Last month, Helicon Collaborative published Making Meaningful Connections: Characteristics of Arts Groups that Engage New and Diverse Participants with funding from The James Irvine Foundation. This research shares the attributes of organizations that successfully invite, reach, and meet the needs of diverse audiences. On its heels, the Regional Arts & Culture Council based in Portland, Oregon recently published An Introduction to Engaging Diverse Audiences. This toolkit presents six building blocks that build and strengthen community relationships and provides an excellent compilation of other previously released resources, including the Helicon report.
GIA Blog
Posted on August 17, 2014 by Steve
From Craig Watson, Director, California Arts Council, blogging for Art Works Blog:
The California Arts Council received quite the Valentine’s Day surprise from one of its fellow state agencies last February. The head of rehabilitation programs for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) called with a proposal: help coordinate an 18-month, $2.5 million Arts-in-Corrections pilot program in California state prisons. CDCR would provide the funding, and the Arts Council would provide the know-how and coordination. Like most Valentine’s Day proposals, CDCR’s was happily accepted.
Posted on August 13, 2014 by Steve
How do in-school arts education programs affect student creativity, academics, or social outcomes? On Wednesday, August 27, join researchers from the Kennedy Center and Johns Hopkins University as they share their investigation of these topics. Ivonne Chand O'Neal is director of research and evaluation at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and she will share her study on the Changing Education Through the Arts (CETA) program on Washington DC-area public school students. Mariale Hardiman, professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Education and former principal of Roland Park Elementary/Middle School in Baltimore, Maryland, will discuss her work at the intersection of cognitive research and effective teaching strategies.
Posted on August 13, 2014 by Steve
The Independent Sector National Conference will take place in Seattle November 16-18, 2014. Independent Sector is offering conference discounts of up to $280 for the Grantmakers in the Arts members. To affect the discount rates you only have to apply the discounts code(s) at the end of the registration process.
Posted on August 12, 2014 by Steve
An opinion piece from Grant Oliphant, at the Pittsburgh Post Gazette:
Every time I hear someone describe the proposal to hand the August Wilson Center over to private hotel developers as a “win-win,” I think of that famous line from the Vietnam War: “We had to destroy the village in order to save it.”
Just to be clear, there is nothing “win-win” about this proposal, to the extent we know anything about it beyond vague outlines and promises. Here is what I believe we can safely say:
Posted on August 10, 2014 by Steve
From Tom Mayhall Rastrelli, writing for the Statesman Journal, Salem, Oregon:
Brian Rogers, the new executive director of the Oregon Arts Commission and the Oregon Cultural Trust, has been on a whirlwind ride since his arrival from Austin, Texas, one month ago. He’s been traveling the I-5 corridor between his Portland and Salem offices. He’s becoming acquainted with state, business, educational and nonprofit leaders in Oregon’s arts and culture community.
Posted on August 8, 2014 by Janet
By Janet Brown from her blog Better Together:
Over the past few years, Grantmakers in the Arts has identified four content areas that reflect core values and are the basis for much of our work. They are:
- Arts education
- Racial equity in philanthropy
- Financial health of the nonprofit arts sector (capitalization)
- Support for individual artists
Posted on August 7, 2014 by Steve
The Center for Cultural Innovation announced last month that Angie Kim will serve as Interim President and CEO as of July 15, 2014. Kim transitions to this position from her current role as Board Chair, and she will succeed Cora Mirikitani. Kim joined the CCI Board in 2009 and was elected Chair in 2010. She was Director of Programs at Southern California Grantmakers, where she served networking, knowledge, and public policy needs of independent, family, community, corporate, and operating foundations.
Posted on August 7, 2014 by Steve
The National Endowment for the Arts has announced the latest Research: Art Works funding opportunity. This program supports research for projects that investigate the value and/or impact of the arts on individuals and communities. To assist potential applicants, the NEA will hold a grant guidelines webinar on September 3, 2014 at 3:00 PM ET. To join the webinar, you must register in advance. The NEA is interested in value-oriented research that will measure or clarify one or more factors, characteristics, and conditions of the U.S. arts ecosystem, as well as impact-oriented research that will investigate the direct and indirect benefits of arts participation on health and well-being, cognitive capacity, learning, creativity, community livability, or economic prosperity.
Posted on August 7, 2014 by Steve
The National Network of Consultants to Grantmakers is looking for a new Project Director to work with a dedicated group of volunteer members to continue growing the organization and serving the organization’s mission. The project director will work with members and a virtual office staff to:
- Expand the visibility and use of our Directory of Consultants as a vital resource to grantmakers
- Achieve organizational growth by increasing membership, creating business partnerships and successful grant funding
- Assist the professional consultant members in developing thought leadership via programs and networking
- Work with a part-time administrative team (contracted firm) to manage routine financial processing and routine communications