GIA Blog

Aging and Theatre: A Call to Action
Posted on by Steve

From Lynn Mullin, posting to the HowlRound blog:

I’m sure I preach to the HowlRound choir when I say that ours is an art centered on connectivity, collaboration, and empowerment. Together, through theatre, we can rewrite the story of aging. It’s all about enabling older adults to remind their communities that with age comes strength, beauty, and power. By engaging older adults in theatre — as actors/singers/dancers, directors, playwrights, storytellers, students, teachers, audiences — we can change the conversation from, “How are we going to deal with the elderly?” to, “I never imagined they could do that!” to, “What do you want to do next?”
2016 Joyce Awards Announced
Posted on by Steve

Four collaborations between artists of color and cultural organizations in Chicago, Detroit and the Twin Cities have each won $50,000 from the Joyce Foundation’s annual Joyce Awards competition for 2016. The Joyce Awards is the only program supporting artists of color in major Great Lakes cities. The Chicago-based foundation has awarded $2.6 million to commission 50 new works since the annual program started in 2003. A distinctive feature of the Joyce Awards is that in addition to being new, winners’ work must include the process of engaging community members to inform and shape their art.

New from the GIA Reader: Building Financial Security amid Economic Crisis
Posted on by Steve

In an article from the latest issue of GIA Reader, Martha Sloca Richards, executive director of the James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation, and William Vesneski of Luma Consulting, present key findings from an assessment of the foundation’s Large Arts Organization Initiative.

Governor Brown Appoints Dana Gioia as California Poet Laureate
Posted on by Steve

Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. has appointed Dana Gioia, who served as chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts from 2003 to 2009, as California Poet Laureate. From the California Arts Council:

The role of the California Poet Laureate is to spread the art of poetry and creative expression from classrooms to boardrooms across the state, to inspire an emerging generation of literary artists and enthusiasts, and to educate all Californians about the many poets and authors who have influenced our great state through creative literary expression… Over the course of a two-year term, the California Poet Laureate provides public readings and engagement in urban and rural locations across the state, educates civic and state leaders about the value of poetry and creative expression, and undertakes a significant cultural project.
New from the GIA Reader: Funding at the Intersection of Art and Environment
Posted on by Steve

In an article from the latest issue of GIA Reader, Alexis Frasz of Helicon Collaborative provides a summarization of a series of interviews with arts funders in Funding at the Intersection of Art and Environment: A Field Scan.

How to Keep a City’s Economic Growth from Destroying its Cultural Soul?
Posted on by Steve

From Cy Musiker, reporting fro KQED:

It may not seem that way if you’re an artist struggling to pay the rent, but San Francisco is one of the world’s leaders in supporting the arts. Last weekend the San Francisco Arts Commission’s Cultural Affairs Director, Tom DeCaigny, joined delegates from 31 cities around the globe for the World Cities Culture Forum in London to discuss how civic leaders can keep economic growth from coming at the expense of a city’s cultural soul.
National Nonprofit Arts & Culture Sector Recovering from Recession Despite Declines in Contributed Income
Posted on by Steve

From Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance:

Cultural groups continue to recover from the Great Recession, with revenue increasing 7% and attendance up 3% from 2009 to 2012. This is despite significant drops in most sources of contributed support, according to 2015 Portfolio: Culture Across Communities, a new eleven-city report on the cultural sector released today by the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance.
Arts & Culture at 2015 National Rural Assembly
Posted on by SuJ'n

Arts and culture practitioners, funders, and community leaders made up nearly one-third of the participants at this year's National Rural Assembly. The cohort of participants grew from previous gatherings and discussions and collectively agreed that rural arts and culture are essential to the health, wealth, and sustainability of rural communities.

Read more from the Assembly's blog post.

LA County Supervisors Want More Diversity In LA Arts
Posted on by Jim

From Sarah Favot, at the Los Angeles Daily News:

The Los Angeles Board of Supervisors unanimously approved an arts diversity motion that directs the Arts Commission to establish an advisory group of arts and community leaders to develop recommendations for ways to enhance the participation and leadership of individuals from underrepresented communities in the arts.

Read the full article.

ArtsReady on Violence Preparedness
Posted on by SuJ'n

A message from ArtsReady:

Last week’s horrific events in Paris remind us that cultural gathering spaces can be targets of violence. While we hope you will never experience an act of violence at your organization, our partners at ArtsReady have an array of resources to help your organization improve its security and to train your staff/volunteers in key safety procedures.