Steve's Blog

Bill O'Brien, NEA Senior Adviser for Program Innovation, reports from the Santa Fe Institute:

An initiative is underway to stimulate a broader conversation within the field of philanthropy to articulate the values and practices of justice funders. This conversation is being facilitated through a weekly blog series that seeks new voices for inspiration, stimulation, and provocation that will “generate contemplation and discussion now, as well as serve to generate content for a framework for social justice philanthropy that we can begin layering with examples of existing practice over the course of the next year.” Do join this conversation and tag your social media with #justicefunder.

Online registration for the National Guild for Community Arts Education 77th annual Conference for Community Arts Education is now open! The Conference will be held November 20-22 at the Westin Bonaventure, in Los Angeles, with preconference institutes on grantwriting, board development, evaluation, leadership, and creative youth development on Wednesday, November 19. The early registration deadline is August 21.

President Barack Obama will present the National Medals of Arts in conjunction with the National Humanities Medals on Monday, July 28, 2014, at 3:00 p.m. ET, in an East Room ceremony at the White House. First Lady Michelle Obama will attend. The event will be live streamed at WH.gov/Live.

The National Medal of Arts is the highest award given to artists and arts patrons by the federal government. It is awarded by the President of the United States to individuals or groups who are deserving of special recognition by reason of their outstanding contributions to the excellence, growth, support, and availability of the arts in the United States.

National Arts Strategies, the Virginia-based arts leadership organization, has announced that Gail Crider will take the position of President and CEO at the beginning of 2015. After having served as Vice President at NAS for over a decade, Crider will replace Russell Willis Taylor. In her tenure at NAS she has been integral to the organization’s transition from the National Arts Stabilization Fund to National Arts Strategies as well as the development of the range of services they offer currently.

Reuben Roqueñi will join The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation as a program officer in the Performing Arts Program beginning September 2, the Foundation has announced. Since 2010, Roqueñi has worked as program director at the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation (NACF), a national indigenous arts foundation based in Vancouver, Washington. In that position, he was responsible for program development and managing over 85 grants to individuals, organizations, and communities.

From Randy Lewis, at the Los Angeles Times:

The Arts Education Partnership 2014 National Forum, Preparing Students for the Next America in and through the Arts, takes place Thursday, September 11 through Friday, September 12, 2014 in Pittsburgh, PA. Online registration is available now.

The National Endowment for the Arts has announced that it is expanding its support of arts-based community development with recommended grants for the fourth year of the Our Town program. Chairman Jane Chu said the agency will award 66 Our Town grants totaling $5.07 million to organizations in 38 states, investing in local efforts to leverage arts assets to drive community development.

Southern California Public Radio station KPCC has performed an analysis of arts instruction at Los Angeles Unified elementary schools. It found 87 percent of these schools won’t offer comprehensive access in the coming school year, in violation of California law. Only about 70 of the district’s more than 500 elementary schools will provide all four art forms: dance, visual arts, music and theater. But most of those only provide arts access to a portion of each school’s students.