Registration is still open for the next installment of GIA's 2012 Web Conference Series. Arts Education: Local Impact of Federal Policy, presented by Alex Nock, executive vice president at Penn Hill Group, a Washington, D.C.-based education policy firm. The webinar begins tomorrow, April 3, at 11:00 PDT, 2:00 EDT.
Grantmakers in the Arts
April 2, 2012 by Abigail
March 31, 2012 by Steve
Michelle Boone, Commissioner Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, and a member of the GIA Board of Directors, talks to Howard Reich of the Chicago Tribune:
In her first extended interview since taking office, Boone, 50, recently shared her own vision of Chicago's cultural future. She trumpeted a dramatically re-envisioned Chicago Gospel Music Festival that will unfold both downtown and on the South Side. She emphasized the return of the World Music Festival, Chicago SummerDance, Downtown Sound and other programs that some have feared would be eliminated in this year's budget crunch (the Music Without Borders series will not be returning).
March 30, 2012 by Steve
At-risk students who have access to the arts in or out of school also tend to have better academic results, better workforce opportunities, and more civic engagement, according to a new NEA report, The Arts and Achievement in At-Risk Youth: Findings from Four Longitudinal Studies. The study reports these and other positive outcomes associated with high levels of arts exposure for youth of low socioeconomic status.
March 29, 2012 by Steve
From Brian M. Rosenthal at The Seattle Times:
Seattle school officials are using a $1 million grant to try to craft a comprehensive, K-12 arts curriculum — something that the district hasn't had in decades, if ever...
In general, white students in wealthy areas are more likely to have access (to arts education). Seattle Public Schools officials recently received a $1 million grant from The Wallace Foundation to confront that reality. The money comes with a January 2013 deadline for the district to develop a districtwide arts curriculum — essentially, minimum requirements for visual arts, music, dance and theater — as well as strategies to enlist support from principals and community partners.
March 29, 2012 by Steve
From Sean Bowie at Technology in the Arts:
While some may feel that cuts to the arts in Europe would have little effect on the arts here in the United States, one of the expenses artists in Europe are cutting back on are trips and performances overseas, to countries like the United States. Artists are canceling trips and forcing festivals to find alternative performers.
Another effect this is going to have on the American arts community is over the issue of fundraising. As we discussed with the Consulate of the Netherlands on Friday, there are different views towards art funding in Europe than there are here. In a country like the Netherlands, a resident pays higher taxes to pay for additional services like health care, transportation, and safety net measures. Another element of those increased taxes is funding for the arts; with the government taking a higher percentage out of every paycheck, many Dutch residents feel they are less inclined to donate their own money to the arts because they feel like the government is already doing it for them.
March 28, 2012 by Steve
The Board of Directors of The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation announced today that it has selected Larry Kramer to be the Foundation’s next president. Mr. Kramer, a noted constitutional lawyer, has been dean of Stanford Law School since 2004.
March 27, 2012 by Janet
What does it mean to “support a creative America?” Do we think of major arts institutions that are the pride of many communities? Do we think of the music we listen to, books we read, film we just saw, or building design that impressed us? Do we think about innovators and designers who create systems and products that drive markets and trends? Do we think about the choir at our church or our children’s performances in the play at school? At Grantmakers in the Arts (GIA), we think of it all.
March 26, 2012 by Steve
Angelique Power, senior program officer for Culture at the Joyce Foundation, writes for the McKnight Foundation blog State of the Artist:
The art world cannot continue to expect visitors to cross barriers, enter unknown territories, and seek out artists on view in their hallowed halls. It ain’t a 1.0 world. While I do not deny the importance of curators and artist programmers, their intellect, their research, their knowledge base—we also can no longer deny that the world is large, and the majority of artists that are doing important, sophisticated, resonant work are outside of these institutions.