From Artist Communities Alliance: ACA welcomes you to our upcoming Field Conversation, There is No Safety Net: Protections, Relief and Advocacy [on Thursday, September 14 at 12pm CT]. Artists and cultural workers who have been historically under-resourced in areas of pay, protections and direct support are more vulnerable than ever.
GIA Blog
From New England Foundation for the Arts: The New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) today released a comprehensive evaluation of the National Theater Project (NTP).
NTP functions as a full system of support for devised theater, which in addition to funding, animates an informed, interactive network of producing theaters, presenters, and ensembles. Since the first round of NTP grants in 2010, NEFA has infused over $11 million into the field through the program. To date, 96 new theater works have been supported through Creation and Touring grants; touring of those works has reached 43 different states across the U.S. NTP projects have toured in-person and virtually to large and small arts presenters, military bases, universities, regional theaters, and festivals.
Independent Sector seeks to measure the status of a major pillar of nonprofit sector health: advocacy and civic engagement. We commissioned research to fill a 20-year gap in data around nonprofit advocacy and civic engagement (i.e., nonpartisan voter engagement) activities through a nationally representative quantitative survey and complementary qualitative interviews of nonprofit institutions.
From The Center for Effective Philanthropy: Nonprofits across the United States played a vital role during a period of crisis that began in March 2020 with the COVID-19 pandemic and was followed by a nationwide racial justice reckoning that summer. As nonprofits experienced heightened demand coupled with marked uncertainty about revenues, they responded with resiliency and imagination, while many funders also stepped up, increasing philanthropic giving in a time of urgent need.
From the National Endowment for the Arts: Welcome to the Careers in the Arts Toolkit— an online resource promoting equity, access, and inclusion for people with disabilities seeking careers in the arts.
Every day, people with disabilities add significant value and talent across the spectrum of arts careers. They are performers, visual artists, teaching artists, cultural workers, administrators, and more. Yet, historically, people with disabilities have not had access to the same career opportunities as people without disabilities. Reasons for this range from inaccessible facilities to disability benefit earning limitations to misconceptions about the skills and talents of people with disabilities. Through a variety of initiatives, the National Endowment for the Arts has worked to bridge this inequity, for the benefit of not only people with disabilities, but also America’s arts institutions and their patrons.
"The boats kept coming. One by one, cruisers and catamarans eased toward the beach in Kahana, a small and tightknit neighborhood just north of Maui’s hardest-hit areas," said Reis Thebault for Washington Post. "Each one was laden with supplies: generators, propane tanks, trash bags full of clothing and ready-to-eat meals.
From Funders' Committee for Civic Participation: The census doesn’t end when the counting stops. Planning for the 2030 Census is well underway. The census has disproportionately undercounted people of color, immigrants, young children, and low-income households, among others. Ongoing engagement from philanthropy—to convene, educate, advocate, and invest—is critical to help ensure that Census Bureau policies and operations center the insights and lived experiences of historically undercounted communities.
"Friends, family members and activists are mourning the death of O'Shae Sibley, a Black gay man who was stabbed late last month while dancing with friends at a New York City gas station," said Rachel Treisman for NPR. "The 28-year-old professional dancer and choreographer was killed while voguing to Beyoncé's music as his friends filled up their car on the way home from the Jersey Shore on July 29."
The voguing tributes to Sibley are especially fitting, Williams says, as they "personify the LGBTQ community's historic resilience amid highly discouraging societal treatment."
Principal® Foundation’s mission is to foster a world where financial security is accessible for all. We fund programs across the world that provide essential needs, promote financial empowerment, and support the arts.
From the CDC Foundation: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on all aspects of life, including the arts and culture sector. However, artists and cultural organizations have also played a crucial role in the vaccination effort. Although vaccination is a key element in overcoming the pandemic, vaccine hesitancy and misinformation have become significant challenges to achieving high levels of vaccine uptake. In this report, we explore how arts and culture have been utilized to promote vaccine confidence, dispel myths and misinformation surrounding vaccines and support vaccination efforts in the United States.