Last Week Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker vetoed funding increases for the arts, humanities, and sciences through the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC). The veto would reduce the budget for MCC that the Legislature approved by $2.37 million, from $14.16 million to $11.79 million, for the fiscal year that began July 1. If it stands, that funding level would negate plans to increase investment in key grant programs and launch new initiatives, and necessitate cuts to existing programs, said MCC Executive Director Anita Walker.
GIA Blog
Posted on July 23, 2015 by Steve
The Cultural Data Project and Americans for the Arts have announced that the CDP will provide the organizational data collection platform for Arts & Economic Prosperity 5, Americans for the Arts’ fifth national economic impact study of the nation’s nonprofit arts and culture industry. The collaboration brings together two national cultural data and research organizations with the intention of enriching national research and policy efforts, while at the same time streamlining data reporting for arts and cultural organizations.
Posted on July 22, 2015 by Steve
The latest issue of GIA Reader has been added to the online library. You can read articles about arts education from Richard Kessler and Margaret Hasse, articles on equity funding from Judi Jennings and Denise Brown, an interview with artist Ann Hamilton from Krista Tippett, a piece on the Creative Caregiving Initiative from Margery Pabst Steinmetz, and much more.
Posted on July 22, 2015 by Steve
Erik Takeshita, Director of Creative Placemaking for the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), will join the Bush Foundation as its Portfolio Director, Community Creativity. Takeshita will oversee development and execution of the Foundation’s programming around arts-based community development efforts. Takeshita has over 20 years of experience working at the intersection of community development and the arts. Since 2008 he has led a breadth of work at LISC, including designing its “Central Corridor as Cultural Corridor” creative placemaking project.
Posted on July 21, 2015 by SuJ'n
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.
Posted on July 14, 2015 by Steve
Allyson Esposito, a veteran arts and philanthropy advocate, has been hired as the new Director of Arts & Culture for the Boston Foundation. Esposito comes to Boston from the City of Chicago, where since 2012 she has served as director of the city’s Cultural Grants Program in the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. In that role she was charged with fostering partnerships and lasting relationships in Chicago’s non-profit arts sector, independent artists, and for-profit art institutions.
Posted on July 11, 2015 by Steve
After 23 years as program director for American art at the Henry Luce Foundation, Ellen Holtzman will retire on September 30. Her successor will be Teresa A. Carbone who previously served as American art curator at the Brooklyn Museum. Dr. Carbone will join the Luce Foundation in early August.
Posted on July 8, 2015 by Steve
The National Endowment for the Arts has selected Clifford Murphy as its new director of folk and traditional arts, effective August 24, 2015. Murphy will manage NEA grantmaking in folk and traditional arts, oversee the NEA National Heritage Fellowship program, and represent the agency to the field. Murphy is currently director of Maryland Traditions, the folklife program of the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC). In 2011, Murphy launched the state’s first Maryland Traditions Folklife Festival, and also manages the Maryland Traditions grant program supporting apprenticeships and projects. Murphy also produces the state’s annual Achievement in Living Traditions and Arts (ALTA) Awards.
Posted on July 8, 2015 by Steve
From Phil Buchanan, writing for The Chronicle of Philanthropy:
Foundation staff and major donors may not hear much direct criticism of their foundations or giving, surrounded as they are by grantees and grant seekers. But it seems like everyone has a point of view on what philanthropists should be doing: You can’t flip through more than a few pages of The Chronicle of Philanthropy or Stanford Social Innovation Review — and recently The New York Times and Wall Street Journal — without finding an article with the words “foundations should” or “philanthropists should.”
Posted on July 6, 2015 by Janet
By Janet Brown from her blog Better Together.
Last month, I was fortunate to be invited to a small gathering of scientists and artists at the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno sponsored by the National Science Foundation. Undaunted by the academic title of the convening, “Examining Complex Ecological Dynamics through Arts, Humanities and Science Integration,” I attended with a colleague and GIA member, Bill O’Brien, senior innovation advisor to the chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. Bill and I joined artists and scientists who are primarily working at scientific field stations focused on environmental data collection and research.