Funders Statements

"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.

For the Mellon Foundation's 2020 annual report, the foundation's president Elizabeth Alexander reflects on how Mellon moved through the past year's challenges due "to the institutional analysis in which we already had been engaged, examining and reframing our mission and values within a new strategic direction and rigorously clarifying which problems we were trying to solve with our grantmaking."

Grantmakers in the Arts joins a community statement from Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta & Georgia NAACP in response to violence against Asian American communities and as we grieve the tragedy on March 16, in which eight people, including six Asian women, were killed at three spas.

A group of philanthropic organizations signed a joint letter condemning the violence that unfolded January 6 as a pro-Trump mob stormed the US Capitol.

"When it comes to racial bias, you either participate in it actively or through silence, or you use your power and privilege to dismantle it. Each day you make this choice – when you serve as a juror, when you call the police or see someone else call and when and for whom you vote. If oppression happens, then we are allowing it to happen and we are all in the position to stop it."

   Download this letter as a .pdf (90Kb)

Dear colleagues,

I’m sending this letter now to rally the arts funding community during this difficult moment to not only react to crisis but also to be sure we treat this as moment to create our desired future. I write this letter as a follow up to the Grantmakers in the Arts webinar, COVID19 and the arts ecosystem and a pre-amble to ongoing programming throughout the year that will highlight examples of inspiring work that is happening now and of the future we can all create together.

Lisa Pilar Cowan, vice president of the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation, shared recently how the foundation has started to take action in light of the ongoing impact of the coronavirus "to reflect where we are – off a cliff."

The federal administration’s proposed fiscal year (FY) 2021 budget, released on Monday, would eliminate funding for the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, as Americans for the Arts informed.

In a video series "Further Together: Helping artists thrive," the Kenneth Rainin Foundation moves forward equity conversations for a better philanthropic field as it asked its leaders to look to the future.

After funding loss, the Alaska State Council on the Arts closed its doors Monday July 15.  In a recent communication, Grantmakers in the Arts expressed its support of Alaska State Council on the Arts (ASCA) and encouraged the state legislature and Governor’s office to restore the agency at prior funding levels in FY 2021. With … Continue reading Grantmakers in the Arts’ Response to Alaska Arts Council Funding Veto →