Funding Research

Media is pervasive and influences the culture in myriad ways. Technological advances and structural transformations are profoundly changing the way we receive and distribute information, as well as the quality of that information and whether or not we are able to interact with it. Legislative, legal, and regulatory policies that favor corporate interests over the public interest have created an environment where a dwindling number of corporations which control both the content and the means of distribution dominate the market.

2001, 76 pages. New York Foundation for the Arts, 155 Avenue of the Americas, 14th floor, New York, NY, 10013, 212-366-6900.

Culture Counts, published by the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), is the final report on a special initiative entitled, "A Cultural Blueprint for New York City." The document represents the first comprehensive study of cultural life in New York City in nearly thirty years.

2000, 77 pages. NEA, 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C., 20506-0001, 202-682-5400.

In 1999, Bill Ivey, as a part of his reevaluation of the NEA's funding strategies, convened a series of ten colloquia to discuss how arts institutions can more effectively serve their communities. Forty-one speakers participated; about half are well-known to GIA members and the other half included experts from intersecting fields such as advertising, entertainment, Internet services, and charitable gift funds.

The magnitude and distribution of foundation arts and culture grants in 2002 are the most significant findings of this report. Key findings of the report, based on arts grants of $10,000 or more reported to the Foundation Center by 1,005 of the larger U.S. foundations, are highlighted here.

This report also includes a special secion "Awards and Grants for Artists" by Maria Rosario Jackson and Daniel Swenson of the Urban Institute, and a summary of government funding for the arts from 1992 to 2004 by Kelly Barsdate of NASAA.

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2001, 345 pages. The MIT Press.

2001, 157 pages, $25. The New Press, New York.

2001, 80 pages, $7.00. Dance/USA, Washington, DC, 1156 15th Street, N.W., Suite 820, Washington, D.C. 20005-1704, 202-833-1717, danceusa@danceusa.org.

2001-2002, 51 pages. Witter Bynner Foundation for Poetry, P.O. Box 10169, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87504, 505-988-3251.

The Reader rarely reviews foundations' annual reports, but makes exceptions on occasion — in this case for the Witter Bynner Foundation for Poetry's reaching its 30th year of grantmaking. The handsome 2001 Witter Bynner commemorative report is engaging to read, and presents grant descriptions alongside poems by supported writers, presses, students, and presenting programs.

• An Artist's Guide to September 11 Relief Efforts
• A Non-Profit's Guide to September 11 Relief Efforts

November 2001, 29 pages (artist's guide), 19 pages (nonprofit's guide). The New York Foundation for the Arts, 155 Avenue of the Americas, 14th floor, New York, NY 10013, 212-366-6900.

October 6-8, 2000, 140 pages. Western States Arts Federation, 1543 Champa Street, Suite 220, Denver, CO 80202, 303-629-1166, krista.lewis@westaf.org.

This two-day symposium, convened by WESTAF at the Aspen Institute, was organized around four topics: technology, youth culture, demo- graphics, and politics. The topics were selected to acknowledge the larger socio-political environment within which culture exists. Experts in each field were invited to share their perspectives on important trends and discuss the relationship that their fields either have or do not have with culture.