Steve's Blog

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A report from the UK, and the initiative behind the report, is working to highlight the flow of money in the art world and especially how little the artists receive. Paying Artists: Securing a future for visual arts in the UK states that their mission “is about transforming opportunities for artists, galleries, funders and policy-makers alike.”

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Nonprofit Finance Fund has a new publication, authored by Rebecca Thomas and Holly Sidford. Critical Steps Toward Capital Health in the Cultural Sector offers cultural organizations and their supporters a set of action-oriented tips that have been developed by NFF over more than three decades of partnership with both organizations and grantmakers.

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The Arts Education Partnership of the Council of Chief State School Officers invites you to register for the AEP 2014 National Forum. The event is Preparing Students for the Next America in and through the Arts. It takes place Thursday, September 11 through Friday, September 12, 2014 in Pittsburgh, PA. Early registration rates are effective through June 30.

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A new report by the D5 coalition and Forward Change, Philanthropic Paths: An Exploratory Study of the Career Pathways of Professionals of Color in Philanthropy, explores the various paths professionals of color take as they advance to leadership positions in philanthropy as well as the tools that helped them get there and gave them staying power. It provides a nuanced picture of the career experiences of 43 philanthropic professionals of color ranging from Program Officers to CEOs working in an array of foundations.

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From Brian Bell, writing for HowlRound:

There has been a lot of writing lately about the artist versus the institution, most notably by Todd London, and Diane Ragsdale. The fact is that producing on a show-by-show basis also leads to an enormous amount of wasted energy and resources at the institutional level. Similarly the working conditions for the artists in the regional theater system might be good business practice but they are not conducive to making good art.
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The San Francisco Arts Commission has a position opening for Senior Program Officer, one that manages the grants portfolio for the San Francisco Arts Commission. A complete description of the positions and requirements for consideration are online.

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The Artist Trust Board of Directors has announced the official launch of an Executive Director search. The search committee will include members of Artist Trust's Board of Directors along with key staff. The next step will be to enlist several Seattle community leaders and artists from around the state of Washington to participate in mid-summer candidate interviews. All candidate resumes and inquiries should be sent to edsearch@artisttrust.org.

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From Nancy Ng, writing for The Huffington Post:

Dance is everywhere, dance is anywhere, yet, dance is nowhere. I have been musing on the place dance holds in our society and in our cultural landscape. Television is filled with dance images more so than ever — programs such as “So You Think You Can Dance” and “Dancing with the Stars” are popular with dancers and non-dancers; I can't remember the last time I saw a commercial that did not have dance imagery included in a scene. In the Bay Area, the San Francisco Ballet is the oldest professional ballet company in America.
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Ta-Nehisi Coates, a senior editor at The Atlantic magazine, joined the PBS show Moyers and Company to discuss his article, published last month, “The Case for Reparations”:

In it, Coates argues that we have to dig deeper into our past and the original sin of slavery, confronting the institutional racism that continues to pervade society.
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By Maria Di Mento, writing for The Chronicle of Philanthropy:

Assets at small to midsize foundations grew by 14 percent in 2013 and gave out more than 7 percent of their assets, according to a report released (last week). Those grant makers, which have holdings of less than $50-million, account for 98 percent of all U.S. foundations but only about 30 percent of all foundation wealth nationally, according to the study by Foundation Source, a firm that provides advice and administrative support to grant makers.