Community Engagement

Leveraging The Growing Influence & Inclusion Of Giving Circles

Published Mon, Apr 23, 18 at 9:36 am | Updated Mon, Apr 23, 18 at 9:37 am by Joe Patti

I wrote about Giving Circles on my personal blog last June, noting that the number of Giving Circles in the U.S. is growing. The appeal of this form of philanthropy is that it that the structure, criteria, participation, mission, etc are adaptable to the needs of your particular group. Inside Philanthropy has noted that the composition of Giving Circles are also more diverse than institutional funding organizations. As giving circles grow, they engage more people often left out of institutional philanthropy—especially women and people of color. Of the giving circles surveyed, 60 … Read more

Audience Diversity Is Not A Fad

Published Mon, Feb 26, 18 at 2:00 am | Updated Sun, Feb 25, 18 at 7:33 pm by Ceci Dadisman

Over the course of the year, I will be creating a series of posts on the topic of audience diversity. This incredibly important topic has become more and more important to me over the past few years. With the US population becoming more and more diverse and our “traditional” audiences dwindling, arts organizations simply must make a concerted effort to engage with multicultural populations in the communities they serve. We know from multiple national data sets as well as our own internal data (anecdotal and scientific) that the patrons of most arts … Read more

Evaluation Of The Arts By The Arts

Published Wed, Aug 30, 17 at 1:58 pm by Joe Patti

Arts organizations are asked to create dozens of reports every year evaluating their programs to justify the funding they receive so you probably aren’t inclined to embark on an additional self-evaluation of their own. However, the group, IETM – International network for contemporary performing arts, recently issued a self-evaluation tool kit specifically designed for arts organizations with the goal of empowering groups to take control of the evaluation narrative. IETM say that many funders employ criteria that suits their own agenda, or perhaps to justify their existence, and may either misrepresent or … Read more