GIA Blog

This new research advisory from the FOundation Center, the latest in a series that sheds light on the impact of the economic downturn on the nonprofit sector, examines how U.S. foundations are coping with the crisis. The findings are based … Continue reading →

From the New York Times Even as arts groups around the country are cutting back because of declining endowments and donations, a new foundation to support the work of American Indian, Native Hawaiian and Alaska Native artists is being established … Continue reading →

I was in California last week where I met with groups of arts funders in San Francisco and Los Angeles. When we were talking about changes within their organizations, two program managers reported that the arts had been moved in their foundations from stand-alone programs into “community” programs. One entity made this move as a reaction to the economy. The other organization had done this prior to the economic downturn. Regardless, it means the arts are part of a bigger picture of community issues.

In the Louisville Courier Journal ( Photo Louisville Shakespeare Company) Amid the most severe economic downturn since the Great Depression, Louisville’s principal arts organizations are being challenged as never before. Approaches once considered sacrosanct, realities thought etched in concrete, are … Continue reading →

From The Australian ( image courtesy of the National Library of Australia) “The time has come to bring Australia in line with the civilised parts of the world as far as arts education is concerned,” leading music educator Richard Gill … Continue reading →

Wisdom of Jeff Chang in The Nation… …Artists played a largely unheralded role in Obama’s victory. But they had been tugging the national unconscious forward for decades, from the multiculturalist avant-gardes of the 1970s and ’80s to the hip-hop rebels … Continue reading →

From the Philadelphia Inquirer. At a time when the flow of outside funding seems to be slowing relentlessly, the Pew Heritage Philadelphia Program has awarded a little more than $1 million to seven area cultural organizations. The grants, ranging from … Continue reading →

Taking Part, a new report from Arts Council England, makes the case that childhood arts experience plays a major role in adult arts participation. Findings include: • being encouraged to get involved in the arts as a child increases the … Continue reading →

From the Chronicle of philanthropy It’s now official: Sonal Shah, former head of global development at Google.org, the search-engine company’s philanthropic arm, is head of the new White House Office of Social Innovation. Shin Inouye, a White House spokesman, today … Continue reading →

Project Streamline, a collaborative effort of grantmakers and grantseekers working to streamline grant application, monitoring, and reporting practices. One of Project Streamline’s four recommended principles is right-sizing application and reporting requirements to be proportional to the grant amount. But what … Continue reading →