Artists and Leaders Featured at the 2018 GIA Conference

Joyce Lee, a writer, poet, performer, and educator from Oakland, will perform at the Monday luncheon plenary of the 2018 GIA Conference: Race, Space, and Place. providing an introduction prior to the keynote.

Corrina Gould, spokesperson for the Confederated Villages of Lisjan/Ohlone and co-founder and a lead organizer for Indian People Organizing for Change, will provide a special introduction and invocation on Tuesday. Both are key in this year’s thought-provoking plenaries.

Register for the 2018 GIA Conference.

Grantmakers in the Arts’ Newest Members

GIA is pleased to introduce our newest members, Foundation for Louisiana, Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation, Sonos, and Scientific & Cultural Facilities District. Welcome!

“Round Two: Art and accessibility without assumptions” webinar

In mainstream culture, there are communities and identity groups who are overlooked, devalued, and passively dismissed. As we move towards a more inclusive and equitable culture, it is critical that we evaluate our understanding of how to be more welcoming, inclusive, and equitable. Last year we talked about the history of accessibility in the United States, types of accessibility, and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This year we brought back Anne Mulgrave, manager of Grants and Accessibility, Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council, and Leah Krauss, senior program officer for Dance and Special Projects, Mertz Gilmore Foundation, and Krauss’ special guest, Alice Sheppard, choreographer and dancer who is disabled. They will provide an overview of welcoming people with disabilities and funding disability arts projects, and they will discuss Sheppard’s piece DESCENT which she says “obliterates assumptions of what dance, beauty, and disability can be…”

“Round Two: Art and accessibility without assumptions” will be held Thursday, September 27, at 2:00pm EDT / 11:00am PDT. Details and registration available here.

A year ago, the Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, and collector and philanthropist Agnes Gund launched the $100 million Art for Justice Fund, a five-year fund that aims to reduce U.S. prison populations. A recent article on the American Nonprofit Academy delves into the initiative's work to reform the criminal justice system…

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation awarded recently Pitzer College a five-year $1.1 million grant to develop a Claremont Colleges-wide Critical Justice Education program. The program will foster social change through the power of prison education and educate Claremont students and incarcerated individuals…

“The board meeting is not going well. (...) To the consternation of some board members, the executive director suggests that increasing staff diversity is a top priority.” One exasperated member says to the executive director, “You want to spend your time on that? We have so many more-pressing problems!”…