Grantmakers in the Arts

(2-2-2011) Henry L. Berman has been selected to lead the Association of Small Foundations by the organizations Board of Directors. An ASF member since 2003, ASF board member from 2008–2010, and ASF acting CEO for the past seven months, Berman has served on ASF’s development, membership, and governance committees.

(1-31-2011) Rocco Landesman, Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, stirred up emotions, which enflamed the blogosphere at a conference on new play development held at Arena Stage, Washington D.C. last week. He talked about the demand from audiences for theatre being down and the supply being up. He mentioned that small grants may be inhibiting the growth of professional theatre artists since they do little to provide a living wage.

(1-31-2001) Rocco Landesman posted clarification and expansion of his ideas on supply and demand in the nonprofit arts on the NEA Art Works blog today.

(1-31-2011) The Margaret A. Cargill Foundation (first announced on this blog in April of last year) is slated to have assets exceeding $4 billion as Cargill's shares in the Cargill agribusiness fortune are liquidated and transferred over the next four-five years. The Foundation will prioritize Native American culture, folk art, environmental disaster relief, and securing safe drinking water for developing nations. The distribution of assets among these funding areas remains to be determined.

(1-29-2011) The Center for Social Media at American University has published a new guide for fair use in poetry, available online for free.

(1-29-2011) NEA chairman Rocco Landesman in remarks about the state of theater yesterday noted, “You can either increase demand or decrease supply,” he said. “Demand is not going to increase, so it is time to think about decreasing supply.”

Needless to say, this has stirred some comment, see following:

(1-27-2011) Announced today: Modern Art Notes's second annual Super Bowl art loan wager. The Milwaukee Art Museum (MAM) will bet a Caillebotte on the Green Bay Packers and the Carnegie Museum of Art (CMOA) is backing the Pittsburgh Steelers's win with a Renoir.

(1-27-2011) Matthew Westwood for The Australian:

We are all creative industries now, according to the authors of a new Australia Council report, who would put symphony orchestras and video gamemakers in the same cultural paddock. The discussion paper "Arts and Creative Industries" argues there is no longer a division between the subsidized, popular and commercial arts, and government policy should be shaped accordingly.