"We are sad to lose one of the great champions for the arts in our community, " said Kathy Scherer, acting director of the arts council. "Derek's work elevated Baton Rouge's profile on the national stage. His legacy will continue through the signature programs that he created including the River City Jazz Masters series, revitalization efforts of the Old South Baton Rouge community through the arts, and through providing greater access to the arts for the entire community."
Grantmakers in the Arts
by Tommer
by Steve
From Alex Aldrich, executive director, Vermont Arts Council:
For the sixth time since arriving in Vermont I am working on the Arts Council’s Partnership Application to the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). It is, in the truest sense of the word, a labor of love. When else does one have the opportunity to cram what could easily amount to a 150-page discourse on programs and services offered to artists, arts organizations, schools, and communities into a mere 11 pages?
by Steve
From Vickie Benson, Arts Program Director, The McKnight Foundation:
In the early 1990s, I worked for the legendary Advancement Program at the National Endowment for the Arts. I loved that program. It had its flaws, but it was a trail blazer for all of the other adaptive capacity building programs. I loved working at the NEA then. Lee Wick Dennison, the Assistant Director of Challenge and Advancement, was my supervisor. Lee taught me how to read the notes to the audit before looking at the line items. Although Lee was a Certified Public Accountant, she always looked for the story in the numbers and in the notes. I learned this from Lee. She also imparted her understanding of the many challenges of successfully running an arts organization--she dealt with them all, small and large. Her deep knowledge of organizational development and finance combined with humor and patience has stayed with me for more than twenty years. I became a thoughtful and discerning grantmaker because I had strong mentors. I will never forget Lee Wick Dennison and the wonderful, whimsical way that she walked in the world.
by Steve
From Alexis Clements at Hyperallergic:
It can be a subtle thing — the way in which an organization or collective comprised of ambitious and purposeful people working toward a clear set of goals starts to slip into something a bit murkier; something that seems to be more about self-perpetuation and outsiders’ goals than about that original impetus to come together. Oftentimes growth is the reason for change. Our society applauds and encourages growth at every level — personal, familial, organizational, economic and political — despite the increased time and resources that growth demands. And many people in the US take the corporate structures of most businesses and nonprofits for granted, without questioning the ways that hierarchical models concentrate power among small groups of people and can easily get in the way of achieving goals and benefits for society.
by Steve
From Robin Pogrebin at The New York Times:
by Steve
The Arts & Democracy Project is hosting a conference call on Thursday, September 20 at 1pm EST. Participants are encouraged to share nonpartisan election work or listen in to learn about opportunities to get involved. The Project's intent for this call is to help connect civic participation opportunities with creative organizing by artists and cultural organizations, both before the election and after.
by Steve
Grantmakers in the Arts commissioned a play for the Council on Foundations Conference in the spring of 2007 from KJ Sanchez that was called Four Short Plays, Four Big Ideas. The performances of those four plays was release later on DVD. But if you've not seen Four Short Plays, you can now stream the entire performance from our website. Check it out here. And remember that Sanchez, as part of the American Records Theater Company is producing a new short play, Duck Soup: A Play on Equity as part of the Monday Plenary session at the 2012 GIA Conference, next month in Miami Beach. We hope to see you there!