Family Foundation

2005, 158 pages. Arts Education Partnership , One Massachusetts Avenue, Suite 700, Washington, DC 20001-1431, 202-336-7016, aep@ccsso.org

The Arts Education Partnership's new book, Third Space: when learning matters, should be required reading for anyone involved in what promises to be a lively and contentious debate around the 2007 reauthorization of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

For classical music lovers in East Texas and Western Louisiana, KTPB-FM has been the only source of classical music programming for the past fifteen years. From its first broadcasts, KTPB has offered the live presentations of the Metropolitan Opera alongside concerts of the Longview Symphony and the East Texas Symphony Orchestra.

2006, 114 pages. Published by the University of Minnesota, Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, Project on Regional and Industrial Economics (PRIE). Funded by the McKnight Foundation and the Fesler-Lampert Chair in Urban and Regional Affairs, University of Minnesota.

2005, 65 pages. Institute for Innovation in Social Policy, Vassar College, Box 529, Poughkeepsie, NY 12604, 845-452-7332. For copies contact opdycke@earthlink.net

The second in a series based on a national survey (the first was 2002), this report looks at participation in artistic and cultural experiences in the US in quantifiable terms as well as in ways such experiences affect the well-being of participants. One key finding is that 78 percent of respondents "believe that attending art events helped them to see things from other people's perspectives."

2005, 78 pages. McKnight Foundation, 710 Second Street South, Suite 400, Minneapolis, MN 55401, 612-333-4220

Beginning with an honest appraisal of the way changing economic factors have reshaped Minnesota's rural communities, this elegant publication highlights artistic projects and the individuals who have helped maintain or restore cultural vitality to different towns throughout the state.

2005, 42 pages. The Bush Foundation , 332 Minnesota Street, Suite E-900, Saint Paul, MN 55101-1315, 651-227-0891.

Download pdf: www.bushfoundation.org/publications/RADP_Full_Report.pdf

2005, 12 pages. U.S. Department of the Treasury, 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C. 20220, 202-622-2000, www.treasury.gov.

Download pdf: www.treasury.gov/offices/enforcement/key-issues/protecting/docs/guidelines_charities.pdf

These voluntary guidelines are intended to "assist charities in developing a risk-based approach to guard against the threat of diversion of funds by use by terrorists and their support networks."

2005. Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, 65 Bleecker Street, 7th floor, New York, NY 10012-2420, 212-387-7555.

This book chronicles the Warhol Foundation's five-year initiative to build capacity of thirty-one small contemporary visual arts organizations located throughout the country. This ambitious program awarded $125,000 to each organization and provided additional technical assistance according to their needs. The challenging typography, layout, and binding of the book convey a strong sense of the organizations portrayed.

For those of us who are passionate about the arts, it has been disheartening to see so many schools cut back on arts education. I am happy to report on a new initiative by the American Architectural Foundation that hopes to boost interest in teaching kids about architecture and design.

A few years ago, Laura Penn, managing director of Intiman Theatre in Seattle, met me for coffee at the Saint Francis Hotel. I was between sessions of the Independent Sector's (IS) national conference in San Francisco. Laura had never heard of IS and was curious about it. The Independent Sector is a coalition of corporations, foundations, and private voluntary organizations that works to strengthen nonprofit organizations and is committed to advancing the common good in the U.S.