The Need to Remake the Philanthropic Model After Coronavirus
As arts grantmakers navigate the current stages of "a prolonged effort to stem the impact of COVID-19, many are already looking beyond the pandemic," as Mike Scutari writes at Inside Philanthropy.
Scutari reflects on a thought A Blade of Grass Executive Director, Deborah Fisher, shared with him, “In the long term, I think that there are much bigger questions about how arts economies function and how they are valued. This is something that philanthropy and arts institutions can and should meaningfully address together.”
What should this conversation look like? Scutari asked foundations, nonprofits, and arts advocates. According to Scutari, Michael L. Royce, New York Foundation for the Arts executive director, summed up respondent sentiment best: “More government support, and funds from institutional funders that support general operating expenses or endowments or cash reserves have always been needed. The crisis only underscores how vulnerable our cultural infrastructure really is.”
"Building a stronger streaming presence," "guiding efforts to better articulate impact," "recruiting new advocates," and "solving the inequity dilemma" were among the broader set of action items provided by the respondents to ensure, as Scutari puts it, that the sector emerges stronger and more sustainable once the crisis abates.
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