The Joan Mitchell Foundation has announced the appointment of Christa Blatchford as their Chief Executive Officer, effective January 1, 2015. Blatchford returns to the Foundation after serving as its Deputy Director. As CEO, she will oversee the programming, administration and operations of the Joan Mitchell Foundation’s two New York City locations, the home office and the newly opened Education & Research Center, as well as the Joan Mitchell Center, an artist residency center in New Orleans, LA. Prior to serving as the Foundation’s Deputy Director, Christa was the artist support director for the Foundation, overseeing such national programs as Creating a Living Legacy (CALL).
Grantmakers in the Arts
January 10, 2015 by Steve
January 7, 2015 by Steve
John McGuirk, program director at The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, has announced that Julie Fry will step down from her position of program officer on January 23. She will join Cal Humanities, the statewide humanities council, as President and CEO in early February. Hewlett has begun the search for a new program officer and the job description is available on the Foundation’s website.
January 7, 2015 by SuJ'n in Support for Individual Artists
Creative Capital announced today its 2015 awardees in the categories of Moving Image and Visual Arts. The list of its innovative and genre-stretching awardees includes 50 artists from all stages of their careers, 46 projects, 13 states plus Puerto Rico and Canada. The total investment in these artists and projects nears $4.4 million.
Ruby Lerner, Founding President & Exeuctive Director, says:
January 6, 2015 by Steve
Barry's Blog sits down with Danielle Brazell, general manager for the Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles:
Danielle was Arts for LA’s (the Los Angeles regional arts advocacy arm) first executive director, joining the organization in 2006 as it transitioned from an ad hoc committee of regional arts leaders to a formalized 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Over the last eight years, she has steadily built Arts for LA’s capacity from an informal network of arts leaders to a respected coalition of advocates working in partnership with elected officials throughout Los Angeles County. Today, Arts for LA’s network includes over 160 member organizations and over 40,000 people...
January 6, 2015 by SuJ'n in Racial Equity
From Jennifer Smith of The Wall Street Journal:
A mecca for the arts, New York City has also become one of the most multicultural cities in the country, with no single dominant racial or ethnic group and residents who speak more than 200 languages, according to the Department of City Planning. Whether its cultural institutions reflect those demographics is another issue.
January 5, 2015 by Steve
A report from the Philadelphia-based Wyncote Foundation, Like, Link, Share: How cultural institutions are embracing digital technology, highlights examples and lessons learned from legacy cultural institutions that are successfully embracing digital media in their work. The report and its accompanying website describe the leadership and organizational capacities required for pioneering such work. It presents 40 organizations’ work including art museums, symphony orchestras, theaters, dance companies, historical societies, libraries, and science centers in the U.S. and abroad. Based on site visits, interviews, and other research the report offers insights about how digital media work is getting done and what results and benefits have accrued.
January 2, 2015 by SuJ'n
During the month of January, GIA's photo banner features work and projects sponsored by The McKnight Foundation. For more than 60 years, McKnight has been seeking to improve the quality of life for present and future generations. Its grantmaking is primarily focused in the state of Minnesota where the foundation is established.
McKnight’s arts program is founded on the belief that Minnesota thrives when its artists thrive. It supports working artists to create and contribute to vibrant communities. In 2013, about 11% of McKnight’s total grantmaking payout — more than $9.5 million — went to organizations working to advance this goal.
January 2, 2015 by Steve
Duncan M. Webb, president of Webb Management Services, posts to The Clyde Fitch Report:
Here in New York City, the Department of Cultural Affairs has a wonderful program to help groups acquire, build and/or renovate spaces. As you might expect, when the funding source is attached to federal HUD grants, the process to qualify for this support and to work through the actual process of buying/building/fixing is lengthy as well as cumbersome. Groups are briefed and trained to go through the process with lots of warnings about how long it might take and how much effort will be required.
A few years ago, my firm surveyed 10 organizations that went through DCA’s capital funding process to receive City support toward developing a new or improved facility. Here’s what we found out:
- Even though the groups factored some delay into the project timeline, it almost always took significantly longer to complete than anticipated.
- Most groups underestimated the time required to develop new sources of earned and contributed income, and found that private funding did not increase to support the more expansive operation.
- Groups did not anticipate staffing changes as a result of new facilities; and in some cases were unable to afford new staff, leading to significant burnout among existing staff even before new facilities were open.
- Frustrated boards did not appreciate how long it would take to stabilize operations in new facilities, and did not foresee how few financing options exist to help cultural groups successfully transition into new facilities.