“Remember, this was before TV, and just as radio was getting off the ground. Film productions were novelty shorts in a world of vaudeville and live theatre, musicals, opera, and dance,” said M L Clark for Only Sky Media. “So how did one make money as a creator? Well, in part through royalties off live performance, and in part by selling the music directly, to a market of households that usually had at least one person who could play an instrument or sing. But if someone figured out how to bypass purchasing sheet music, on a mass scale? Well, then they’d be affecting music publishers’ profits, and by extension the artists. How would creators survive, if no one was paying for their work?”

“Sheet music is still a niche industry today, but technology over the last 120 years has routinely required creators (and their capitalists) to rethink how they’ll get paid from making art. In the 1980s, blank audio cassettes gave us homemade mixtapes, and the music industry fought hard against the practice, while radio stations cut over song intros and endings to foil recording attempts. In the 2000s, file-sharing platforms like Napster became the scourge of most musicians, and a lot more of their income started to ride on concert and merchandise sales.”

“What’s the solution? Not playing into the narrative of inevitable loss. Not making the same, determinist mistake that stories like Guns, Germs, & Steel invite us to assume. Yes, historically, people of greater means and hardier resources very often and quite devastatingly wielded new technology and its innovations against one another.

But that was always a human choice, not an inevitable outcome.

Giving into ‘replacement’ or ‘oppression’ myths around AI is simply a way of offloading that choice to our creations. Some humans choose to use advanced technologies to dehumanize others. Others don’t.

And still others recognize that, wherever new technology stands ready to supplant some aspect of human industry, it behooves us to respond by building more robust political innovations to match. The tech isn’t the problem. Our civic failure to grow along with it is. Only by surmounting that failure—instead of trying to turn back the clock on invention—can we ever ensure that humans will still be able to support themselves, and each other, as we transition into all our strange new worlds ahead.”

Read the full article here.

From Filantropic Puerto Rico: “Today, five years after Hurricane María, Hurricane Fiona has caused catastrophic rainfalls, major mudslides that have left whole communities inaccessible, rivers have overflowed causing tragedies and debris has blocked some of the main streets and highways across Puerto Rico. The hurricane also caused the fragile power grid to shut down, provoking an islandwide blackout that also left the majority of the population without access to clean water.”

“The FORWARD PUERTO RICO Fund has spent the last five years supporting key nonprofit organizations and innovative projects that advocate addressing the layered crises facing Puerto Rico in an equitable manner, while increasing the resilience of vulnerable populations on the island. Once more, the FORWARD Fund of Filantropía Puerto Rico is present in the disaster and recovery response after Hurricane Fiona. We recognize that today’s mobilization comes from long before 2017, and we remain committed to moving FORWARD towards a better and stronger Puerto Rico.”

“Donations to the FORWARD Fund will focus on immediate relief, while supporting community organizations that contribute to moving Puerto Rico into a transparent, just and equitable process of recovery. As organizations deeply rooted in local communities, they pursue equal treatment, advocate for the most vulnerable, create innovative initiatives, mobilize volunteers and address basic needs. Their proximity and knowledge of their communities and people enable them to quickly and efficiently provide necessary services during the Fiona relief for an equitable response.”

As immediate needs of the population are met, the funds raised will be used to ensure that these organizations help move Puerto Rico FORWARD.

Different ways to give to the Forward Fund: Fiona Relief

Credit Card and others
Wire Transfer: ACH Information
Name of Bank: Banco Popular
Bank Address: PO Box 362708 San Juan, PR 00936-2708
Name of Account Holder: Filantropía Puerto Rico, Inc.
Account Number: 011837934
ABA Routing Number: 021502011
Grant: If your institution would like to make a grant, needs more information, or would like to join other funders in supporting – please reach out to the Forward Fund Operations and Financial Director Anja Paonessa anja@filantropiapr.org 786-973-4548

“In our minds, constructing a better and stronger Puerto Rico is possible, and your support can help us make this possible. Keep in touch so you can join the conversation and strategize how to best support the social sector.”

