{"id":1034,"date":"2007-04-16T08:43:45","date_gmt":"2007-04-16T15:43:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp\/2007\/04\/same_basket_fewer_eggs\/"},"modified":"2007-04-16T08:43:45","modified_gmt":"2007-04-16T15:43:45","slug":"same_basket_fewer_eggs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/main\/same_basket_fewer_eggs.php","title":{"rendered":"Same basket, fewer eggs"},"content":{"rendered":"

In response to a troubled city, and what appears to be a desire to consolidate governance, the Heinz Endowments announced last month that they were refocusing their giving strategy<\/a> in Pittsburgh, and shifting their significant resources into fewer causes.<\/p>\n

The three ”big bets” that will receive 30 percent of Endowment giving over the next five years are public school reform, downtown real estate development, and economic development projects combining technological innovation with a concern for the environment. The new focus will inevitably mean that many annual grantees will see lower checks in the next five years, or no checks at all.<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh literary critic Bob Hoover<\/a> flags the fact that the arts are not<\/i> directly listed among the ”big bets,” despite a history of significant giving from the Endowments to the arts downtown. He worries that the loss of contributed support will compound the population loss and audience exodus already underway:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Our major writers took their inspiration from a city that encouraged their imagination with its crowded streets of people from different cultures, its classical educational system, its pride in the Carnegie Institute and Library and the industrial wealth that supported the arts….<\/p>\n

We’re at a crossroads, and it seems to lead out of town. The third piece of bad news might be that our artists will be taking the next bus to somewhere else. <\/p>\n

<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Pittsburgh and the Heinz Endowments have spent serious resources over the past decades on building and sustaining the city’s vitality through the arts. The new focus suggests that the emerging ”theory of change” doesn’t directly include the arts in the top three levers to be pulled.<\/p>\n

\nADDENDUM (4\/19\/07): The thoughtful comments to this post by John Federico and the Heinz Endowment’s Janet Sarbaugh underscore that this is a complex issue, and that Heinz giving to the arts, especially downtown, advances at least two of the three new ”big bets” identified by the Endowments. That said, redirecting 30 percent of resources means that some<\/i> traditional recipients of Heinz support will be left with an empty hat next year. It will be interesting to see who that is.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In response to a troubled city, and what appears to be a desire to consolidate governance, the Heinz Endowments announced last month that they were refocusing their giving strategy in Pittsburgh, and shifting their significant resources into fewer causes. The three ”big bets” that will receive 30 percent of Endowment giving over the next five […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1034","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1034\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}