Presidential candidate Mitt Romney makes his first education specific speech of the campaign today (Wednesday, May 23) in Washington. He has named an education committee and has released an education policy document. As with most campaign documents, it is light on specifics but does give a picture of what Romney would prioritize should he win the presidency.
Grantmakers in the Arts
by Janet
I had an “aha” moment recently listening to Jonathan Katz, executive director of the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies speak to New Jersey funders. I was reminded of the hard work we did in the 90s to get the arts into national and state education standards and the arguments we used to get there. It’s time to revisit those arguments after a long draught of “teaching to math and reading tests” brought on in 2000 by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act dubbed No Child Left Behind.
by Steve
Financial Health Analysis (FHA) is a suite of financial reports produced as a collaborative effort of Nonprofit Finance Fund and Cultural Data Project with support from the William Penn Foundation. The FHA is a free tool for arts and cultural organizations participating in the Cultural Data Project and is part of larger efforts by NFF and the CDP that seeks to bring to the sector comprehensive, uniform and comparable data that can support improved communications and decision-making by arts leaders and their supporters.
by Steve
This past weekend, author Neil Gaiman spoke at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia and told the graduating class all the things he wish he knew at their age. The talk runs 19 minutes.
by Tommer
Advancing Evaluation Practices in Philanthropy, a special supplement to the summer 2012 edition of the Stanford Social Innovation Review was recently released. The special supplement features an introduction by Jane Wales and articles by five Aspen Philanthropy Group authors describing the monitoring and evaluation philosophies of the foundations they lead.
by Steve
From Chris Jones, Theater critic for the Chicago Tribune:
It is a large part of the big lag between spending on the arts and culture in New York, where international visitors crowd Broadway theaters and the Midtown entertainment district, and in Chicago, where arts groups must, for the most part, focus on a more limited pool of locals and visiting Midwesterners. Chicago's cultural organizations remain a key to increased international visibility for Chicago: One need only to have read the reports of the rapturous reception afforded the touring Chicago Symphony Orchestra in St. Petersburg and Moscow last month or seen the recent pictures from London of Chicago Shakespeare Theater's hip-hop "Othello" steaming up audiences packed into the Globe Theatre, experiencing Shakespeare from across the world as part of an international festival attached to the upcoming Olympic Games.
by Steve
From Chad Bauman at DC Theatre Scene:
Although we struggle like other cities, we are unique. Given that DC is not a state, government funding is a little different. We don’t have a state arts agency, and some funding comes directly from Congress. In the District, there are two major sources of government support—the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities and the National Capital Arts and Cultural Affairs program. In recent years, the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities was cut by 70% going from $13 million to $3.9 million and the National Capital Arts and Cultural Affairs program was cut by 74% going from $9.5 million to $2 million. In comparison to our peers nationally which on average faced cuts of 6-10% range, cuts in the 70%+ range seem crippling and disproportionate.
by Tommer
On May 10, the Brookings Institution and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) hosted a symposium examining new growth theory as a tool for assessing the impact of art and culture on the U.S. economy, including the theory that cities play a major role in facilitating economic growth. The symposium featured papers jointly commissioned by the NEA Office of Research and Analysis and Michael Rushton, the co-editor of the Journal of Cultural Economics.