Grantmakers in the Arts

Obscure California Law Requires all Students be Taught Arts
by Steve

From Mary Plummer, scpr.org:

As budgets worsened over the past several years, schools throughout California cut where they could, slashing arts budgets so deeply some students have been left with no arts education at all.

Arts educator Carl Schafer of Upland, has been on a campaign to increase that instruction for a year. And in his effort, he found a line in the California education code that shocked him: the state requires arts to be taught to California students.

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In Response to The Charitable-Industrial Complex
by Steve

James V. Toscano responds to the Peter Buffett editorial on the blog The Good Counsel:

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The Charitable-Industrial Complex
by Steve

Peter Buffett pens this editorial for The New York Times:

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Darren Walker Named New President of Ford Foundation
by Tommer

On Thursday, Darren Walker, 53, will take the next step in a career that has taken him from Harlem to world-famous foundations five and a half miles away in Midtown Manhattan. He is to be named president of the Ford Foundation, the nation’s second-largest philanthropic organization.

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More on the NEA Budget Process
by Tommer

Here's a concise description of how the budget process plays out by Andrew Finch, director of policy for the Association of Art Museum Directors, posted on CultureGrrl.

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2014 Budget Plan Reduces NEA funds by 49%
by Tommer
The bill includes $75 million for each for the NEA and NEH, which is a reduction of $71 million (49%) per endowment compared to the fiscal year 2013 enacted level.

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We Might Be Right: A Libertarian Voice in the Theater
by Steve

From Caleb Winebrenner, writing for Howl Round:

Augusto Boal says in The Rainbow of Desire that theater is an inherently human vocation. It’s something we all are, but something “some of us also do.” What I find so compelling about this distinction is Boal’s emphasis on what theater can make possible for an individual person. Theater is like a mirror, it’s dichotomizing. We can act as ourself, and we can see ourselves acting. We can have past, present, and even future versions of ourselves on stage—and reflect on what this means. As someone who also does theater, this also means that I’m not just focused on what theater can be for me—asserting my own individual rights, exercising my freedoms of speech and assembly—but what it can be for other people.
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How Are Artists Getting Paid?
by Steve

From Alexis Clements, at Hyperallergic:

Art and labor is a big topic today, at least among artists. Specifically, it has become ever more obvious that virtually none of the money that flows into major arts institutions, companies that distribute creative content, and art markets actually reaches the artists who generate the work. And people are getting vocal about it.
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