Blog Posts for Funding

Thank you to the many people who have been blog contributors to, and readers of ArtsBlog over the years. ArtsBlog has long been a space where we uplifted stories from the field that demonstrated how the arts strengthen our communities socially, educationally, and economically; where trends and issues and controversies were called out; and advocacy tools were provided to help you make the case for more arts funding and favorable arts policies.

As part of Americans for the Arts’ recent Strategic Realignment Process, we were asked to evaluate our storytelling communications platforms and evolve the way we share content. As a result, we launched the Designing Our Destiny portal to explore new ways of telling stories and sharing information, one that is consistent with our longtime practice of, “No numbers without a story, and no stories without a number.”

As we put our energy into developing this platform and reevaluate our communications strategies, we have put ArtsBlog on hold. That is, you can read past blog posts, but we are not posting new ones. You can look to the Designing Our Destiny portal and our news items feed on the Americans for the Arts website for stories you would have seen in ArtsBlog in the past.

ArtsBlog will remain online through this year as we determine the best way to archive this valuable resource and the knowledge you’ve shared here.

As ever, we are grateful for your participation in ArtsBlog and thank you for your work in advancing the arts. It is important, and you are important for doing it.

Trend or Tipping Point: Arts & Social Change Grantmaking

Summary: 

Findings based on 228 grantmaker survey responses and 32 interviews suggest that arts and social change philanthropy is an emerging field and therefore still very much evolving. However, there is a wider range and a larger number of grantmakers supporting arts for change in some way than has been generally recognized. Focusing on grantmaking in the United States, the report characterizes the nature of support from both private and public sectors, examining how grantmakers think about social change in the context of agency goals and what outcomes they are looking for through their support....

Compton Foundation Art as a Strategy for Change

Summary: 

The Compton Foundation supports the arts, including individual artists and filmmakers, with the explicit intention of amplifying critical issues in a way that blends the personal, political, emotional, and intellectual. It makes these grants based on a recently updated mission statement that recognizes “courageous storytelling” as a powerful strategy for “inspiring action toward a peaceful, just, sustainable future.” The family foundation, launched in 1949 and long focused on issues of peace, the environment, and women’s reproductive rights and justice, awards...

East Bay Community Foundation Weaving Artists into Community Fabric

Summary: 

The East Bay Community Foundation (EBCF) makes grants to artists and artist-centered nonprofits to assure that East Bay’s multi-cultural, multi-racial artists have the resources they need to advance their community-based practices, tackle social issues, and give back to local audiences. The foundation’s arts grantmaking of close to $250,000 is drawn from three donor-supported funds that, despite separate awards processes, work synergistically to advance art that grows out of and impacts the East Bay community. The Macpherson Fund for Small Arts Organizations, an endowed fund,...

Lambent Foundation: Art. Culture. Justice.

Summary: 

Read about how the Lambent Foundation leverages the critical role of arts and culture at the intersection of social justice. Through its grantmaking and creative programs, Lambent explores the impact of contemporary art as a strategy for promoting sustainable cultural practices in New York City, New Orleans, and Nairobi. Learn more about the Foundation’s current work and Executive Director Michelle Coffey’s vision for the future in this paper and podcast interview by Ann McQueen.

The J.W. McConnell Family Foundation: Inclusion. Sustainability. Resilience. Innovation.

Summary: 

The J.W. McConnell Family Foundation, based in Montreal and funding throughout Canada, supports what it calls socially engaged arts—arts organizations and activities that build bridges between culture and community—as a way to realize its vision of “a Canada where all people feel a sense of belonging and contribute as active citizens to improving the well-being of all.” The foundation’s most recent initiative focused on arts-based social inclusion owes much to what it learned from ArtsSmarts, an arts-infused learning program launched at...

The Fledgling Fund: Inspiring a Better World Through Film

Summary: 

The Fledgling Fund, a private foundation launched in 2005, seeks to “inspire a better world” by supporting the work of documentary filmmakers and building the evolving field of social issue documentary film and media.  It believes in the power of film to engage communities in timely issues and focuses its grantmaking on supporting filmmakers’ outreach and engagement efforts, helping them build awareness, strengthen movements, inform decisions, and even impact policy.  While all the films it supports address...

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