“The Center for Disaster Philanthropy is hosting a webinar to help foundations, corporations and individual donors learn about the storm, the impact of the devastating flooding and how they can help affected communities.” The webinar takes place on Thursday, September 22 at 2pm ET. Registration is required.

Regine Webster, vice president of the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, and guest experts will also discuss the differences in island-based disaster recovery.

At the end of the webinar, funders will:

Have an overview of the flooding and damage impacts from Hurricane Fiona.
Understand how to best support community organizations working on the ground.
Learn about the unique needs of disaster response in island communities.
While aimed at funders, it may also be of interest to emergency managers, academics, disaster responders and NGO staff interested in or working on disasters and other crises.

Register here.

“The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage (the Center) announced its 2022 grants and fellowships today in support of cultural events and artistic work that will enliven and enrich the Philadelphia region and represent diverse identities, personal experiences, and historical narratives. The 42 awards total $9.5 million: $7.2 million in project funding, plus $1.4 million provided as unrestricted general operating support for the 30 local organizations receiving project grants, and $900,000 going to 12 Philadelphia-area artists as Pew Fellowships.”

“Many of the newly funded projects spotlight artists and communities of color, engaging with topics such as the rich history of social dance within Philadelphia’s Black communities, the contributions of Japanese artists working in the U.S. in the mid-20th century, and the cultural traditions and contemporary practices of Mexican artists and migrants. Several projects will bring creative work to public spaces and nontraditional venues such as a public park, a community recreation center, and a botanical garden, while others will investigate historical archives to illuminate lesser-known stories.”

“Following a pivot to pandemic recovery funding for arts and heritage organizations in 2021, these 2022 grants mark a return to the Center’s project support for public programs and events, while its fellowships for Philadelphia’s artists—awarded annually since 1992—remain in place.”

Read the full announcement here.

From Yancey Consulting: “This is the story of Artist Relief 2020. It was an INCREDIBLE initiative.

9 months
161,000 applications
$21 million raised
3,916 artists funded
$5,000 each
100s of practitioners, administrators, artists, individual donors, and institutional funders mobilized

Take in the story. And then take in the recommendations and qualitative and quantitative reports. After doing so, let me know what you think and what we can do about crisis preparedness and resolving economic disparities.”

1. We Are Bound: Excavating the Story of Artist Relief 2020

In 2020, nearly 4,000 artists in dire financial straits received $5,000 each in relief grants from a coalition of seven U.S. funders. These funders came together and launched a $21 million relief fund for artists during the height of the coronavirus pandemic.

You can access the digital flipbook here.

2. We Are Bound: RECOMMENDATIONS

We Are Bound:RECOMMENDATIONS. As a population, independent artists were devastated by COVID 2020. In the United States, the pandemic laid bare the minuscule and brittle securities that artists, makers, gig workers, freelancers, and other self-employed creators had in the form of financial reserves and social safety nets. As a companion piece to the We Are Bound: Excavating the Story of Artist Relief 2020, Lisa Yancey drafted this comprehensive set of recommendations in WE ARE BOUND: RECOMMENDATIONS, which addresses crisis preparedness and the systemic problem of economic disparities for artists in the creative economy.

You can access the digital flipbook here.

3. We Are Bound: Report on Qualitative Analysis of Artist Relief Application Narratives (Cycles 1-9)

Produced by Collaborative Consulting Group (CCG), this report set out to capture the story of artists and creatives who sought funding from the Artist Relief grant initiative. CCG managed and analyzed a representative sample of more than 1,300 Artist Relief grant applicant narratives.

You can access the digital flipbook here.

4. So Far Past the Brink: COVID-19 and the Ongoing Conditions that keep Creative Workers in Free Fall

Produced by Americans for the Arts, this report provides a quantitative analysis of aggregated results from a national online survey of just over 33,000 artists and creative workers from April through November 2020. It examines five sector-wide socioeconomic inequities exacerbated and exposed by the pandemic: economic insecurity, job insecurity, exploitative working conditions, inequities in the digital environment, limited access to health care, and housing and food insecurity.

You can access the digital flipbook here. It’s downloadable.

