SuJ'n's Blog

For the month of September, GIA's photo banner features artistic work supported by the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts in 2015. Founded in 1956, the Chicago-based foundation makes grants to individuals and organizations around the world for projects that advance new scholarship in the field of architecture, fuel creative experimentation and critical dialogue, and expand opportunities for public engagement with architecture and its role in contemporary society.

For the month of August, GIA's photo banner features work supported by Arts Council New Orleans. Founded 40 years ago to support the arts and cultural community of New Orleans, Arts Council New Orleans is the region's largest funder for the arts. In 2015, it distributed over $900,000 to southern Lousiana's arts and arts organizations.

The US Senate passed their version of ESEA on Thursday, July 16 by a strong bipartisan vote of 81-17. All of GIA's additions to the bill in Committee remained in the final bill. The specific schedule or logistics for a conference committee to work out differences between the House and Senate passed bills are unclear at this point, but both sides (and both parties on both sides) seemed determined to start the conference process to agree on a final bill.

For the month of July, GIA's photo banner features the recipients of The Surdna Foundation's Artists Engaged in Social Change awards and their work. Founded in 1917 by John Emory Andrus, the Foundation seeks to foster sustainable communities in the US that are guided by principles of social justice and distinguished by healthy environments, strong local economies, and thriving cultures.

For the month of June, GIA's photo banner features work and projects sponsored by Creative Work Fund. With assistance from other generous funders, the Walter & Elise Haas Fund has managed the Creative Work Fund (CWF) for 21 years.

The CWF supports artists making new work through collaboration with nonprofit organizations of any kind, and demands payment of those artists. Over time, the ways artists and nonprofits organize themselves and make work has evolved, but they still find collaboration to be powerful and continue responding to the CWF with inspiring ideas. Since its inception, the CWF has awarded $10.1 million in grants.

During the month of May, GIA’s photo banner features work and projects sponsored by the Whitaker Foundation. The St. Louis, Missouri based foundation began in 1975 upon the death of Mrs. Mae Whitaker. The Foundation is independent with governance provided by a self-perpetuating board. Grants are made to enhance lives through the arts and to preserve and encourage use of urban parks.

During the month of April, GIA's photo banner features artists and projects sponsored by the Arizona Commission on the Arts. The Commission is in its 50th year of supporting a statewide arts network that delivers grants and support to cultivate sustainable arts communities and promote statewide public access to arts and cultural activities in Arizona.

During the month of March, GIA's photo banner features artists and projects sponsored by the Kentucky Foundation for Women (KFW). Founded as a private foundation in 1985 by writer Sallie Bingham, her founding gift of $10 million is one of the single largest endowments to any women's fund in the United States. KFW is celebrating thirty years of promoting positive social change by supporting varied feminist expression in the arts.

This morning, GrantCraft released Supporting Grantee Capacity: Strengthening Effectiveness Together. This guide looks at how funders approach capacity-building with grantees. It uses examples from foundations from a range of sizes, fields, and geographic regions. The guide covers various topic areas including broadening the grantee capacity-building conversation, applying lenses to focus and inform grantmaking, knowing your own capacity, acknowledging power dynamics, and assessing impact.

Read more about the guide here.

Southern Methodist University's National Center for Arts Research (NCAR) recently released its first annual Arts Vibrancy Index. This index ranked hundreds of communities, large and small, across the US on measures of arts vibrancy as defined by supply, demand, and government support for arts and culture on a per capita basis. Along with the report, NCAR released a web-based interactive heat map that show the relative strength of each community determined by scores for arts dollars, arts providers, government support, socio-economic factors, and other characteristics.

Read NCAR's release on the report here.