Grantmakers in the Arts

October 25, 2012 by Tommer

Chorus America's annual survey of the operations of choruses, the Chorus Operations Survey Report includes more than 40 different analyses, from number of board meetings to board giving, from ticket pricing to chorus dues amounts, from accompanist pay practices to marketing efficiency. The 2012 report features data from the 2010-2011 season.

October 25, 2012 by Steve

Arts groups in Detroit will share nearly $20 million donated by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, including $9 million to be awarded through a communitywide contest to boost the city's best arts ideas, the foundation announced Tuesday.

October 23, 2012 by Steve

The Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, the USC Brain and Creativity Institute and Heart of Los Angeles (HOLA) have announced a longitudinal research collaboration to investigate the emotional, social and cognitive effects of musical training on childhood brain development.

The five-year research project, Effects of Early Childhood Musical Training on Brain and Cognitive Development, will offer USC researchers an important opportunity to provide new insights and add rigorous data to an emerging discussion about the role of early music engagement in learning and brain function.

October 23, 2012 by Janet

By Janet Brown from her blog Better Together

Grantmakers in the Arts (GIA) met in Miami October 14-17 to share knowledge, debate issues and discover new pathways to supporting artists and arts organizations. As with all convenings, I wanted to be everywhere and hear everything. That’s the frustration of having diverse programming that speaks to a diverse audience. And we are a very diverse group. I wasn’t able to be in every room but here are some personal highlights.

October 23, 2012 by Steve

Alberto Carvahlo, Superintendent of the Miami-Dade County School District, presented a keynote address last week at the annual GIA conference in Miami on the importance of the arts in schools. Today, his district was named the recipient of the 2012 Broad Prize for Urban Education. The $1 million Broad (rhymes with “road”) Prize is an annual award that honors the four large urban school districts that demonstrate the strongest student achievement and improvement in student achievement while reducing achievement gaps among low-income and minority students.

October 23, 2012 by Steve

Grantmakers in Aging will host a free webinar, The Boomer Explosion: A Creative Look at Aging and Communities - Conversations with GIA, Monday, November 5 at 2:00 pm EST/11:00 am PST. The webinar is co-sponsored by Grantmakers in the Arts. Participants will take away key information about “boomers” who are redefining the second half of life, as well as opportunities for cultural and aging organizations to meaningfully engage this demographic.

October 23, 2012 by Steve

Sphinx, the Detroit-based performing arts organization, is launching its inaugural international convening on diversity, SphinxCon, which will take place in Detroit, February 15-17, 2013. The event will bring together leaders from all disciplines of the performing arts to share ideas, challenges, successes and lessons learned in pursuit of increased diversity in all aspects of the sector. SphinxCon aims to illuminate the critical topic of diversity, doing so in an unprecedented manner and scope.

October 22, 2012 by Tommer

Grantmakers in the Arts and Melanie Beene are pleased to provide this republished digital edition of the seminal report, Autopsy of an Orchestra. Originally published in 1988, before the advent of digital technology, for years this research has been available only in hard copy, and has been largely unseen by a generation of funders and orchestra management professionals. The post-recession economy has left many orchestras and other arts nonprofits struggling to find new models of operation, and the lessons of the past have never been more timely.