Member Spotlight on The Kresge Foundation

For the month of October, GIA’s photo banner features work from arts organizations supported by The Kresge Foundation. Established by Sebastian S. Kresge in 1924, the $3.5 billion foundation works nationally to “establish opportunities in America’s cities through grantmaking and social investing in arts and culture, education, environment, health, human services, and community development in Detroit.” The Kresge Foundation is the proud Anchor Sponsor for the 2017 GIA Conference happening this month in Detroit, Michigan.

The Kresge Foundation Arts & Culture Program team looks forward to sharing reflections and insights from its decade-long transition from exclusively funding arts facilities to becoming a creative placemaking grantmaker. Working in concert with partners from different fields and sectors, Kresge’s Arts & Culture team will be publishing white papers over the course of two years exploring various aspects of its past, present, and future grantmaking priorities. The goal is to share the team’s experiences, highlight lessons learned, and suggest areas for further research.

Through a series of thought pieces, the goal is to help illuminate the foundation’s multi-faceted approach to grantmaking, share the challenges and opportunities encountered, and encourage conversations in the field. The series of white papers (working titles) will address:

  • Kresge’s journey to creative placemaking
  • Reflections on the creative placemaking field
  • Observations from creative placemaking practitioners
  • Financing creative placemaking
  • Anchor strategies — an arts organization imperative

The Kresge Foundation Arts & Culture Program team will share this work over the next two years with an eye toward sharing with peer grantmakers and practitioners in sectors working to fully integrate arts and culture with community development and urban planning practices.

Grantmakers in the Arts looks forward to its annual conference that will take place in Detroit later this month and is grateful to The Kresge Foundation and the rest of this year’s conference sponsors for their support.

Tune into the GIA Podcast to hear from Regina Smith, The Kresge Foundation’s managing director of arts & culture and chair of the GIA conference committee, along with fellow committee member Sharnita Johnson of The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, as they share some of their thoughts about Detroit and the conference.

The Kresge Foundation has been a GIA member since 2012.

Learn more about The Kresge Foundation’s Arts & Culture programs.

You can also visit the photo gallery on our Photo Credits page.

Photo: The Truth Booth at Juxtaposition Arts, Minneapolis, MN.