GIA Reader (2000-present)

The Cultural Data Project (CDP) was launched in fall 2004 as a statewide, web-based data collection system for arts and cultural organizations by a group of Pennsylvania grantmakers and arts advocates, including the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council, the Heinz Endowments, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, The Pew Charitable Trusts (Pew), The Pittsburgh Foundation, and the William Penn Foundation.

For several years, Grantmakers in the Arts (GIA) members have noted the lack of sector-wide information about support for individual artists. Many funders feel that direct support for artists is a crucial part of the arts funding ecology and one that is underresourced. In the past, however, it has been difficult to assess the extent to which artists are being supported by institutional funders — in fact, it has even been difficult to have a field-wide conversation about the different ways in which artists receive support.

Those in the premodern world who hoarded possessions and refused to redistribute supplies and food, who turned their backs on the weak and the sick, who lived exclusively for hedonism and their own power, were despised. Those in modern society who are shunned as odd, neurotic, or eccentric, who are disconnected from the prosaic world of objective phenomena and fact, would have been valued in premodern cultures for their ability to see what others could not see. Dreams and visions — considered ways to connect with the wisdom of ancestors — were integral to existence in distant times.

Edited by Kimi Eisele and Leia Maahs. 2013, 48 pages, Tucson Pima Arts Council, Tucson, Ariz.

Thomas Wolf. 2014, 192 pages, Allworth Press, New York

The delicate board-executive relationship requires earnest attention and nurturance. In Effective Leadership, Wolf presents dozens of illuminating case studies and reflective questions to help nonprofit organizations examine how their own leadership models and practices contribute, or not, to their overall effectiveness and success.

Community Partnership for Arts and Culture. 2014, 88 pages, Community Partnership for Arts and Culture, Cleveland, Ohio

Native Arts & Cultures Foundation. 2014, 25 pages, Native Arts & Cultures Foundation, Vancouver, Wash.

Art Works/National Endowment for the Arts. 2014, National Endowment for the Arts, Washington, D.C.