Public Agency

Two related sessions at grantmaking conferences last fall addressed important questions concerning the relationship of art, culture, and the environment. In each case, funders sought practical information about creative collaboration and successful cross-sector funding. Whether labeled "arts" or "environment" funders, grantmakers craved creative ways to attract new partners — both individuals and organizations — to their work.

April 2001, 96 pages. The Urban Institute, 2100 M Street N.W., Washington, D.C. 20037 (202) 833-0687

2003, 336 pages, Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer, 989 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94103

2002, 8-page executive summary. The Chicago Community Trust, 111 East Wacker Drive, Suite 1400, Chicago, Illinois 60601, (312) 372-3356

The Chicago Community Trust, interested in making its arts education grantmaking more focused and effective, decided to get a clearer picture of what was happening in the Chicago Public Schools and in the process created a methodology and reporting format that could easily be adapted for use in other communities.

2000, 47 pages. Council of Europe Publishing, Cultural Policies Research and Development Unit, (33) 03 88 41 25 81

2002, 71 pages. RMC Research Corporation in partnership with the Pew Charitable Trusts. Available through the Center for Arts and Culture, Suite 500, 819 Seventy St., N.W., Washington, DC 20001, 202-783-4498.

Each of the following Web sites is located somewhere on a continuum between the state of the union and the state of the arts.

The Web is a particularly effective medium for creating visual diagrams of events and practices from daily life. According to Paul Miller, one site's creator, we live in a "world of uncertainty." Each of the following sites, in its own way, diagrams an aspect of our uncertain world.

The first site delineates the historical context for current Web projects.

Cultural Diplomacy Initiative

A labor of love for individuals committed to the significance and potential of media, Why FUND Media is a timely and worthy follow-up to a 1984 publication by the Council on Foundations titled How to Fund Media. Editor Karen Hirsch seamlessly brings together a series of separate chapters written by media arts experts who've based their chapter essays on extensive consultations with field representatives and grantmakers, and on historical research.

Targeted marketing is extremely effective. It uses psychological and purchasing-pattern analysis to divide the population into groups likely to make certain decisions. It then targets those groups with messages that reinforce previous beliefs and, if possible, creates barriers through psychological pressure to stay within certain social, style, and consumption boundaries. The result is a society of many lifestyles, each with boundaries carefully drawn and reinforced.