GIA Blog

Arts organizations ARE businesses, so whatever they do is LIKE a business. Arts organizations are also ARTISTIC endeavors, so whatever they do is LIKE an artist. Whether they fulfill either of those explicit roles well is another question. Are they effective businesses? Do they offer a compelling artistic voice? These are the more focused questions that might actually get us somewhere.

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GFEM has launched an online Media Database, a searchable database of media projects-in-progress. GFEM believes that media play a vital role in shaping, framing and catalyzing public discourse and culture. The database is designed to servs as a hub where funders of all kinds can find a rich array of media-related projects that fit their funding priorities.

Animating Democracy has just released four new case studies that reflect on how to understand the social impact of these groups’ art-based civic engagement work. All were developed through the Field Lab of the Arts & Civic Engagement Impact Initiative supported by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

Two-Way Mirror: Ethnography as a Way to Assess Civic Impact of Arts-Based Engagement in Tucson, AZ
By Maribel Alvarez

The Diversity in Philanthropy Project (diversityinphilanthropy.org) has published Arts & Culture: A Best Practice Case Study, DPP's first publication on arts and culture grantmaking and diversity and authored by Lydia D. Bell, former president of Princeton University’s International Music and Dance Performance Series.

A new decade is upon us and it begins with the hard tragedy unfolding in Haiti. Our thoughts are with the victims and their families as well as those who are on the front lines of the relief efforts there.

Washington, D.C. – The FBI today reminds Internet users who receive appeals to donate money in the aftermath of Tuesday’s earthquake in Haiti to apply a critical eye and do their due diligence before responding to those requests. Past tragedies and natural disasters have prompted individuals with criminal intent to solicit contributions purportedly for a charitable organization and/or a good cause.

GIA suggests:

• UNICEF

David Moss posts his New Year’s list of the top 10 U.S. arts policy stories of 2009. Yikes! GIA appears twice.

"I know I’m a little late to the party with the year/decade-in-review lists, but since no one other than me apparently cares enough about arts policy to make a top 10 list about it, I’m happy to be the doofus who takes the plunge. 2009 featured no shortage of tumultuous and game-changing events in arts policy, and it was a pleasure (though sometimes an exhausting one) to cover them here on the blog. Here are my picks for the year’s top ten..."

Washington, D.C. – The FBI today reminds Internet users who receive appeals to donate money in the aftermath of Tuesday’s earthquake in Haiti to apply a critical eye and do their due diligence before responding to those requests. Past tragedies … Continue reading →

David Moss posts his New Year’s list of the top 10 U.S. arts policy stories of 2009. Yikes! GIA appears twice. Read More

The Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance sorrowfully announces the passing of its president, Peggy Amsterdam. She died peacefully at home on December 26, surrounded by family and friends. Amsterdam established a new vision for the Cultural Alliance, focusing on arts and culture as a unifying force for the region. Among her many accomplishments were preventing the elimination of Philadelphia’s cultural funding in 2004.