GIA Blog

This post is part of the series, Future of the Field: Cross-Sector Creative Placemaking Series.

Is philanthropy ready to commit to racial equity? The sector "doesn’t have a reputation for radical transformation," reports Generocity. "Progress on racial equity is a challenging case study. Leaders in philanthropy now commonly cite the injustice of race serving as an effective predictor of economic, health and other social outcomes."

The Barr Foundation has awarded $545,000 to the Worcester Cultural Coalition (WCC) to support the arts community, with an emphasis on uplifting historically marginalized and underrepresented groups. In particular, the Jean McDonough Arts Center (JMAC) will receive funding to expand equitable use and access.

Following an extensive national search, United States Artists’ (USA) Board of Trustees announced this month the appointment of Judilee Reed as its new President and CEO.

“In an effort to work toward undoing longstanding racial and cultural inequities in the arts, and in life, the city now has a formal Cultural Equity Plan that maps out how to go about doing that,” the New Haven Register reported today.

Native Voices Rising, a community-driven partnership between Native Americans in Philanthropy and Common Counsel Foundation, announced $2 million in grants to 88 Indigenous and Native-led advocacy, organizing, and cultural groups.

Established in 2013, Native Voices Rising supports Native-led grassroots and advocacy efforts that empower American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian communities across the United States. Native Voices Rising is one of the few participatory grantmaking initiatives in the country led by Native people. Through a transparent and community-driven decision-making model, Native Voices Rising uplifts and amplifies the voices and experiences of Native people.

Grantmakers in the Arts (GIA) believes that artists are workers, who deserve to be treated as such. GIA also believes that public policies and practices must be strengthened so that our nation treats workers, including independent contractors and gig workers, with the respect and dignity they deserve.

Between 10-30% of workers are independent contractors or gig workers — in other words, self-employed and contracted to perform work for or provide services to another entity as a nonemployee. Many artists fall into this category, including the teaching artists who steward our children’s education and imagination. These workers don’t qualify for employer-based benefits like health care and paid leave, and growth in this category has contributed to a long-term decline in the percentage of unemployed workers eligible for unemployment insurance.

Germany’s new culture minister, Claudia Roth, has taken office pledging to continue her predecessor’s work in decolonising museums, to set up a central “green culture” desk, to boost funding for the arts and to rethink both the Humboldt Forum and a planned new 20th-century art museum in Berlin.

Philanthropist Laurie M. Tisch announced this week that 14 New York City-based organizations will receive grants in the Illumination Fund’s new Arts & Mental Health program, an expansion of its Arts in Health Initiative.

"[Elizabeth] Alexander came to the organization with a specific mandate, she said, of 'sharpening the focus—doing all the work, every penny, through a social justice lens.' That meant asking what she called sharper questions," writes Maximilíano Durón in ArtNews' profile of Alexander's leadership at the helm of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation since 2018. “What are the stories that we haven’t heard about? What are the cultural points of view that have not been centered? What are the units that have not been resourced or uplifted?”