Featured in the current Reader, Gwendolyn Zepeda’s Poem for the Grantmakers, written for and read at the 2014 GIA Conference in Houston.
GIA Blog
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A new report from Createquity takes a deep look at the data on Arts Participation, and also trends in television usage, across segments of the US population at different income and education levels. “Why Don't They Come?” does in fact conclude that television is taking an increasingly dominant role in shaping our cultural lives, especially with the low-income and low-education population.
There is a rich irony lurking just beneath the surface here: television, a largely for-profit commercial industry, routinely does a much better job engaging the most economically vulnerable members of our population than our supposedly charitable nonprofit arts institutions that receive tens of billions of dollars annually in government-sanctioned subsidy.
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From the development of a state-wide arts education plan in Alabama to a glassblowing program for wounded soldiers in Tacoma, Washington, funding from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) gives people across America the opportunity to experience creativity and participate in the arts. In the second major grant announcement of fiscal year 2015, the NEA will make 1,023 awards totaling $74,326,900 to nonprofit arts organizations in all 50 states plus five U.S. jurisdictions. Funding in this round is awarded through the NEA’s Art Works and State and Regional Partnerships grant categories.
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From Robin Pogrebin at The New York Times:
New York City is looking to join Chicago, Houston, Denver and other major cities by passing legislation to create its first comprehensive cultural plan. The legislation, which the City Council passed by a vote of 49 to 0 on Tuesday, requires the city to analyze its current cultural priorities, assess how service to different neighborhoods can be improved, study the condition of arts organizations and artists, and plan how the city can remain artist-friendly in a time of high rents and other economic pressures.
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During the month of May, GIA’s photo banner features work and projects sponsored by the Whitaker Foundation. The St. Louis, Missouri based foundation began in 1975 upon the death of Mrs. Mae Whitaker. The Foundation is independent with governance provided by a self-perpetuating board. Grants are made to enhance lives through the arts and to preserve and encourage use of urban parks.
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From Andrew Theen at The Oregonian:
Portland’s arts tax is proving more expensive for city officials to administer partly because of the cost of tracking down scofflaws. In 2014, city finance officials mailed 170,000 collection letters to residents who hadn't paid the voter-approved Arts Education and Access Fund. The city spent $775,000 last year to administer the program. Thomas Lannom, Revenue Bureau Director, said the city spent $85,000 on postage and printing and $50,000 on temporary staffers, plus the remaining budget to run the arts tax program each year.
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Featured in the current Reader, Anne Focke documents two important meetings in the 1980s that brought hundreds of people together to discuss Creative Support for Creative Artists.
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The National Assembly of State Arts Agencies board of directors has announced the appointment of Pam Breaux as NASAA’s chief executive officer, effective July 6, 2015. The national search effort was conducted with the assistance of Arts Consulting Group. A native of Lafayette, Louisiana, Breaux has held leadership positions at the local, state and national levels. She currently is completing her appointment as assistant secretary of the Office of Cultural Development at the Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism (CRT). She is a former secretary of CRT and was executive director of the Louisiana Division of the Arts. During her time at CRT, Breaux led the state’s cultural economy policy efforts, developed the annual World Cultural Economic Forum program and spearheaded the state's attainment of UNESCO recognition of Poverty Point as a World Heritage site.
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The Art X Culture X Social Justice Network is based on the power of art and culture to advance social justice by inspiring collective action across identities, issues, sectors, geographies, and power imbalances. It works to bring together artists, activists, cultural bearers, and philanthropists. Check out their new web presence at artculturejustice.com.
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Nonprofit Finance Fund has done its annual analysis of data from the State of the Sector Survey. Of the 5,451 nonprofits that took the survey in 2015, more than 900 identified as arts and culture organizations. These groups represented a wide range of artistic disciplines, with top responses among Museums (15%) and Theatres (13%). An in-depth Special Supplement on the Arts & Culture Sector is also available.