Lifetime Arts has released a "Year Two Evaluation Report for Creative Aging in America's Libraries," conducted by Touchstone Center for Collaborative Inquiry. The report presents findings based on 50 completed arts education programs across the 20 participating library systems. It includes outcomes for older adult participants, library systems and for the library communities, as well as interim findings on the usefulness of Lifetime Arts resources and services.
Monica's Blog
Posted on April 22, 2016 by Monica
Posted on April 21, 2016 by Monica
Arts Education Partnership has updated its State of the States report for 2016. The State of the States 2016 summarizes state policies for arts education identified in statute or code for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Information is based on a systematic search of state statutes and administrative regulations completed in March 2015 and updated in March 2016.
Posted on April 19, 2016 by Monica
Americans for the Arts has announced the release of the sixth and final publication of the National Arts Index:
The 2016 National Arts Index delivers a score of the health and vitality of arts and culture in the United States, covering the 12-year span of 2002-13. The National Arts Index is composed of 81 national-level indicators—the latest annual data produced by the federal government and private research organizations.
Posted on April 19, 2016 by Monica
ArtPlace America has released its first two “field scan” documents looking at the intersection of the arts and culture with other sectors of community development. The first two reports examine public safety and affordable housing. Each represents an exploratory first step that aims to surface:
- Key goals or needs in that community development sector that arts and culture might address,
- A typology or framework for understanding the ways that arts and culture has and might partner with that community development sector,
- Barriers to integrating arts and culture within that community development sector, and
- Strategies or tactics to advance collaborations with arts and culture in that sector.
Posted on April 19, 2016 by Monica
From The Nathan Cummings Foundation:
The Nathan Cummings Foundation today announced that Loren S. Harris, a philanthropic leader with more than 20 years experience challenging structural barriers to equality and creating economic opportunity and social inclusion, will join the Foundation as Vice President of Programs. Harris, who will begin work on May 18, will report to the Foundation’s President and CEO, Sharon Alpert.
Posted on April 19, 2016 by Monica
By Serge F. Kovaleski, writing for The New York Times:
The Ford Foundation, other philanthropic groups and some private donors have given nearly $20 million to United States Artists, an organization that makes grants to artists. … The money will serve as an operational endowment to support United States Artists’ staffing, conferences and the cultivation of nominators and the administration of grants, among other things. It will cover everything except the grants to artists themselves, which are financed separately.
Posted on April 15, 2016 by Monica
In an article published on Creativz.us, Carlton Turner, executive director of Alternate ROOTS, advocates for an alternative model of arts leadership development for organizations that serve communities of color. He argues that a top-down, “one-size-fits-all leadership development program” does not meet the unique needs of these communities and offers the Intercultural Leadership Institute (ILI) as an example of a community-generated peer learning approach.
Posted on April 13, 2016 by Monica
A new organization called Upstart Co-Lab aims to increase opportunities for artists as innovators, catalyze more capital for creativity, and enable artists to support themselves sustainably.
From the press release:
Rooted in the conviction that artists are social entrepreneurs and that a sustainable future depends on a creative economy, a group of artists, impact investors, philanthropic funders and social innovators today announced the launch of Upstart Co-Lab.
Posted on April 12, 2016 by Monica
LA County Arts Commission, in partnership with LA County Quality and Productivity Commission and Harder+Company Community Research, has launched an online toolkit to help funders assess their capacity building programs aimed at intermediary organizations:
In order to ensure the public is receiving the best possible services, public agencies and funders often spend a significant amount of time supporting their grantees and contractors through technical assistance, capacity building and professional development services.
But does this work actually work?
This interactive toolkit offers a four-step process public agencies, grantmakers and others can use to assess your efforts to build the capacity of your intermediaries.
Posted on April 11, 2016 by Monica
In a blog post by John McGuirk, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation has announced a report assessing the progress of their Performing Arts Program:
2015 marked the mid-point of our current Performing Arts strategic framework, which runs from 2012-2017, and lays out the goals of our grantmaking, as well as measures for how we’ll evaluate our progress. … A key question for us in commissioning this assessment was which geographic and demographic communities have benefitted from Hewlett Foundation support and where are the gaps?