Air Loaf is broadcast weekdays on 1690 WMLB-AM at approximately 8:10 a.m., 12:20 p.m. and 6:20 p.m.

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2) Virginia-Highland hosts its first annual Cinco de Mayo Celebration and Block Party.

3) Fulton County Public Library opens its Great Speckled Bird historical exhibit, which includes covers, articles, cartoons and graphics from Atlanta’s underground paper.

4) Local and national bands rock out for 500 Songs For Kids at Smith’s Olde Bar.

5) American Kidney Fund hosts a margarita tasting at No Mas! Cantina.

(Courtesy of Indie Outlaw)

This isn’t the only such grass-roots grant for artists. A similar organization, Cadre Art, was started by photographer Carla Williams in California. Artists all over the country can donate to and apply for various grants at Cadre to help foster art projects.

But back to Idea Capital. Its purpose is simple, according to its press release:

We seek to foster a new tone of experimentation and support in the Atlanta art world, as well as encourage a larger framework of support … The grant is to encourage experimentation and investigation with funds designed to give artists permission to pursue new ideas. We want to foster our community and support innovative work…We are interested in new ideas, new artists and supporting emerging and established artists.

Any artists 18 and older in the metropolitan Atlanta area are encouraged to apply. Submissions must be postmarked Fri., May 9, 2008 and the winner will be notified June 2.

Continue to the next page for submission guidelines.

Submissions
All entries must supply the following in printed hardcopy form and also composed into a CD readable on both Mac and PC. No email submissions will be accepted. Any submissions that are not formatted correctly or do not open will not be reviewed. Slides are acceptable but not encouraged.

One typed page (your name at the top) answering all of these questions:

a) What is your idea?

b) How would an Idea Capital grant assist you with the production of your work? Or how would the grant support your work in progress?

c) How do you want to be held accountable for the grant?

Work sample description. Please provide the following information for each work sample:

Year
Title
Media (if applicable)
Dimensions (if applicable)
Duration of entire work (if applicable)

Work samples

Visual art—Five (5) Images on CD at 150 dpi resolution, with your name on the CD. Files must be in jpeg format only, named with last name and a number in sequence. High resolution or other format files will not be reviewed due to time constraints.

Performance, audio, dance, new media, film, and video—1 sample of no greater than 3 minutes as a multimedia presentation on CD or DVD. List URLs and active links.

Literary, criticism—No more than 5 pages of writing.

Artist resume with your mailing address, email, and phone contact information no more than 2 pages in length.

Please send submission package by the postmark deadline to:
Idea Capital
c/o Susan Todd-Raque
P.O. Box 550911
Atlanta, Georgia 30355

Submissions will not be returned. All entries will be recycled. Do not send original artworks or other formats; they will not be reviewed. There is no fee to apply.

Rosenbaum, like J. Hoberman, has remained in the alt-weekly world, and has written several critically acclaimed books on film including 2000’s Movie Wars: How Hollywood and the Media Limit What Movies We Can See. He won the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies’ award for arts criticism in 1997 and 2000.

According to the Reader, Rosenbaum will continue to write for the paper and its On Film blog, while the two will develop his own website. Check out this link, which includes Rosenbaum discussing his retirement.

We’re about as pleased as everyone else about the recent news that Art Papers Executive Director/Editor Sylvie Fortin was recently named a Lexus Leader of the Arts by PBA 30. Under Fortin’s stewardship, the magazine has enjoyed an amazing year, including winning a bunch of awards and a ton of grants, including $100,000 from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

CL was ahead of the curve, natch, picking Art Papers‘ auction as the Best Art Event of 2007 and the $100,000 Andy Warhol Foundation grant as the Best National Recognition for the Visual Arts in our recent Best Of Atlanta issue. Check out Felicia Feaster’s quickie interview with Fortin back in the spring.

Here’s the full press release …

SYLVIE FORTIN NAMED LEXUS LEADER OF THE ARTS FOR DECEMBER

(December 3, 2007—Atlanta) ART PAPERS is delighted to announce that Public Broadcasting Atlanta (PBA) named Sylvie Fortin, Executive Director/Editor of ART PAPERS, the Lexus Leader of the Arts for the month of December. Presented by PBA in association with the Atlanta Area Lexus Dealers, the award recognizes leaders in our community whose exemplary dedication to the arts has enriched the cultural life of metropolitan Atlanta.

