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Let's make arts cuts today mean stronger theatre tomorrow
Posted on by Steve

From Lyn Gardner for The Guardian UK:

Yes, it's going to be challenging. But with a properly orchestrated campaign of lobbying it's not too late to get the government and hard-pressed local authorities to understand the value of the arts. Wheeling out industry bigwigs days or weeks before the axe is about to fall is far too late; we need to mobilise audiences to speak for and with the arts on a regular basis.
New Committee to Review Kennedy Center Honors Selection Process
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From David Montgomery for the Washington Post:

The Kennedy Center has formed a committee of artists and community leaders to review the heretofore opaque process by which winners of the annual Kennedy Center Honors are selected... The 11-member artist advisory panel will have its second meeting this month, Kennedy Center spokesman John Dow said.
California Arts Council Loses Chance to Raise Money via Tax Returns
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From Mike Boehm for the Los Angeles Times:

A feature allowing California taxpayers to use their income tax returns to make donations toward arts programs will disappear in 2013. Forms for the 2010 and 2011 tax years had a checkoff box for the California Arts Council as one of 18 options for targeted giving to various state-funded causes. But it won't be an option any longer.
21 Outstanding Bay-Area Nonprofits in Arts & Culture
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GuideStar's Philanthropedia convened a group of San Francisco Bay Area Arts & Culture experts to produce a list of outstanding nonprofit organizations. The curators are listed along with the methodology of their research.

The Sound of Philanthropy and the Social Economy in 2013
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From Bradford K. Smith, president of the Foundation Center, for PhilanTopic:

The vast majority of today's social sector leaders grew up in a world where foundations were the funders and nonprofits were the doers. Blueprint 2013 lays out a vision of a social economy inhabited not only by traditional nonprofits, but also by social businesses, socially responsible corporations, peer networks, and institutional forms not yet invented. Donors in this economy have choices between well-known forms of charitable giving (like creating a foundation), impact investing, and political giving to bring out the change they desire.
Leadership Transition Begins at Grantmakers for Education, Tebben Departs in March
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From Anne Stanton, Chair, Grantmakers for Education:

Dear Colleagues,

I am writing to inform you of a leadership transition at Grantmakers for Education. Chris Tebben has announced her departure from GFE, effective mid-March 2013, in order to seek opportunities that will offer her a greater balance between personal and professional obligations.

Artists Seek Aid for Sandy Cleanup
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From Associated Press via Washington Post:

Artists, galleries and lofts, many that helped bring about a renaissance in the ribbon of all-but-abandoned warehouses that line New York’s coastal areas, face tens of thousands of dollars in repairs. Though no major museums reported damage, the toll among smaller operations and individual artists is steep. In response, various institutions and foundations are offering recovery help ranging from grants to free advice on how to rehabilitate damaged works of art.
Teaching Artists and the Future of the Arts
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From Nick Rabkin writing for Huffington Post:

When students study the arts, they develop their abilities to be creative, plan, explain their thoughts, work together effectively, build theories, make predictions, create analogies, solve complex problems and assess their own work. These are commonly understood as “21st-century skills.” What's more, a growing body of research has also shown that arts education correlates strongly with basic competencies — literacy and numeracy — and a wide range of other positive outcomes for young people. The bottom line is that children who have more arts education do better in school and in life. Significantly, the correlation happens to be strongest for low-income youth, the students most often failed by our schools.
Looking at Nonprofit Fianance Fund's “Complete Capital” Approach
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Nonprofit Fianance Fund CEO Antony Bugg-Levine writes for Stanford Social Innovation Review on a new framework for Impact Investing:

The rise of the impact investment movement is poised to unlock substantial new capital for social purpose. Innovative nonprofits are already rethinking the way they do business and are going to heroic lengths to extract maximum impact from every dollar. And increasingly, we have the data and knowledge we need to tackle social ills.

But the ultimate contribution of impact investing, and similar innovations, will not come in the form of interesting investments or channeling grant money more efficiently. Instead, it will come by addressing two fundamental challenges of our moment: How will developed countries sustain a safety net in the wake of macroeconomic and demographic pressures? And how will developing countries ensure that economic growth is more equitably shared?

NEA Chairman to Step Down at End of 2012
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National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Rocco Landesman confirmed his plans to step down at the end of the calendar year. “My intention has always been to serve one term, and we have been able to accomplish more than I had ever thought possible: sparking a national movement around creative placemaking, forging significant relationships with other federal agencies, creating an unprecedented healing arts partnership with the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, and increasing both the scope and impact of our research office.” NEA Senior Deputy Chairman Joan Shigekawa will serve as the acting head of the agency until a permanent successor is confirmed.