The Walton Family Foundation and Ford Foundation announced they are each committing $3 million over three years to support creative solutions to diversify curatorial and management staff at art museums across the United States.
Grantmakers in the Arts
by Monica
From Crain's Cleveland Business:
The board of trustees of Cuyahoga Arts and Culture, the public agency that parcels out money from the 30-cent-a-pack Cuyahoga County cigarette tax, on Monday, Nov. 13, approved parceling out $12 million to 258 organizations for 2018, an 18% decline from grants totaling $14.6 million for 2017.
The reduced grantmaking for 2018, first announced in October, triggered objections by some in the arts community about the steepness of the drop in funding.
by Monica
A new report from the National Endowment for the Arts finds that rural arts organizations draw more non-local audiences to their venues and report greater civic leadership and customer connectedness than their urban peers. The report is based primarily on 2014 data from the US Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service (ERS). The ERS’s Rural Establishment Innovation Survey examines the type and breadth of innovation within rural businesses.
by Monica in Capitalization
A recent report from Propel Nonprofits examines the financial health culturally specific organizations in Minnesota. The organization uses the term culturally specific to refer to “nonprofits led by people of color and rooted in historically marginalized communities.” From President & CEO Kate Barr:
by Monica
On Monday, November 20, the US Senate Appropriations Committee released a 2018 spending bill that would fund the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities at 2017 budget levels, $150 million for each agency. Americans for the Arts President and CEO Robert Lynch released a statement Tuesday in response:
This action is in stark contrast to President Trump’s call for full termination of these agencies. I thank the strong leadership of Senate Subcommittee Chairman Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Ranking Member Tom Udall (D-NM), both of whom were awarded our Congressional Arts Leadership Award in 2017 and 2015, respectively.
The Senate Appropriations bill is $5 million higher than the $145 million funding level allocated by the House of Representatives in July. As the Senate and House will need to reconcile to reach a final funding decision, Americans for the Arts is urging support for the Senate version.
by Monica
The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County, Nathan Slack, has announced that the council’s President & CEO Rena Blades will step down on January 15, 2018. Some of the major milestones during Blades’ tenure with the council include: the creation and execution of three separate strategic plans, the establishment of art&culture magazine that is now in its 11th year of publication and has garnered more than 25 publication awards, [and] increasing the county’s funding of arts and culture by $1 million+ annually. . . .
by Monica in Arts Education
The Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 (ESSA) introduces several new funding streams that states and districts can use to improve schools, including 12 that could be used to support arts integration. But in order to access those funding streams, education agencies must cite evidence demonstrating that the efforts they propose can, in fact, improve student achievement.
by Monica in Racial Equity
The Art for Justice Fund, launched earlier this year with a $100 million donation from philanthropist Agnes Gund, today announced the first round of grant recipients in the areas of criminal justice reform and the arts. With awards ranging from $100,000 to $7.5 million, a total of $22 million was awarded to 30 innovative programs that seek to safely reduce prison populations, strengthen education and employment opportunities for formerly incarcerated people, and humanize people affected by the criminal justice system.