Steve's Blog

Posted on October 17, 2016 by Steve

Lara Davis posts from the 2016 GIA Conference in Saint Paul, Minnesota:

This year, I began my GIA Conference as co-facilitator for the “Access to a Lifetime of Arts Education: Every Child, Every Adult” preconference. My pal and coconspirator in the work of racial justice, consultant and theatre teaching artist Tina LaPadula, joined me to lead a session on Social Justice Essentials for Arts Funders. We kicked off this day of learning and dialogue centered on arts education, data, and creative aging with an engaged crew of thirty plus grantmakers from across the nation, representing family foundations, government, and corporate giving.

Read the full post.

Posted on October 3, 2016 by Steve

Ebony McKinney is a program officer with the San Francisco Arts Commission. She previously held positions with The BRITDOC Foundation in London, Intersection for the Arts, and the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater. She has participated in grant review panels for the California College for the Arts Center for Art & Public Life, the National Endowment for the Arts, the San Jose Department of Cultural Affairs, and the Oakland Cultural Affairs Commission. McKinney was a part of the Emerging Leader Council of Americans for the Arts, where she co-chaired the engagement committee and the Emerging Ideas committee. She currently serves on the citizens advisory committee of Grants for the Arts/San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund. McKinney holds an MA in cultural entrepreneurship and an MA in visual anthropology from Goldsmiths, University of London.

Posted on October 3, 2016 by Steve

Lara Davis has been active in youth development and community arts education for more than a decade. She has served as a Seattle arts commissioner and as program director for Arts Corps, a youth arts organization. At the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture, Lara manages Creative Advantage, a public/private partnership to ensure equitable access to high quality arts learning for all Seattle students. Lara serves on the National Advisory Committee for the Teaching Artists Guild and facilitates equity and racial justice trainings. As a person of color, Lara understands the value of cross-cultural, multi-sector efforts to dismantle racism and other oppressions, and to promote justice. As an artist and arts administrator, she knows firsthand the power of creativity necessary to build access, foster engagement, transform communities, and inspire systemic change.

Posted on October 2, 2016 by Steve

Grantmakers in the Arts is pleased to have a fantastic pair of bloggers covering the 2016 Conference in Saint Paul. Ebony McKinney, program officer with the San Francisco Arts Commission, and Lara Davis, Arts Education Manager for the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture will be posting their comments and reactions beginning Sunday, October 16.

Posted on September 21, 2016 by Steve

In an article in the latest issue of the GIA Reader, “Impact Investing 101,” Rosalie Sheehy Cates and Shin Yu Pai of Philanthropy Northwest offer a primer for funders interested in exploring impact investing.

Posted on September 14, 2016 by Steve

In an article in the latest issue of the GIA Reader entitled “The Charitable Deduction,” author Bronwyn Mauldin of Los Angeles County Arts Commission discusses how future tax reforms might affect deductions for charitable contributions to the arts.

Posted on September 7, 2016 by Steve

In an article in the latest issue of the GIA Reader, Creating Space: Performing Artists in Sacred Spaces, Neville K. Vakharia and Karen DiLossi report on the use of churches and other sacred spaces as venues for the performing arts at large.

Posted on September 1, 2016 by Steve

In an article in the latest issue of the GIA Reader, New York City Addresses Diversity in the Cultural Workforce, Deputy Commissioner Edwin Torres reflects on the results of a recent survey of the racial demographics of arts and culture organizations in New York City.

Posted on August 24, 2016 by Steve

In the spring of 2016, GIA hosted a forum of thought leaders to discuss how funders can better support artists working in community settings such as teaching artists and artists working in cross-sector environments. For the summer edition of the GIA Reader, Margaret Hasse summarizes the fruitful conversation from that day in “Artists in Community Settings: Supporting the Movement.”

Posted on August 17, 2016 by Steve

In an article in the latest issue of the Reader, A More Equitable World Because of Theatre, Teresa Eyring of Theatre Communications Group details the organization’s efforts to develop its equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) initiative – from board-level conversations and learning to program implementation.