Grantmakers in the Arts

A Facebook 10K Race: How the California Arts Council Won

February 24, 2012 by Steve

From The California Arts Council newsroom:

Craig Watson, the newly-hired Director of the California Arts Council, and Bob Booker, Executive Director of the Arizona Commission on the Arts, encountered each other at a conference in San Francisco. These two friendly rivals made an almost-ridiculous bet: they challenged each other to a race. A 10K race, no less. Each man vowed that his arts agency would be the first to reach ten thousand “likes” on Facebook—although both were starting at around the 4,500 mark.

February 23, 2012 by Steve

The Wallace Foundation, with Dallas-based nonprofit Big Thought, has launched the website Creating Quality which intends to provide information, tools and other resources to evaluate and improve the quality of arts education and creative learning in schools, after-school programs and summer learning opportunities.

Based on a quality improvement process developed and pioneered by Big Thought in Dallas, one of the nation's leading institutions working to deliver arts education to children, the Creating Quality website houses resources to: engage stakeholders, define quality teaching and learning, assess the quality of programming and improve education for all children.

February 23, 2012 by Steve

On February 14, 2012, the National Endowment for the Arts hosted a day-long series of panels and presentations to examine the latest trends, current practices, and future directions for arts learning standards and assessment methods. In addition to moderated panels of experts, the roundtable featured a presentation of the NEA's latest research report, Improving the Assessment of Student Learning in the Arts: State of the Field and Recommendations.

The entire event is now available on a series of videos, available at the NEA website.

Arts Offer More than Just Entertainment

February 22, 2012 by Steve

Arts advocacy from William Lehr Jr, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and AFTA Board Member, in The Patriot-News of Harrisburg, PA:

In the face of difficult economic realities, Gov. Tom Corbett recently described his administration’s 2012-13 fiscal plan as “both lean and demanding.” Hard times require public officials to make the most of every asset and to adopt policies that maximize the state’s recovery potential. The arts are a proven part of that mix. As a citizen member of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, I laud Gov. Corbett for recognizing this fact and recommending that funding for the PCA hold steady at about $9 million.

February 22, 2012 by Steve

A new Smithsonian project, Oh Freedom! offers a new introduction to the Civil Rights movement through the unique lens of Smithsonian collections. Drawing connections among art, history, and social change, Oh Freedom! provides educators with tools to help students re-imagine and re-interpret the long struggle for civil rights, justice, and equality in fresh ways.

Practicing the Art of the Possible

February 21, 2012 by Janet

The entire world is aware that 2012 is an election year for the United States. The year ahead will be filled with different ideas of how we face the challenges of financial inequities, immigration, education, world affairs, unemployment, housing, the arts and more. We will have to wait to see how this election plays out but as with every election, because we are a self-determining democracy, we believe there is hope for change, for justice, for children and families, for a better world. We elect to be eternal optimists.

February 21, 2012 by Steve

Americans for the Arts wil host a webinar on the topic of Arts Education on Thursday, February 23, at 3:00pm EST/12:00pm PST.

The hour-long webinar will be moderated by Narric Rome, Senior Director of Federal Affairs and Arts Education for AFTA, and is one of a seven part series as Americans for the Arts rolls out a toolkit, The Arts Education Field Guide, which will illuminate ways to navigate the complex web of citizens, policy-makers, government entities, and organizations that influence arts education from the school house to the White House and from the living room to the board room.

February 20, 2012 by Steve

Diem Jones has been tapped for the position of Director of Grants at the Houston Arts Alliance (HAA). Jones comes to the HAA post after an 8-year stretch as deputy director at Arts Council Silicon Valley, where he supervised their Artsopolis program and managed the agency’s grants, arts education and marketing programs.

Podcast #50: Black Arts Funding In 2023

Grantmakers in the Arts hosted the first GIA Black Arts Funding Summit in December of 2022. This virtual gathering of 113 artists, arts administrators, and funders allowed attendees to acknowledge and understand the long histories of exclusion, disenfranchisement, and disendowing in the philanthropic sector. One year later, we are continuing the conversation with two funders and elevating new considerations after one year. We are glad to have Rasu Jilani, executive director of Brooklyn Arts Council, and Anthony Simmons, senior director of Institutional Partnerships, Resilia, joining us to share their thoughts on what’s next for Black arts funding and what that means for equity and self-determination.

GIA · #50: Black Arts Funding In 2023

ALL PODCASTS

Black Arts Funding Summit

On December 13, the Black Arts Funding Summit featured experts across fields and industries who have directly shaped institutional policy and established new practices that support Black liberatory futures.

Explore the conference blog

Explore Solidarity Economy resources here

Videos from the GIA 2022 Conference are now available for streaming.