Grantmakers in the Arts

The Memphis Music Initiative (MMI), dedicated to broaden and strengthen existing music engagement offerings in and out of schools and supporting youth-centered, community-based music spaces, released a new study that looks at the landscape of equity in arts funding alongside patterns of exclusionary funding practices which all too regularly confront black and brown arts organizations.

The arts community mourns the loss of Congresswoman Louise Slaughter of New York, who died Friday in Washington, D.C. She was 88.

"Louise has been a champion of the arts for decades and our organization and its members are profoundly saddened, but still spirited in her honor and grateful for all she has given in service to her constituents at home and nationwide through her passionate support for the value of the arts and arts education," said Americans for the Arts President Robert Lynch in a statement.

Before ceasing publication at the end of 2017, Createquity released a set of recommendations for arts philanthropists, including suggestions to create greater impact for the sector.

The Nathan Cummings Foundation (NCF) will align 100 percent of their nearly half-billion dollar endowment with their mission, says their announcement. NCF is focused on finding solutions to climate crisis and growing inequality.

OpenNotes, an initiative that aims to make health care more transparent through open relationships between doctors and patients, serves as an imperfect, yet instructive model for how to strengthen relationships between funders and grantees.

Southern communities have long been working to dismantle racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic barriers despite few resources and little support from philanthropy, explains the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP) and Grantmakers for Southern Progress (GSP) in a recently released report. The Bearing Fruit report, part of the As the South Grows series, focuses on Metro Atlanta, revealing among other data that only 2% of grantmaking goes to power-building strategies and only 20% goes to underserved communities.

A conversation with staff about inclusion is fundamental in order for them to feel both welcome and able to contribute to a foundation’s work when sharing their experiences, affirms Kevin Bolduc, vice president of assessment and advisory services at the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP).

Arts are a key part of our emotional and intellectual life, and they also play a significant role in our economy. A recent report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), with support from the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA), found that arts and cultural economic activity in the United States contributed $763.6 billion, in one year.