This Week In Art

October 16, 2008 - October 22, 2008

A recent post on the Mind the Gap blog, entitled It’s All in the Advertising, struck a chord with me. Much of it reflected what we are striving for at ForYourArt and our consulting arm, FYAworld. As the blog stated, “So much of what Americans think is shaped by the strength of the marketing campaign and the collective image embraced by the participants...Do artists just need to project a different attitude?...How often do we sell our importance short?”

In the face of "Smart M(art)keting,” and at a time when the need for corporate support has never been higher, both artists and cultural institutions alike are walking a fine line between commercialization and exploitation. I think the answer is in a new medium for culture, a platform that works at the crux of existing media and cultural entities. We need to better monetize and
promote the value of culture for its benefit—for our benefit—a return to the ideals of patronage.

We are currently working on our first “Commercial for Culture,” a campaign that will ask famous artists and the man on the street a pressing question: “Is Art Important?” Facing this question head on will be FYA’s first step forward in contributing to, or even becoming, this new medium. With clients and partners ranging from Ovation TV, which truly has the potential to inspire the artist in all of us with rapidly growing distribution and engaging programming, to LA><ART, whose director Lauri Firstenberg is constantly pushing boundaries (look for the CB08 map which will go in the coming week), to Emi Fontana whose incredible approach to the idea of a public art exhibition that occurs over time and place was recently realized in Women in the City. (I loved watching the constantly evolving aspect of Cindy Sherman’s Untitled Film Still (1977-1980/2008) at Hollywood and Highland, which people are still talking about, and was recently covered by Artforum.) Then there’s the Graham Foundation, whose visionary director, Sarah Herda, is tackling a new way of thinking about audiences and in the process, discovering how a foundation can become a gateway to information. Together, we are all striving to honor our vision and catalyze activities as much as we can.

I’m in London with Karen Marta this week for the Frieze Art Fair and Marathon at the Serpentine Pavilion. With uncertainty about the market at such an all time high, we’ll be reporting back next week with some of the insights we’ve learned. Also, make sure to check out this week's guest plan from architect Michael Maltzan, who we are thrilled to have contribute in our ongoing celebration of Architecture Month.


– Bettina Korek, Founder of ForYourArt

Filed Under: See Events Culver City

Posted by: Bettina Korek on October 19, 2008

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