A recent article in The New York Times highlights the work of individuals and organizations making impact investments in the arts, including Upstart Co-Lab, SeaChange Capital Partners, and Calvert Foundation. “Channeling investments into real estate is the easiest route … because many arts organizations have buildings and a need to upgrade or maintain them.”
Grantmakers in the Arts
by Monica in Arts Education
President-elect Donald Trump has selected Betsy DeVos as his nominee for Secretary of Education.
“DeVos, 58, chairs the American Federation for Children, an advocacy group that has aggressively pushed to expand charter schools and school voucher programs that provide families with public money to spend on private school tuition,” according to Politico.
by Monica in Support for Individual Artists
The governor of Kentucky recently announced the restructuring of the Kentucky Arts Council in order to “focus on ensuring that Kentucky artisans have the skills and knowledge to develop and successfully sell their products.” As reported by WFPL, Louisville’s NPR news station, the council’s restructuring has sparked conversation and concern about the relationship between intrinsic and economic value of the arts.
by Monica in Racial Equity
A recent article in Crain’s Chicago Business highlights the work of Enrich Chicago, “a coalition of 14 nonprofits and seven foundations whose goal is racial equity, in terms of management, funding, and artist support, for Chicago-area ALAANA nonprofits by 2050.” The coalition was founded in 2014 by Angelique Power, GIA board member and president of The Field Foundation of Illinois, and Brett Batterson, former executive director of Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University.
by Monica
In a recent editorial in The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Vu Le advocates for a “new social contract” between nonprofits and foundations in response to the recent presidential election. Le urges foundations to do away with “old ways of doing business” and offers nine ways that foundations can better support nonprofits through changes in funding practices and policies.
by Monica in Racial Equity
As the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture releases its Racial Equity Statement, Director Randy Engstrom writes on how the arts can lead the way to cross-sector, community-wide change:
Arts are how we can achieve racial equity in our institutions, and in our lives. They hold the power to capture, nourish and move us. They serve as a vehicle for radical social change, and are an effective strategy to address the pressing issues of our time. We believe that we need to center the arts in our strategy, but look beyond our field to affect change structurally, in partnership with the community, City departments, other institutions and jurisdictions, so we can help build racial equity in housing, criminal justice, education, jobs, the environment and more.
by Monica
In a statement from President and CEO Rip Rapson, The Kresge Foundation reaffirms its commitment to justice and the public good:
As national discourse and energy pivots from campaign mode into the realities of governance, philanthropy is particularly called upon to identify and actualize its values and missions to ensure that society heals and progresses in a positive, just, and affirming way.
We need, above all, to affirm, elevate, and amplify the work that we and our nonprofit, public, academic, and private sector partners do. But we also need to be crystal clear about the values that undergird our reason for being. We need to anchor our aspirations and actions in the unalterable bedrock of what we stand for.
by Steve
In an article in the latest issue of the GIA Reader, “Supporting Community Arts Leadership,” William Cleveland, director of the Center for the Study of Art & Community, discusses the importance of arts-based community development.