Bonfils-Stanton Foundation, of Denver, Colorado, has announced new leadership with the naming of its new President Gary Steuer effective October 2, 2013. Steuer’s predecessor, Dorothy Horrell, announced her retirement earlier this year after 13 years with the Foundation. Since 2008, Steuer has served as the Chief Cultural Officer and Director of the Office of Arts, Culture & the Creative Economy for the City of Philadelphia.
GIA Blog
Posted on June 20, 2013 by Steve
In an effort to promote resilience for the Sandy-affected region on the east coast, the U.S. Housing and Urban Development is launching the Rebuild by Design design competition. The goal of the competition is to attract world-class talent, promote innovation and develop projects that will actually be built. The Rockefeller Foundation, as the lead funding partner, will provide support for the analysis and design process and its support of the competition builds upon a strong commitment to promoting urban resilience through a $100 million investment, which includes their recent announcement of the “100 Resilient Cities Centennial Challenge.”
Posted on June 19, 2013 by Steve
Tom Kaiden announced this week that he will step down as President of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance to join the Alexandria Convention and Visitors Association as their Chief Operating Officer in Alexandria, Virginia. His departure will take place on July 26. Michael Norris, V.P. of External Relations, will serve as the interim Executive Director while the board’s Search and Transition Committee conducts a national search for the next president.
Posted on June 18, 2013 by Steve
The latest SNAAP DataBrief draws upon data from the more than 36,000 arts alumni from 66 institutions who responded to the SNAAP survey in 2011:
Who's Working as an Artist?
- College major with the highest percentage of graduates who have ever worked as professional artists: Dance, Music Performance, and Theater at 82%
- College major with the highest percentage of graduates who currently work as professional artists: Architecture and Music Performance at 61%
Posted on June 18, 2013 by Steve
From Nonprofit Quarterly:
...it appears that some categories of recipients have seen legitimate gains over the last year, recovering from the cratering caused by the recession. Giving to the arts, for instance, looks like it may be recovering, although for some organizations, deficits caused by unfortunately timed investments made in programming or facilities have caused problems that now need to be remedied. The growth of giving in this area from last year to this is even more striking when you consider that last year, the giving in that category was inflated by one $800 million gift to one museum.
Posted on June 18, 2013 by Steve
From Craig Melvin, reporting for NBC's Today, comes this story about Philadelphia's Mural Arts Program, begun in 1984 to connect students with teachers and world-renowned artists to design and paint more than 3800 murals city-wide.
Posted on June 18, 2013 by Steve
In a historic move, the leaders of the country’s three leading sources of information on nonprofits – GuideStar, Charity Navigator, and BBB Wise Giving Alliance – penned an open letter to the donors of America denouncing the “overhead ratio” as a valid indicator of nonprofit performance.
Posted on June 17, 2013 by Steve
Hayley Roberts analyzes the University of Pennsylvania's Culture and Community Revitalization for Createquity's Arts Policy Library series.
From 2006 to 2008 SIAP’s Mark J. Stern and Susan C. Seifert researched and compiled a set of documents that sought to investigate the real impact of the “creative economy” on community and economic development. The Rockefeller Foundation funded SIAP and The Reinvestment Fund to partner and “merge cultural data with other types of information on urban revitalization.” The project’s publications included a literature review, three policy briefs, and a community investment prospectus in addition to a range of summary materials. This project led SIAP to frame its subsequent work around the concept of “natural” cultural districts, or specific geographic areas dense with cultural assets that have evolved in grassroots fashion.
Posted on June 11, 2013 by Steve
From Sandra Tan at The Buffalo News:
The Buffalo Public Schools are dropping band, orchestra and all other instrumental music programs next year in half the schools that currently have such program, according to district teachers. That’s 14 of the 28 remaining instrumental music programs. District teachers estimate 1,300 students will be affected. Another four schools will see reductions in their instrumental music programs.
Posted on June 11, 2013 by Steve
From Open Culture:
How could David Byrne never have given a commencement address before? As an experienced public speaker, a well-known creator who has carved out his own cultural niche, an advocate of things (such as cycling) beloved among world-changing young people, the founder of a band with a surprising multi-generational appeal, and a man with no small command of Powerpoint, he’d seem to make an appealing choice indeed. His first commencement address ever came this year at the Columbia University School of the Arts.