In a new "DataBrief" from Indiana University's Strategic National Arts Alumni Project (SNAAP), career outcomes for first-generation artists are examined to find out if they have success finding employment that is in line with their counterparts and if that employment is arts-related. This is a follow-up to SNAAP's previous examination of the challenges arts alumni face depending on whether their parents or close family members have already navigated a career in the arts.
GIA Blog
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By Janet Brown, President & CEO, Grantmakers in the Arts and Angelique Power, Program Director, Culture, The Joyce Foundation, and GIA Board Member
Grantmakers in the Arts is committed to promoting racial equity in arts philanthropy and increasing support for African, Latine, Arab, Asian, and Native American (ALAANA) artists, arts organizations, and communities. Our statement of purpose for this work, published in March 2015, comes after five years of internal discussions, workshops, articles, and forums led by a small learning group consisting of social justice funders and those concerned with social justice. Our use of the term racial equity is deliberate and reflects a new shift from using language about “diversity” and “inclusion.”
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Ted Russell, Senior Program Officer at The James Irvine Foundation, has announced the release of a new report, Investing in Cultural Participation and Financial Sustainability, that evaluates the work from the Arts Regional Initiative:
In our recent posts, the Irvine Arts team has been exploring the ways nonprofits can expand arts engagement — to create meaningful experiences that bring forward the full public benefit of arts, and to also increase organizational sustainability for the future. One area that we have been particularly interested in has been finding ways to increase cultural participation and improve financial stability among arts organizations serving areas outside of major California arts centers. In 2009 we launched the second phase of the Arts Regional Initiative, a five-year partnership with 36 arts organizations in Southern California, the Central Valley, and the Central Coast. During that time, we provided $13.4 million in grants and technical assistance to support these goals. What did we learn from this work?
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Ben Cameron has just taken the position of president of the Jerome and Camargo Foundations, succeeding Cindy Gehrig, who held that position for 38 years. He begins his tenure with this open letter:
As we all know, much has changed in the arts and the United States arts landscape since these Foundations were created. Just as I have encouraged every arts organization to understand the value it brings to its community in the present day—regardless of whatever value it may have offered in the past—we at the Jerome Foundation are entering a period of self-scrutiny. We will be working in 2016 to understand, not only the value our programs have had and are having, but also the current and future needs of artists and arts organizations in Minnesota and New York City. In 2017, we will both be affirming our commitment to those past programs and priorities that will continue to be critical to future artistic vibrancy and health, while making final investments in those that we no longer intend to support. We will also be introducing new grants programs and business practices later that year, with the goal of establishing a clear and full profile by the end of 2018.
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As part of the NEA’s 50th anniversary, the agency is launching Creativity Connects, a leadership initiative intended to show how the arts contribute to the nation’s creative ecosystem while investigating the ways in which the support systems for the artists are changing and exploring how the arts can connect with other sectors that want and utilize creativity. The initiative has three components:
- an infrastructure report that will provide an overview of the types of artistic practices and how they’re expanding, and the key resources that artists need in order to produce their best work.
- an interactive graphic that shows the elements of the arts-based creative ecosystem in the United States
- a pilot grant opportunity to support partnerships between arts organizations and organizations from non-arts sectors
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Diane Rodriguez, associate artistic director at the Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles, California was appointed by President Obama and confirmed by the United States Senate to be a member of the National Council on the Arts, the advisory body of the National Endowment for the Arts.
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For the month of January, GIA's photo banner features art and projects supported by the Idaho Commission on the Arts. The Commission was established in 1966 to "stimulate and encourage throughout the state the study and presentation of the arts, and public interest and participation therein… and to encourage and assist freedom of artistic expression essential to the well-being of the arts." It provides services and direct grants to organizations, arts educators, and individual artists across the state, including those practicing folk and traditional arts. 2016 marks the start of the Commission's 50th anniversary.
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National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) this week released "The Arts in Early Childhood: Social and Emotional Benefits of Arts Participation: A Literature Review and Gap-Analysis (2000-2015)." The report synthesizes findings from research published in psychology and education research journals spanning the past fifteen years.
On February 2, Grantmakers in the Arts will present a web conference covering themes and highlights from the report, and specific research findings on the impacts of arts enrichment in early childhood, particularly in economically disadvantaged families and communities. The session will feature Sunil Iyengar, Director, NEA Office of Research & Analysis; and Eleanor D. Brown, PhD, Professor of Psychology, West Chester University.
Read the full NEA press release.
Learn more about the GIA web conference scheduled for Tuesday, February 2, 2016.
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Ford Foundation President Darren Walker posts to Equals Change Blog:
In October, I outlined the foundation’s strategy for renewal, FordForward, and how it will affect our programs, our culture, and our assets. Today, I’d like to offer more specifics about the last of these three categories—our assets—and how we plan to deploy them to advance Ford’s mission. In my last message, I reported that our board has agreed to revisit our endowment policy. As stewards of a charitable trust, we believe it is our responsibility to undertake an investment strategy that considers the social impact of our endowment. Our board will be exploring avenues to do exactly this, and I’ll have more to report in the coming months.
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From Kathleen Allen at the Arizona Daily Star:
Roberto Bedoya, who oversaw the Tucson Pima Arts Council during a decade of severe funding cuts and economic turbulence, has resigned from the agency. Bedoya was executive director until August, when he was named TPAC’s director of civic engagement and Debi Chess Mabie was appointed chief executive officer, a new position.