Arts and Community Development

"A lucky group of artists in New York will get guaranteed income as part of an ambitious pilot program," said Jo Lawson-Tancred for artnet news. "The Creatives Rebuild New York (CRNY) initiative has announced that it is spending $43.2 million to distribute monthly payments of $1,000 to 2,400 to artists and other creatives living across the state. Lasting for 18 months, these cash payments come with no strings attached. "

From the Alliance for California Traditional Arts: "Every cultural community in the United States is rooted in a sense of belonging, shared by members, and anchored by collective wisdom and aesthetics. These roots of cultural heritage are maintained, strengthened, and expanded through the practice of folk and traditional arts. The realities of slavery, displacement, structural racism, systemic poverty, and cultural appropriation have tested the strength of these cultural roots. The stresses are even more apparent, viewed against our present-day national reckoning with these harms amidst a global pandemic. In this context, traditional arts practices are potent political acts of social belonging, power, and justice. From this field have emerged works and artists of beauty, technical prowess, and meaning."

Forecast Public Art has released Issue 5 of FORWARD, "a digital publication and conversation series from Forecast, a nonprofit that activates, inspires, and advocates for public art that advances justice, health, and human dignity." "FORWARD highlights how artists are partnering with cities, institutions, and communities to courageously tackle the vital issues of our time. This fifth issue, made in collaboration with NeighborWorks America, focuses on housing.

"The movement for reparations in the United States—a Black-led movement that began even before slavery’s end—is making unprecedented strides forward, and governments across the country are beginning to act. In October 2020, California became the first state to initiate an official task force to study and develop a reparations plan for Black Americans harmed by slavery and its legacies," said Aria Florant and Venneikia Williams for Nonprofit Quarterly. "In March 2021, the city council in Evanston, Illinois, approved the Local Reparations Restorative Housing Program to address racial discrimination in housing. In April 2021, HR 40 was voted out of committee for the first time in its 32-year history. If passed, the bill would establish a commission to study the negative effects of slavery."

"A lucky group of artists in New York will get guaranteed income as part of an ambitious pilot program," said Jo Lawson-Tancred for artnet news. "The Creatives Rebuild New York (CRNY) initiative has announced that it is spending $43.2 million to distribute monthly payments of $1,000 to 2,400 to artists and other creatives living across the state. Lasting for 18 months, these cash payments come with no strings attached."

"Bloomberg Philanthropies today announced the launch of the 2022 Public Art Challenge, which invites mayors of U.S. cities with 30,000 residents or more to apply for up to $1 million in funding to create temporary public art projects that address important civic issues. Submissions for dynamic works of art across all disciplines will be considered, and proposed projects will be evaluated on their ability to generate public-private collaborations, celebrate creativity and urban identity, and strengthen local economies. The Bloomberg Philanthropies Public Art Challenge encourages mayors to partner with artists, elevating the value of including the creative sector when developing solutions to significant urban problems."

From the Center for Effective Philanthropy: "In late July 2020, MacKenzie Scott shocked the philanthropic and nonprofit worlds with the announcement that she had given $1.7 billion to 116 nonprofit organizations. The gifts came in the form of massive, unrestricted grants, with a significant proportion targeted to organizations focused on issues of equity, and were made with no restrictions – only an expectation of an annual three-page letter back to the donor for the three years following their receipt."

From Mellon Foundation, "Asali DeVan Ecclesiastes was no stranger to the significance of Ashé Cultural Arts Center when she joined the non-profit as chief equity officer in January 2020."

“'This was the first place that paid me to write a poem in my early 20s,' says Ecclesiastes of the New Orleans non-profit organization that celebrates its 25th anniversary next year. “This is an organization that I have been around since its inception. I grew up alongside it."

"PEAK Grantmaking has always been dedicated to creating communities for grants professionals to embrace our Learn, Share, Evolve Principle. As PEAK looks to its next chapter, we want to leverage our existing peer network structures in new ways to better foster a learning community that embraces and advances adaptive learning processes, and we also want to inspire our members to utilize this approach inside their own organizations. PEAK sees the concepts and practices of emergent learning as a natural fit to advance our work around our Principles for Peak Grantmaking in powerful new ways. Now is the time to define the concepts, qualities, and practices of emergent learning, and how we envision operationalizing it throughout our community and in the sector at large."

From Threshold Philanthropy: "Sometimes we forget that the flowers that we delight in during spring and summer did not sprout overnight. There were months of growth, mystery, and magic happening beneath the dark soil that we did not see, before the flowers unfurled and produced the sweet fragrances and foods for us and our plant and animal relatives to enjoy. Threshold Philanthropy was conceived during a pandemic, a racial uprising, and through a text message in a Target parking lot. Beth texted Morgan and offered an idea, a seed if you will. She asked, what if you and I create something with Lindsay? Morgan was like, could you elaborate? Beth said, here’s what I know, you two lead it and center yours and your communities healing. Beth wanted to retire, Morgan and Lindsay wanted to leave their jobs, and all three wanted to see the sector change. Our origins are not like most philanthropies, most are lead and funded by white people and have way more structures and processes in place."