As the Open Circle Foundation begins the process of closing down after 15 years connecting artists and communities in the creation of public artworks focused on social and environmental justice, the foundation has documented the impact and thinking behind their work through a monograph. Trusting What we don’t know: Lessons from an Experiment in Art, Environment and Philanthropy in California’s East Bay is authored by Dr. Maribel L Alverez.
GIA Blog
Posted on August 31, 2015 by Steve
Posted on August 28, 2015 by Steve
Rodney Trapp, from the George H. Heyman, Jr., Center for Philanthropy and Fundraising and New York University, looks at ways we can embrace market-driven strategies for impact investment in a creative economy in The Creative Social Enterprise: An Impact Investment.
Posted on August 27, 2015 by Steve
The Arizona Commission on the Arts has launched an initiative to build a local creative aging infrastructure that improves quality of life for older adults. A $225,000 grant (over three years) from Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust will help the Arts Commission implement AZ Creative Aging, a comprehensive plan that trains artists, supports the development of high-quality arts programs for older adults, and embeds creative aging knowledge and best practices in the community. Dr. Gay Hanna, executive director of the National Center for Creative Aging, said the initiative’s level of private financial support coupled with the public policy commitment supporting creative programming for older adults is like nothing else in the nation.
Posted on August 27, 2015 by Steve
From The St. Louis American:
Wells Fargo Advisors and the Arts and Education Council of Greater St. Louis (A&E) announced an expanded partnership in the areas of arts and culture. Wells Fargo Advisors’ total investment of $100,000 will expand access to creativity and expression opportunities for underserved youth and help build capacity for local arts organizations in the bi-state, metropolitan region… The majority of the investment ($50,000) will serve as a lead contribution establishing and launching an “Arts Education Fund” managed by A&E. The Fund will provide tuition scholarships and transportation subsidies intended to remove financial barriers that may prevent talented high school art students in underserved or low-income areas from expanding their creative training outside the traditional classroom setting.
Posted on August 24, 2015 by Steve
The Creative Work Fund has announced their award of 14 grants totaling $543,250 that will support the creation of new works by San Francisco Bay Area artists who are working in collaboration with an array of nonprofit organizations to develop and present their work. From a mapping project that illuminates stories of evictions and displacement in Alameda County to a creative exchange between a traditional Lao molam (theatrical) group and a Lao rap artist, the projects reflect the rich variety of the region’s cultures and artistic practices. The Creative Work Fund was launched in 1994 to assert the value of philanthropic support for artists, the value of collaboration, and the special collaborative skills many artists bring to their craft and can share with nonprofit organizations.
Posted on August 20, 2015 by Steve
The Creative Caregiving Initiative: Arts at the Intersection of Wellness is a report from Margery Pabst Steinmetz — founder and president of The Pabst Charitable Foundation for the Arts, and board president-elect of the National Center for Creative Aging — on the three-year evolution and journey from vision to implementation of the Creative Caregiving Initiative.
Posted on August 17, 2015 by Steve
From Adrienne Mackey, writing for HowlRound:
Actually actually is a manifestation of our actions in the most literal and concrete sense. It strips them of their highfalutin’ intentions and gets down to the nitty-gritty of their real intents and their actual (actual) effects. It shows that our motives are often more complex and human than their purest descriptions. Sometimes I wish I could ask arts funders to tell me what they actually actually want.
Posted on August 17, 2015 by Steve
By Marion Renault of the Journal Sentinel:
Since philanthropic foundations reduced sizes of gifts to Milwaukee area nonprofit groups during the Great Recession, most donations have fully rebounded — except grants to arts and cultural programs. Those programs remain 50% behind the pre-recession pace of grant revenue, while a new Public Policy Forum study shows that funding for arts and cultural groups is now vulnerable to a new threat: changes in foundation priorities.
Posted on August 13, 2015 by Steve
Building Equity and Inclusion by Assessing Demographic Data: Two Case Studies looks into work being done by the Leeway Foundation and the Kentucky Foundation for Women for equitable grantmaking. Denise Brown and Judi Jennings represent their respective organizations in authoring the article.
Posted on August 13, 2015 by Steve
From Alex Daniels, writing for The Chronicle of Philanthropy:
Workers at the Women’s Bean Project will still pack and ship soups, and cancer researchers at the Eleanor Roosevelt Institute at the University of Denver haven’t ended their quest for medical discoveries. But starting this summer, work at those institutions will continue without the support of the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation. In a change years in the making, the Denver-based foundation recently shifted all of its support to the arts — a move that’s rare, if not unprecedented, for a grant maker with previously broad areas of focus.