2013 Grantmakers in the Arts Conference

A few weeks back I was invited to attend the 2013 Grantmakers in the Arts Conference in Philadelphia as a Conference Blogger. I joined Barry Hessenius (Barry’s Blog) and a whole team of bloggers, led by Ian David Moss (Createquity), from Fractured Atlas. I wrote three posts summarizing the activities I attended and reflecting on key themes, which you can find here. I vowed (to myself) that I would let the conference sink in a bit and then write a post for Jumper–a brief summary of the sticky points, if you will. This is that post.

I have now been to the Grantmakers in the Arts Conference five times. I sort of can’t believe I’m writing that – it simultaneously makes me feel old and very, very lucky. I’ve written about my experiences there now four of those five times; you can find my wrap-ups for 2009, 2010, 2011, and of course 2013 on Createquity.

I approached the 2013 Grantmakers in the Arts Conference as an opportunity to revisit my roots while stepping out of my comfort zone. I grew up in the Philadelphia area and my first job out of graduate school was in grantmaking. Since then I have been living and breathing arts education. I arrived last week happy to be “home” and eager to take a break from edutalk. I wanted to sit back and revel in topics I know little about. Wouldn’t you know it? Of the nearly ten pages of notes I wrote over those three days, almost half are about public education. So much for that break.

To this newcomer, the 2013 Grantmakers in the Arts conference in Philadelphia was a whirlwind tour through dozens of ideas and themes that have currency among arts funders, from creative placemaking to creativity and aging, from combatting racism in our own practice to ensuring all students receive a robust arts education. A few days after the final breakfast, I’ve achieved some distance from the details, and from that vantage, I want to reflect on a fundamental question that cropped up in various plenary presentations, breakout sessions, and side conversations throughout the conference: How can we as grantmakers most effectively support excellence in the arts? The question has special resonance for me as I step into a new role as Executive Director of the Whiting Foundation, which gives to individual writers.

This is my third, and final, post reporting on the 2013 Grantmakers in the Arts Conference. Rather than writing up a daily roundup of the sessions I attended at GIA I decided to reflect upon them thematically. The overarching theme of … Continue reading →

Good morning “And the beat goes on……………………” Breakout Sessions: I. Who Are Our Constituents? This session was based on the proposition that clarifying one’s constituency can change the approach to grant making. I think the reality is not so much … Continue reading →

Rather than posting a daily roundup of sessions that I’ve attended at GIA I decided to see all my sessions and then reflect upon them thematically. Let me start by saying that this has been a terrific conference and that … Continue reading →

Our third and final Grantmakers in the Arts conference video blog is our meatiest yet, covering curation as a moral imperative, rethinking the grant panel, expanding outside of our arts silos, and the nature of radical change. Oh, and there … Continue reading →

Good morning. “And the beat goes on…………….” It’s been a great conference. But I am Cezanne and Renoir overloaded after the Barnes. Will post tomorrow a final blog on some great breakout sessions from earlier today – and some final … Continue reading →

When I left the Mellon Foundation in 2010 to move to the Netherlands I thought I had attended my last Grantmakers in the Arts conference, but I am quite happy to have been invited to take part in the 2013 … Continue reading →