GIA Blog

Linda Essig, director of the Arizona State University arts entrepreneurship program, posts to her blog Creative Infrastructure:

Yesterday, a great victory has been won by everyone in the state of Kansas who loves the arts. The Governor this morning signed the budget, which includes $700,000 for the newly-created Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission.

For the first time in the 47-year history of the National Endowment for the Arts, the agency's Office of Research & Analysis will award grants to 15 research projects to investigate the value and impact of the arts in the United States. These grants, totaling $250,000, support projects designed to use existing, high-quality datasets to examine novel and significant research questions about the arts. The grantees are from 11 states and their awards range from $10,000 to $30,000.

The region’s cultural organizations are showing signs of recovery from the fiscal crisis and deep recession that began in 2007, according to an annual survey conducted by the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance.

Individual giving is up, foundation support is up, earned income is up, and even some hiring is under way, the survey shows.

The Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation and The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation have announced a $300,000 fund for the creation and production of new plays by California playwrights. The works are to be commissioned and premiered by Bay Area nonprofit organizations that can apply for grants of $50,000 each. These grants will support projects that encourage the creative endeavors and professional development of promising California playwrights. The resulting works will have their world premieres in Bay Area public performances between June 2013 and June 2015.

On Wednesday May 30, the National Endowment for the Arts will host a public webinar to extend the conversation of the Interagency Task Force on the Arts and Human Development, an alliance of 15 federal agencies, offices, divisions, and departments to encourage more and better research on how the arts help people reach their full potential at all stages of life.

Presidential candidate Mitt Romney makes his first education specific speech of the campaign today (Wednesday, May 23) in Washington. He has named an education committee and has released an education policy document. As with most campaign documents, it is light on specifics but does give a picture of what Romney would prioritize should he win the presidency.

I had an “aha” moment recently listening to Jonathan Katz, executive director of the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies speak to New Jersey funders. I was reminded of the hard work we did in the 90s to get the arts into national and state education standards and the arguments we used to get there. It’s time to revisit those arguments after a long draught of “teaching to math and reading tests” brought on in 2000 by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act dubbed No Child Left Behind.

Financial Health Analysis (FHA) is a suite of financial reports produced as a collaborative effort of Nonprofit Finance Fund and Cultural Data Project with support from the William Penn Foundation. The FHA is a free tool for arts and cultural organizations participating in the Cultural Data Project and is part of larger efforts by NFF and the CDP that seeks to bring to the sector comprehensive, uniform and comparable data that can support improved communications and decision-making by arts leaders and their supporters.

This past weekend, author Neil Gaiman spoke at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia and told the graduating class all the things he wish he knew at their age. The talk runs 19 minutes.