Grantmakers in the Arts | Supporting a Creative America

NASA Seeks Poets to Submit Haiku to be Sent to Mars!

Posted on May 3, 2013 by Tommer

NASA is raising awareness for its upcoming launch of the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution spacecraft with its Going to Mars project. The MAVEN spacecraft is scheduled for launch this November, to study the Red Planet's upper atmosphere; the craft will examine why Mars lost its atmosphere, and how that catastrophe affected the history of water there.

Two New Titles from Arlene Goldbard

Posted on May 2, 2013 by Tommer

Longtime contributor to the GIA's Reader and conferences, Arlene Goldbard has published The Culture of Possibility: Art, Artists & the Future, and a second book, The Wave.

The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Names 20 New Doris Duke Artists

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Tommer

Twenty artists working in the fields of contemporary dance, jazz and theatre were announced today by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF) as recipients of the 2013 Doris Duke Artist Awards. The purpose of the Doris Duke Artist Awards is to empower, invest in and celebrate artists by offering flexible, multi-year funding in response to financial and funding challenges that are both unique to the performing arts and to each artist.

Parsing the Merce Cunningham Dance Company Legacy Plan: A Special Report

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Tommer

As reported in Dance USA: Earlier this month the Merce Cunningham Trust released a case study detailing the extensive Legacy Plan crafted by the Cunningham Dance Foundation.

NFF State of the Sector Survey Arts Data Analyzed

Posted on April 25, 2013 by Steve

Rebecca Thomas, Vice President at Nonprofit Finance Fund, has released an analysis of the 2013 State of the Sector Survey results with a focus on the arts and culture sector data:

Last month, Nonprofit Finance Fund released its fifth annual State of the Nonprofit Sector Survey, generously supported by the Bank of America Charitable Foundation. Of the nearly 6000 respondents, more than 900 hailed from the arts and culture sector, representing 47 states.

The data provide a wealth of information about how arts and culture organizations are managing through an unprecedented time of economic and artistic flux. Current trends point to lasting changes in the way the sector operates and is funded. The arts specific survey results are available in their entirety here.

Farmer/Author Masumoto Joins National Council on the Arts

Posted on April 25, 2013 by Steve

From Rafu Shimpo:

David Mas Masumoto of Del Rey, a noted farmer and author, is now a member of the National Council on the Arts. Nominated by President Obama last June, he was confirmed in January, took the oath of office in February, and attended his first meeting in March. His six-year term expires in September 2018... He is a board member of the James Irvine Foundation and the Public Policy Institute of California and has served as chair of the California Council for the Humanities.

Slow Art Day: Leaning Towards a Different Way of Looking at and Loving Art

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Steve

The Smithsonian American Art Museum's EyeLevel blog interviews Phil Terry about Slow Art Day, an event he founded:

Slow Art Day is the annual event in more than 240 museums and galleries around the world with a simple mission: help more people discover the joy of looking at and loving art. This year participants show up on Saturday, April 27 at one of the participating museums and then look slowly, 5-10 minutes, at each of five pre-assigned works of art.

CultureHive a New Online Resource from England

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Steve

CultureHive is a newly launched website that could help Arts and Culture funders discover and share best practice in cultural marketing. It features case studies, toolkits, research, articles and more. Resources have been sourced from across the UK and beyond – from cultural organisations, audience development agencies and consultants. As part of Arts Council England’s Audience Focus program, the website aims to make everything available to access and download for free.

Why Hewlett-Packard is Hiring Dancers

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Steve

From Cheryl Strauss Einhorn, writing for CNNMoney:

Most dance companies make money by selling tickets to their performances. Boise-based troupe Trey McIntyre Project has a more expansive business model: “We've decided that we have a real asset, which is the creative process itself. We're selling that,” says John Michael Schert, the company's co-founder and executive director. Companies are buying the pitch. Corporate giants such as Hewlett-Packard and Aetna have signed on, and The University of Chicago Booth Business School recently hired Schert for advice on getting inspired.

What Might be the Impact of a Cap on the Deduction for Charitable Contributions?

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Tommer

Today on Createquity: John Carnwath provides a detailed look at the proposed cap on federal income tax deductions for contributions that is part of the President's budget proposal, and what the effect on nonprofits might be.

In his most recent budget proposal, President Obama is seeking to impose a cap on itemized deductions in the personal income tax return – which includes the deduction for charitable contributions. This provision, part of the administration’s strategy to raise revenue to pay for government spending, has been a part of every White House budget proposal since 2009, and every year arts advocacy organizations join the rest of the nonprofit sector in opposing the changes.

