Displaying items by tag: grantmaking

Last spring, some heavy lifting in the California Legislature produced a budget bill that gave state arts funding its first legislated boost in more than a decade, albeit a modest one.

California taxpayers’ investment in the California Arts Council, the state’s grantmaking agency for nonprofit arts organizations and public school arts education, rose from $1 million to $6 million.

But Gov. Jerry Brown’s budget proposal for the coming 2015-16 year puts advocates of arts spending back at the bottom of the hill. His spending plan gives the arts council just $1.1 million from the tax-fed general fund.

The lineup of scheduled “Dialogues” for this year’s edition of EXPO Chicago, which runs September 18–21 at Navy Pier, touches on virtually every corner of the art market, from grant-making at charitable foundations and the changing nature of collecting, to the history and importance of performance art, photography, and public art.

First up on the schedule for Friday September 19, is a conversation between Elizabeth Smith, the executive director of the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Joel Wachs, president of the Andy Warhol Foundation, and Christy MacLear, executive director of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation. They will discuss their respective foundations’ initiatives, including grant-making activities and legacy programs.