Events

 Grantmakers in the Arts works within philanthropy to improve society’s health by strengthening the role of arts and culture. As a membership organization whose trade is discourse on ideas about arts and philanthropy, learning and information exchange are at the heart of GIA’s conferences and other events.

Conferences
Since GIA was established, its annual national conference has provided a necessary point of engagement for arts grantmakers from across the country to come together, share knowledge and ideas, develop collective strategies, and learn about new initiatives in the field of arts grantmaking.

Held in a different city each year, the conference typically draws approximately 300 private and public sector funders to the host city. In addition, about 100 speakers, presenters, performers, and artists contribute their expertise, and volunteers offer their time to make the conference a success. Participants continue to say that the GIA conference is the single most important opportunity to improve their grantmaking skills, network with colleagues nationally, and participate in a forum where topics of importance to arts grantmaking are presented and discussed.

GIA’s conference welcomes GIA members and anyone who is staff, trustees, and donors of organizations whose primary activity is grantmaking.


Other activities
In addition to producing its own annual conference, GIA occasionally produces meetings around specific topics and develops sessions, convenes panel discussions, or holds events at conferences produced by affinity groups and the Council on Foundation annual conference.