The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has just announced that it's grant-making will focus entirely on issues related to social justice. Elizabeth Alexander, President of the Foundation, said that their concern will be "Who haven’t we reached? Who haven’t we supported? Who hasn’t felt Mellon was interested in their work?" Here is link to the Artnet article that brought this to my attention: … [Read more...]
Justice
It's time (well past time) for old white guys to shut up and to highlight People of Color speaking for themselves about the natural outrage that's all around us. Each of the following references are a exceprts from gifted writers. (But please read all of each article.) New York Times columnist Charles Blow: The Destructive Power of Despair It is exceedingly dangerous to assume that oppression and pain can be inflicted without consequence, to … [Read more...]
What Comes Next? IV
The post-pandemic world will be different, probably in significant ways. We have no idea what those ways will be. There may not be a political reckoning as the result of any heightened awareness of inequality and injustice that this crisis has highlighted. I don't expect violent social unrest. (See What Comes Next? I, II, and III.) But I am not the only one imagining the possibility of big changes. Michelle Goldberg, a New York Times columnist … [Read more...]
What Comes Next? III
If we as a nation come out of the pandemic with a heightened awareness of and reaction to profound economic inequality and the systemic injustice in which it is rooted, it could be that the arts are in for a difficult time. As I wrote in my last post: In the minds of many, we are closely associated with the economic and social "elite." This may bode ill for our organizations. This association is as old as the U.S. I was first made aware of the … [Read more...]
What Comes Next? II
Throughout its history, one of the safety valves for our nation has been a broadly held belief in the "American Dream"–the idea that anyone can rise from nothing to great success. Let's acknowledge that this has never been actually true. Poverty, discrimination, and a host of other social ills have meant that the actual percentage of people for whom that dream was possible was small. However, belief in it has been pervasive among a large section … [Read more...]
What Comes Next?
We are all (or maybe I should say most of us are) overcome with unanswerable questions. COVID-19 dominates our thinking and has drastically altered our lives. We are faced with impenetrable uncertainty about what comes next . . . and when it will come. This is true for us as individuals. And while it may be difficult to focus too much on the fact, it is also true for our arts organizations. In both cases, whatever the new normal will be will … [Read more...]
New Year’s Manifesto
The New Year seems to be a good time to try to set down some of my basic thoughts about the need for and the path to effective community engagement. As often happens on this blog, this is a very rough first draft. Refinements will follow. Whereas The environment that nurtured the development of the nonprofit arts industry has changed radically. The sum of these changes create an existential threat to the future of that … [Read more...]
Response to The Chasm of Disbelief
The following is an incredibly thoughtful response written by Carter Gilles to my post The Chasm of Disbelief. I am particularly grateful to him for pointing out the important role that doing the arts, participating in the arts, can play in overcoming disbelief. Once again, thanks Carter! Doug Borwick The idea that ‘the arts are not valuable’ is not simply a statement in isolation but the conclusion from a larger point of view. The … [Read more...]
Mission Creep??!!
A colleague recently shared that when they advocate for community engagement in their organization they get pushback about "mission creep." Mission creep??!! If connecting the arts with communities is not an arts organization's mission, what is it?! I know, I know. There is an assumption (conscious or otherwise) on some people's part that arts organizations owe their allegiance to the art they present. I will spare long-time readers (and … [Read more...]
Donor Myopia
In Grass Is Greener? I recounted discoveries about arts organizations with adequate or more-than-adequate government funding. They face problems that might surprise those of us working in the arts in the U.S. And more to the point of this post, my colleagues in South America and Australia were envious of the ability we have to tap private money–individuals, corporations, and foundations. In that earlier post I promised a consideration of the … [Read more...]