SEATTLE — Grantmakers in the Arts (GIA) has released an expansion of its landmark Racial Equity in Arts Philanthropy Statement of Purpose, providing resources, recommendations, and actionable steps to assist grantmakers in advancing racial equity in arts philanthropy. As a growing number of funding institutions begin to examine the history and impacts of systemic racism across the sector, GIA serves as a hub for arts funders participating in this work.
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.
New Updates to GIA’s Racial Equity Statement of Purpose
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sept. 20, 2016
SEATTLE – Grantmakers in the Arts (GIA) has released an expansion of its landmark Racial Equity in Arts Philanthropy Statement of Purpose, providing resources, recommendations, and actionable steps to assist grantmakers in advancing racial equity in arts philanthropy. As a growing number of funding institutions begin to examine the history and impacts of systemic racism across the sector, GIA serves as a hub for arts funders participating in this work.
Background and Project Scope
Grantmakers in the Arts retained Lighthouse Philanthropy Advisors to undertake the first audit of its commitment to racial equity in arts philanthropy, covering the period of 2008-2016. GIA requested Lighthouse to engage in a comprehensive, organization-wide audit that would culminate in a report with recommendations on observations of internal policies, external communications, and organizational practices as they related to goals of racial equity.
Organizational Audit Questions and Data Collection
In the latest issue of the GIA Reader, Jen Gilligan Cole writes on “Expanding Cultural Family: Funders, Tools, and the Journey toward Equity.” The article discusses how the Metropolitan Nashville Arts Commission evaluated and adapted its grantmaking programs with a racial equity lens.
In a recent blog post, Arleta Little, program officer for the arts at The McKnight Foundation, discusses racial disparities in arts philanthropy and how McKnight and other organizations are working to address it:
Given historic inequities and shifting demographics, increasing arts funding alone does not address the structural issues affecting how these funds are distributed. We must change the minds (leadership and decision making) and the mechanisms (the institutional policies and practices) that prevent more equitable distributions of resources. This is racial equity work.
On March 2, 2016, Grantmakers in the Arts held the invitational Thought Leader Forum on Artists in Community Settings at the Regional Arts Commission, Saint Louis, Missouri. The gathering involved nineteen funders, seven presenters from the field, and GIA staff and board observers. Eric Booth of Everyday Arts, Inc., facilitated and presented at the forum.
Over the past five years, Theatre Communications Group (TCG) has taken an active and vocal position on the need for a more equitable, diverse, and inclusive theatre field. We have been approaching this challenge on multiple fronts, and our thinking has evolved dramatically over time as we learn more about equity, ourselves, our history, and the deeply embedded structures of racism and other forms of oppression in our theatre field and larger society.
For a number of years, Grantmakers in the Arts has worked to advance racial equity in the cultural field and among its membership. These efforts can be seen throughout many of GIA’s activities: sessions at its annual conferences, day-long preconferences, articles in the GIA Reader, policy positions and papers, required board and staff training on how to unpack racism, and, last year, a national forum on supporting African, Latin@, Asian, Arab, and Native American (ALAANA) artists and arts organizations.
Hundreds of orchestra administrators, musicians, trustees, and volunteers gathered in Baltimore for the League's 71st National Conference in June. A funder panel on supporting racial equity included Edwin Torres, deputy commissioner, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs; Marian Godfrey, cultural advisor, Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation; Susan Feder, program officer, performing arts, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; and Janet Brown, president & CEO, Grantmakers in the Arts. You can watch a video of the presentation below.
Request for Proposal
Grantmakers in the Arts
Racial Equity in Arts Philanthropy
Organizational Audit