Eddie's Blog

Grantmakers in the Arts (GIA) treated this year’s annual conference in Oakland as an experiment in living our values in real time. GIA has historically held the conference in a hotel, negotiating each venue contract approximately two years in advance of the event. This practice was designed for the convenience of our registrants and for its affordability.

On Tuesday, August 21, Grantmakers in the Arts will host “Real and Not Real: The history of racialization in the United States,” a webinar by Race Forward, which will serve as foundational for future GIA Racial Equity in Arts Philanthropy workshops.

At the EDGE Funders Alliance 2018 conference, I had the experience of sitting next to a stranger at lunch and introducing myself as President & CEO of Grantmakers in the Arts. He asked me, “Why don’t funders fund just plain art anymore?” When I asked what he meant, he responded with a story.

This is the first of a series of blog posts Eddie Torres, president and CEO of Grantmakers in the Arts, will be writing on arts philanthropy and principles, like racial equity, that drive GIA’s mission.