Grantmakers in the Arts

I’m an outsider. A journalist. A critic-at-large. A Denverite. Over the course of the 2019 GIA conference, I’ll post a few observations. Here is the first one:

1. You show up.

I go to a lot of conferences. Not as a participant but as an observer and this is what I see: Reluctance. Folks are more interested in where they’re going for dinner than in the program; they straggle into sessions late, take a coffee break every 20 minutes.

Philanthropy has a crucial role in supporting arts and culture organizations to address inequities at the community level, write Kerry McCarthy, vice president for philanthropic initiatives for The New York Community Trust, and Maurine Knighton, program director for the arts at the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, in Stanford Social Innovation Review.

Creative Capital has invited 12 arts writers to explore key moments in the history of the Creative Capital Award in celebration of the nonprofit's 20th anniversary. The Los Angeles Review of Books in collaboration with Creative Capital has begun publishing 12 essays over 12 months on issues facing contemporary art in the United States, as the magazine states.

In his review of Edgar Villanueva's Decolonizing Wealth, Michael Seltzer, distinguished lecturer at the Marxe School of Public Affairs at Baruch College, discusses that the book places a spotlight on "how colonialism has been perpetuated and the importance of eliminating its persistence in today’s wealth and philanthropic circles in particular."

A cultural nonprofit that supports visual artists in Chicago, Threewalls, announced that it will award $900,000 to artists who identify as African, Latine, Asian, Arab, and Native American (ALAANA), according to Artforum. The initiative was launched after Threewalls received $1.2 million from the Surdna Foundation.

For the month of October, GIA’s photo banner features work supported by Bohemian Foundation.

"Cultural institutions should be at the forefront of socially responsible investing, and this is where their boards can help. So far, it is small arts organisations that are leading the way," wrote Laura Callanan, founding partner of Upstart Co-Lab, in a recent article.

The U.S. House Education and Labor Committee began the process last week of reauthorizing the Older Americans Act (OAA). This law represents the primary dedicated Federal funding to support seniors through home- and community-based services. This legislative effort also included an expanded focus sought by Grantmakers in the Arts (GIA) to ensuring seniors have access to and engage in cultural and arts experiences.