Libraries and museums in communities across the country are expanding learning opportunities that prepare our youngest children for a lifetime of learning and success.
New Report Offers Lessons for Philanthropic Field to Keep Up with Changing Face of America
The face of America is changing. Between 2000 and 2010, the population of the American South grew by 14%—and the Latino population in the South grew by 57%. One in five Americans have a disability. Fifty-seven percent of college graduates are women. Same-sex couples live in 93% of counties in the US.
How can the philanthropic field increase its diversity, advance equity, and improve its inclusiveness to keep up with these trends? D5—a five-year effort to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion in philanthropy—examines this question in its annual “State of the Work” report.
Complete report: http://www.d5coalition.org/tools/state-of-the-work-2013/
Every Artist Insured: Understanding the New Health Care Law
Since its inception, the Artists Health Insurance Resource Center (AHIRC) has had a single mission: to help all artists in this country get quality affordable insurance for themselves and their families. “This booklet is a clear explanation in a simple question and answer format of the most significant programs and reforms within the law, with special emphasis on those that directly impact the lives of artists,” states the authors.
Creative Communities: Art Works in Economic Development
Urban and regional planners, elected officials, and other decisionmakers are increasingly focused on what makes places livable. Access to the arts inevitably appears high on that list, but knowledge about how culture and the arts can act as a tool of economic development is sadly lacking. This important sector must be considered not only as a source of amenities or pleasant diversions, but also as a wholly integrated part of local economies. Employing original data produced through both quantitative and qualitative research, Creative Communities provides a greater understanding of how art works as an engine for transforming communities.
Directory of Creative Aging Programs in America
NCCA has launched the first of its kind Directory funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, MetLife Foundation, and The Michelson Foundation. The Directory features arts programs serving older people and includes intergenerational activities in urban, suburban, and rural communities in a variety of settings such as community centers, senior centers, assisted living, adult day care, arts institutions, and libraries.
It is also searchable by an assortment of options such as: location, arts discipline, program setting, and adaptive design, with the goal of enabling older adults to find programs, encouraging arts and aging organizations to find partners, and helping teaching artists to find employment with organizations committed to creative aging in their communities.
A Policy Pathway: Embracing Arts Education to Achieve Title I Goals
How can we improve educational outcomes for low-income students who are often underserved in public schools? This is the challenge to which Title I—a federal funding stream targeting assistance to students from low socioeconomic backgrounds—addresses itself. Schools and districts receiving Title I funds are charged with using these additional resources to supplement their regular education programs, in particular, to support qualifying students’ achievement in English Language Arts and mathematics and parent involvement with schools. A substantial body of research demonstrates that certain forms of arts education can be an asset to schools and districts in achieving these goals.
