Arts Research

During the San Francisco Bay Area's economic boom of the late 1990s and 2000, rising real estate costs challenged its artists and destabilized a number of key arts organizations. The dance field was particularly hard-hit when two important studios containing teaching, performance, and rehearsal spaces closed.

A labor of love for individuals committed to the significance and potential of media, Why FUND Media is a timely and worthy follow-up to a 1984 publication by the Council on Foundations titled How to Fund Media. Editor Karen Hirsch seamlessly brings together a series of separate chapters written by media arts experts who've based their chapter essays on extensive consultations with field representatives and grantmakers, and on historical research.

A recent GIA survey asked members to identify the most difficult challenge in their grantmaking work. Responses indicate that a common difficulty is "making a case for the arts in very difficult times," or "not being able to forcefully articulate the 'intangible' benefits of the arts." Helping members make stronger cases for arts giving was identified as important GIA work by over 80 percent of respondents. At a recent gathering, arts funders in Los Angeles wondered, "Why do we seem unable to be articulate about the value of art?

I. Me, You, and Us: The Rise of Something New

2002, 231 pages, $24.95 paper, $65 cloth. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., New York

Each of the following Web sites is located somewhere on a continuum between the state of the union and the state of the arts.

The Web is a particularly effective medium for creating visual diagrams of events and practices from daily life. According to Paul Miller, one site's creator, we live in a "world of uncertainty." Each of the following sites, in its own way, diagrams an aspect of our uncertain world.

The first site delineates the historical context for current Web projects.

In a crowded auditorium at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, funders, community activists, and artists gathered in March to listen to a panel discussion on hip-hop activism in the Bay Area. The goal of Constant Elevation: The Rise of Bay Area Hip-Hop Activism was twofold: to inform and educate funders about hip-hop activism and how it fits into foundation support, and to highlight local best practices that use Hip Hop as a framework.

November 9, 2002, on the occasion of receiving the Utah Governor's Award in the Humanities

2002, 79 pages. RAND Corporation , 1700 Main Street, P.O. Box 2138, Santa Monica, CA 90407-2138 (310) 451-7002, order@rand.org

2001, 36 pages. Alliance for the Arts, 330 West 42nd Street, Suite 1701, New York, NY 10036, 212-947-6340

Who Pays for the Arts? is a fascinating analysis of funding trends for 575 cultural institutions in New York City from 1995-1999. Although charts, graphs, and statistics fill the study, the information they present is explained clearly and simply.