From Janet Brown: Preserving the Soul of America

In her latest blog post, GIA President & CEO Janet Brown writes about the importance of federal agencies as part of the ecosystem of support for arts and culture in America. “For over 50 years, the nonprofit arts and culture community has grown and flourished on a three-pronged approach for its business model. Government, corporate and private foundations, and individuals have sustained the nonprofit arts and culture sector that provides programming in everything from therapy for returning veterans and preservation of our nation’s treasures to reading programs in libraries for homeless children.” Read the full blog post.

Webinar Series: Grantmaking Designs for Supporting Individual Artists

During the month of April, GIA will present a series of three webinars examining common myths about, and funder approaches to, some of the philosophical questions and technical issues related to supporting individual artists.

Tuesday, April 18
Common Myths about Support for Individual Artists

Thursday, April 20
Models of Distributing Grants and Awards to Individual Artists

Tuesday, April 25
Using Feedback and Data to Strengthen Individual Artist Support

Grantmakers in the Arts Seeks New CEO

GIA has contracted Koya Leadership Partners to conduct a search for its new CEO, and the position profile is now available online. As announced in December, GIA President & CEO Janet Brown will step down from her position at the end of 2017. GIA members are encouraged to share the position profile with any interested parties.

New from the GIA Reader: Lessons in Funder Collaboration

In the latest issue of the GIA Reader, Michele Kumi Baer of The New York Community Trust writes about the formation of and lessons learned from the New York City Cultural Agenda Fund, a collaborative fund focused on cultural policy and advocacy that was created in the wake of New York City’s last mayoral election. Read “Seizing Opportunity amid Uncertainty: Lessons in Funder Collaboration.”

From The Deseret News: Victoria Panella Bourns has been named director of the Utah Division of Arts & Museums. She has directed the Salt Lake County Zoo Arts and Parks (ZAP) program for the past 12 years…

From KPCC: The [Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors] voted unanimously to advance a proposal, brought forward by supervisors Hilda Solis and Sheila Kuehl, with specific recommendations to increase ethnic, socio-economic and gender diversity in the staffing and audience of arts organizations…

National Medal of Arts recipient and nine-time Grammy winner Herb Alpert will be awarded the UCLA Medal, the campus’s highest honor, on June 16 at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music’s inaugural commencement ceremony…