Support for Individual Artists

GIA members have been working together to promote and improve funding for individual artists for over 20 years. The Support for Individual Artists Committee has been one of the most active groups of funders within GIA. Over the years, the committee has been an incubator for such projects as a scan of scholarly research on artist support, a visual timeline outlining the history of artist support funding, major publications, and programs, and the development of a national taxonomy for reporting data on support for individual artists. The committee continues to advise, inspire, and inform GIA’s thought leadership and programming in support for individual artists.

Click here to listen to the latest podcast, and see below for resources.

October 3, 2019 by Carmen Graciela Díaz

A cultural nonprofit that supports visual artists in Chicago, Threewalls, announced that it will award $900,000 to artists who identify as African, Latine, Asian, Arab, and Native American (ALAANA), according to Artforum. The initiative was launched after Threewalls received $1.2 million from the Surdna Foundation.

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September 23, 2019 by Carmen Graciela Díaz

The Arts and Activism (A&A) ColLABoration, a pilot project funded jointly by The CrossCurrents and Compton Foundations to support the work of artists in partnership with organizers and activist organizations, announced five projects that were awarded $30,000 to engage in arts-integrated organizing through themes of democracy, power, and freedom in the United States.

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September 18, 2019 by Carmen Graciela Díaz

Boots Riley, the Oakland filmmaker, musician, and activist who wrote and directed the satire Sorry to Bother You believes in making art "that makes people understand that they have the power to change things…that’s what you can do with narrative.”

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June 11, 2019 by Carmen Graciela Díaz

South Arts launched a program that seeks to provide significant support to projects that harness the power of “Arts & …”.

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June 4, 2019 by Carmen Graciela Díaz

"Artists contribute artistically, economically, socially, and culturally within our communities. By engaging public consciousness and discourse, artists can and do catalyze social change," writes Vickie Benson, McKnight Foundation's Arts program director, as she prepares to step down from the foundation at the end of June.

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May 17, 2019 by Carmen Graciela Díaz

Five dance companies were selected to participate in Momentum, a new three-year initiative from South Arts, to build their capacity regional and national touring. Over the course of the program, according to South Arts, each company will receive professional development, residency opportunities, and touring grants to fund their work.

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April 29, 2019 by Carmen Graciela Díaz

“Imagine a monument for today, for your city, for your community.” That's the question “New Monuments for New Cities,” a public art project, asked local artists when encouraging them to create proposals (in the form of posters) for new monuments. Houston, Austin, Chicago, Toronto, and New York City will produce an exhibition of the resulting 25 artworks specific to their site, as ArtNews reports.

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April 3, 2019 by Carmen Graciela Díaz

Mid-America Arts Alliance (M-AAA) announced Interchange, a new pilot program created to strengthen communities and individual artists within the organization's region by supporting artist-led projects focused on social impact.

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March 21, 2019 by Carmen Graciela Díaz

"The Artist as Problem Solver II: Building the Capacity of Artists & Cultural Workers as Civic Leaders" is the theme of the Joyce Foundation’s Creative Placekeeping & Placemaking Summit in Cleveland from March 21 to 22.

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March 14, 2019 by Carmen Graciela Díaz

A post in Medium points out "artists and governments have a future together," reflecting on how a group of residents had gathered together to brainstorm for a community garden and sculpture project following the call of artist Carolyn Lewenberg.

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