Grantmakers in the Arts

(9-13-10) Grantmakers in the Arts Board member Ann McQueen recently announced her departure from the Boston Foundation to explore new options in the philanthropic sector.

(9-13-10) Robert Gard was a leading figure in the development of community arts work in America. His work and writings have been a great inspiration to me. On September 24-25 there is a symposium in Wisconsin honoring his work and looking towards the future. —Janet Brown, GIA Executive Director

Where Is Community Arts Development Headed?
Altering the Face and the Heart of America: The Gard Symposium
September 24-25, 2010
Lowell Center, UW-Madison Campus
Madison, Wisconsin

(9-10-10) League of American Orchestras Information Brief: September 2010

(9-9-10) In a blog post for the Chicago Tribune, reporters Mark Caro, Julie Keller, and Greg Kot begin to answer the question: "What happens to the arts now?" The post is an outline of Daley's successes, the lauded and the controversial, and features input from members of the city's arts community who will soon be down "one very powerful arts advocate." Of Daley, the reporters note: "The mayor soon to climb out of that saddle is a prosaic but privately romantic man who prefers artists to aldermen and is willing to publically assert that the story of a city isn't told by politicians,

(9-8-10) MetLife Foundation and Theatre Communications Group (TCG) announce the third round of recipients for the A-ha! Program: Think It, Do It, which encourages TCG member theatres to think and act creatively. Six theatres were awarded grants, totaling $225,000, to either research and develop new production ideas or experiment and implement innovative concepts in the theatre field. The total award amount is a 50 percent increase from last year’s total of $150,000.

(9-8-10) The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announced today that Michael Killoren will join the NEA as the director of Local Arts Agencies and Challenge America Fast Track. Mr. Killoren will manage NEA's grantmaking for these two programs as well as develop partnerships to advance the local arts agency field as a whole. He will begin his work on October 12, 2010.

(9-8-10) Chicago-based artist Theaster Gates and Ute Zimmermann of GIA member organization Artadia have completed their meals and, likewise, their stints as GIA guest bloggers. But the table remains set, bottles of wine unopened.

Treating blog posts as meal prep and table talk, Theaster and Ute have crafted an engrossing conversation on the artist-funder relationship.

(9-8-2010) Although I was flattered and my kids wrote they were proud of me on their Facebook pages (this is the greatest accomplishment for parents these days), I had to smile at the irony of Barry’s Blog about the 2010 most influential nonprofit arts administrators. Most of the top ten folks work for national organizations or have national agendas or constituencies.