GIA Blog

(11-30-10) Pam Korza and Barbara Schaffer Bacon have collaborated once again to produce a resource for funders, artists and arts groups concerned about how the arts intersect and influence social change. The report entitled Trend or Tipping Point: Arts and Social Change Grantmaking is published by Animating Democracy, a program of Americans for the Arts, for which Barbara and Pam have labored for the past decade.

(11-30-10) Tomorrow's release of the book 20UNDER40: Re-Inventing the Arts and Arts Education for the 21st Century will kick off a new dialogue concerning the future of the arts and arts education. Featuring 20 essays written by arts leaders under the age of 40, 20UNDER40 hopes to spark conversation that highlights the most innovative visions for the evolution and survival of the arts in the 21st century.

(11-29-10) In 2008 the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation awarded a grant to NPower NY, Inc. to survey performing arts organizations in order to help understand how they develop and execute Information Technology plans, what IT barriers and needs they are experiencing, and whether IT is helping or hindering the achievement of goals such as audience growth, donor outreach, and program innovation. This study grew out of the observations that institutions sometimes struggle with the following:

(11-29-10) Maureen West for The Chronicle of Philanthropy:

While a small but growing number of foundations, such as Atlantic Philanthropies, have made clear their intentions to spend all their assets and shut down, charities that set their own expiration date are relatively rare.

(11-29-10) GIA founding board member and former Reader editor launches a new blog with a detailed story on the demise of the Bush Foundation artists fellowship program.

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(11-24-10) The National Endowment for the Arts has announced the latest round of funding to nonprofit national, regional, state, and local organizations nationwide. This also includes the NEA’s most recent class of Creative Writing Fellows.

This round of funding is provided through three grant programs: Access to Artistic Excellence, Challenge America Fast Track, and Creative Writing Fellowships.

(11-24-10) The Chronicle of Philanthropy will host a live online discussion titled Effective Advocacy: Lessons for Charities and Grant Makers on Tuesday, November 30, noon EST/9am PST. Guest participants are Antha N. Williams, Atlantic Philanthropies; Dan Cramer, Grassroots Solutions; and Tom Novick, M+R Strategic Services.

(11-19-10) National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Chairman Rocco Landesman, U.S. Conference of Mayors Executive Director and CEO Tom Cochran, and American Architectural Foundation President and CEO Ron Bogle are pleased to announce the Mayors’ Institute on City Design’s (MICD) most recent publication, Creative Placemaking by Dr. Ann Markusen, principal of Markusen Economic Research Services, and Anne Gadwa, principal with Metris Arts Consulting.

(11-18-10) For five years, Aaron Huey has photographed life on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. This week, TED posted to its website Huey's affecting, emotional TEDx presentation, a weaving together of the things he's seen and the history he's learned.

Watch the video here.

(11-17-10) The draft discussion proposal released November 10, 2010 by the National Commission for Fiscal Responsibility and Reform co-chairs, Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, provides a number of options to reform our nation's budget and revenue system, identifying many of the tough choices ahead in efforts to restore fiscal stability. Bowles and Simpson emphasized that the draft proposal reflects only their views and is intended to generate substantive discussion among panel members.