GIA Blog

Barry's Blog Interviews Dennis Scholl
Posted on July 16, 2012 by Steve

Barry Hessenius has a Q & A with the Knight Foundation's Dennis Scholl:

I’ve been involved in the arts for decades, but these last three years has been an immersive experience. It’s like drinking from a fire hose every day. I feel that coming from outside the field has allowed me to try some things that might be a little out of the box and to make some grants to artists and organizations that are not necessarily traditional arts grantees. All great arts ideas don’t originate inside the 501(c)(3) structure.
Arts Groups Seek Younger, More Diverse Patrons
Posted on July 15, 2012 by Steve

From Elizabeth Kramer for USA Today:

Many long-established local arts groups acknowledge an aging audience base and are seeing significant drops in the number of season ticket-holders. But they say they're creating new ways to attract diverse crowds and are seeing some positive results.
Education's pendelum: Thinkers or test takers?
Posted on July 15, 2012 by Steve

From the Los Angeles Times editorial page:

Aiming higher on academics shouldn't have to mean leaving deeper or more open-ended thinking skills behind. No one in the American school reform movement ever told teachers they had to abandon their own creative instructional skills or drop critical-thinking lessons from the school day, but the relentless emphasis on covering tested material obviously pushed them in that direction.

Read the full article

NEA Announces 2012 Our Town Grant Recipients
Posted on July 13, 2012 by Steve

The National Endowment for the Arts yesterday announced 80 Our Town grant awards representing the NEA's latest investment in creative placemaking, totaling $4.995 million and reaching 44 states and the District of Columbia. Combined with grants from 2011, the NEA has invested $11.58 million in Our Town projects in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

In Australia, Education Takes Dramatic New Course
Posted on July 11, 2012 by Steve

From Bianca Hall at The Age:

For the first time, all Australian students will study dance, drama, media arts, music and the visual arts until year 10, under a draft new national curriculum released yesterday.
The Do's and Don't of Artists Bequests
Posted on July 11, 2012 by Tommer
An increasing number of artists are becoming philanthropists. Setting up a foundation is one option but there is another way...
Getting Our *&%# Together
Posted on July 10, 2012 by Janet

Diane Ragsdale’s recent blog entitled “When did being pro-artist make one anti-institution?” is a thought-provoking response to a speech she heard at the Theatre Communication Group conference in Boston a couple weeks ago.

Twelve Greater Boston Organizations Receive $650,000 for “Culture for Change”
Posted on July 10, 2012 by Steve

The Boston Foundation and the Barr Foundation today announced that twelve organizations will share $650,000 in grants to begin a new phase of Culture for Change. The program, originally piloted in 2008 by the Barr Foundation, is a unique approach to out-of-school time youth development. Centering on partnerships between professional artists and youth workers, Culture for Change enables youth to build fluency in an art form while both exploring and taking leadership on issues of racial justice that are of importance to them.

Are Bricks and Mortar the Best Use for Money in the Arts?
Posted on July 10, 2012 by Steve

From Elizabeth Quaglieri at Technology in the Arts:

On Thursday, the University of Chicago’s Cultural Policy Center released the report, “Set in Stone: Building America’s New Generation of Arts Facilities, 1994-2008.” The research examines the boom of major cultural building projects (museum, performing arts centers, and theaters) between 1998 and 2004, specifically looking at the decade between 1990 and 2000. The findings indicate during that period, “the level of investment in bricks and mortar as a percentage of total revenue and assets was disproportionate.”
Montana Arts Council Reports on Arts and Healthcare Survey
Posted on July 10, 2012 by Steve

The Montana Arts Council embarked on an online survey project to inventory the state of the arts and healthcare in Montana to determine where that state's technical and financial assistance might best be directed. MAC has surveyed artists, arts organizations, medical direct-care providers and administrators of healthcare settings separately. You can download and review the executive summary for the survey here.