SuJ'n's Blog

For the month of January, GIA's photo banner features art and projects supported by the Idaho Commission on the Arts. The Commission was established in 1966 to "stimulate and encourage throughout the state the study and presentation of the arts, and public interest and participation therein… and to encourage and assist freedom of artistic expression essential to the well-being of the arts." It provides services and direct grants to organizations, arts educators, and individual artists across the state, including those practicing folk and traditional arts. 2016 marks the start of the Commission's 50th anniversary.

National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) this week released "The Arts in Early Childhood: Social and Emotional Benefits of Arts Participation: A Literature Review and Gap-Analysis (2000-2015)." The report synthesizes findings from research published in psychology and education research journals spanning the past fifteen years.

On February 2, Grantmakers in the Arts will present a web conference covering themes and highlights from the report, and specific research findings on the impacts of arts enrichment in early childhood, particularly in economically disadvantaged families and communities. The session will feature Sunil Iyengar, Director, NEA Office of Research & Analysis; and Eleanor D. Brown, PhD, Professor of Psychology, West Chester University.

Read the full NEA press release.

Learn more about the GIA web conference scheduled for Tuesday, February 2, 2016.

Arts and culture practitioners, funders, and community leaders made up nearly one-third of the participants at this year's National Rural Assembly. The cohort of participants grew from previous gatherings and discussions and collectively agreed that rural arts and culture are essential to the health, wealth, and sustainability of rural communities.

Read more from the Assembly's blog post.

A message from ArtsReady:

Last week’s horrific events in Paris remind us that cultural gathering spaces can be targets of violence. While we hope you will never experience an act of violence at your organization, our partners at ArtsReady have an array of resources to help your organization improve its security and to train your staff/volunteers in key safety procedures.

On Friday, November 20, at 10:30 am EST, the Ford Foundation will be conducting a live chat Q&A session on Facebook. Three of Ford's vice presidents, including Hilary Pennington, Vice President, Education, Creativity, and Free Expression will be answering questions about the foundation's new program areas and how they will work together to address inequality. They will also answer questions on the foundation's commitment to fund grantee overhead costs at higher levels than in its past.

RSVP on the event page here.

Following a series of smaller updates this summer and fall, Ford Foundation's president Darren Walker officially announced over the weekend the details of FordForward, the foundation's new strategy for grantmaking. FordForward's significant changes include cutting and consolidating program areas, investing $200 million into strengthening institutions and networks, and increasing overhead support to align more closely with grantee realities. According to The Chronicle of Philanthropy, this announcement is part of a movement of foundations devoting more of their work to addressing inequality. The foundation's size and influence of $21.1 billion in assets makes their grantmaking shift a significant one with both the challenges and potential impacts that come with these changes.

Read Ford Foundation's announcement here.

GrantCraft, a service of Foundation Center, announced today the release of Funding Indigenous Peoples: Strategies for Support, a guide exploring how funders collaborate with and bring support to indigenous communities. The guide was developed in partnership with International Funders for Indigenous Peoples (IFIP) and provides examples from a diverse range of foundations on how donors see indigenous populations as important partners in a variety of areas, including on environmental and climate-related issues.

Read the full press release here.

For the months of November and December, GIA's photo banner features art supported by the Windgate Charitable Foundation. The Windgate Charitable Foundation is a private family foundation established in 1993. The Foundation’s giving is primarily focused on supporting the visual arts, studio artists, and public schools through projects in art education, visual arts, and a model K-12 arts-based core education program. Windgate funds programs that provide opportunities in the arts with grants for program support, scholarships, visual arts exhibitions, and capital funds.

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announced today that Jax Deluca will join the NEA as the director of media arts beginning on January 11, 2016. Deluca will manage NEA grantmaking in media arts and represent the agency to the media arts field. Deluca joins the NEA after her tenure as executive director of Squeaky Wheel Film & Media Art Center in Buffalo, NY, a nonprofit serving western New York state which promotes innovation in media arts through access, education, and exhibition. At Squeaky Wheel, Deluca has overseen major expansion efforts, including fundraising, new jobs and media equipment, an updated youth media arts curriculum, and relocation into new, upgraded facilities.

Read the full announcement.

For the month of October, GIA's photo banner features artists and programs supported by the California Arts Council. Established in 1976 by Governor Jerry Brown, the council's mission is to advance California through the arts and creativity. California Arts Council is a Presenting Sponsor for the annual GIA conference happening this month in Los Angeles.