Createquity's Recommendations for Arts Philanthropists
Before ceasing publication at the end of 2017, Createquity released a set of recommendations for arts philanthropists, including suggestions to create greater impact for the sector.
Ian David Moss, founder of Createquity, addresses issues from donating priorities and neglected areas of arts funding to an ecosystem perspective in arts funding. "People are fond of calling for more leadership in the arts sector. But the thing about an ecosystem is that it is fundamentally leaderless. Which means that we all have to be leaders if any leadership is going to happen. And to me, in the context of grantmaking, that means all of us taking the time to thoroughly understand the arts funding landscape before deciding what role is most appropriate for us to play," stated Moss.
Among Moss' suggestions, he encouraged supporting the work of Grantmakers in the Arts due to its unique position situated within thought-leadership, professional development, and racial equity:
If you are interested in knowledge-building and field leadership issues in the arts, we recommend supporting Grantmakers in the Arts. GIA is the only entity deeply engaging grantmakers across disciplines, geographies, and sector boundaries, and is therefore best positioned to make strides organizing this constituency for greater impact. GIA has an existing knowledge-building function that we would like to see become significantly more robust. We’ve been pleased to see that the organization has begun engaging more foundation trustees in recent years, as well as more arts grantmakers outside the United States.
Likewise, on programmatic issues, Moss makes the case for arts education as "a worthy focus of arts philanthropy (...), especially for underprivileged youth at all age levels."
Read Barry's Blog interview with Ian David Moss.
Image: Unsplash/Peder Cho