GIA Blog

As Detroit Flounders, Its Art Scene Flourishes
Posted on August 7, 2013 by Steve

From Courtney Balestier, for The New York Times:

Detroit’s dismal financial situation has been a subject of minimal regard for many artists, who said that their city is far from the ghost town some might assume from the news. They point out that a rich cultural undercurrent has grown only stronger in recent years, with a rise in contemporary art. They say that the arts, in the end, may propel economic development in Detroit, as it has from Asheville, N.C., to Bilbao, Spain.
SnaapShot Updates Annual Data on Arts Graduates
Posted on August 6, 2013 by Steve

The Strategic National Arts Alumni Project (SNAAP) has released SnaapShot 2012, updating the annual report with 2011 data on arts graduates careers, salaries, and other data from over 33,000 arts alumni in America. SNAAP has also produced the report, An Uneven Canvas: Inequalities in Artistic Training and Careers, that details findings from more than 65,000 arts alumni of all ages from 120 institutions in the United States and Canada.

Race Peace: An Opportunity for Grantmakers (White People Encouraged To Attend)
Posted on August 6, 2013 by Janet

By Janet Brown, from her blog Better Together:

Grantmakers in the Arts (GIA) initiated discussions among a group of social justice funders a year ago in an effort to begin to understand structural racism and to analyze how institutionalized racism may affect arts philanthropy.

Nonprofit Membership Associations: Serving Members Today or Shaping the Field for Tomorrow?
Posted on August 5, 2013 by Steve

The latest post from Angie Kim’s blog Private Foundations Plus:

As the nonprofit sector has had to shift in response to “small government” by diversifying revenues and responding to greater social needs, there is one type of nonprofit entity that has remained largely overlooked as a potential change agent. I’m talking about membership associations that support groups of nonprofits unified by a common geography, type of entity, or cause.
Institute of Contemporary Arts to Launch Art-Dedicated Social Media Site
Posted on August 2, 2013 by Steve

From Deborah Vankin and the Los Angeles Times:

The London-based Institute of Contemporary Arts will launch a Twitter-like social media platform on Aug. 21 dedicated entirely to art, the Guardian reported. The site, called Art Rules, aims to draw a younger, more digitally-focused audience and spark their interest in art.
One State Together in the Arts on Vimeo
Posted on August 2, 2013 by Steve

Arts Alliance Illinois and the Illinois Arts Council Agency held the 2013 One State Together in the Arts conference in late July for arts leaders, advocates and practitioners in Illinois. Video of the speakers is now available online

Tax Reform Lessons Learned From State Experiments
Posted on August 1, 2013 by Steve

From Tim Delaney and Lisa Maruyama at Huffington Post:

As Congress begins to dive deeper into comprehensive tax reform, much depends on unproven projections and economic theories. Americans would be served better if Congress instead considered the real world lessons that states have learned by experimenting with limits on charitable tax deductions: local communities lose far more than governments gain.
Everyone is a Lot of People
Posted on July 30, 2013 by Tommer

Some timely thinking on the arts, populism, and equity by Ian David Moss on Createquity.

Getting Creative With the G.D.P.
Posted on July 30, 2013 by Steve

From Jeff Sommer, writing for The New York Times:

We have undervalued creativity and research. And despite the hoopla whenever Apple or Google releases a new product, we haven’t grasped the full significance of innovation.

That critique wouldn’t be surprising if it came from an underappreciated artist, scientist or technologist. But it’s being made in what may seem an unexpected quarter: the offices of the federal government. It’s the verdict of the experts who measure the American economy.

Obscure California Law Requires all Students be Taught Arts
Posted on July 30, 2013 by Steve

From Mary Plummer, scpr.org:

As budgets worsened over the past several years, schools throughout California cut where they could, slashing arts budgets so deeply some students have been left with no arts education at all.

Arts educator Carl Schafer of Upland, has been on a campaign to increase that instruction for a year. And in his effort, he found a line in the California education code that shocked him: the state requires arts to be taught to California students.