Grantmakers in the Arts

(3-8-2011) To address overall education spending cuts, the San Diego school district is considering a $2.8 million cut from a $3 million visual and performing arts budget. That's a 93% reduction in arts funding.

(3-3-2011) From David Brooks in the NY Times OpEd...

"The greatest pressure comes from [Federal Budget] entitlements. Spending on Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and interest on the debt has now risen to 47 percent of the budget. In nine years, entitlements are estimated to consume 64 percent of the budget, according to the invaluable folks at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. By 2030, they are projected consume 70 percent of the budget.

(3-2-2011) An interesting conversation between James Canales, president and CEO of the James Irvine Foundation and Lucy Bernholz, author of Philanthropy 2173 blog.

I spent ten days on the road in February. Traveling this country and experiencing its cultural richness is one of the benefits of my job. I was in Washington DC for the Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education Network conference, in Detroit with MFA students in theatre at Wayne State University and in New York City at the Arts Education Roundtable conference “Face to Face.”

(3-1-2011) The Meyer Foundation in Washington, D.C. announced today that it is pulling back from direct funding for Arts and Culture:

The Foundation has a long and distinguished history of supporting arts and cultural organizations in our region. We continue to value the work we have supported to build a vibrant arts community, especially in theater, dance, and the development of cultural corridors. In developing this Strategic Framework, our board and staff faced difficult choices about how to use our reduced grantmaking resources in ways that would have the most direct positive impact on the lives of low-income people. After much consideration, we have not named arts and culture as a priority for the three years covered by this Strategic Framework.

(3-1-2011) Tomorrow, President Barack Obama will present the National Medal of Arts to eight recipients for their outstanding achievements and support of the arts. (Ten medalists were announced; however two are not able to attend the ceremony. Their medals will be presented at another time.) The medals will be presented by the president in the East Room ceremony at the White House. Mrs. Michelle Obama will also be in attendance. The National Medal of Arts is a White House initiative managed by the National Endowment for the Arts.

(2-28-2011) For nearly three decades, the periodic Survey of Public Participation in the Arts has focused primarily on live attendance at "benchmark" arts activities which are defined as live attendance at jazz or classical music concerts, opera, plays, ballet, or visits to art museums or galleries. Although attendance rates have declined or held flat for these activities, this depiction of arts participation habits is incomplete.

(2-28-2011) Please join us tomorrow, March 1, at 2:00 EST/11:00 PST for Holding on to What We’ve Got: New Approaches to Retaining Emerging Arts Leaders in the Field, a web-based presentation by Jeanne Sakamoto of The James Irvine Foundation and Marc Vogl of The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.