For the month of April, GIA’s photo banner features work supported by The Heinz Endowments’ Transformative Arts Process (TAP) program. As an organization, The Heinz Endowments comprises two private foundations, the Howard Heinz Endowment and the Vira I. Heinz Endowment, that share a mission to help southwestern Pennsylvania thrive economically, ecologically, educationally, and culturally.
Grantmakers in the Arts
March 31, 2017 by Monica
A new study funded by The New York Community Trust and Surdna Foundation found correlation between the presence of arts and culture resources and the health, safety, and well-being of low and moderate income neighborhoods in New York City. According to the report, culture does not work alone but is one ingredient that makes neighborhoods stronger. The findings will be used by The Trust and Surdna Foundation in grantmaking, and by the City’s Department of Cultural Affairs to design a cultural plan for the city later this year.
March 31, 2017 by Monica
As reported by Tampa Bay Times, Michael Killoren, director of local arts agencies and Challenge America at the National Endowment for the Arts, has accepted a position as executive director of the Morean Arts Center in St. Petersburg, Florida:
Killoren, 60, has worked at the NEA since 2010 as the head of Local Arts Agencies and Challenge America, programs that support arts and culture at the local level. Before that, he was the head of Seattle's Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, where he led an initiative to restore arts education in public schools. In 2001, he was tapped to serve as Seattle's first director of cultural tourism.
March 30, 2017 by Sustainable Arts Foundation
A GIA blog post by Tony Grant, co-director of Sustainable Arts Foundation
For decades, GIA and its members have been at the forefront of providing support for individual artists. While all forms of arts grantmaking are vital, the direct support of individual artists is, to co-opt an expression, where the paint meets the canvas.
A timeline, produced out of the 2013 GIA conference in Philadelphia, chronicles the deep roots of this support, and a formal case statement published in the Winter 2012 GIA Reader helps define clearly just how much individual artists are at the core of what we do. GIA's Support for Individual Artists Committee convenes regularly to discuss and share techniques and goals for supporting artists.
March 29, 2017 by Monica
The board of trustees of the Walter & Elise Haas Fund has announced that Executive Director Pam David will step down at the end of 2017, bringing her successful 15-year tenure to a close. During her stewardship, the vision and legacy of Walter and Elise Haas was enhanced and expanded for a new generation of trustees and residents of the continually evolving Bay Area.
March 29, 2017 by Steve
In the latest issue of the GIA Reader, Elizabeth Méndez Berry recounts a panel discussion of artists using the power of narrative to create social change. “Telling New Stories: Reflections from an Art and Social Justice Funder” considers how the work of arts and social justice can be expanded and encourages funders to investigate their role in this process.
March 28, 2017 by Monica
Ford Foundation President Darren Walker has recently published an op-ed on The Hill in support of the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities:
Of course, there is something at stake here much greater than the economic impact of public support for the arts. In a time of discordant political discourse — of competing, conflicting ideas of our shared future — the arts open our hearts and our minds, build empathy among us, and reconnect us with the human experience we all share. They are no special interest; they are a national interest that strengthens who we are.