Grantmakers in the Arts

(12-7-10) On Sunday at around 1 pm, 37-year-old Washingtonian Mike Blasenstein hung an iPad around his neck, held some flyers in his hands -- and promptly got banned, or so he believes, from the Smithsonian Institution. That iPad was playing a video called “A Fire in My Belly,” by the artist David Wojnarowicz, who died of AIDS in 1992 and Blasenstein was standing at the National Portrait Gallery, just outside the entrance to a gay-themed exhibition called “Hide/Seek.”

(12-6-10) At its November meeting, the GIA Board of Directors elected Regina Smith, the Kresge Foundation, as President and Peter Handler, The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, as Vice President. Smith and Handler will serve a two-year term and join Treasurer Rose Ann Cleveland, the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, and Secretary Alan Cooper, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, on the executive committee. At large members of the Executive Committee are Justin Laing, Heinz Endowments and John McGuirk, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

(12-6-2010)  After the news coming out of the National Portrait Gallery this past week, a few quotes come to mind: “This is like deja vu all over again” (Yogi Berra) and “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” (an oft misquoted quote from George Santayana.)

(12-6-10) Last week, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation announced $3.8 million in gifts to twenty-seven 2010 Knight Arts Challenge Miami winners. “Anyone can apply to the Knight Arts Challenge. The only requirement is that they have a great idea. [The] winners show South Florida has an abundance of them,” said Dennis Scholl, Knight Foundation’s vice president/arts. Over the past three years, the foundation has invested a total of $17.5 million in Miami-area Arts Challenge projects.

(12-6-10) Last week, Smithsonian Institution officials in Washington removed an artwork from an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery. The critically acclaimed show's subject is a century of gay identity in art. The decision to remove the work caused an uproar.

(12-3-10) This National Study of Artist-Endowed Foundations, conducted for Aspen Institute's Program on Philanthropy and Social Innovation and authored by Christine J. Vincent, is the first effort to define and describe the artist-endowed foundation field in the US. Though a small portion of all private foundations, these distinctively endowed entities are growing in number and, as such, represent a potential force shaping cultural philanthropy and stewarding this country's postwar and contemporary art patrimony.

(12-3-10) The International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies (IFACCA) this week announced preliminary plans to work with a range of partners to develop an international database of cultural policies. The announcement was made in Paris to the Intergovernmental Committee of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.

(12-2-10) The first Regional Issues Forum of 2011 will be held on Thursday, January 27. The one-day seminar, sponsored by the MetLife Foundation, is open to all funders and will focus on creative arts and aging. It is a collaboration between Grantmakers in Aging, Grantmakers in the Arts, and The National Center for Creative Aging. Co-sponsors include the Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust, the Arizona Community Foundation and the Arizona Grantmakers Forum.