GIA Blog

The National Assembly of State Arts Agencies has announced that CEO Jonathan Katz intends to retire late in 2014. Katz has served 29 years at the helm of NASAA. “It has been my great privilege to serve as your CEO during the last three decades,” Katz said. “So much so that I've effortlessly postponed putting more energy into what has now become a demanding writing agenda. Also, my enjoyment of leadership development and strategic planning has never stopped growing. I'd like to invest more time and creativity in those pursuits in the future.”

From Jillian Steinhauer, writing for Hyperallergic:

Session proposals from GIA members will be accepted through this Friday, April 11. Use your Member Login to access the proposal form.

GIA 2014 Conference: A Collaboration of New Ideas

The economic recovery is not offering signs of relief for the nonprofit sector, and many organizations are now looking to new models of funding, according the results of the Nonprofit Finance Fund’s 2014 State of the Nonprofit Sector Survey. Leaders from more than 5,000 nonprofits nationwide participated in this sixth annual survey. Many reported daunting financial situations, and said they are looking at new ways to secure the future of their organizations for the benefit of the people they serve.

Creative Capital has announced a gift of $1 million from the estate of photographer Theo Westenberger. The gift will be used to establish Theo Westenberger Awards for Creative Capital artists; a loan fund for Creative Capital alumni in literature, film/video, visual arts, and emerging fields. A new program in estate planning, initially designed for Creative Capital artists, will eventually be made available to all artists funded through Creative Capital’s ancillary programs, as well as participants in Creative Capital’s Professional Development Program for artists.

From Woods Bowman, writing for Nonprofit Quarterly:

Margit Rankin has resigned as the Executive Director of Artist Trust. After two years leading Artist Trust, Rankin leaves celebrating the organization’s impressive growth and citing a need for new leadership to steward its ongoing expansion. Rankin will continue to work in the nonprofit sector, while supporting the local arts community.

For the month of April, our photo banner will feature work from the Sustainable Arts Foundation. This foundation takes on the mission of supporting artists and writers with children. Recognizing that immersion into one’s art can be a real luxury in the context of a family, Sustainable Arts Foundation seeks to help parents continue their creative lives.

The Sustainable Arts Foundation has just completed year two of its pilot residency grant program. This program was designed to challenge artist residencies to make their opportunities more available to parent artists and writers. It is particularly impressed by the range of organizations in this second round: It has offered grants to 16 residency programs in 12 different states supporting a wide range of disciplines in both rural and urban environments.

Keeping My Day Job: Identifying U.S. Workers Who Have Dual Careers As Artists is the third installment in the National Endowment for the Arts’ Arts Data Profiles, an online resource offering facts and figures from large, national datasets about the arts, along with instructions for their use. Arts Data Profile #3 reports on employment statistics for U.S. workers who name “artist” as their primary or secondary job.

Sunday's post to Barry's Blog is an interview with Judi Jennings, Executive Director of the Kentucky Foundation for Women, a private, independent philanthropy supporting feminist art for social change. Jennings recently announced her retirement plans.

Read the full interview.