Contact GIAGIA Reader PublicationBecome A GIA Member
450 Lexington Ave, Unit 4501 | New York, NY | gia@giarts.org
From Graydon Royce at the Star-Tribune:
If you don't cross every t and dot every i, you can kiss your cultural Legacy Amendment money goodbye.
More than a dozen Twin Cities groups that received Legacy Amendment-funded grants through the Minnesota State Arts Board in past years were stunned this year to find their applications rejected on what some say are technicalities.
Teaching Artists and the Future of Education: A report on the Teaching Artist Research Project, the final outcome of the Teaching Artists Research Project, a three-year study by NORC at the University of Chicago, is now in the GIA online library. The extensive report was authored by Nick Rabkin and Michael J. Reynolds along with Eric Hedberg and Justin Shelby, and published in September of 2011.
Surely the Arts funding community has a role in a discussion such as this. If you're on Twitter, join in!
Last month, the Rockefeller Foundation, in partnership with Resource Alliance and the Institute for Development Studies, convened a major summit in Bellagio, Italy, on the future of philanthropy and development in the pursuit of well-being. The summit—the culmination of a process involving regional consultations around the globe, the commissioning of papers on relevant topics, and more—generated key messages for institutions and individuals working in, and with, the development and philanthropy sectors.
Now, these individuals and others in the field of global grantmaking have a chance to weigh in and respond to those messages by joining the Council on Foundations, the Rockefeller Foundation, and The Chronicle of Philanthropy during a special Twitter Chat, December 12, 1–2 p.m. ET, using the hashtag #PhilChat.
The online Forum on Equity in Arts Funding has added posts from thought leaders across the community. Today's new entries include:
ArtsBeat at The New York Times reports:
Adrian Ellis, the executive director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, has told that organization’s board he will step down in early January.
“I’m coming up on five years,” he said in an interview. “I’ve had an absolute blast. Maybe I’m sort of restless.”
The blog Cultural Equity Matters is covering the developments in the San Francisco Arts Commission problems surrounding the CEG program, including the announcement of Tom DeCaigny as the new Director of Cultural Affairs. Also see a personal response to the situation from Cora Mirikitani, President and CEO of the Center for Cultural Innovation.
On Tuesday, Grantmakers in the Arts launched the online Forum on Equity in Arts Funding. The forum will include posts from a great list of thought leaders and launched with entries from F. Javier Torres of the Boston Foundation, MK Wegman from National Performance Network, Jesse Rosen from the League of American Orchestras, and Aaron Dorfman from National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy.
Today, the forum adds six new entries to the forum:
Visit the Forum today and join the discussion
From the Nonprofit Finance Fund's Social Currency blog, Rebecca Thomas and Rodney Christopher examine change capital:
Today, with the help of a particular kind of money--Change Capital--Alvin Ailey American Dance Foundation is attracting new revenue by building a technology platform and internal capabilities that maximize opportunities for patron and audience engagement. Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation is raising money upfront to wind down its operations in a graceful way and leave a meaningful legacy.
Arlene Goldbard's comprehensive report on the situation facing the San Francisco Arts Commission's Cultural Equity Grants (CEG) program:
The city creates a special initiative to respond to residents’ deep desire for cultural equity, one small step toward equalizing access to resources. It is housed at the Arts Commission, along with many other programs and initiatives. This initiative supports artists and groups—mostly grounded in communities of color or other marginalized categories—who have not been able to obtain meaningful resources from mainstream sources. As the story unfolds, the host organism falls into disarray, rotting from the head. Supposedly objective (i.e., astoundingly under-informed and therefore unprepared) auditors are summoned to diagnose and recommend, but they are given a brief that covers only a few questions. Their recommendations are mostlly administrative and general, but they single out the special initiative for significant cuts.
Aaron Dorfman writes for Stanford Social Innovation Review:
Philanthropy frequently justifies its independence by invoking capacities it seldom displays. Philanthropy, we are told, is the vaunted passing gear. “Social action is usually a slow process,” wrote Paul Ylvisaker, who championed the poor through his long career in government, philanthropy and the academy. “Foundations by stepping in can speed up the process, acting as ‘society’s passing gear.’” But where Ylvisaker saw potential for grantmakers to be catalysts and agents for change, we too often today see foundation leaders who prefer to be neutral conveners.