Meet our Newest Team Member: George Marfo II
George Marfo II, GIA’s new Program & Administrative Assistant, attended the University of West Florida in Pensacola where he received a major in Business Management. Previously, he did Human Resources work for the Highline headquarters. George enjoys art galleries, travel, visits to Florida to see family. He played track and football in college and continues to play basketball in his free time. George volunteers in his community and runs the social media page for infirnity, a Black-run community non-profit. Welcome George!
Thank You to Our Outgoing Board Members
With immense gratitude, we say goodbye to outgoing members of the Grantmakers in the Arts board of directors. Amy Kitchener, executive director, California Alliance for Traditional Arts; Caitlin Strokosch, president & CEO, National Performance Network; Gary Steuer, president & CEO, Bonfils Stanton Foundation; and San San Wong, director, Arts and Creativity, Barr Foundation, will be transitioning off of the GIA board at the end of the year. We are grateful for their years of service and it has been an honor to have had their leadership, support, guidance, and friendship throughout.
Arts Grantmakers’ Changes in Practice: A new President’s Blog
In his most recent President’s Blog, Eddie Torres writes about a recent GIA survey on changes in arts grantmaking practices. We invite you to also check out the presentation slides for this survey on “Arts Grantmakers’ Changes in Practice: Present and future.”
From the GIA Reader
In “Contending for Dream Space: Why Cultural Strategy?” part of the Summer 2020 issue of the GIA Reader (Volume 31, No. 2), Intelligent Mischief make a case for strengthening and cultivating equally relevant cultural institutions that can create “the atmospheres of change needed for the next leg of Black liberation.” Read here.
In a recent Artsy article, Kemi Ilesanmi, executive director of The Laundromat Project (The LP), discussed the mission and the work of this New York–based, POC-centered organization “that aims to meet the concerns of local communities of color and enact change through public engagements with the arts by actualizing spaces like community gardens, plazas, and, yes, laundromats”…
In “The importance of BIPOC voices and the unique challenges BIPOC content creators face,” Vu Le writes in his Nonprofit AF blog, about talented BIPOC folks that are “hesitant to contribute content and get their voices out there”…
“We must build up people of color and Indigenous-led philanthropic and movement infrastructure organizations in order to challenge the power structures in this country and invest into the self-determination of the people on the frontlines,” said Nick Tilsen, NDN Collective president & CEO, as he recaps the past month of mobilization in response to the COVID-19 pandemic…
A report from the United States Department of Arts and Culture tackles how “as natural disasters and social emergencies multiply, the need has grown for ethical, creative, and effective artistic response—arts-based work responding to disaster or other community-wide emergency, much of it created in collaboration with community members directly affected”…
