Ms. Barbara Schaffer Bacon
Barbara Schaffer Bacon co-directs Animating Democracy, a program of Americans for the Arts that inspires, informs, promotes, and connects arts and culture as potent contributors to community, civic, and social change. Additionally, she contributes to Local Arts Advancement work at Americans for the Arts. Barbara has written, edited, and contributed to many publications including Trend or Tipping Point: Arts & Social Change Grantmaking; Civic Dialogue, Arts & Culture: Findings from Animating Democracy; Case Studies from Animating Democracy; Animating Democracy: The Artistic Imagination as a Force for Civic Dialogue; Fundamentals of Local Arts Management; and The Cultural Planning Work Kit. A consultant in program design and evaluation, Barbara has served as an adviser for state and national arts agencies and private foundations. Barbara previously served as executive director of the Arts Extension Service at the University of Massachusetts. She is president of the Arts Extension Institute, Inc. and a board member for WomenArts. Barbara served for 14 years on the Belchertown, MA School Committee. In 2018, Barbara received the Robert E. Gard Foundation Leadership Award. She currently serves as a member of the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
Americans for the Arts Staff Information
Recent Blog Posts
- Artists, Funders, and Disruption in the Public Realm
- Archive Shout Out: The Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics
- Then and Now: Arts Practice and the Civic Rights Movement
- Rewarding Sustained Attention (from Arts Watch)
- Lessons from Public Funders
- Embracing the Velocity of Change (Part 5)
- Of Karaoke, Older People, and Possibilities (from Arts Watch)
- Community Arts Loses Valuable Resource (from Arts Watch)
- The Third of July: Happy Community Arts Day
- Funding Opportunities from the Rappaport Family Foundation
- Incorporating the Arts in Community Planning (from Arts Watch)