Sylvie Fortin joined ART PAPERS in October 2004 as Editor-in-Chief, and was named Executive Director/Editor in 2007. In these three years, she led the redefinition of the art organization, starting with the award-winning redesign of ART PAPERS magazine. She also expanded the reach of the 32-year-old Atlanta institution, successfully positioning it as an internationally respected source for contemporary art—from Cabbagetown to Cairo. This year alone, ART PAPERS has received an unprecedented number of grants, awards, and accolades, from local, national, and international institutions alike. These include grants from:
— The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts (New York), 2006
— American Center Foundation (New York), 2007
— Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund (Atlanta), 2007
— Foundation for Contemporary Art (New York), 2007
— The Imlay Foundation (Atlanta), 2007

and the following awards and nominations:
— Best Redesign, GAMMA Awards, 2007
— Best Art Event (Art Auction), Creative Loafing, Readers’ Picks, Best of Atlanta 2007
— Best National Recognition for the Visual Arts, Creative Loafing, Critics’ Picks, Best of Atlanta 2007
— Best Art Fundraiser (Art Auction), Atlanta Magazine, Best of 2007
— Nominee, Best Art Coverage, 19th Annual Utne Independent Press Award, 2007 (winner announced in 2008)

“I’m thrilled to receive this recognition, and to join the distinguished group of Lexus Leader of the Arts award recipients. ART PAPERS’ recent successes follow much smart work by our dedicated staff and talented board, and a lot of community goodwill. But it’s only the beginning of our exciting next chapter. Our ambitious strategic plan will guide our transformation into a global contemporary art organization like no other, and we are glad to make it all happen here, in Atlanta,” says Fortin, Executive Director/Editor of ART PAPERS.

Fortin is an independent curator, art historian, critic, and editor who has worked internationally since 1991. Prior to joining ART PAPERS, Fortin was Curator of Contemporary Art at the Ottawa Art Gallery (Ottawa, 1996–2001), Program Coordinator at la chambre blanche (Québec, 1991–1994), and a long-term collaborator with OBORO (Montréal, 1994–2001). Her critical essays have been published in Canadian, American, and European catalogues, and her reviews have appeared in many periodicals including Art Press, C Magazine, Espace, Fuse, NKA: Journal of Contemporary African Art and Parachute.

Educated at the University of Toronto, Université Laval, and Duke University, she has received numerous nationally and internationally significant grants and awards as a critic and curator, as well as for her academic research.

About the Lexus Leader of the Arts Award
In association with the Atlanta Area Lexus Dealers, Public Broadcasting Atlanta established the Lexus Leader of the Arts award in 1999. The Lexus dealers of Atlanta were committed to providing underwriting revenue for WABE 90.1 FM and PBA 30, the radio and television stations that comprise Public Broadcasting Atlanta, and extended that commitment to recognizing figures in our community whose exemplary dedication to the arts has enriched the cultural life of metropolitan Atlanta. In January 1999, the inaugural Lexus Leader of the Arts award was given to Kenny Leon and Elton John for their collaboration on the production of Aida at the Alliance Theatre. An award recipient is selected each month by a nominating committee on the basis of leadership, accomplishment, character, commitment, and professional longevity. Fellow honorees include Atlanta Symphony Music Director Robert Spano, Georgia Poet Laureate David Bottoms, and avid arts supporters such as John and Susan Wieland. Lexus Leaders of the Arts are announced through radio broadcasts on WABE 90.1 FM, on television at WPBA Channel 30, and on the PBA website, www.pba.org

About ART PAPERS
ART PAPERS is a non-profit organization dedicated to the examination, development, and definition of art and culture in the world today. Its mission is to provide an independent and accessible forum for the exchange of perspectives on the role of contemporary art as a socially relevant and engaged discourse. This mission is implemented through the publication of ART PAPERS magazine and the presentation of public programs.

ART PAPERS receives major funding from the Fulton County Commission, Atlanta, Georgia, under the guidance of the Fulton County Arts Council, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund. ART PAPERS is funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, the City of Atlanta Office of Cultural Affairs, and the Georgia Council for the Arts through the appropriations for the Georgia General Assembly. The Council is a Partner Agency for the National Endowment of the Arts. ART PAPERS gratefully acknowledges the generosity of other private, corporate and individual donors.

For information about ART PAPERS, visit www.artpapers.org, call 404.588.1837 ext. 20 or email director@artpapers.org.

ART PAPERS
P.O. Box 5748
Atlanta, GA 31107
phone: 404.588.1837 ext 20
fax: 404.588.1836
www.artpapers.org

The Andy Warhol Foundation
for the Visual Arts, Inc.

But Michael Hirschorn’s essay “Can celebrities survive the age of too much information?” is worth the newsstand price alone. In not too haughty terms, Hirschorn argues that everyone — stars and gawkers alike — are being desensitized by the overabundance, overexposure and over-consumption of all that is celebrity. But maybe the public has caught on to all this self-promotion, Hirschorn points out:

The public now is too sophisticated, too cynical, to take a face at face value. Madonna had thrown herself about publicly with great abandon, secure in the conviction that her every move — attending Kabbalah classes, adopting a Malawian child — would be accepted by her multigenerational fan base. But the digital era demands 100 percent authenticity, since inconsistencies between brand and reality can be easily parsed and exploited by legions of paparazzi and bloggers thrilled to take down someone who places herself upon a pedestal, who takes herself too seriously. Madonna is no more a hypocrite than the rest of us, but she is guilty of misreading the new culture — perhaps, in her book, a greater sin.

I fear it might be too late to find the issue on the newsstands — the December issue, featuring Andrew Sullivan on Barack Obama, is already out — but you can purchase stories on the Atlantic’s website.