Adding up the elements of arts leadership in Los Angeles…

Growing visibility for the California Community Foundation

For more than 20 years, California Community Foundation has been an agent for the arts in multiple dimensions across Los Angeles County. This spring, staff realized the time had come to pull the strands of activity together and allow a holistic look at the leadership this organization is bringing to one of the nation’s most vibrant arts sectors.

It’s an impressive picture, beautifully presented. Read more »

Helping arts donors feel at home…

House concerts raise money and build relationships in Mendocino County.

Supporting arts in schools is a hot topic in communities everywhere, especially as economic woes continue to affect school budgets. The Community Foundation of Mendocino County took on this issue in a high-touch way, organizing a series of intimate concerts hosted in the homes of board members or arts boosters. Read more »

Small community foundation. Big arts gift.

Placer Community Foundation receives $1 million for arts

Two things might be essential for younger or smaller community foundations that seek to attract the attention—and the resources—of major arts donors. One is a visible commitment to arts and culture. The other is the courage to dream big.

These are the takeaways from a homegrown arts story in Placer County. Read more »

New catalog highlights Fellowships for Visual Artists

California Community Foundation is changing the artistic face of Los Angeles

For a winning example of how a community foundation supports individual artists, look to L.A.  Since 1988 the California Community Foundation has awarded nearly $1 million to 157 emerging and midcareer artists through its Fellowships for Visual Artists. Read more »

What’s drawing the interest of California arts funders?

Scan sheds light on scale and trends in arts grantmaking

The best local arts strategies are informed by knowledge of the larger arts funding landscape. That’s the premise of a project initiated by and for the nine community foundations engaged in Irvine’s Communities Advancing the Arts initiative. Read more »

An Arts philanthropist’s bold action has community-wide impact

ArtPrize supports culture, education and economics in Grand Rapids

One “little art experiment” has turned into a prime example of how philanthropy and arts can have seemingly limitless positive effects on a community – drawing praise from school children and senior citizens, from business and government leaders, and from individual artists as well as major arts institutions.  This big success, not yet two years old, is already being replicated in Chicago, and is drawing interest from community arts leaders around the world. Read more »

Going deeper: New study of thousands of arts donors uncovers values and reasons to give

Bay area research shines a light on donor motivations

Here is an interesting question: What causes people to support artists and artist-driven projects? Behind it is an essential question for communities that seek to nurture vibrant arts sectors: How can artists, as well as the small arts organizations they lead, engage new donors? Read more »

Looking for a good number of new donors to the arts? Try 3,120.

Bay Area Fund For Artists Matching Commissions Program (originally posted April 21, 2008, updated December 7, 2010)

Community foundations take heart: new arts donors are out there. They may just be waiting to be asked—by the artists themselves! A pilot program launched in 2004 challenged smaller arts nonprofits in and around Oakland to attract individual donors. It worked, and has been expanded to support individual artists and small- to mid-size arts groups throughout the Bay Area. Read more »

Last in a series on public policy, arts and community foundations…

A Capitol event: connecting with elected officials

California’s nonprofit arts organizations add $5.4 billion to the state’s economy annually, creating more than 160,000 jobs and generating nearly $300 million in state and local taxes. This message that arts are part of the solution—and part of the creative economy— set the stage for a spring legislative reception in Sacramento. Read more »

Second in a series on public policy, arts and community foundations…

A mayor can make a world of difference

San Francisco Mayor Christopher’s action to enact a hotel tax to support the arts nearly 50 years ago is mirrored in Sacramento today via Mayor Kevin Johnson. Motivated by his life-long respect for the arts, and inspired by a community foundation event featuring Michael Kaiser, president of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Mayor Johnson has boldly asserted the importance of arts as one of the primary planks in his platform for elevating Sacramento to the status of a world-class city. Read more »