AFTA’s Animating Democracy program has a new website. You can check it out at animatingdemocracy.org.
GIA Blog
Posted on March 9, 2012 by Steve
Scott Walters, director of the Center for Rural Arts Development and Leadership Education, writes for Huffington Post:
Often hanging on financially by their fingernails, arts leaders have been taught to play a particular game that exists only within a specific artistic ecosystem, and no matter how unjust that system might be, they often become extremely defensive if that game is questioned. And yet, more and more artists and arts bloggers are doing just that—asking uncomfortable questions about economic equity, diversity, and fairness within the world of nonprofit arts institutions.
Posted on March 8, 2012 by Steve
To commemorate its 40th anniversary, Funders for LGBTQ Issues has produced a historical overview of the history of LGBTQ philanthropy. The document is rich with data, including annual reports of US-based foundation funding, along with narrative passages describing highlights in the movement of LGBTQ philanthropy.
Posted on March 8, 2012 by Steve
Arts organizations are looking for ways to develop their audiences. What works? What doesn’t? And how can successes be sustained? Building Arts Organizations that Build Audiences is a new report documenting a June 2011 Wallace conference of foundation-supported arts groups, marketing mavens, researchers and others, provides some potential answers, including encouraging organization-wide learning.
From the report:
Posted on March 7, 2012 by Janet
Grantmakers in the Arts (GIA), a national association of private, public and nonprofit arts funders, has for some years had a goal of advocacy and policy development. This week, GIA launches the Arts Education Funders Coalition to specifically identify and advocate for arts in federal education policies. GIA has contracted with the Penn Hill Group, an experienced education policy firm in Washington DC to guide us in this work.
The questions might be “why are grantmakers doing this?” and “why federal education policy?”
Posted on March 7, 2012 by Steve
Register for NCRP’s next “Pulse” webinar, Leveraging Limited Dollars: How Grantmakers and Nonprofits Can Make the Case for Funding Policy Advocacy and Civic Engagement on Monday, March 26, at 2:00pm EST, to discuss the newest findings from NCRP on the impacts of foundation-funded policy and civic engagement and share innovative ways that grantmakers and nonprofits are using this information to increase resources for advocacy and community-based problem solving.
Posted on March 6, 2012 by Steve
Executive Director Claire Peeps announced today that the Durfee Foundation has launched a new website. Check it out at www.durfee.org.
Posted on March 5, 2012 by Steve
Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:
It is rare that a pundit (and ardent reformer) lays out clearly and crisply the core assumption driving the past thirty years of school reform. It is not only rare but startling when that insider then questions the assumption, suggesting that it is a hunch, not a fact. That is what Mike Petrilli does in his recent posting, “The Test Score Hypothesis.”
Posted on March 4, 2012 by Steve
Maria Popova at Brain Pickings:
In his fantastic recent talk from TEDxVancouver, my friend Jer Thorp — data artist in residence at The New York Times and Brain Pickings regular — takes us on a sweeping tour of his work and ethos, living at the intersection of science, art, and design... Underpinning Jer’s examples is a powerful common thread of humanizing data and making it a living piece of our personal histories and cultural poetics.
Posted on March 4, 2012 by Steve
From Keith Bellows at National Geographic:
Zita Cobb is building a future that respects the past. Her Shorefast Foundation, founded in 2006 on Newfoundland’s rugged Fogo Island, aims to parlay 400 years of local culture, centered historically on fishing, into a thriving economy bolstered by the arts and tourism. To that end, the foundation is funding the construction of art studios—complete with a residency program for guest artists—and a 29-room inn, set to open this year, where visitors and locals will mingle in common areas. The foundation will also grant micro-loans to help locals start their own businesses on the 92-square-mile island. Cobb, who made her fortune in the high-tech industry, is at the vanguard of a culturally responsible form of entrepreneurship.