As cities increasingly use data to help shape policy and identify service gaps, what does this mean for arts and culture? The topic often generates skepticism around identifying metrics that capture the impact of the arts. But as the creative sector continues to emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic, data will be increasingly critical to shape policy, establish more equitable and inclusive practices, and affirm the importance of arts and culture as a public service well into the future.

Bloomberg Associates, the philanthropic municipal consulting arm of Bloomberg Philanthropies, recently released a new resource that offers insights and practical tips for cities to collect and use data about their arts and cultural sectors. The free guide, Arts Data in the Public Sector: Strategies for Local Arts Agencies, summarizes findings from extensive sector research and an in-depth analysis of data practices of 15 local arts agencies across the country. Through best practices and case studies, the guide aims to help city arts leaders use data to show measurable impact, identify priority policy areas, and promote access to the arts across communities.

You can download the free guide here and read more in a blog post here.

In addition, Bloomberg Associates will host a webinar in January discussing the guide and some of the key case studies. More details to come in the new year!

Grantmakers in the Arts is seeking a Communications Manager to join its team in New York, NY. Responsibilities include the development of communication plans for GIA programs and information dissemination, including coordination of information from members and national partners. Further responsibilities include oversight and promotion of GIA’s communication platforms, including website; news feed; social media; weekly member bulletin; and blogs. Full details and application are here.

Sharnita C. Johnson, chair-elect of Grantmakers in the Arts Board, has been chosen as a winner of the 2021 Knight Arts Challenge in Detroit! .

“The arts have played a pivotal role in telling Detroit’s story,” Johnson says of the opportunity. “John S. and James L. Knight Foundation support will help to bring the project, ‘Reimagining a Legacy through the Arts and Technology,’ to life.” Read about Johnson’s project here.

Image: Jean Melesaine

Freedom is – always has been – in jeopardy, as so patently signal the continuing cultural wars that are being so fiercely contested, so intensive and damning.

In the middle of that war, money is used to destroy language, culture, history, religion, so identifying and naming are essential, argues Marta Moreno Vega, especially the naming of racial realities and the processes of erasure and diminishing expectations in Puerto Rico, and the dislocation of African American experiences. It is essential to develop a narrative that contains the island as a whole, not that eludes it. As an “artivist” Celso Gonzalez Quiñones has battled what he terms the “colonial nature in our navel” and the scarcity of financial possibilities for artists.

As an artist from the “outside” of traditional circles, he has witnessed how the thirst for money is real, and the end result is that oftentimes it is awarded to cliques.

Artists, he says, are pleading for communication from understanding grant givers and donors to get access to means of production. That would ensure that, as Moreno Vega says, “our voices won’t be stifled.”

He vouches for “projects that decolonize” by restructuring the funding, and awarding artists or organizations for periods of 8 to 10 years, thus assuring the completion of worthwhile projects that at present run the risk of never being started or completed, thus erasing the possibility of valuable art from the island. “Perpetuating colonization in art or life is unacceptable,” he asserts.

In terms of grantmaking, Marta Moreno Vega noted “grantmakers have a very particular role to play in making
 sure that our democracy stands. When we say “democracy”
, I’m not talking about politics But the freedom
 of artists to express their points of view to be
 critical of what is happening in the world.”

As Gloriann Sacha Antonetty Lebrón said, “If we don’t invest in our artists and art institutions
 – that are safe places, that are critical
 spaces to protect the voice of our people- then what are we doing?”