Grantmakers in the Arts

(5-3-10) In a story for Bloomberg.com, Patrick Cole outlines ambitious educational initiatives undertaken by Eli Broad, founder of the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation and a prominent arts philanthropist. Broad does not mince words in his assessment of Americans as being "fat, dumb and happy" and notes: “In other countries, they take the top 10, 20 or 30 percent of the students and make them teachers...We get the bottom 30 percent out of education schools.”

(4-30-10) Anthony Paletta's op-ed in today's The Wall Street Journal:

It's no surprise that President Obama, with a lengthy background in the non-profit sector, has made strong efforts to reach out to the philanthropic community. What may come as a surprise is just how exhilarated the philanthropic community is by the attention.

(4-30-10) The National Endowment for the Arts today announced that 40 nonprofit, professional theater companies will receive grants of $25,000 each to participate in Shakespeare for a New Generation from June 1, 2010-May 31, 2011. Part of the NEA's Shakespeare in American Communities initiative, Shakespeare for a New Generation introduces middle and high school students to the power of live theater and the masterpieces of William Shakespeare.

(4-29-10) In the LA Times...L.A. arts advocates are girding for two more battles at City Hall.

One is fighting Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's plan to take away $415,000 in arts grants from groups that qualified under the standard competitive application process, in favor of four that he chose.

(4-28-10) "As many as 400,000 nonprofits are weeks away from a doomsday," warns Stephanie Strom in The New York Times. At midnight on May 15, a law enacted as part of the Pension Protection Act of 2006 will require the I.R.S. to strip an estimated one-fourth of U.S. charities of their nonprofit status. Prior to 2006, only organizations with revenues of $25,000 or more had to file tax forms for the previous year.

Grantmakers in the Arts sponsored a session entitled “Hip Hop Arts in Education” at the Council on Foundations conference in Denver, April 25. This was a repeat of a session presented at our own conference in Brooklyn that packed the session room and was the talk of the conference. (Thank you Claudine Brown and the Social Justice committee.) Two of the spoken word artists, Carvens and Ceez were catapulted from the session to the plenary stage at the spur of the moment.

(4-27-10) On Tuesday, The Joyce Foundation announced it is awarding nearly $10 million to 49 Great Lakes area organizations. Investments will be made in six different program areas, including Education, Environment and Culture. Culture funds will be directed to the National Museum of Mexican Art in the form of a $150,000 grant to support exhibits and other activities around The Year of Mexico in Chicago.

(4-26-10) Mike Boehm, writing for the Los Angeles Times, reports on the proposed reduction and reallocation of L.A. county's arts resources, including staff cuts and the outsourcing of city-run arts organizations to nonprofit operators. Also in the mix: "[Mayor] Villaraigosa has proposed taking $415,000 from arts grants to fund four earmarks of his own that have not been subjected to the usual competitive application process...." Read more here.