Dance and Latin Jazz at the GIA Conference

The opening reception of GIA’s annual conference, on Sunday, October 21, will feature the music of Bay Area percussionist, John Santos, one of the foremost exponents of Afro-Latin music in the world today. Later, on Tuesday, October 23, the B-side Brujas, an all-lady-of-color vinyl DJ group based out of Oakland, will bring their eclectic and energetic vibes to the evening festivities. We look forward to seeing you soon!

Grantmakers in the Arts’ October Spotlight

This month’s Member Spotlight is for Akonadi Foundation, an Oakland based family foundation that invests in place-based organizing, racial equity policy advocacy, and culture shift to dismantle structural racism and build community power. Read here to learn about their work.

Sneak Peek from the GIA Reader

In the upcoming Fall 2018 Reader, one of the articles, “Culture, Equity, and Cities,” delves into “Belonging in Oakland,” the city’s newly released cultural plan. Consultant Vanessa Whang takes readers through its process and spirit: “The plan represents a significant reset for how local government sees and approaches the cultural life of the city. But it is a work in progress, as any plan grounded in reality must be.” As we prepare for the upcoming GIA Conference, we invite you to check your mailboxes for the print issue featuring an array of Oakland’s artists, writers, and grantmakers reflecting on the place, the people, and the culture.

Read the full piece here.

Artist Titus Kaphar; Wu Tsang, filmmaker and performance artist; Becca Heller, human rights lawyer; William Barber Jr., pastor and activist, and Vijay Gupta, violinist and social-justice advocate, are among the 2018 MacArthur Foundation’s ‘Genius’ fellows…

After a yearlong process of introspection and conversations with grantee partners, the Surdna Foundation recently announced its refined program strategy, “Radical Imagination for Racial Justice”…

The Rockefeller Foundation views impact investing as a core aspect of its strategy. Describing the concept as “investments made with the intention of generating both financial return and social and/or environmental impact,” Saadia Madsbjerg, managing director of The Rockefeller Foundation, wrote: “We see traditional asset managers as bringing to the table something the traditional impact investing community has thus far lacked: scale”…