A new research resource from the National Endowment for the Arts gives statistical profiles of Americans who reported an artist occupation as their primary job, whether full-time, part-time, or self-employed. The dataset looks at artists in 11 distinct occupations, including actors; announcers; architects; art directors, fine artists, and animators; dancers and choreographers; designers; entertainers and performers; musicians; photographers; producers and directors; and writers and authors. Some tables offer data on employed artists in particular, while other tables measure all artists in the workforce, both employed and looking for work.
GIA Blog
Posted on June 11, 2013 by Steve
Through its Bolder Advocacy initiative, Alliance for Justice seeks to promote an active role for nonprofits in influencing public policy and to help them navigate the rules. The following webinars are coming up this summer:
- June 18: Investing in Change: Foundation Support for Lobbying and Other Advocacy
- July 9: Federal Lobbying Disclosure Act Rules for Nonprofits
- July 25: Lobbying With Confidence: Legal Tips for Nonprofit Advocates
- August 22: Why Should Our Organization Open a 501(c)(4)?
Posted on June 10, 2013 by Janet
By Janet Brown from her blog Better Together
In my early years as an arts administrator, I remember thinking it was best to keep grant applications simple in order to limit the questions that granters might have. One line I always left blank was “indirect costs.” I did this because it just seemed a good idea to make the application financials less complicated. But how wrong I was.
Posted on June 8, 2013 by Steve
From John Butman, writing for Harvard Business Review:
There is a new player emerging on the cultural and business scene today: the idea entrepreneur. Perhaps you are one yourself — or would like to be. The idea entrepreneur is an individual, usually a content expert and often a maverick, whose main goal is to influence how other people think and behave in relation to their cherished topic. These people don't seek power over others and they're not motivated by the prospect of achieving great wealth. Their goal is to make a difference, to change the world in some way.
Posted on June 7, 2013 by Steve
Grantmakers for Education announced this week the appointment of Dr. Ana Tilton as its new executive director. Dr. Tilton brings 25 years of experience from across the educational spectrum, including serving as a superintendent, principal, director of curriculum assessment, researcher, and as chief academic officer for Denver Public Schools.
Posted on June 5, 2013 by Steve
Diana Aviv posts to her blog on the Independent Sector website five examples of artists leading society forward:
The South Africa I grew up in was a nation divided: four categories of people (“White”, “African”, “Coloured”, and “Asian”), four categories of schools and public services, a system tenaciously designed to guarantee whites the best of everything with few resources left for the others. As the ruling National Party tightened apartheid’s screws to restrict rights and prohibit protest, I watched my friends carted off, one-by-one, to jail for their resistence.
Posted on June 4, 2013 by Steve
Claudia Jacobs Associate Director, Sillerman Center for the Advancement of Philanthropy, Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University writes for Huffington Post:
If we are to actively enrich our communities, arts should not be a stepchild of science, technology, engineering or math (STEM). In New England alone, over 53,000 people are employed in the “creative economy” and that sector, if it were considered in the North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS), which it is not, would rank just below the data and information sector and just ahead of the truck transportation sector, according to 2009 statistics compiled by the New England Foundation for the Arts.
Posted on June 4, 2013 by Steve
From by Susannah Schouweiler, writing for Knight Arts blog:
Have you heard of St. Paul-based writer Wang Ping’s “Kinship of Rivers” project? It’s an ongoing interactive public art endeavor intended “to build kinship among communities along the Mississippi and Yangtze, and bring awareness to the river’s ecosystem through art, literature, music, food and installations of river-flags made by river communities.”
Posted on June 4, 2013 by Steve
Scott Walters posts to the blog The Clyde Fitch Report:
Business is obsessed with innovation, with change, with finding the Next Big Thing. Most of the books I listed above are about encouraging creative disruption in your organization, trying new business models to sell your products. Theatre? Not so much. I suspect one might argue that theatre people are too busy being innovative to take time to write about it. Fair enough. I don’t see much evidence of that, but then I live in North Carolina, and so unless somebody takes the time to write about it, I’m not going to know.
Posted on June 3, 2013 by Steve
Linda Essig reviews Arlene Goldbard's book, The Culture of Possibility for her blog, Creative Infrastructure:
The basic premise of the book is like the 100% full water glass: if we shift our perception, if we shift the background (culture) to the foreground, a world of possibilities will be open to us. She is asking for a complete paradigm shift – a phrase she uses throughout the book – “a radical revision of a model of reality, changing the meaning of all that we see and do.”