GIA Blog

A publicly-owned space, ARTS at King Street Station, a combination gallery and offices for the Seattle Office of Art and Culture, as Next City points out, is the house for a new exhibit, yəhaw̓, that features 280 indigenous artworks.

Almost three in four foundations (72 percent) with few or no staff report racial equity as "somewhat" or "very relevant" to their mission, with almost two in five (37 percent) reporting that racial equity was "very relevant" to their work, according to Exponent Philanthropy’s 2019 Foundation Operations and Management Report.

A shift is underway in American theater. According to a national survey of artistic directors turnover at American theaters conducted by two Bay Area directors, women have been named to 41 percent of the 85 jobs filled since 2015, and people of color have been named to 26 percent.

The severe flooding across parts of the Midwest -including South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin, Kansas, and Missouri- killed at least three people and, according to The New York Times, is "inflicting a devastating toll on farmers and ranchers at a moment when they can least afford it."

"The Artist as Problem Solver II: Building the Capacity of Artists & Cultural Workers as Civic Leaders" is the theme of the Joyce Foundation’s Creative Placekeeping & Placemaking Summit in Cleveland from March 21 to 22.

The Pittsburgh Foundation and New Voices for Reproductive Justice launched recently the Social Justice Rapid Response Fund, a new grantmaking program aimed at providing support for activists and civic organizations in underserved communities across Allegheny County, in the southwest of Pennsylvania, reported NEXTpittsburgh.

The Art in Resistance Fellowship, established by artists and changemakers "to simultaneously support artists and movements for social change at a time when there is a profound need to lift up beauty, solidarity, and resistance" announced the awarding of its first fellowship to Dignidad Rebelde, graphic arts collaboration between Oakland-based artists Jesus Barraza and Melanie Cervantes.

The backlash against R&B singer R. Kelly following the six-part documentary Surviving R. Kelly, 20 years of accusations against him for sexually assaulting minors, and his arrest on charges of sexually abusing girls as young as 13, have sparked an uproar that seems to signal "that #MeToo has finally returned to black girls," point out Salamishah Tillet and Scheherazade Tillet, co-founders of A Long Walk Home, a nonprofit that uses art to empower young people to end violence against girls and women, in a recent opinion piece in The New York Times.

A piece on the Stanford Social Innovation Review addresses how organizations are examining their work to commit to racial equity within their institutions and impact investing practices.

A post in Medium points out "artists and governments have a future together," reflecting on how a group of residents had gathered together to brainstorm for a community garden and sculpture project following the call of artist Carolyn Lewenberg.