“Groundbreaking ballerina Misty Copeland announced today the launch of The Misty Copeland Foundation (MCF), a new non-profit organization that aims to bring greater diversity, equity, and inclusion to dance, especially ballet. The MCF’s signature program, BE BOLD, is a free afterschool dance program, that is designed to serve girls and boys, ages 8-10, in community-based, child-focused settings. BE BOLD is an acronym, which translates into Ballet Explorations, Ballet Offers Leadership Development, and aims to make ballet accessible, affordable, and fun for children.”

“In designing the BE BOLD teaching and learning framework, Copeland brought together a group of diverse leaders from ballet, dance education, DEI, and child development as an advisory council to make sure that the program would holistically serve children – mind, body, and spirit.”

“The BE BOLD model has five linked program components: Introductory Ballet, Music for Ballet, Health & Wellness, Tutoring, and Mentoring. The twelve-week program, beginning this month, will initially launch at six sites of the Kips Bay and Madison Square Boys & Girls Clubs in New York City. The selected Clubs have the staff and facilities in place to provide a dance-based program and mentorship to its young Club members.”

“I’ve shared my story about how I discovered ballet at 13 years old on the basketball court of my local Boys & Girls Club in San Pedro, CA, and four years later, I moved to New York City to join American Ballet Theatre. It was because someone at that Club saw something in me that I had not seen in myself,” says Copeland. “In thinking about establishing The Misty Copeland Foundation and its BE BOLD program, it was important to me to provide to children the same type of opportunity and environment that helped build a path for me to succeed not just in this artform, but in my life overall.”

“At the heart of BE BOLD are the program’s teaching artists, who were personally vetted and selected by Copeland and her MCF team. The teaching artists are completing a week of training in partnership this week with the NDI Collaborative for Teaching and Learning in Harlem before beginning to work at the BE BOLD sites.”

“‘I’m thrilled that The Misty Copeland Foundation partnered with the NDI Collaborative for Teaching and Learning, the professional development center of the National Dance Institute (www.nationaldance.org), to train our BE BOLD teaching artists,’ says Copeland. ‘NDI, founded by the late Jacques d’Amboise, has a long and impressive history of engaging tens of thousands of children of diverse backgrounds and abilities through arts education. I couldn’t think of a better organization to help provide our teaching artists with the necessary tools to work with MCF’s young participants.'”

“The Misty Copeland Foundation has also engaged Dr. Gess LeBlanc, a Hunter College professor whose research focuses on culturally responsive teaching, to guide development of BE BOLD’s evaluation system to measure program impact.”

“The Ford Foundation and The Goldman Sachs Foundation’s One Million Black Women initiative are lead founding funders of the BE BOLD program. Other founding funders include the Arison Arts Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, John and Jody Arnhold, and the Wendy E. Scripps Foundation. The Misty Copeland Foundation is also grateful for the generous support provided by other individuals and families.”

Learn more about the foundation here.

“Today the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust and the City of Oakland announced plans to return approximately five acres of land owned by the City to Indigenous stewardship.”

The Oakland City Council will hold hearings to consider conveying the site, known as Sequoia Point, to the non-profit, women-led, Sogorea Te’ Land Trust and the Confederated Villages of Lisjan Nation, an East Bay Ohlone tribe, through the creation of a cultural conservation easement. The City would grant the cultural conservation easement in perpetuity to the Land Trust, allowing the Land Trust to immediately use the land for natural resource restoration, cultural practices, public education, and to plan for additional future uses.”

“What started out with a casual conversation between Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf and tribal Chairperson Corrina Gould in 2017, has grown into a partnership between the City and the Land Trust to begin to address the historic harms of Oakland’s founding. Chochenyo-speaking Ohlone people have inhabited Oakland and parts of the East Bay for thousands of years. They were forcibly removed from their land with the arrival of Europeans and descendants of Europeans beginning in the 18th Century.”

“‘I am committed to returning land to Indigenous stewardship, to offer some redress for past injustices to Native people,’ said Mayor Schaaf, ‘I hope the work we are doing in Oakland with the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust can serve as a model for other cities working to return Indigenous land to the Indigenous community we stole it from.'”

Learn how to participate and support here.