Member Reports

September 11 and Beyond
The following is excerpted from a March 2002 interview with Susan Beresford (president, Ford Foundation) that is included in September 11: Perspectives from the Field of Philanthropy, published August 2002 by the Foundation Center, 79 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10003, 212-620-4230. It is published by permission of the Foundation Center.

FC: It was common in the weeks after 9/11 to hear people say that the attacks had changed everything. Did September 11 change everything?

Do funders and journalists of art have anything in common? Surprisingly, quite a lot. Both have the power to dispense coveted resources; are presumed to possess expertise equal to the task; operate within opaque systems that can be a source of confusion to their intended beneficiaries; receive little in the way of honest, constructive feedback; and have difficulty measuring and describing their success.

The Hawai'i Community Foundation recently completed a three-year evaluation that demonstrates how and why adaptive capacity — an organization's ability to successfully navigate changed circumstances — is central to organizational capacity building. This realization has powerful implications for the relationship of grantmaker and grantee, suggesting that capacity building occurs best in a group setting that includes not only these two but also peer grantees, consultants, and other interested leaders.

On May 15 and 16, 2002, more than 100 funders, artists, academicians, arts administrators, and community arts practitioners gathered in New Haven, Connecticut. We were there to participate in a convening organized by New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) entitled, "RE/New England: Investigating Community Building through Culture." The Open Society Institute and the Pitney Bowes Foundation provided funding for the conference. Participants came from thirteen states and the District of Columbia.

Bush says U.S. will rejoin UNESCO

In a speech September 12 to the United Nations General Assembly urging action on Iraq, President Bush announced that the United States would return to the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). In making the announcement the President said, "This organization has been reformed, and America will participate fully in its mission to advance human rights, tolerance and learning."

Wireless Technology Investment and Digital Dividends Act
Representative Ed Markey (D-MA) introduced a bill on May 2, 2002, that includes some of the ideas introduced last year by Newton Minow and Lawrence Grossman in their Digital Promise proposal.

April 28-30, 2002, Asheville, North Carolina

March 6-8, 2002, Washington, D.C.

April 17-21, 2002, Lexington, Kentucky

• A bilingual play brings together migrant workers and immigrant rights activists in a pointed comedy portraying communications and miscommunications among Anglos and Spanish-speaking peoples living in and working in one community today.

• An African American theater company performs a rollicking — but serious — romp through the cultural changes from Motown to hip-hop, from soul food to vegan, from post-60s to post-modern America.

Art collector, philanthropist, and software entrepreneur Peter Norton, inventor of Norton Utilities, established his family foundation with his wife Eileen Norton in 1989. Based in Santa Monica, California, the Foundation has an endowment of approximately $33 million; its giving last year was close to $4.5 million. The primary focus of the Foundation is on contemporary visual arts nationwide.