GIA Blog

Posted on by Monica

International artist residency network Alliance of Artists Communities has named Lisa Hoffman as its next executive director, effective July 2016. Hoffman succeeds former Executive Director Caitlin Strokosch, who led the Alliance for nearly a decade. As the associate director at the McColl Center for Art + Innovation, Hoffman pioneered internationally recognized models of artist-led community engagement. Prior to McColl, Hoffman served as director of the Charlotte Nature Museum.

Posted on by Monica

From Julie Carpenter, writing for Soapbox:

ArtsWave [Cincinnati's local arts agency] has created a first-in-the-nation model with the new Arts Atlas online tool that integrates data on arts organizations and their programming with community demographic data.

“Arts Atlas evolved from the need for a place to collect and analyze data while also understanding the gap in access to the arts around the region,” [says ArtsWave Chief Impact Strategy Officer Tara Townsend].

Posted on by Monica

In a recent blog post on Creativz.us, artist Caroline Woolard describes the decline of affordable creative spaces and what artists can do to advocate for their needs:

I’ve seen how sharing economy platforms build resilience and mutual aid (for those of us on the privileged side of the digital divide). I’ve also seen that online platforms are not enough. We need affordable space, so that we can take risks and fail. And where will we meet to swap or share goods and services without spaces? Ensuring affordable space is the only way creative innovation can occur.
Posted on by Monica

In a recent article in Nonprofit Quarterly, Clara Miller, president of The F.B. Heron Foundation, describes the "reinvention" of Heron's change in business model:

Reinvention has involved three basic guiding principles. First, we must go beyond marginal and auxiliary philanthropy (the traditional and appropriate model for charity) to engage actively with the whole economy, positioning ourselves to be fully engaged for mission both inside the foundation and outside in the economy. Second, we must develop and adopt practices that allow us and our allies to have broader influence, always looking to fulfill our mission beyond our own walls.
Posted on by Monica

Rip Rapson, president and CEO of The Kresge Foundation, was recently interviewed on Shelterforce:

A few weeks ago, we had the opportunity to speak with him, trace his experiences and the projects he conceived or championed over the years … and drill into the opportunities and difficulties faced by a large philanthropic organization as it works to integrate its grant making interests with the way real communities operate … One interest Kresge has is in arts and culture, and we spent some extra time talking with him about the importance and role of arts and culture in community health and development.
Posted on by Monica

By Chloe Veltman, writing for KQED:

Dozens of arts and homelessness advocacy organizations in San Francisco are joining forces to file a ballot measure to restore funding from the city’s Hotel Room Tax (a tax of 14 percent levied on hotel stays, more simply known as the Hotel Tax.) The “San Francisco Arts and Families Funding Ordinance” aims to benefit both cultural activities and families living on the streets — without raising taxes for voters.
Posted on by SuJ'n

For the month of June, GIA’s photo banner features artists and work supported by 3Arts. 3Arts is a nonprofit arts service organization that advocates for Chicago-based women artists, artists of color, and artists with disabilities who work in the performing, teaching, and visual arts. Now in its ninth year, 3Arts has distributed $1.8 million dollars and directly supported 396 artists through unrestricted cash awards, residency fellowships, project grants, promotion, and professional development.

Posted on by Monica

By Joyce Gannon, writing for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

[Teresa Heinz of the Heinz Endowments] announced that she will step down in October as chair of the foundation with assets of $1.6 billion. Her three sons will fill the chairman’s seat in a series of four-year rotations beginning with Andre Heinz. … The foundation for decades has been a philanthropic force in the Pittsburgh region by providing billions of dollars to fund arts institutions, environmental programs, early childhood education, services for veterans and community redevelopment.
Posted on by Steve

In an article in the latest issue of the GIA Reader entitled “Supporting Individual Artists: Translating Value, Evaluating Outcomes,” Ann Markusen summarizes a preconference session from the GIA 2015 Conference in Los Angeles.

Posted on by Monica

From the Associated Press:

An Obama administration project to expand arts education in elementary and middle schools has found new, long-term backing. The President’s Committee on the Arts and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts says it will be partnering to keep the Turnaround Arts initiative funded and expanding next year. The program brings music, drama, dance and visual arts into struggling schools. It’s grown from eight to 68 schools since it began in 2011.