Grantmakers in the Arts

Last month, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, along with Omidyar Network, announced more than $40 million in grants to support the establishment of multidisciplinary academic centers dedicated to reimagining the relationships among markets, governments, and people. "At a time when conventional economic prescriptions are failing and democratic governance is threatened around the world, scholars at leading academic institutions will investigate how economies should work in the 21st century and the aims they should serve," the Foundation stated in their announcement.

"The Apprenticeships for Leaders in Mosaic Arts (ALMA) Summer Institute is a paid apprenticeship for youth ages 16 to 24 to create permanent handmade tile mosaic murals in public spaces across Albuquerque," reports Erica Sweeney in Next City.

"Chicago’s creative vitality is worth celebrating, but we must acknowledge that support for the arts and culture sector has not been distributed equitably across the city’s geographies or populations. With this in mind, in 2019 MacArthur announced a new approach called Culture, Equity, and the Arts (CEA), through which we directly support organizations with annual budgets of $2 million and above," Geoffrey Banks, senior program officer, Chicago Commitment, shares a new, more equity-centered approach for our funding to small and medium sized arts and culture organizations.

Playwright Lynn Nottage, director Kate Whoriskey, and Ford Foundation president Darren Walker gather for a conversation about a new production, "Clyde's," at Second Stage Theater. Supported by the Art for Justice Fund, with the goal of ending mass incarceration and underlying racial bias through art and advocacy, "Clyde's" shines a needed light on the importance of 'fair chance' employment opportunities to empower people to rebuild their lives who are returning home from prison face many challenges and this play.

For our March 2022 Member Spotlight, we feature Art Matters and their Artist2Artist program, piloted in 2021, where grant recipients — artists — act as grantmakers. There were no applications, no panel, and the Board held no veto power beyond familial conflicts of interest. This evolving horizontal model of granting was created to affirm artists’ specialized knowledge of their communities and reduce the labor typically required for artists to access funding for their practices.

“Due to historical inequalities, young people of color embarking on an art museum career are less likely to have families that can fund their unpaid internships or volunteer work. Done right, these types of early training opportunities help ensure that candidates of color will join the pipeline of museum professionals,” proposes Lisa M. Strong, director of the Art and Museum Studies MA Program and professor of the Practice, Georgetown University in the newsletter, The Conversation.

As part of their February spotlight on land, wealth, and ownership, Common Future shares a series of pieces drawing reflections on the legacies of land, wealth, and culture theft and cataloging actions by BIPOC communities in response. "The loss of land not only results in stripping financial wealth from families, but cultural wealth as well," Jennie Stephens, executive director of the Center for Heirs’ Property Preservation and Common Future network leader emphasizes. “It’s far more than just a parcel of land — it can be a window to the past that tells the story of a family, a community, or a way of life. Knowing about your family’s history and culture creates a sense of place and belonging.”

GIA is sharing this blog post to as in introduction to the collaborative Racial Equity Coding Project being led by Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF) with Callahan Consulting for the Arts (CCA) and a cross section of grantmakers nation-wide.

We believe that what we count counts. GIA is participating in the Racial Equity Coding Project, the culmination of research led by Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF) with Callahan Consulting for the Arts (CCA), for just this reason.

This pandemic and the ongoing murders of Black people by the state has made eminently visible a crisis as old as the nation itself – structural racism. Our national grantmaking field has used this historic moment to increase support to Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities, as we should. With that said however, the national grantmaking field is already expressing some ambivalence about maintaining these changes going forward.