OPEN STUDIO: THE ARTS ONLINE

is a national initiative created and launched by the Benton Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts in 1996 to define and encourage public space in the new digital environment.

It is designed to help non-profit arts organizations and artists go on-line, to become effective information providers on the World Wide Web, increase the arts and cultural presence on the Internet, and provide public Internet access to build an audience for online cultural information.

In addition to the National Endowment for the Arts, Open Studio has been funded by Microsoft, AT&T and the Ford Foundation.

"Through its involvement in Open Studio, MWG is increasing the arts presence on the national information infrastructure while teaching arts organizations to see themselves as constituents of cultural industries, with distinct economic influences in their communities."

Media Working Group has evolved four core activities for future sustainability:

• Training and Technical Assistance
• Internet Publishing
• Content Development
• Infrastructure Development

The Arts Exchange
Ballet Espanol
Connie Alexander
(writer)
Terry Brown
(architect, artist)
Roy Davis
(visual artist, sculptor)
Dick Hague
(poet)
Tracy Hawkins 
(photographer)
Elizabeth Harris & Aralee Strange
(writers, filmmakers)
Danny Huitt
(site specific / found object sculpture)
Peter Huttinger
(experimental filmmaker, sculptor)
Eddie Kerr
(playwright, poet, Irish exchange participant)
Mary Anne Maier
(performance artist)
Vicki Mansoor
(visual artist)
Ruben Moreno
(Clay animation)
Holly Morrison
(visual artist)
Gurney Norman
(novelist)
Kaylynn Sullivan TwoTrees
(visual artist, large scale earthwork sculpture)
Frank X. Walker
(poet, visual artist)
Jack Wright
(writer, media studies)