them to conclude that their readers do not have an interest in the so-called "high" arts. So as a result of economic and demographic trends, Newsday no longer employs staff critics for classical music, art and dance; in fact, they no longer even retain freelancers to review in these areas. Newsday has staff critics for movies and pop music but among the "high" arts there is only Linda Winer who reviews New York City theater. Staffer Steve Parks, a real friend to the arts and someone we should all be grateful to, is now Newsday's sole reporter on the arts; he also reviews productions by Long Island theater groups.
Those of us in the arts should also be grateful to the Long Island Press. While it has no section dedicated to the arts, the Press provides pages of listings and event highlights that focus attention on activities in the arts. Additionally, the extensive reporting in Long Island Press on the reopening of the Holocaust Museum in Glen Cove certainly demonstrates that Jed Morey and his staff have made a commitment to covering the local arts and culture scene.
Long Island Pulse. Long Island Woman and House magazines each devote many pages to calendars of arts activities, Anton Publications dedicates Section Two to the Long Island arts scene as does the Herald Chain's Stepping Out. Further opportunities for visual artists to reach the public are offered by specialized press such as the new Fine Art Magazine and Antiques & Collectibles."

Deb Kasimakis, Pandagraphics

The task of knowing and keeping in mind Long Island’s organizations and personalities requires individuals with capacious memories and immense capacity for socialization. Lacking either, this Examiner must resort to lists. Doris Meadows’ observations begin to provide the elements of a useful tool for studying question number one, particularly by identifying key people and organizations.

Deb Kasimakis, and The Artists Group initiative of its Cultural Arts - NewsAction Committee has performed a service by articulating some questions by artists which are relevant to artists. These are likely to be only a few of many to come that may outline a structure for inquiry. Such inquiry, and potential actions that may result, will require broad participation and support of the artists of Long Island.