Richard Kessler

As part of an upcoming Thought Leader Forum titled Every School, Every Child, I was asked by Janet Brown, CEO of Grantmakers in the Arts, to spend some time with their newly released report Foundation Funding for Arts Education: An Update on Foundation Trends by Steven Lawrence, director of research, and Reina Mukai, research manager, both from the Foundation Center.

Grantmakers in the Arts began its work to enhance the arts in federal education policy in 2012 when it created the Arts Education Funders Coalition, an interest group within GIA that is open to funders with an arts education passion and portfolio, whether they are members of GIA or not. Led by a small advisory committee, we contracted with Penn Hill Group, a Washington, D.C., policy and lobbying firm with expertise in education.

The theme of the Forum: Assuring equitable arts learning in urban K-12 public schools was jointly determined by Grantmakers in the Arts (GIA) and Grantmakers for Education (GFE) who served as co-hosts for the event.