A recent article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review discusses how some foundations are using a systems change approach to work toward social change in the current political climate. "A key differentiator for systems change foundations," author Mark R. Kramer writes, "is that they no longer try to pilot a small-scale program first and then take it to scale later; they confront the system at scale from the start."
Monica's Blog
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A collaboration of the National Endowment for the Arts and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), the [Arts and Cultural Production Satellite Account] is the first federal effort to provide in-depth analysis of the arts and cultural sector's contributions to the U.S. economy. This latest ACPSA data is from 2014 and reveals that the arts and cultural sector contributed $729.6 billion or 4.2 percent to the U.S. economy that year. Between 1998 and 2014, the contribution of arts and culture to the nation’s gross domestic product grew by 35.1 percent.
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In a recent blog post, June Wilson and Lenore Hanisch of the Quixote Foundation discuss the decision to close the foundation and spend its entire endowment:
Spending up allowed us to see clearly that our philanthropy was not about our personal, family or institutional legacy, it was about the work of our grantees and the change they work tirelessly to realize. It enabled us to embrace conflict and seek resolution. It encouraged us to approach our grantmaking strategy with a greater sense of creativity, not restriction. Knowing that we had limited time and resources, we found a clearer path that was ultimately more satisfying to us as individuals and more impactful for our organization and the field.
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A recent article in Valley News highlights a new arts education program for older adults in New Hampshire supported by Aroha Philanthropies:
The idea behind the program’s design is based in a growing body of research that shows that “more intensive, skill-based, sequential arts learning is particularly valuable to older adults, and is shown to have a variety of health and social benefits,” Selchen said.
According to one 2006 study funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, seniors who participated in cultural programs like Experience/Arts reported better physical health and morale, and less loneliness, one year after the completion of their programs compared to control groups who did not participate in those programs.
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From The Architect's Newspaper:
Jason Schupbach has been selected as the new director of the Design School at Arizona State University’s (ASU) Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts.
Schupbach is considered one of the founding leaders of the national creative placemaking movement and will head to ASU after working as the director of design and creative placemaking programs for the National Endowment of the Arts. At the NEA, Schupbach oversees Our Town and Art Works grants, the Mayor’s Institute on City Design, the Citizens’ Institute on Rural Design, as well as the NEA’s community development-related federal agency collaborations.
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Rep. Alma S. Adams (D-NC) has published an op-ed on The Hill arguing for continued funding of the National Endowment for the Arts. In addition to representing North Carolina’s 12th District and serving on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, Adams is also a professional artist, curator, and college art professor. Read the article on The Hill.
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A recent article in The Washington Post highlights how funding from the National Endowment for the Arts supports arts and culture across Indiana, including in many small towns and rural areas:
In Indiana, artists and nonprofit leaders in small towns or underserved communities fear that lawmakers don’t understand how much they depend on the millions of arts dollars distributed each year outside booming metropolises. NEA dollars give children access to the arts at a time when schools are cutting back. They provide performances for people who don’t live in cultural centers. They keep such handmade traditions as basket-weaving and quiltmaking alive.
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A recent article in Surface magazine highlights the work of the Center for Cultural Innovation and its pilot program, the Creative Industries Incentive Network:
This year, through a pilot program called the Creative Industries Incentive Network (CIIN)—which operates in L.A., Richmond, San Francisco, San Jose, and Santa Ana—and its Los Angeles Creative Economic Development Fund, CCI will give $100,000 in grants, each up to $12,500, to a wide range of culturally minded start-ups and various five-person-and-under ventures. [CEO Angie Kim] describes the fund, which aims to spur economic impact in L.A. through art, this way: “These are grants for artists who are pursuing an artistic practice in order to have a positive social impact, using a commercial business strategy.”
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Barr Foundation has announced a set of grant awards totaling $1.43 million to support freedom of the press. This is the second set of grants in Barr’s 2017 Special Initiative, responding to dramatic shifts in the national context, to increased polarization, and to growing concerns about equity and opportunity for vulnerable populations. Read more from … Continue reading Barr Foundation Announces Grants Supporting Freedom of Press
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From Robert W. Deutsch Foundation: From political dissent and protests against injustice, to influencing the public discourse and criticizing actions of the government, artists and cultural workers have been at the forefront of social change using creativity to help shift the way people think about the world. Now more than ever, artists and cultural workers need to … Continue reading Funders Collaborate to Host Training on Digital Security for Artists