Grantmakers in the Arts

How Boise Became Dancers’ Home Sweet Home

May 1, 2012 by Steve

From Brian Hinrichs for ArtsFwd:

When the internationally renowned contemporary dance company the Trey McIntyre Project (TMP) needed a permanent home in 2008, they chose Boise, Idaho, a place where they felt they could thrive artistically while building a new type of community-integrated organization. Many in the industry thought they were crazy. But the city of Boise has since become TMP’s greatest cheerleader and inspiration, leading to a 2010 New York Times headline, “Dancers Adopt a City and Vice-Versa”.

An Arts Festival Grows in Morristown

May 1, 2012 by Steve

Read how the small city of Morristown, New Jersey is putting the pieces together to highlight and enliven the community arts scene. From Sharon Sheridan at Morristown Green:

From the beginning, our goal was to highlight the writing and artwork of the younger members of our community. Junior correspondents covered events ranging from First Night to LARPing at Headquarters Plaza. One of them even interviewed Santa Claus atop an undisclosed tower in town. We featured artwork from local schools, the Neighborhood House and individual artists.

It wasn’t too long before Morristown Green Editor Kevin Coughlin suggested we showcase kids’ creativity further with an art show. Last spring’s series of cultural events at a former car dealership on Bank Street seemed the perfect opportunity.

Mark Stern on Rethinking Social Impact

May 1, 2012 by Steve

Mark Stern writes for ARTSblog as part of its May blog salon focusing on Social Impact of the Arts:

Susan Seifert and I began the Social Impact of the Arts Project (SIAP) in 1994 in response to the attention that economic impact studies were gaining at the time. We felt—in addition to their methodological flaws—that these studies captured only a fraction of the importance that the arts held for society.

Assessing What to Assess in Public Art

April 30, 2012 by Steve

From Jon Pounds at ARTSblog:

Public art is more than a beautifying (or inspiring) public amenity—it is social catalyst and civic infrastructure. Picasso’s untitled sculpture was dedicated in Chicago’s Civic Center in August 1967 the same month that the first community mural, The Wall of Respect was painted by the artists of Organization of Black American Culture just a few miles away. Each were astonishing moments in the history of public art. But can we say that the Picasso has ever brought more than a handful of people in to town just to look at it for 90 minutes—or that the loss of The Wall of Respect in 1970 ended its ability to inform and inspire?

April 29, 2012 by Steve

Theatre Communications Group has joined with the University of Minnesota Libraries Performing Arts Archives and the American Theatre Archive Project to examine how theaters think about their cultural legacy and what they do about their archives. An online survey is now open to gather data on the subject:

We want to know how your theater companies are (or aren’t) documenting your productions for future use. We hope to hear from as many people as possible who are working in theaters. If you know of other theater companies who could contribute to this discussion, please share the survey link with their directors. We are particularly interested in hearing from theaters of color, whose history has been most at risk of disappearing without a full or reliable story, but we are interested in hearing from everyone.

Social Impact Games: Do They Work?

April 29, 2012 by Steve

In 2010, Knight Foundation funded two social impact games as pilot projects in two cities – Macon Money, in Macon Ga., and Battlestorm, in Biloxi, Miss. Unlike past foundation support for digital games, these took place in real-time with real people in the real world and they supported ongoing efforts to tackle local issues. There is already an existing body of research about how digital games have the potential to improve learning and influence behavior. But less attention has been paid to the effects of real-world games – i.e., games that are played out in the physical world. Knight wanted to explore which aspects of real-world games were most effective in addressing community issues.

Michael Norton on Money and Happiness

April 26, 2012 by Abigail

New this week to the TED website, a brief talk by social science researcher Michael Norton on the benefits of spending pro-socially, which is spending on others and spending to benefit a group. A little insight into why we love working in this field.

Artists and Crowd-sourced Funding

April 26, 2012 by Steve

From Jonathan Zwickel at City Arts:

Americans have rarely come close to agreement about the role of art in society, let alone how to fund it. But a growing consensus in the media and the general public contends that crowd funding is a democratizing force, a peer-to-peer system of market-driven benevolence far more fair and efficient than the traditional, top-down model of government and foundation support.

For better or worse, the rise of networked culture over the past decade has changed the way artists approach their art. Crowd funding further clouds the issue. More than pure creative talent, marketing and promotion skills are part of a successful crowd funding campaign: Those who can sell their work before it’s even made are the ones that receive the most funding.

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