Member Reports

October 16, 2015 by giarts-ts-admin

The United States has reached an important inflexion point; we are, together, reimagining America. The time of transformational change ahead holds great possibility for artists, arts advocates, arts administrators, and allied practitioners that we serve — but only if we are able to step fully into our roles as active, equal partners in facilitating the healthy, vibrant, equitable communities of tomorrow.

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March 26, 2015 by giarts-ts-admin

The annual GIA conference brings us, in our respective roles as foundation founder-trustee and staff, inspiration for the work of the year ahead, highlights new developments and trends in the arts and funding, challenges conventional thinking, and provides opportunities to exchange ideas with our peers. It is a true highlight of the year for our work as arts funders, and we think it could be for other trustees as well.

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March 26, 2015 by giarts-ts-admin
Capitalization has been a hot topic in the arts funding community — and in these very pages — in recent years. Funders and cultural organizations alike are increasingly invested in the capital structures that undergird a vibrant cultural sector. Driven by a shared desire to increase artistic vitality in the Greater Boston area, two GIA members — the Barr Foundation and The Klarman Family Foundation — are taking a closer look at how capitalization supports their grantees’ ability to both take and manage risk.
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September 25, 2014 by giarts-ts-admin

Old people have danced forever. We just forgot that for a time.
— Liz Lerman

In June, Ellen Michelson, president of Aroha Philanthropies, and I attended the first National Leadership Exchange of the National Center for Creative Aging in Washington, D.C. It was an extraordinary conference, filled with inspiration and information on this emerging field.

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September 16, 2013 by giarts-ts-admin

Imagine what would happen…

If you started with a century-old, robust, and diverse arts and culture community…
added new grant funds for innovative, large-scale projects completed in teams…
and then invited area residents to participate in selecting the projects that would receive funds.

What would you get?

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June 17, 2013 by giarts-ts-admin

The Jerome Foundation, St. Paul, Minnesota, and the Camargo Foundation, Cassis, France, are now operating under a single governance and integrated management structure.

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June 17, 2013 by giarts-ts-admin

Grantmakers in the Arts began work on capitalization in 2010. Ever since then we’ve debated not using the word “capitalization,” but it has prevailed. In our work, the term is synonymous with financial health and the resources needed to meet an organization’s mission. In 2010, GIA published recommendations for grantmakers regarding actions they could take that would improve the undercapitalized nature of the nonprofit arts sector.

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June 17, 2013 by giarts-ts-admin

Grantmakers in the Arts began its work to enhance the arts in federal education policy in 2012 when it created the Arts Education Funders Coalition, an interest group within GIA that is open to funders with an arts education passion and portfolio, whether they are members of GIA or not. Led by a small advisory committee, we contracted with Penn Hill Group, a Washington, D.C., policy and lobbying firm with expertise in education.

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February 5, 2013 by giarts-ts-admin

Cheese and crackers in the boardroom? Standard fare.

Puppetry and handwriting analysis? Not so much. Nonetheless, there was a line out the door of the boardroom at the Marriott Hotel in Los Angeles, where the Council on Foundations’ annual conference was taking place. Conferees awaited their personalized encounter with the LA-based arts group the Machine Project, which was also offering mind-reading workshops, cheese music, and concerts of Renaissance lute and vocal music.

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February 5, 2013 by giarts-ts-admin

On October 12–13, 2012, a consortium of arts and social justice organizations hosted the Arts & Social Change symposium in Seattle. With inspiration, participation, learning, and community building as pillars, the goals of the event were to:

  • inspire action and activism; to motivate for change
  • have dialogue; make recommendations for systemic and social change
  • gain new awareness; to listen, participate, communicate, share, and engage
  • meet, to connect and build relationships with other networks beyond the symposium
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