Though this is a book about a specific orchestra in a particular city, it contains lessons for arts organizations and nonprofits in many fields. It is also directed at the funders that support them. This is a challenging time for the nonprofit sector, especially symphony orchestras. But it is also a time of great opportunity for innovation and experimentation. The authors are impressed by the many examples of nonprofit institutions that are redefining what it means to be central to those who live in their communities. They applaud the many leaders — professional and volunteer, artistic and administrative — that make innovation and excellence possible. (PDF of text available — scroll down list of other books available.)
Arts Funding
The Search for Shining Eyes: Audiences, Leadership and Change in the Symphony Orchestra Field
From 1994 to 2004 — a seminal decade for the arts in America — the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation invested $13 million in its Magic of Music Symphony Orchestra Initiative. This commissioned history by Dr. Thomas Wolf offers not just a chronology of the program, it identifies significant lessons for funders and for orchestras. Those insights extend to other nonprofit arts organizations as well. The Search for Shining Eyes tries to reach beyond the Knight Foundation family and the small pool of orchestras that participated to capitalize on one of the most valuable roles foundations can play — to serve as a lasting laboratory for learning.
Signs of Progress Are Evident Despite Budget Cuts (in Arts Ed)
Janet Eilber, the artistic director of the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance who serves as advisor for Arts Education in the News, writes an article about arts education information and trends in May of 2008.
Embracing Diversity: Foundation Giving Benefiting California’s Communities of Color
A report the Foundation Center just released, commissioned by the California Regional Associations of Grantmakers (Northern California Grantmakers, Southern California Grantmakers, and San Diego Grantmakers), provides a comprehensive estimate of the extent to which communities of color are being served by foundation giving in California. The analysis of grantmaking by 50 of the state’s largest independent foundations finds that at least 39 percent of California-focused grants benefited populations of color.
According to the report, Embracing Diversity: Foundation Giving Benefiting California’s Communities of Color, in 2005 alone, these 50 California-based foundations awarded a minimum of 2,700 grants totaling nearly $300 million to support health, education, social services, and other programs that serve ethnically or racially diverse populations. In addition, 10-year trends show that giving benefiting these populations grew nearly twice as fast as overall giving between 1996 and 2005.
2007 National Survey of Business Support to the Arts
Business support to the arts totaled $3.16 billion in 2006 according to the tri-ennial national survey released by the Business Committee for the Arts, Inc. (BCA), a national nonprofit organization established in 1967 to bring business and the arts together. Titled The BCA Report: National Survey of Business Support to the Arts 2007, this survey revealed a 5% decline in support in comparison to the $3.32 billion business allocated to the arts in 2003.
To find more information about this survey (including a summary of major conclusions) and instructions on how to order, see the BCA’s website at www.bcainc.org. Executive summary is $10; full report is $125.
Business Support to Theatres
Theatre Facts 2007, published by Theatre Communications Groups, reports that business support of theatres was at its second highest level in 2007. The average theatre went from receiving support from 31 businesses in 2003 to 34 businesses in 2007. Roughly 13% of business grants to theatres support education programs.
