GIA Blog

(11-3-10) Arts advocates from across Canada met in Ottawa yesterday at "Artists: Powering the Creative Economy?," an event designed to act as a group critique and rethink of economic impact-based arts advocacy. A CBC News post outlines the day's discussion. Worth a read are the multiple reader comments following the main story.

(11-2-10) Derek Gordon and Jack Weiss have been named this year's winners of the Baton Rouge Brotherhood & Sisterhood Award. Gordon is president and CEO of the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge as well as a member of the GIA Board of Directors. He and Weiss, chancellor of LSU's Paul M. Hebert Law Center, will be honored at a dinner Nov. 11 at the Hilton Capitol Center.

(11-2-10) In an article for The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Suzanne Perry outlines the potential outcome of today's polls and their likely effect on nonprofit oversight. Senator Charles Grassley, the Senate's "leading nonprofit watchdog," is expected to move to the top Republican post on the Judiciary Committee and Orrin Hatch is expected to assume Senator Grassley's role on the Finance Committee.

(10-30-10) This untitled poem by Robbie Q. Telfer was part of the opening performance at the GIA 2010 conference, performed by the Speak'Easy Ensemble under the direction of Marc Kelly Smith.

(10-29-10) This NEA report combines key results from two investigative efforts—an online, national survey of outdoor arts festivals and seven case studies—to examine the range and variety of arts festivals in the U.S., the artists they employ, the communities they serve, and the roles they play in our cities, towns, and neighborhoods. The survey collected, for the first time, comprehensive data on a large cross-section of U.S.

(10-28-10) Not only is it alive, it is innovative. Converse (the shoe manufacturer) is opening up a free community recording studio in Brooklyn where musicians can work with no strings attached. An example for their corporate peers.

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(10-26-10) The Nonprofit Operating Reserves Initiative Workgroup (organizers are Bill Levis and Bess Hamilton Foley) has compiled the Operating Reserves Policy Toolkit: First Edition to serve as a technical reference for nonprofit board and staff policy committees, as well as their financial consultants and professionals, as they respond to the message of the whitepaper “Maintaining Nonpro

(10-25-10) Americans for the Arts has released its annual top-ten list of companies that support the arts. Local and regional utilities are in the majority, but banking, health care, and communications are also represented. The complete list (and David Ng's comments on the cited companies' corporate practices) here.

(10-22-10) In addition to the “official blogs” a few other attendees have posted commentary on the conference. Hoong Lee Yee Krakauer has a couple posts here and a longer piece here, complete with courtroom-style sketches! Ian David Moss also weighs in on his popular Createquity blog.

(10-22-10) Ontarians believe more passionately in the importance of the arts than they did 16 years ago, a survey suggests. The poll, conducted by Environics Research Group on behalf of the Ontario Arts Council, documents the attitudes of the province’s residents toward the arts as an issue of the quality of life, both for individuals and communities.