Funding Research

The beautifully-restored Southern Theater in Columbus, Ohio served as classroom May 5 and 6, 2000 for "Going Global: Negotiating the Maze of Cultural Interactions," the fourth Barnett Arts and Public Policy Symposium hosted by the Ohio State University College of the Arts and the Ohio Arts Council. The two-day symposium is named for Lawrence and Isabel Barnett who established the Barnett Endowment at OSU, which funds the biennial symposium.

How can the arts promote positive social change? That's what the staff and board of the Kentucky Foundation for Women wanted to find out. We thought we knew. Or at least we thought we had a pretty good idea. After all, our mission is to promote positive social change through varied feminist expression in the arts, and we have been around for fifteen years.

A diverse group of grantmakers from Oregon and Western Washington who support arts and culture gathered in Seattle on February 25, hosted by the Pacific Northwest Grantmakers Forum and GIA. Participants represented large and small grantmakers and reflected the giving of families and corporations, as well as nonprofit and public grantmakers.

The Philadelphia arts sector has been a hotbed of activity recently, on both a political and civic level, with some exciting developments underway as well as some new challenges. Last November, the city elected a new mayor — John F. Street, former city council president during the Rendell administration. Philadelphians had enjoyed broad support of the arts from former Mayor Edward Rendell, who was especially tuned into its economic impact. Mr.

The need to better understand and articulate the broad societal value of arts and culture is at the heart of a discussion among a growing circle of arts grantmakers and scholars in the U.S.

I have had, with my friend Wes Jackson, a number of useful conversations about the necessity of getting out of movements — even movements that have seemed necessary and dear to us — when they have lapsed into self-righteousness and self-betrayal, as movements seem almost invariably to do. People in movements too readily learn to deny to others the rights and privileges they demand for themselves. They too easily become unable to mean their own language, as when a “peace movement” becomes violent.

Attending arts events is exhilarating, inspiring, and full of meaning. For years I've wished more people could have that experience. Why don't more people enjoy and appreciate the work that means so much to me? It's not just those who have different values, but people who are similar, with the same educational and demographic attributes — even members of my own family. If I can't convince them to become active participants, who can I convince?

1999, 316 pages, $22.50 (softcover); New York University Press, New York and London

One summer weekend several years ago, the psychiatrist husband of a dear friend of mine remarked over the dinner table how emotionally healthy his two weekend guests were. "We've taken you through all sorts of things you've never done before, and you've leaped into everything with no fear. You take risks and cope with whatever happens, whether good or bad. It's so impressive!" We looked at him over the tops of our wine glasses and said, "Oh, this is so sad. You've been with sick people for way too long."

November 1999, 98 pages, developed in cooperation with the Arts Education Partnership and the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities, funded by the G.E. Fund and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.