2010, 547 pages, The Aspen Institute, One Dupont Circle NW, Ste 700, Washington, DC, 20036, 202-736-5800 www.aspeninstitute.org
Download:
Search
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.
2007, 32 pages, www.tdavid.net
Because an intermediary organization (IO) is being asked to take on a function for a foundation, lines of power and authority can become blurred, especially in cases when an outside entity is making grants and convening key parties with the foundation’s dollars and under the foundation’s imprimatur. Tom David offers a series of best practices and outcomes based on interviews with over 50 foundations who have partnered with IOs:
2010, 504 pages, The Aspen Institute, One Dupont Circle NW, Ste 700, Washington, DC, 20036, 202-736-5800 www.aspeninstitute.org
Download:
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.
2010, 205 pages, Tufts University Press
Order is not sufficient. What is required, is something much more complex. It is order entering upon novelty; so that the massiveness of order does not degenerate into mere repetition.
— Alfred North Whitehead, Process and Reality
— Alfred North Whitehead, Process and Reality
There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, than to take a lead in the introduction of a new order of things, because the innovation has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new.
In 2007, with the Bush administration’s aggressive foreign policy looming large in the world’s perception of the United States, the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation expanded its arts research agenda to include a major in-house project aimed at shedding light on the recent history of public and private support for international arts and cultural exchange as an instrument of public diplomacy.
At a recent public debate about organic food, the proponents of organic farming extolled its virtues by listing its various benefits. It is kinder to the environment, they said, and to animals, and it keeps toxic chemicals out of our bodies. “But does it taste better?” an audience member asked. To my surprise, the experts hesitated. “We can’t reliably measure that effect,” one of them explained. “So it’s not a claim we make.” The exchange reminded me about everything that’s wrong with arts advocacy these days.
Placing the cause and calling of literature ahead of the bottom line, independent literary publishers serve as a primary link between writers — particularly those representing emerging voices, culturally specific communities, and literary art forms not fostered by mainstream publishers — and readers. Independent literary publications create an enduring record of cultural activity and provide an essential alternative to the voices heard through large-scale, commercial publishing.
The Alliance of Artists Communities is the service organization for artists’ colonies, communities, and residency programs — places for artists of any discipline to develop new work — with more than five hundred sites in the United States and over one thousand worldwide. While the earliest programs were developed a century ago as isolated retreats, the field has grown to include dozens of models — from urban residencies for local artists, to community-engaged art spaces in small towns, to those providing residencies alongside educational, environmental, or presenting programs.