Paddy Johnson is having a year-end fundraiser for her increasingly indispensible cultural blog, Art Fag City. Contributions are tax-deductible, through the generous support of another of New York's precious resources, Momenta Art. Go here to Paddy's site for more information and an easy contribution form.

Tom Moody has assembled, on his own site, an impressive, but unassailable description of what her site means to the arts community it serves:

Johnson's blog is a necessary counterweight to the institutional writing that constitutes current criticism: magazines chasing ad dollars, 501c(3) organizations that have to say nice things about everyone, and museum curators at the beck and call of powerful board members. Johnson produces a staggering amount of original content each year, including interviews, essay series, and reportage. Her comment boards are moderated in a civilized fashion and are a good place to hash out issues that aren't being discussed elsewhere. Plus she is that rare writer that can cover both the art gallery scene and the online scene with equal knowledge and confidence.

In J.M. Barrie's "Peter Pan", the play, the novel and the film, children are urged to clap to show that they believe in fairies, lest Tinkerbell die. I feel a bit like when we were first asked to save that little sprite, but this time we'll need to do more than clap if we're going to help keep Art Fag City alive.

[1915 image, by Francis Donkin Bedford, from Project Gutenberg]