Since the Ford Foundation’s institutional stabilization programs of the 1960s, arts funders have explored and implemented initiatives intended to promote the sustainability of arts organizations. Funding approaches, programs, and special terminology have been developed in support of the arts’ economic and social contributions to society. Artists and arts organizations are evaluated on the basis of their fiscal prudence and community contributions as well as artistic merit.
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The GIA Library is an information hub that includes articles, research reports, and other materials covering a wide variety of topics relevant to the arts and arts funding. These resources are made available free to members and non-members of GIA. Users can search by keyword or browse by category for materials to use in research and self-directed learning. Current arts philanthropy news items are available separately in our news feed - News from the Field.
Spurred on by technological advances, the number of aspiring professional artists in the United States has reached unprecedented levels. The arts’ current system of philanthropic support is woefully underequipped to evaluate this explosion of content — but we believe that the solution to the crisis is sitting right in front of us. Philanthropic institutions, in their efforts to provide stewardship to a thriving arts community, have largely overlooked perhaps the single most valuable resource at their disposal: audience members.
“Theatres are the best way to keep people from the arts.”
— Simon Dove, Utrecht Festival, Dance/USA Forum, January 2011
— Simon Dove, Utrecht Festival, Dance/USA Forum, January 2011
Why will some people engage with art in one setting, but not another? For example, why will someone watch great drama on television at home, but never darken the door of a theater? Why will someone listen to classical music in a place of worship, but not a concert hall?
Enriching our culture and engaging diverse and underserved communities, small arts organizations pop up, flourish, and sometimes flounder, mostly under the philanthropic radar. They often foster artistic expressions not adequately served by larger organizations.
There is no doubt that the face of art and culture in the United States is changing.
October 2011, 32 pages. Monitor Institute, 101 Market Street, Suite 1000, San Francisco, CA, 94101, (415) 932-5300 www.monitorinstitute.com.
2011, 37 pages. Center for Cultural Innovation, 870 Market Street, Suite 574, San Francisco, California, 94102, (877) 482-0530, www.cciarts.org.
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Volume 1, Findings: Overview of the Field, 504 pages; Volume 2, Considerations in Foundation Practice, 547 pages; 2010, Aspen Institute, Washington, DC
I was twenty-three when I arrived in San Francisco, fresh from assistant-directing at the Royal Court in London and eager to start my theater career. I was brimming over with enthusiasm, and maybe just a little hubris. Shortly thereafter, I founded Crowded Fire Theater Company and was full of plans for it to quickly become the next major regional theater.
2010, 547 pages, The Aspen Institute, One Dupont Circle NW, Ste 700, Washington, DC, 20036, 202-736-5800 www.aspeninstitute.org
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