From Jess Bidgood, writing for The New York Times:
Grantmakers in the Arts
by Steve
From Randy Kennedy at The New York Times:
If you say you are an artist, but you make little money from selling your art, can your work be considered a profession in the eyes of the Internal Revenue Service? In a ruling handed down late last week by the United States Tax Court and seen by many as an important victory for artists, the answer is yes.
by Steve
Gregory T. Rowe of Berwyn, Pa., passed away at home on Friday, Oct. 3, 2014, after a 14-month battle with cancer. He was born on Sept. 17, 1951 in New Bern, N.C. Greg was the director of culture initiatives and deputy director of the Philadelphia program at The Pew Charitable Trusts from 2009 to 2012. He began work at Pew in 1997 as a program officer in culture. His vision and the strategies that were implemented under his leadership continue to be contributing factors to Philadelphia’s cultural revitalization. He also oversaw special culture projects such as the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance’s program Engage 2020, and played a key role in supporting initiatives that reinvigorated the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance as the region’s primary advocate for arts and culture. Greg was involved in developing the Cultural Data Project from its inception in 2001 through 2011. The CDP is now used by thousands of cultural organizations and more than 100 funders throughout the country.
by Steve
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s Board of Trustees has approved a strategic plan intended to guide the foundation’s philanthropic work in the coming years. The foundation is merging the separate programs focused on liberal arts colleges and research universities into a single program for Higher Education and Scholarship in the Humanities. Also, the programs for the performing arts and for art history, conservation and museums will be consolidated into a single program for Arts and Cultural Heritage.
by Steve
The Wallace Foundation has announced a six-year, $40-million arts initiative, Building Audiences for Sustainability, designed to help about 25 outstanding performing arts organizations across the United States create programs that attract new audiences while retaining existing ones. This initiative aims to provide meaningful support to arts organizations whose artistic vision and mission involve building audiences. The foundation also seeks to understand and share evidence and experiences from these organizations on whether and how they can achieve and sustain audience gains, and whether these gains improve their overall financial health.
by SuJ'n
During the month of October, GIA's photo banner features artists and projects supported by Houston Endowment. Houston Endowment is the Anchor Sponsor for the annual GIA conference happening this month.
Houston Endowment supports nonprofit organizations and educational institutions that produce and maximize enduring benefits for the people of the greater Houston area. Jesse H. Jones and Mary Gibbs Jones established Houston Endowment as a private philanthropic foundation in 1937; since that time, Houston Endowment has donated almost $1.7 billion ($3 billion in constant dollars) to help arts and culture, education, environment, health and human services organizations realize the Joneses’ vision of creating a community where the opportunity to thrive is available to all.
by Janet
By Janet Brown from her blog Better Together
My first year at Grantmakers in the Arts (GIA) was 2009. When I travelled the country to meet members and learn about their work, I was surprised by my conversations with most private funders.
by Steve
A blog post from Rebecca Thomas at Nonprofit Finance Fund:
Earlier this month, Nonprofit Finance Fund released a new analysis featuring the responses from the leaders of 919 arts and culture organizations who took our 2014 survey of nonprofit business health. The State of the Arts and Culture Sector report captures the challenges and triumphs of nonprofits grappling with financial pressures, changing demographics, new technologies, and opportunities to expand the reach of their programs. (The full data can be filtered by artistic discipline, geography and budget size through our online survey analyzer, available here).