GIA Blog

Roberto Bedoya has been appointed as the City of Oakland’s first Cultural Affairs Manager. Bedoya will oversee the City’s Cultural Affairs Unit, housed in the City’s Department of Economic and Workforce Development. The unit includes the City’s public art program and cultural funding program. He will also provide leadership for new initiatives such as completing a cultural plan for the city, supporting cultural districts within the City of Oakland, and growing a technical assistance program to help artists and arts organizations build capacity.

In a recent article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Justin Laing writes about grantee inclusion as “a critical and important step toward mutual accountability; when implemented deeply, it lets us imagine even more far-reaching practices of accountability, transparency, and partnership between grantmakers and grantees.” The article highlights work that The Heinz Endowments has done to develop mutual accountability between the organization and its Transformative Arts Process advisory board.

Joint Affinity Groups and its core partners – Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy, Funders for LGBTQ Issues, Association of Black Foundation Executives, Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy, Native Americans in Philanthropy, Hispanics in Philanthropy, and Women’s Funding Network – have transformed their coalition into CHANGE Philanthropy. The coalition works “to raise the level of dialogue and shift practice among funders so that philanthropic dollars are dispersed through equitable practices.”

Mid-America Arts Alliance (M-AAA) has announced that CEO Mary Kennedy, who has held the position since 2002, has resigned her position effective October 1, 2016. Kennedy’s decision to resign comes after 27 years of service to M-AAA. She will provide consulting services to M-AAA until a new CEO is in place.

Aroha Philanthropies has announced the first cohort of its Seeding Artful Aging initiative. Fifteen organizations were chosen to partner with Aroha Philanthropies in a seminal initiative designed to support the development and expansion of successful Artful Aging programs. Grants awarded range from $17,000 to $50,000 for projects to run between January 1, 2017 and November 30, 2017.

The New York Community Trust has released a report on the work of its collaborative funding projects, highlighting initiatives to fund arts programs, support public schools, develop affordable housing, and others. Over nearly 40 years, The Trust has partnered with over 140 funders, distributing $119 million across 20 collaborative funds. The report discusses outcomes and lessons learned from these projects.

Kindle Project, an experimental philanthropy lab, has announced a new grantmaking program called Boomerang which aims to give artist grantees the ability to help shape the distribution of philanthropic dollars. The recipients of the organization’s upcoming Makers Muse Artist Awards will each be offered a Flow Fund to recommend be reallocated to an organization or project of the artists’ choosing. The project aims to embolden artists and discover new unusual projects, creators, and ideas by placing decision-making power in the hands of grantees.

The National Endowment for the Arts’ digital story series United States of Arts has been nominated for a 2016 Primetime Emmy Award in the Outstanding Short Form Nonfiction or Reality Series category. A key feature of United States of Arts is the collection of more than 60 three-minute episodes highlighting the stories of arts and culture; one from every U.S. state, territory, and region, reflecting a diverse array of cultures, people, places, and ideas.