GIA Conference proceedings

ABUNDANCE is a community arts performance project, gathering stories and exploring ways that people of different classes, races, and ages negotiate economics in their daily lives. The heart of ABUNDANCE is a series of nation-wide interviews with millionaires and minimum-wage workers coupled with a year-long New York-based civic dialogue group including participants ranging from undocumented workers to the very wealthy.

From varying perspectives, panelists will give an overview of the future of technology as it affects all aspects of people's lives (home, work, and play). Their perspectives on the future are tied to trends in the technologies currently being adopted and used by consumers, including wireless devices, tablet pc, media pc, smart phone, auto pc, and ultra mobile.

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   The Leading Edge of Technology (427Kb)

In the current economic and social environment, funders from both public and private sectors are challenged to compellingly articulate the case for arts support and funding. The challenges in these discussions are reflected in the healthy and sometimes difficult tension that funding organizations face in juggling 1) the mission 2) the capacity to fulfill the mission and 3) the authorizing environment that controls and distributes the resources for the arts.

Major metropolitan areas - Atlanta, Cleveland, Denver, and Portland to name a few - are moving aggressively to position arts and culture at the forefront of their strategies in an increasingly competitive environment where cities vie for desirable high-tech industries and workers. Some have found a new welcome to sit at the public-policy and economic-development table, indeed to be a guest of honor. A variety of regional initiatives, some in implementation, others in formative stages, have resulted.

While the stock market plummeted, foundations' funds declined, and individual donors found it hard to make their pledges, communities of color have continued in their attempts to play catch-up. Ethnic-specific museums across the country are collecting and preserving historical and artistic materials that have long been neglected by mainstream institutions. What are the challenges that these institutions face as they seek to acquire collections? What are the culturally-specific strategies that have been most effective?

Several large national foundations have recently announced the end of their arts and cultural funding at a national level. Although it is too early to see whether this is part of a larger trend, it merits discussion since it would effect hundreds of arts organizations. What are the implications – short and long-term – of the decisions of large national funders on the field? Whether borne out by quantitative evidence or not, the perception is that the foundation sector is a place where organizations of color are part of the conversation and can garner support.

The national crisis in state budgets has definitely had a dramatic impact on arts funding. In some states, the effect on state arts agency budgets has been devastating. But there are also success stories worth documenting and meaningful lessons to learn about case-making, collaboration, and coping with change in our current environment. This session will bring GIA members up to date on the latest developments in public funding across the country, detailing the scope and magnitude of changes in the states.

The hip-hop community is operating on the fringes of the for-profit and nonprofit sectors. Its aesthetics are evident in popular and underground theater, literature, spoken-word, performance, and film. In addition to developing audiences for their own fledgling institutions, hip-hop groups are being asked to partner with more mainstream organizations that wish to reach the Gen X-Y-Z constituency. How are they surviving and growing? What innovations do they bring to their fields? And what challenges are they facing in the current economic climate?

This session highlights recent research about cultural indicators and the role of the arts in creating healthy and vibrant communities. Sandra Opdycke of the Fordham Institute for Innovation in Social Policy presents the first in a series of National Social Surveys examining the relationships between the arts, culture, and the social health of the nation. Maria-Rosario Jackson and Joaquin Herranz, Jr. from the Arts and Culture Indicators Project of the Urban Institute presented new research that defines and measures cultural vitality as an asset in community building.

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The convergence of long-term global economic factors, changes in state and federal policies and levels of arts funding, the prolonged decline of the stock market, and financial uncertainty ahead are combining to create long-term economic changes for funders and for the artists and arts organizations they support. What responses or solutions are emerging from the field?