The Council on Foundations today announced that Mark Bolgiano has joined its senior leadership team as vice president and chief information officer. The announcement came at a board meeting of the Technology Affinity Group (TAG), an organization of foundation technology leaders, which is in Charleston for its annual conference.
GIA Blog
Posted on November 7, 2011 by Abigail
Please join us tomorrow, November 8, at 2:00 EDT/11:00 PDT for How To: An Overview of GIA's New Web Tools, an online presentation by Steve Cline, GIA's Web & Knowledge Manager, on the simple and effective set of collaborative tools developed by GIA to support both new and ongoing activities of GIA member groups.
Posted on November 7, 2011 by Tommer
American Dance Abroad is pleased to announce the launch of a series of programs to
strengthen the export of American dance. With a two-year grant of $175,000 from the
Robert Sterling Clark Foundation, American Dance Abroad will focus on expanding
global visibility of American dance artists, encouraging relationship building between
American dance artists and their international counterparts, and facilitating opportunities
for international presenters/programmers to see American dance in live performance.
Co-Directors Carolelinda Dickey and Andrea Snyder are spearheading American
Posted on November 6, 2011 by Steve
Ian David Moss follows his report on the GIA conference with a report on Beyond Dynamic Adaptability:
Beyond Dynamic Adaptability was all about the changing nature of cultural participation, a hot topic on just about everyone’s minds these days. In keeping with the theme, the conference itself was organized in such a way as to invite participation, especially towards the end of the day with two-hour “fishbowl” sessions in which “panelists sit in a circle in the center (the ‘fishbowl’) and discuss the topic, with an empty chair for interested audience members to jump in to the conversation.” In addition, artistic practice was more deeply infused into this conference than just about any other I’ve seen, even the performance-happy GIA conferences.
Posted on November 5, 2011 by Steve
Greg Hanscom at Grist explores the philosophy of creative placemaking:
Something is stirring in Detroit. Here, in a city that in the past decade alone lost a quarter of its already dwindling population, plans are in the works to revive the manufacturing economy—at least on a small scale. The Detroit FAB Lab taps into the vibe of “maker” labs and hackerspaces around the globe. Its creators envision an incubator for artists, artisans, and entrepreneurs. Members will have access to equipment for woodworking, metalworking, digital fabrication, and media, as well as business coaching and networking.
Posted on November 4, 2011 by Abigail
The latest installment of GIA's Talk Back blog continues with a second post by Vilcek Foundation staff. Anne Schruth, event and programs assistant, writes about the foundation's alignment of organizational mission and goals with strategies for providing support to individual artists. She writes:
In our efforts to spotlight the contributions of immigrant artists and scientists to U.S. society, we have also found that the work produced by the artists is only a piece of the story. It is, in part, the personal experiences of the featured foreign-born individuals that leave a lasting impression on the audience.
Posted on November 4, 2011 by Abigail
In a post for Common Core, Lynne Munson addresses the ongoing lack of results from education reform, as evidenced by recent NAEP data, noting:
Maybe we need to give content a chance. What I mean by “content” is the actual knowledge that is imbedded in quality curricula. Knowledge of things like standard algorithms, poetry, America’s past, foreign languages, great painters, chemistry, our form of government, and much more.
Posted on November 4, 2011 by Steve
From Jonathan Abarbanel at WBEZ.org in Chicago:
Just a year after former Mayor Daley did a gut job on the Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) over the strenuous objections of long-time Cultural Commish Lois Weisberg, the new mayor and his new Commish, Michelle T. Boone, are reversing those actions as much as they can.
As first reported last week by WBEZ's Lynette Kalsnes, Commissioner Boone revealed in budget hearings that the 2012 plan for her department calls for taking back responsibilities for planning and day-to-day execution of cultural programs, which had been contracted out to the Chicago Office of Tourism (renamed the Chicago Office of Tourism and Culture in recognition of its expanded responsibilities).
Posted on November 4, 2011 by Steve
From Rick Cohen at The Nonprofit Quarterly:
While some museums are cleaning up with charitable donations (especially from the very wealthy), others are having a tough time piecing together sustainable budgets based on shaky blends of fees, sales, and charitable donations. That may have been the circumstance with two Austin, Texas museums—Arthouse and the Austin Museum of Art.
Posted on November 4, 2011 by Steve
From Hilary Howard at The New York Times:
Since he retired from Family Dollar in 2003, Leon Levine has transferred his man-on-the-scene approach in business to the foundation that bears his name.
“Leon’s gone after philanthropy in much the same way as he did making money,” said Hugh L. McColl Jr., former chief executive of Bank of America, which is based in Charlotte. “He sees donations as investments in worthwhile projects, he does a lot of due diligence when looking at potential recipients, and he’s diligent about holding their feet to the fire about doing what the money is supposed to do.”