Carmen Graciela Díaz's Blog

With the midterm elections two months away and as New York rolled out its primary election on Thursday, September 13, we showcase a story series by ArtPlace that points out to artists who hold leadership roles in their cities.

Gains in arts attendance totals, rates, and demographic groups plus sizeable growth in poetry-reading are part of the latest survey findings from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). The U.S. Trends in Arts Attendance and Literary Reading: 2002-2017 is a first look at results from the 2017 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts (SPPA), a partnership of the NEA and the U.S. Census Bureau.

The largest philanthropic organization serving American Indians, the Native American Agriculture Fund (NAAF), was recently established from a landmark 2010 civil rights settlement in which the U.S. government agreed to pay for almost 20 years of official discrimination, reported The Washington Post.

Last November, the Walton Family Foundation and Ford Foundation announced they committed $6 million over three years to support creative solutions to diversify curatorial and management staff at art museums across the United States.

"Centering the voice and leadership of Black folks in driving social change should be a top priority for all foundations and philanthropic organizations working to advance racial equity." Tasha Tucker, program director of Racial Justice Grants & Mission Investing at Trinity Wall Street, pointed that out in a post reflecting on Black Philanthropy Month.

After a blaze tore through the National Museum of Brazil on Sunday night, officials have said much of Latin America’s largest collection of treasures might be lost, as The Washington Post wrote.

For the month of September, GIA’s photo banner features work supported by Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust.

A year ago, the Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, and collector and philanthropist Agnes Gund launched the $100 million Art for Justice Fund, a five-year fund that aims to reduce U.S. prison populations. A recent article on the American Nonprofit Academy delves into the initiative's work to reform the criminal justice system.

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation awarded recently Pitzer College a five-year $1.1 million grant to develop a Claremont Colleges-wide Critical Justice Education (CJE) program. The program will foster social change through the power of prison education and educate Claremont students and incarcerated individuals.

“The board meeting is not going well. (...) To the consternation of some board members, the executive director suggests that increasing staff diversity is a top priority.” One exasperated member says to the executive director, “You want to spend your time on that? We have so many more-pressing problems!”