Advancing Evaluation Practices in Philanthropy, a special supplement to the summer 2012 edition of the Stanford Social Innovation Review was recently released. The special supplement features an introduction by Jane Wales and articles by five Aspen Philanthropy Group authors describing the monitoring and evaluation philosophies of the foundations they lead.
GIA Blog
Posted on
by Steve
From Chris Jones, Theater critic for the Chicago Tribune:
It is a large part of the big lag between spending on the arts and culture in New York, where international visitors crowd Broadway theaters and the Midtown entertainment district, and in Chicago, where arts groups must, for the most part, focus on a more limited pool of locals and visiting Midwesterners. Chicago's cultural organizations remain a key to increased international visibility for Chicago: One need only to have read the reports of the rapturous reception afforded the touring Chicago Symphony Orchestra in St. Petersburg and Moscow last month or seen the recent pictures from London of Chicago Shakespeare Theater's hip-hop "Othello" steaming up audiences packed into the Globe Theatre, experiencing Shakespeare from across the world as part of an international festival attached to the upcoming Olympic Games.
Posted on
by Steve
From Chad Bauman at DC Theatre Scene:
Although we struggle like other cities, we are unique. Given that DC is not a state, government funding is a little different. We don’t have a state arts agency, and some funding comes directly from Congress. In the District, there are two major sources of government support—the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities and the National Capital Arts and Cultural Affairs program. In recent years, the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities was cut by 70% going from $13 million to $3.9 million and the National Capital Arts and Cultural Affairs program was cut by 74% going from $9.5 million to $2 million. In comparison to our peers nationally which on average faced cuts of 6-10% range, cuts in the 70%+ range seem crippling and disproportionate.
Posted on
by Tommer
On May 10, the Brookings Institution and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) hosted a symposium examining new growth theory as a tool for assessing the impact of art and culture on the U.S. economy, including the theory that cities play a major role in facilitating economic growth. The symposium featured papers jointly commissioned by the NEA Office of Research and Analysis and Michael Rushton, the co-editor of the Journal of Cultural Economics.
Posted on
by Tommer
Increasingly, community outreach is just the tip of the iceberg, and artists and social justice organizations are finding mutual benefits to deeper and more prolonged partnerships. That deliberate choice of engagement, as opposed to outreach, seeks to erase some of the traditional hierarchies between dancers and community members.
Posted on
by Tommer
CERF+ (Craft Emergency Relief Fund + Artists' Emergency Resources), a national artists’ service organization, has produced a useful new tool for artists. The Business Insurance Guidebook for Artists distills the key points of business property, liability, and disaster insurance into a pocket-sized booklet.
The booklet responds to information gathered by CERF+ in a national survey of nearly 3,000 craft artists that found that:
Posted on
by Abigail
President Barak Obama has nominated Maria López De León, executive director at the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture (NALAC), to become a member of the National Council on the Arts. The fourteen-member National Council advises the chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, who acts as chair of the council, on agency policy and programs.
Posted on
by Abigail
In April, The David and Lucille Packard Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation jointly launched a free online training for program staff at private foundations to help them navigate the rules of advocacy and lobbying. Authored by the legal staff at these foundations, Learn Foundation Law, is a three-part course that take less than hour to complete.
Posted on
by Tommer
Trends in Northwest Giving is Philanthropy Northwest's biennial report on organized philanthropy in our six state region (Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming). The 2012 edition analyzes over $1.08 billion in grants made to Northwest nonprofits in 2010, offering the first in-depth look at the recession's effect on giving to the region.
Posted on
by Tommer
While Kansas plans to overhaul its arts agency this summer to focus it on generating new jobs, state funding for arts programs remained uncertain as legislators continued discussing budget issues Saturday.