GIA Blog

From National Endowment for the Arts: On Tuesday, October 17, 2023, in recognition of National Arts and Humanities Month, the White House Domestic Policy Council and National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) co-hosted a convening to discuss the Biden-Harris Administration’s whole-of-government approach to arts and culture. 

This National Arts and Humanities Month, the Biden-Harris Administration highlights its commitment to supporting the arts, humanities, and museum and library services and integrating them into federal policies and programs, including major investments in the NEA, National Endowment for the Humanities, and Institute of Museum and Library Services. A year ago, President Biden signed an Executive Order on Arts and Humanities to spur investment and alignment of arts and culture across the federal government, make art more accessible to people from underserved communities, elevate new voices through the arts and humanities, and expand opportunities for artists and scholars. The Executive Order also re-established the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. 

In her keynote for the 2023 Unity Summit Conference last week, Susan Batten referenced The California Reparations Report. 

From National Endowment for the Humanities: Today, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is announcing a major new research initiative, Humanities Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence. Under this agency-wide initiative, NEH will support research projects that seek to understand and address the ethical, legal, and societal implications of artificial intelligence (AI). NEH is particularly interested in projects that explore the impacts of AI-related technologies on truth, trust, and democracy; safety and security; and privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties.

"Across the country, students and teachers are heading back to school. Eager to reconnect, they are also ready to learn new concepts, discover unexpected insights, and be challenged by complex ideas," said Elizabeth Alexander for TIME Magazine.

But not everyone in American lecture halls or library stacks this fall will be allowed to learn and read freely. Due to recent bills and legislative efforts throughout the U.S., half our states censor the teaching of race and gender in public colleges and K-12 schools – especially any teaching that examines them in the context of our collective history. At the same time, books are being banned at the highest rate in our country since the American Library Association first began documenting those numbers. For students entering college, five times as many books are being challenged as when they started high school.

What will we sacrifice as a country by letting these bans stand? We cannot navigate our multicultural American society if we are operating from myth and stereotype instead of fact and shared experience – and its democratic workings slow when the education our students are taught is inaccurate and incomplete.

From National Performance Network: During NPN’s annual Board of Directors meeting this month, Caitlin Strokosch, NPN’s President and CEO, shared reflections on three key topics shaping our organization’s operations: 

From Disability and Philanthropy Forum: In this excerpt from the Disability & Philanthropy Forum’s Learning Series webinar “Grantmaking for Disability: Where Are the Dollars?”, Jen Bokoff, Director of Development for the Disability Rights Fund, provides three examples of where she’s seen ableism play out in philanthropy and how the exclusion of disabled perspectives creates a “marginalization gap.” Click here to view the full webinar.

From the Intercultural Leadership Institute: We are excited to announce the guidelines and application for the sixth cohort of the Intercultural Leadership Institute (ILI), a collaborative program of Alternate ROOTS, First Peoples Fund, National Association of Latino Arts & Cultures (NALAC) , PA’I Foundation, Sipp Culture, 

From A Collaborative Blog Presented by CERF+, NCAPER, and NYFA: The COVID-19 pandemic and other emergencies, including severe storms, drought, wildfire, and theft, require us to change how we work and communicate. That makes preparedness more critical now than ever before for artists to protect their practice. But what exactly is preparedness? It’s taking steps NOW to help protect yourself and your assets before an emergency so you’re more resilient and able to bounce back quickly. Artists in ALL disciplines have assets to be protected!

From Ford Foundation: Join us on Tuesday, October 31 from 6-8pm for an artists’ talk with Stephanie Dinkins and Mimi Ọnụọha. The artists will speak about their work featured in What Models Make Worlds: Critical Imaginaries of AI in conversation with moderator Salome Asega, director of NEW INC. 

From Pam Breaux for NASAA: "I recently joined state arts agency leaders for the NASAA 2023 Learning Series session, Leading in the Face of Disaster. We all know that unexpected disasters are often devastating for communities, and the arts community is certainly no exception. Whether we’re thinking about weather and climate disasters like floods, fires and hurricanes or about other kinds of emergencies, in the aftermath of catastrophe there are important roles state arts agencies can play, especially to help the arts community connect to resources and pertinent information needed to begin recovering."