Private Foundation

We just returned from yet another community gathering where arts leaders sought the support of their business and civic counterparts by documenting the "economic impact" of arts spending and employment in their region.

2000, 77 pages. NEA, 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C., 20506-0001, 202-682-5400.

In 1999, Bill Ivey, as a part of his reevaluation of the NEA's funding strategies, convened a series of ten colloquia to discuss how arts institutions can more effectively serve their communities. Forty-one speakers participated; about half are well-known to GIA members and the other half included experts from intersecting fields such as advertising, entertainment, Internet services, and charitable gift funds.

2002, 64 pages. Museum Loan Network, MIT, 265 Massachusetts Avenue, N52-401, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307, 617-252-1888, fax: 617-252-1899, loanet@mit-edu.

April 28-30, 2002, Asheville, North Carolina

March 6-8, 2002, Washington, D.C.

April 17-21, 2002, Lexington, Kentucky

• A bilingual play brings together migrant workers and immigrant rights activists in a pointed comedy portraying communications and miscommunications among Anglos and Spanish-speaking peoples living in and working in one community today.

• An African American theater company performs a rollicking — but serious — romp through the cultural changes from Motown to hip-hop, from soul food to vegan, from post-60s to post-modern America.

"The arts enrich society in so many ways.
They are a civilizing force — as essential
over time as adequate housing or a cleaner
environment or other compelling causes.
Art is surely the grandest expression of our
creativity and is our most lasting legacy.
People are transient. But art is forever.”
- John H. Bryan

If “the past is prologue” then the history of Sara Lee Corporation bears telling. It is a testament to corporate leadership over the years and the impact of Sara Lee's CEOs, past and present, not only on a company, but on the city of Chicago.

2001, 80 pages, $7.00. Dance/USA, Washington, DC, 1156 15th Street, N.W., Suite 820, Washington, D.C. 20005-1704, 202-833-1717, danceusa@danceusa.org.

2001-2002, 51 pages. Witter Bynner Foundation for Poetry, P.O. Box 10169, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87504, 505-988-3251.

The Reader rarely reviews foundations' annual reports, but makes exceptions on occasion — in this case for the Witter Bynner Foundation for Poetry's reaching its 30th year of grantmaking. The handsome 2001 Witter Bynner commemorative report is engaging to read, and presents grant descriptions alongside poems by supported writers, presses, students, and presenting programs.

Fall 2001, $15 per year, 80 pages. Published by the MIT Press for the Society for Organizational Learning. MIT Press Journals, Five Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142, 617-253-2889, journals-orders@mit.edu. Society for Organizational Learning, contact@SoLonline.org.

I rarely pick up books or journals about business management, but my trusted co-editor suggested Reflections to me on the grounds that several GIA members have forwarded intriguing articles from its pages. I decided to take the plunge.