Lara Davis has been active in youth development and community arts education for more than a decade. She has served as a Seattle arts commissioner and as program director for Arts Corps, a youth arts organization. At the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture, Lara manages Creative Advantage, a public/private partnership to ensure equitable access to high quality arts learning for all Seattle students.
Steve's Blog
Posted on October 13, 2017 by Steve
Grantmakers in the Arts is pleased to have a fantastic blogger covering the 2017 Conference in Detroit. Lara Davis, Arts Education Manager for the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture will be posting her comments and reactions beginning Saturday, October 28. We hope you enjoy her observations and that you join this conversation.
Posted on September 27, 2017 by Steve
New on the GIA Podcast, we speak with 2017 GIA Conference committee chair Regina Smith of The Kresge Foundation and committee member and Detroit native Sharnita Johnson of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. They share about you may not already know about the Motor City, what to expect when visiting the city, and what they are excited about for the upcoming conference.
Posted on August 24, 2017 by Steve
In the latest issue of the GIA Reader, Stan Hutton of the Clarence E. Heller Charitable Foundation writes about the recent formation of the Arts Education Impact Group organized by Grantmakers for Education (GFE). Hutton notes that there is growing interest in arts education among GFE conference attendees, and that the newly formed group will promote understanding among GFE members about the benefits of a quality arts education. Read “Grantmakers for Education Forms Arts Education Impact Group.”
Posted on August 16, 2017 by Steve
Kiley Arroyo, executive director of the Cultural Strategies Council, writes on how the strategies and policy-level systems change can create a better, more sustainable environment for creative placemaking efforts to take hold. Read “Creative Democracy: Applying the Lessons of Creative Placemaking to Policymaking” from the latest issue of the GIA Reader.
Posted on August 11, 2017 by Steve
In the latest issue of the Reader, Marc Zegans introduces a model of how an artist’s work and career develop over time — “the five stages of a fulfilled creative life.” Zegans explains how artists move through these various stages, the critical questions that arise from each stage, and the challenges artists face as they move from one stage to another. Read “Arc and Interruption: The Five Stages of Creative Life and the Crises That Intervene.”
Posted on August 3, 2017 by Steve
In the latest issue of the GIA Reader, Caroline and Tony Grant of Sustainable Arts Foundation write about their efforts to examine and change its grantmaking practices with a racial equity lens. In 2016, the foundation announced its commitment to award at least half of its grants to artists of color. Read “I Once Was Blind: Acknowledging Race in Granting to Individuals.”
Posted on July 25, 2017 by Steve
In the latest issue of the GIA Reader, Amy Stolls of the NEA introduces The Literary Network, or LitNet, a newly reimagined national coalition of nonprofit literary organizations aiming to support the literary field’s unique needs and challenges. Read “A New Literature Network.”
Posted on July 11, 2017 by Steve
In the latest issue of the GIA Reader, artist-in-residence Dylan Klempner reflects on the power of the arts to support medical patients and their loved ones in times of crisis. Read “Of Birds and Butterflies: On the Convergence of Arts and Health Care.”
Posted on July 6, 2017 by Steve
An article in the latest issue of the GIA Reader, “Buying Time and Fanning Flames,” was written as a follow-up to Grantmakers in the Arts’ Funder Forum on Arts in Medicine in February 2017. Bill Cleveland, who facilitated the forum, reflects on the event and offers thoughts on the need for cross-sector collaboration to build infrastructure and program development that will further professionalize the field of arts in medicine.