Grantmakers in the Arts

Most Read in 2016: What Is Civil Society?

February 1, 2017 by Steve

The most-read article in the GIA Library last year, “What Is Civil Society?,” outlines the defining characteristics and necessary conditions of civil society: nonprofits, individual rights, the common good, rule of law, philanthropy, free expression, and tolerance. Written by Scholar and former GIA Board member Bruce Sievers in 2009, the article explores how these seven qualities interact within society and the democratic process. The GIA Library contains an extensive collection of articles, research reports, and other resources covering a wide variety of topics relevant to the arts and arts funding.

January 31, 2017 by Monica in Arts Education

From The New York Times:

After contentious confirmation hearings, protests across the country and two rounds of voting, Betsy DeVos cleared the first hurdle in her path to becoming secretary of education on Tuesday with a party-line vote in the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions that advanced her nomination to the Senate floor.

January 31, 2017 by Monica

Recent research published by Barry Hessenius provides an overview of state arts advocacy in the US. "This scan sought to identify which states were organizationally active on the advocacy stage, the assets each state had to carry out its advocacy mission, which states were only minimally equipped to be effective advocates, and which states currently had no real operational advocacy organization." The characteristics evaluated included staffing, funding sources, communications, major initiatives launched, local political climate, and more.

The Timeless Hope of Values and Mission

January 26, 2017 by Monica

On her blog, Better Together, Grantmakers in the Arts President & CEO Janet Brown offers a moment of reflection and encouragement for arts funders in this time of transition: “In times of change and instability, there is also opportunity — opportunity to defend our values and more deeply assess whether those values are being implemented in our practice. A challenge lies in determining how our voices are used and to what end.”

Read the full blog post.

January 26, 2017 by Monica

From ArtNet News:

United States Artists (USA) has named Deana Haggag as its new president and CEO, effective April 3. Founded in 2006, USA offers unrestricted grants to artists working in the following fields: architecture and design, crafts, dance, literature, media, music, theater and performance, traditional arts, and visual arts. Haggag has been the executive director of the Contemporary, Baltimore’s nomadic, non-collecting art museum, since the summer of 2013.

How Theatre Artists Make a Living

January 26, 2017 by Monica in Support for Individual Artists

A recent article in American Theatre reveals the financial realities of living and working as a theatre artist in the US. Author Diep Tran interviews five theatre artists around the country on how they make a living, what it’s like to work in the field, and “how they think the field could or should change to become a place that can sustain and retain talented people.”

Read the article.

January 25, 2017 by Steve

An article in the latest issue of the GIA Reader, “Local Arts Agencies: Growing, Serving, Advancing,” co-authors Randy Cohen, Graciela Kahn, and Michael Killoren discuss the results of the Local Arts Agency Census.

January 23, 2017 by Monica

The Aspen Institute Artist-Endowed Foundations Initiative (AEFI) and University of Miami School of Law have developed a week-long seminar for individuals who currently have, or will have, policy-setting and leadership responsibilities for artist-endowed foundations — directors, officers, trustees, board members, senior staff. The seminar, to be held April 30 – May 5 in New York City, is based on findings of AEFI’s National Study of Artist-Endowed Foundations and subsequent research publications, and focuses specifically on the strategic concerns of leaders orienting themselves to the field.

Explore Solidarity Economy resources here

Future of the Field: Cross-Sector Creative Placemaking Series

Video from the GIA 2021 Conference are now available for streaming.

The Racial Equity Coding Project: Unpacking The “Why”

In this first of a three-part discussion, we are joined by Susan Feder, Adam Fong, and Maurine Knighton, as they discuss the Racial Equity Coding Project, why it was started, their experience with the earliest iterations of the coding measures, and how their reflections will inform steps forward.

ALL PODCASTS