When we initiated an artist award program at The Durfee Foundation a few years ago, we decided to use financial need as one of several criteria for support. Durfee is a relatively small family foundation, and the trustees feel strongly that the foundation's modest resources should be applied where they will make the most difference. This is true across the board at the foundation, not only in the arts, but in our other programs as well.
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Sitting around tables at a conference center last May, we each joined five other participants in imagining and illustrating possibilities for artists who work in community arts programs for youth. We were part of a group of around thirty people convened as a working group first in San Jose, California in May 2000 and again in October in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Our aim was to explore how to build understanding and action toward the sustainable involvement of artists and arts professionals in youth and community development.
A Report on the Ford Foundation Initiative
Edited by Mindy Levine
1999, 64 pages. Developed by New England Foundation for the Arts, edited and published by Arts International, ISBN 0-9676467-0-7, 212-674-9744
Attending arts events is exhilarating, inspiring, and full of meaning. For years I've wished more people could have that experience. Why don't more people enjoy and appreciate the work that means so much to me? It's not just those who have different values, but people who are similar, with the same educational and demographic attributes — even members of my own family. If I can't convince them to become active participants, who can I convince?