Member Reports

An extraordinary and remarkable cultural event occurred this past June at the Rancho San Rafael Park in Reno, Nevada. The Western Regional Indigenous Basketweavers Gathering brought together over 500 weavers representing the nine western states, including Alaska and Hawaii for three days of demonstrations, lectures, workshops, and just a generally fine time. A pervasive air of cooperation, collaboration, and good will made for joyous celebration of the giant strides these basketweavers had made over the past several years.

A critic for The New York Times, wrote about last winter's Perigino exhibit at the Grand Rapids Art Museum in Michigan, "This is perhaps the most important exhibit of the decade, in the least important of places."

To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich; to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly; to listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart; to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never. In a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common. This is to be my symphony.
-William Henry Channing, 1810-1884

At the 1997-98 New York Grantmakers in the Arts' program meetings, members agreed to focus on one discipline for a more in-depth look. Dance, perhaps the most beleaguered of all disciplines, was selected as the first test.

It was agreed that the goal was to raise the level of understanding of the needs and issues facing New York City's dance community. NYGIA commissioned Mindy Levine, a respected consultant who is well versed in dance and has completed studies for Dance/USA, to prepare a briefing paper: "New York City's Dance Community: Current Status and Needs."

The Vermont Arts Council's second annual arts conference took place on June 16 and 17 in Montpelier, Vermont. This year's conference, titled "On the Street Where You Live, the Arts as a Community Resource," brought together over 100 artists, arts administrators, nonprofit board members and state government officials to talk about how best to engage the arts in the ongoing challenges Vermont communities face in the areas of sprawl, crime, education, at-risk youth, the environment, preservation, and transportation.

Cooper Industries is a leading manufacturer of electrical products, tools, hardware, and automotive products. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Cooper employs over 41,000 people on six continents.

In the past year, the phrase "net neutrality" has become much more frequent in conversation and in the news. What does it mean and should arts grantmakers be concerned? To help answer the question, short excerpts from several sources are presented below. In addition a session will be presented at GIA's 2006 conference, "Keeping the Internet Open," organized by David Haas (chair, Grantmakers for Film and Electronic Media In the past year, the phrase "net neutrality" has become much more frequent in conversation and in the news. What does it mean and should arts grantmakers be concerned?

In the tradition of Dana, an ancient Pali word meaning generosity or giving, the Dana Foundation funded the Dana Arts and Cognition Consortium in July 2004, to study the effect of the arts on learning. At the GIA conference in Los Angeles, October 2005, Michael Gazzaniga, director of the Consortium1, described a three-year study being undertaken by the Con-sortium as "the first extensive scientific attempt to provide a comprehensive picture of the role of arts education in changing the brain."

Imagine throwing an arts event and the entire community shows up. This is oftentimes what takes place in the towns delightfully portrayed in Bright Stars, a publication from the McKnight Foundation in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In Neal Cuthbert's foreword to this award-winning piece, it is underscored that rural communities in Minnesota are suffering in several ways due to listless econo-mies and dramatically shifting demographics.

"Return with me now to those thrilling days of yesteryear