Grantmakers in the Arts

“Some of the changes that we instituted during the pandemic were things that we were actually thinking about before,” said Rashad Cobb, community engagement program officer at the Greater Green Bay Community Foundation. He summarized, “These weren’t necessarily new ideas that we had never thought (of) before, but maybe the pace at which we would’ve implemented these ideas was sped up by the pandemic.”

The San Antonio Area Foundation is a community foundation serving the region through grants, programs, scholarships and training aimed at closing the opportunity gap for San Antonio area residents. They are committed to trust-based philanthropy and to advancing racial equity, bringing together people, organizations, and resources to address key issues affecting diverse communities ranging from San Antonio’s densely populated urban neighborhoods — the largest Latinx-majority city in the United States — to surrounding rural areas.

“Philanthropists apparently wanted to help arts and culture organizations that were hurt by canceled performances, classes and fund raising events, which caused a loss of revenue,” Fidelity Charitable said. Summarizing support as, “Donors gave $351 million more in 2021 than in 2020 to arts and cultural organizations.”

For Richmond-based artist Austin “Auz” Miles, the impact of her work is right there in the communities where she paints,” reports Nia Norris in NextCity. Elaborating, “Miles is part of a collective called All City Art Club whose mission is to bring murals to the Southside.”

In an Upack the Past feature in Al Jazeera, Donna J. Nicol writes, “From New Deal liberalism in the 1930s to the academic culture wars of the 1980s and the rise of Donald Trump, how White fears of losing power led to philanthropy that openly discouraged discussions of race and diversity.”

“Hauser & Wirth Institute gives $700,000 in grants to preserving historical records,” reports Benjamin Sutton in the Art Newspaper. “One of the things we’re trying to do is set a new precedent for models of philanthropy in art,” says Lisa Darms, the executive director of Hauser & Wirth Institute.

The BNP Paribas Foundation, the philanthropic arm of BNP Paribas, Europe’s leading financial institution, announced the donation of $30 000 CAD/year to the DAREarts “All the Arts” program. “This support is part of the BNP Paribas Foundation’s international program, Dream Up, which offers to disadvantaged children and teenagers around the world the opportunity to practice a wide range of artistic disciplines,” announced Business Wire.

"We are thrilled and delighted to be launching two new Artists At Work (AAW) programs in the Mississippi Delta and Greater Chattanooga Thrive Region," AAW shared in an announcement earlier this month. "We are honored to be championing these artists and their communities as they work together on projects that highlight the positive impacts of artistic civic engagement."