Grantmakers in the Arts

(6-7-10) At the end of May, PNC Foundation announced a $2.1 million investment to establish science and arts summer school programs for underserved preschool children in Detroit public schools. The funding comes from PNC's signature cause, Grow Up Great, a ten-year, $100 million initiative to enhance early education and school readiness. From the foundation's press release:

(6-3-10) Council on Foundations Media Release, May 17:

The Council on Foundations is initiating a greater level of partnership with tribal philanthropic organizations by welcoming them as full, voting members of the organization, a move that was approved recently by unanimous decision of the Council’s board. Prior to this policy change, most tribal programs were eligible only for associate membership. Now the Council and its members will have more opportunity to support, learn from, and collaborate with tribal philanthropies.

(6-3-10) In a blog entry for the Los Angeles Times website, Mike Boehm laments the California state Assembly's unanimous approval of a bill that, should it pass the state Senate, will allow high school students to substitute "career technical education" classes for language and arts requirements. The bill's author, Warren Furutani, is expressly interested in improving the state's graduation rate; but, as Boehm notes: "Students applying to the University of California or the Cal State systems are required to have at least a year of high school arts."

(6-2-10) The Foundation Center has released the 2010 edition of its annual Foundation Growth and Giving Estimates, which presents findings based on actual 2008 giving and assets tracked by the Center for the approximately 75,000 U.S. foundations. The survey also includes giving projections for 2009 through 2011.

(6-1-10) In an editorial for The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Pablo Eisenberg questions the seriousness and efficacy of the federal government's Social Innovation Fund. Eisenberg writes in response to last week's announcement that 25 foundations will be contributing a total of $50 million to the Fund. After outlining several ways the initiative is failing to meet NGO and community needs, Eisenberg concludes:

(6-1-10) "But that doesn’t change sectoral realities, which reinforce the antidemocratic spirit of these giver-receiver relationships, where potential receivers are expected to expose themselves to unbounded scrutiny and givers are entitled to ask without being required to answer. If truth in giving were mandated for foundation guidelines the way health warnings are required on cigarette packs, many of the more than 1.2 million foundations registered with the IRS as of last year would have to carry this notice..."

(5-26-10) Reinstating NEA grants to individual artists and performers is on Rocco Landesman's to-do list, just not at the top. Writing for The Denver Post, John Wenzel provides a backdrop to Landesman's sentiment by outlining the culture wars and tapping art world and government insiders for insight into how the funding initiative might unfold. About Landesman, Wenzel writes "...he is a veteran of the theater world and understands the value of timing."

Read more here.

(5-26-10) The National Endowment for the Arts has helped organize a summer-long program called Blue Star Museums that will offer free museum admission to active-duty military personnel and their families from Memorial Day (May 31) through Labor Day (Sept. 6) "to show their appreciation for those who are serving this nation." The effort has been coordinated with Blue Star Families, a support organization "by military families for military families," and so far 600 U.S.