Game Changer

Tuesday, October 16, 9:30am – 11:00am

Organized by Jim Bildner, senior research fellow and adjunct lecturer in public policy, Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations, Harvard University; Dennis Scholl, VP/arts, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Presented by Kiley K. Arroyo, research consultant, The Foundation Center; Larry McGill, vice president for research, The Foundation Center.

Two years ago, GIA launched the National Capitalization Project, aiming to bolster our nation's arts and cultural institutions via the balance sheet. Now, a diverse group of funders, service organizations, cultural leaders, and researchers are participating in one of the largest collaborations in recent memory to move that effort forward. The Initiative for Sustainable Arts in America (ISAA) will deliver a roadmap that links capitalization to changing demographics, community engagement, audience participation, and community efforts to take responsibility for their arts and cultural assets; and for the first time, give communities the capacity to test new strategies in real time as they build new frameworks to meet these challenges. Will a new performing arts center strengthen or weaken the overall health of an arts community? What makes the application of capital successful in driving participation in one context and unsuccessful in another? What changes in programming will be needed to serve emerging audiences, and do the resources necessary to create these changes exist? These are just some of the questions the ISAA project will be answering as it challenges long standing conventional thinking.