Grantmakers in the Arts | Supporting a Creative America

Capitalization Tools and Strategies Webinar

(3-11-10) This afternoon, Rebecca Thomas, director of National Customized Services at the Nonprofit Finance Fund, presented a webinar hosted on GIA's website, as a follow up to the February Dynamic Adaptability session with Clara Miller. Holly Sidford, president of Helicon Collaborative introduced the presentation. This...

Ben Cameron at TEDxYCC

(3-11-10) GIA member, Ben Cameron, program director at the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, recently spoke at TEDx in Calgary. (TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience.)

Not Your Parents' Philanthropy

(3-10-10) And probably not your grandparents' either. Shelly Banjo introduces the next generation of grantmakers on the Wall Street Journal's finance blog.

GIA on the Americans for the Arts Private Sector Blog

(3-9-10) GIA board member John Killacky and GIA deputy director Tommer Peterson are guest bloggers on the Americans for the Arts Blog Salon this week. Executive Director Janet...

AP: Grants That Saved Important Relics Now Endangered

(3-9-10) "As Hillary Rodham Clinton was leaving the White House, she asked Laura Bush first lady to first lady to continue one program if nothing else the historic preservation program Save America's Treasures...Now, the grant program Clinton created that helped restore the original star-spangled banner, Rosa Parks' bus, President Lincoln's summer cottage in Washington and hundreds of...

How Is Your State Arts Agency Doing?

(3-9-10) I recently visited GIA board member Robert Booker, Executive Director at the Arizona Commission on the Arts. They lost 34% of their funding from 2009 into 2010 and are looking at more cuts as their state legislature seeks to reduce budget deficits in 2011. I also had a conversation with Phillip Horn at the...

Bush Foundation Suspends North and South Dakota Grant Program

(3-6-10) "The Bush Foundation will not be accepting any additional applications for funding under this program as it is currently configured. As part of its Goals for a Decade, the Bush Foundation has been working to bring its programs into clearer focus on educational achievement,...

An Artist and the Haiti Earthquake

(3-4-10) Simon Romero of the New York Times offers a moving report on Haitian musician Beken ( Jean-Prosper Deauphin) performing in a neighborhood bar post-earthquake.

Study of nonprofits in L.A. County finds donations for advocacy efforts can bring big results for communities.

(3-4-10) In the Los Angeles Times: "Most charitable giving goes to programs that provide a service rather than try to fix the system. But a study of Los Angeles County nonprofits found that spending on advocacy and organizing can yield major benefits for the communities that donors want to help...

Davdi La Piana on Nonprofit Mergers in the Stanford Social Innovation Review

(3-4-10) "With the economy in turmoil, funders are increasingly pressuring nonprofits to merge. Yet mergers are not always the right path for nonprofits in financial distress. For a healthier nonprofit sector, funders should consider a wider variety of partnership options..."
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More on Music and Cognition

(3-4-10) Listening to Music doesn't do much long-term, but playing it apparently does a lot.

Washington State Foundations Suggest Changing Nonprofit Funding Methods

(3-3-10) Seven of Washington’s charitable foundations want to strengthen the nonprofit sector by asking other grant makers to fund gaps in how individual nonprofit groups—and the sector as whole—operate.

David Byrne on how the place makes the art

Here's the text of David Byrne's TED talk on how venues influence music, earlier we posted an interview eith Byrne on this piece, and now the full text is available.

Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University Launches Philanthropic Studies Program for Undergraduates

(3-2-10) The Indiana Commission on Higher Education has approved a new
Bachelor of Arts in Philanthropic Studies degree program at Indiana University. Courses will be available to undergraduates beginning with the fall 2010 semester.

Strategic Options Advanced for Thousands of Innovative Artists

(3-1-10) Artist Organized Art, Inc. (AOA) and New Observations Ltd. (NOBS) will combine their activities. Massachusetts-based AOA was formed in 2007 with a mission to support artist organized media, events and cultural education by providing strategic and logistical support to artists working in diverse...

Secret Society for Creative Philanthropy

(2-26-10) "Giving away free umbrellas in the middle of a rainstorm is not that easy," reports Steve Rubenstein in the San Francisco Chronicle. A small group of innovative funders organized by the new SF branch of the Secret Society for Creative...

"Worst idea: Thinking...creative types can live on air and water alone"

(2-26-10) British Shadow Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt wants a U.S.-style culture of philanthropists to fund the arts. How is this working in recessionary America? And how are other places coping? An assertive summary of the effects of the recession on international arts funding from last Friday's Guardian...

National Endowment for the Arts Announces Ralph Remington as the New Director of Theater and Musical Theater

(2-25-10) The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announced on Tuesday that Ralph Remington will join the NEA as the director of theater and musical theater as of March 15, 2010.

Philanthropy and Social Investing: Blueprint 2010

(2-24-10) Based on her 15 year track record advising the world’s largest foundations, Lucy Bernholz of Blueprint Research and Design has published a new monograph for the industry of giving - Philanthropy and Social Investing: Blueprint 2010. Hard copy is available here and the Kindle edition...

Ford Family Foundation launches $3.5 million fellowship program for Oregon artists

(2-23-10) The Ford Family Foundation has announced a new $3.5 million visual arts program that is sweeping in its potential effect on Oregon's artists and the institutions that support artists. The new program also builds upon the cultural legacy of one of the founders of the Roseburg-based...