Community Foundation

2004, 38 pages. New York State Artist Workspace Consortium, kerry@mccarthyartsconsulting.com, www.nysawc.org

2003, 232 pages, $20.00. Cultural Policy Center, The Irving B. Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies, University of Chicago, 1155 East 60th St., #157, Chicago, IL 60637-2745, (773) 702-4407

Following up on Stan Hutton's introduction to arts blogs in the last Reader, in this issue we're looking at the beginnings of the philanthropic blogosphere. As with many blogs covering a specific field, philanthropic blogs tend to offer either personal journals of opinion and ideas or periodic news round-ups, brief abstracts of articles or publications and links to the original. Some, of course, provide both.

One effect of attacks on the leading agencies supporting cultural pluralism in the not-for-profit sector, which began with the Reagan administration and continued through the Clinton presidency to the present day, has been to elevate the U.S. commercial arts at the expense of the not-for-profit arts.

2003, 86 pages. $40 nonmembers; 1 copy free with membership. Association of Small Foundations, www.smallfoundations.org

Do you want to start a foundation? Full of practical advice, The New Foundation Guidebook is a good place to start. This book concisely describes how to establish and operate a foundation by adapting articles from pertinent experts. It is easy to skim as essential points are highlighted with bullet points.

2002, 116 pages. Larson, Allen, Weishair & Co., LLP, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Distributed by LarsonAllen Public Service Group, (612) 397-3301 or (888) 529-2648, psg@larsonallen.com, Larson, Allen, Weishair & Co., LLP

"Without getting on a soapbox, I would say that dancing is as much a calling as it is anything else. Don't think of it as a career. You're stupid if you do. You've got to have something burning in your gut that you want to express."

Ensembles are marked by a sustained commitment to collaboration..... The ensemble process allows for the development of a distinctive artistic vision and language unique to all artists involved.

— excerpt from the Flintridge Foundation theater mission

When the Council on Foundations meets in Toronto this April, GIA members in attendance will have the chance to meet a fledgling affinity group of Canadian arts funders that is putting together the 1st Canadian Arts Funders Forum.

The Animating Democracy National Exchange on Art and Civic Dialogue
Flint, Michigan, October 9-12, 2003