Seeking to Pare Standardized Tests, Legislators Take Aim at Testing Firm

Posted on April 22, 2013 by Steve

From Morgan Smith at The New York Times:

As the Texas Legislature moves to uproot the state’s standardized testing program amid an outcry from parents and school leaders, state lawmakers have focused their criticism on Pearson, the publishing and testing company that develops the tests.

Business Schools Embrace the Liberal Arts

Posted on April 22, 2013 by Steve

From Louis Lavelle at Bloomberg Businessweek:

Undergraduate business programs are, for the most part, no-nonsense degrees. You have your finance, your marketing, and your management—and the connection between what is taught in the classroom and the skills used on the job is pretty straightforward. But a number of business schools are beginning to experiment with something that might have been considered sacrilege a few years ago: incorporating the liberal arts—literature, history, science, and philosophy—into the business curriculum.

PCAH Turnaround Arts Initiative Featured on NPR

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Steve

From Elizabeth Blair for National Public Radio's All Things Considered:

Over the years, there have been a lot of claims about the benefits of the arts on the mind: Listening to Mozart makes you smarter; playing an instrument makes you better at math. One program — funded in part by the federal government — is putting these theories to the test.

Making a Profit for Nonprofits

Posted on April 16, 2013 by Janet

From Janet Brown from her blog Better Together

Grantmakers in the Arts is in the midst of presenting Conversations on Capitalization and Community in five cities over two months so my mind is a bit warped with an excess of nonprofit financial health talk. Making a profit for nonprofits isn’t easy because we fight public perceptions that we should have no profits, funding criteria that punishes profit and a professional norm that encourages any profit be spent on making the product of the nonprofit better.

Arts Education and Advocacy: An Investment in Every Child’s Future

Posted on April 16, 2013 by Steve

From Doug Herbert, writing for the U.S. Department of Education's Homeroom blog:

Pablo Picasso said, “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.” April 9th was Arts Advocacy Day here in Washington, D.C., and thousands of advocates from across the country came to rally in support of arts education programs in our schools, pre-K through high school, that will solve the problem Picasso described.

Philanthropy’s Critical Moment

Posted on April 16, 2013 by Steve

From Vikki Spruill, writing for the Council on Foundations RE:Philanthropy blog:

We want the next generation to say: If you think the first 100 years of philanthropy were impressive, the next 100 years were even greater. For that to happen, though, we have to think differently about how we are going to work with each other and with the public and private sectors. Gone are the days of one-off transactions. Going forward, partnerships across our sector and other sectors will be at the core of the Council’s work. The new Council will be about connectivity, networking, trend and pattern identification, and leveraging the full talent and capacity of our field and other fields with which we collaborate.

Bob Lynch Addresses Sequester Cuts, Federal Funding on PBS NewsHour

Posted on April 16, 2013 by Steve

Bob Lynch, President and CEO of Americans for the Arts, was interviewed by Jeffrey Brown last week for the PBS program NewsHour's Art Beat segment discussing how the federal government sequestration is affecting the arts in the United States. Lynch explains how funding for the National Endowment for the Arts is leveraged across the country on a state and local level.

Obama's arts budget plan goes beyond restoring sequester cuts

Posted on April 16, 2013 by Steve

From Mike Boehm at The Los Angeles Times:

President Obama’s budget proposal for the coming fiscal year would boost federal arts spending 10% above where it stands at the moment, lifting it to $1.58 billion for the 2013-14 budget year that begins Oct. 1 and more than compensating for cuts from the “budget sequestration” bill that went into effect last month. Those reductions sliced 5% across the board from three federal cultural grant-making agencies as well as the Smithsonian Institution, the National Gallery of Art and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, lowering their combined spending from $1.51 billion to about $1.44 billion for fiscal 2012-13.

Thoughts For Those in Boston

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Steve

We extend prayers and thoughts of recovery for those directly affected by today's bombings and to all those who live and work in the beautiful city of Boston. We are thinking of our many GIA colleagues who will work diligently to bring the city back to normalcy after this tragic act of terrorism. Bostonians, you are in our hearts. —Janet Brown

NFF Webinar to Examine 2013 State of the Sector Survey Data

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Steve

Nonprofit Finance Fund released its 2013 survey data late last month. They will discuss the survey and its results in a webinar that will take place on Monday, April 22nd at 3:00pm EST (noon PST). According to NFF, Nearly 6000 nonprofit organizations nationwide shared details of their financial and management practices in the survey. The webinar will dive into the data and identify the key trends to inform the most substantive discussions and thoughtful policy-making across the sector in the coming year.