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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.
Grantmakers in the Arts began work on capitalization in 2010. Ever since then we’ve debated not using the word “capitalization,” but it has prevailed. In our work, the term is synonymous with financial health and the resources needed to meet an organization’s mission. In 2010, GIA published recommendations for grantmakers regarding actions they could take that would improve the undercapitalized nature of the nonprofit arts sector.
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.
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.
October 2011, 32 pages. Monitor Institute, 101 Market Street, Suite 1000, San Francisco, CA, 94101, (415) 932-5300 www.monitorinstitute.com.
It's as if you're putting together a dinner party in a [manner in which] you hope will generate a rich conversation.
— Melissa Franklin, director of the Pew Fellowships in the Arts
— Melissa Franklin, director of the Pew Fellowships in the Arts
The world is constantly evolving in how it uses technology. In consequence, the arts field has struggled, adapted, and sometimes excelled in its own utilization of technology. To capture and better understand these trends, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation commissioned a study of technology usage in the arts field to learn about organizations’ practices and needs. This report combines a comprehensive survey of the arts field with more recent in-depth qualitative research.
Fearless Journeys: Innovation in Five American Orchestras is the report of a 2009 study, funded by MetLife Foundation, which explored and documented five examples of promising innovative practices in American orchestras. This is the first formal attempt to define and to understand the organizational factors that support innovation in orchestras.
As funders we have three main challenges: first, getting a handle on the extent and impact of the recession; second, exerting leadership — being bold, positive, and opportunistic without being insensitive; and third — and most important — asking ourselves the same tough questions that we are asking grantees: how do we slip the vice-like grip of old mindsets and behaviors and adapt so we increase our relevance, resilience, and meaningful contributions to our community?
— Foundation President
— Foundation President