GIA Blog

(8-3-10) Richard Kessler brings us up to date on the U.S. Department of Educations i3 program:

As word is starting to make its way around the country regarding approvals and declinations for the 2010 USDOE Arts Education Model Development and Dissemination program (I am extremely happy to say the The Center for Arts Education was awarded a 2010 AEMDD grant!), I've been hearing conflicting information about when the results of the USDOE i3 program will be announced.

Ute, Thank you for agreeing to this electric space with me. Such relationship-based topics can be difficult to discuss, especially in plain view. Having courses is a great way to move the conversation forward. I have found that over dinner, … Continue reading →

(8-3-10) The Community Spirit Awards is a national fellowship award for American Indian artists. First Peoples Fund chooses honorees for their commitment to sustaining the cultural values of native people. The process of bringing spirit back to community is an important responsibility for artists - it is part of a sacred honor system. First Peoples Fund works to strengthen that honor system by recognizing these exceptional artists for knowing themselves, honoring others, and sustaining spirit in their own communities.

Theaster and I are looking forward sharing our personal thoughts and experiences about the grantor/grantee relationship with all of you. Hopefully it will be an insightful and, ideally, lively conversation. We encourage all of you to chime in with your … Continue reading →

In preparation for their preconference session at this year’s GIA conference in Chicago, Theaster Gates, a 2008 Chicago Artadia Awardee, and Ute Zimmermann, Artadia’s program manager, will reflect upon the artist-grantmaker relationship, its power dynamics and (co-) dependencies, as well … Continue reading →

This blog will be starting soon.

(8-1-10) Here's a summary of an interesting interview on the BBC with Joi Ito, Internet guru, and keynote speaker at the upcoming GIA conference.

And here's the audio of the complete interview.

(8-1-10) In the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

For a national reading program, $1 million isn't a lot of money, but that's all the National Endowment for the Arts will spend this year on its once highly hyped Big Read. It's a 73 percent reduction.

(7-28-10) Yesterday, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation announced three one-year, general operating support grants totaling more than $3.2 million. The Flint Cultural Center Corporation will receive $1.35 million, the Flint Institute of Arts $1.25 million, and the Flint Institute of Music $650,000. This round of grants marks the eighth consecutive year of general operating support, totaling more than $21 million, provided by Mott to these organizations.

From the Mott Foundation press release:

(7-26-10) July 25, Drake Bennett for The Boston Globe:

...Ivey has an ambitious proposition: create what he calls a “cultural EPA.” His vision is not a European-style culture ministry, but a federal agency that would make sure no one gained too much control over the nation’s cultural assets: Just as the Environmental Protection Agency was created to regulate any activity that exploited the nation’s environmental resources, so would a cultural EPA regulate activities that affect the nation’s cultural riches.