Search

In Chicago, at last month's PolicyLink Equity Summit, a tour of the city focused on how local journalism provides a voice to the equity agenda. In a recent piece, Nonprofit Quarterly highlights some examples that showcase the importance of investing in journalism and the power news stories have to advance conversations about and actions toward.

The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation has been awarded a new five-year grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, extending a partnership that has supported Chicago’s smallest arts and culture organizations for almost two decades.

This is the first of a series of blog posts Eddie Torres, president and CEO of Grantmakers in the Arts, will be writing on arts philanthropy and principles, like racial equity, that drive GIA’s mission.

"For us, racial equity is about creating a society in which opportunities and outcomes for people are not defined on the basis of racial categories. But we go a little bit further than equity, in that we talk about dismantling anti-black racism, aka white supremacy, as an important step toward building a truly just and inclusive society."

Those are some of the thoughts of Kavitha Mediratta, founding executive director of Atlantic Fellows for Racial Equity, a ten-year, $60 million initiative of Atlantic Philanthropies. In an interview in Philanthropy News Digest, she addresses racial equity's place in philanthropy and how this program supports creative leaders dedicated to dismantling racism in both the United States and South Africa.

How MAP took concrete steps to enact greater racial equity in our grantmaking by incorporating Agile practices in our application processes

As arts funders, we know that extensive research has shown that the presence of arts and culture activities at the neighborhood level can improve health and safety and promote a sense of well-being among residents. But how do we identify what activities already exist in a community and, as important, where there are gaps so we can be proactive in advancing a community’s livability?

Social movements need the arts. Should we ask tougher questions to optimize their influence?

Creative voices, widely and rightfully credited as moving “hearts and mind,” are increasingly understood as playing a core role in speaking to, supporting, or even triggering broader social change. Talented storytellers are disrupting the status quo, fostering new connections, challenging dominant narratives, sharing bold visions for equitable and joyful futures, and creating vehicles for action.

Download:

   Arts Funding Snapshot: GIA’s Annual Research on Support for Arts and Culture (332Kb)

Download:

   Arts Funding at Twenty-Five (318Kb)

Introduction

The easy convenience of typing a few key words into a search box and promptly being immersed in data can make one forget that this capability has existed for a remarkably short period of time. Just twenty-five years ago — a point in time well within the recollection of most members of the arts and culture sector — Stanley N. Katz, then president of the American Council of Learned Societies, observed, “the serious study of arts philanthropy is less than a generation old, and we are just beginning the sorts of data collection and analysis…we need to make sound judgments about the field.”¹

Larry Kramer, president of The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, penned a letter in which he reflects on philanthropy after, what he calls, “a year as tumultuous and unsettling as 2017.” Kramer points out the spirit of a funder’s work, the responsibility to steward tactfully a foundation’s resources, and the adaptations and responses required to … Continue reading Larry Kramer, President of the Hewlett Foundation, Ponders on Today’s Philanthropy →