For several years, Grantmakers in the Arts (GIA) members who support individual artists have noted the lack of sector-wide data on artist support, the lack of a common taxonomy to explain the different forms of artist support, and the lack of benchmark data to track artist support over time. Recognizing that this is a complex 

picture and that support comes in many forms and from diverse sources, GIA has developed a taxonomy that permits comprehensive, systematic tracking of support to individual artists.