Independent Sector seeks to measure the status of a major pillar of nonprofit sector health: advocacy and civic engagement. We commissioned research to fill a 20-year gap in data around nonprofit advocacy and civic engagement (i.e., nonpartisan voter engagement) activities through a nationally representative quantitative survey and complementary qualitative interviews of nonprofit institutions. The research is designed to provide insights on how advocacy and civic engagement may vary by organization size, geography, communities served, and leadership demographics.   

This research complements the only other nationally representative survey on nonprofit advocacy conducted more than 20 years ago, entitled the 2000 Strengthening Nonprofit Advocacy Project (SNAP) Assessment. Our new research will help nonprofit leaders and policymakers see what, if any, progress has been made in nonprofit advocacy and the ability to overcome barriers during the last two decades. It also establishes a new baseline for nonprofit advocacy and civic engagement that includes three new metrics of nonprofit activity: (1) nonpartisan civic engagement, (2) support of social movements, and (3) level of investment in equity work.

Explore the full report here.

From the CDC Foundation: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on all aspects of life, including the arts and culture sector. However, artists and cultural organizations have also played a crucial role in the vaccination effort. Although vaccination is a key element in overcoming the pandemic, vaccine hesitancy and misinformation have become significant challenges to achieving high levels of vaccine uptake. In this report, we explore how arts and culture have been utilized to promote vaccine confidence, dispel myths and misinformation surrounding vaccines and support vaccination efforts in the United States.

Arts and culture have been used to promote public health messages for decades. Posters, music, and public performances all have been employed to raise awareness of health issues and encourage healthy behaviors. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, artists, and cultural organizations around the world used their platforms to promote vaccination and address vaccine hesitancy. One example is the “I’m Vaccinated” campaign, launched by the Ad Council in the United States. This campaign featured a series of public service announcements by celebrities, musicians and athletes which encouraged Americans to get vaccinated. The campaign was widely successful, with more than 75 percent of eligible adults in the United States reporting they saw or heard the ads.1 Art has also been used to counter misinformation and promote vaccine education. For instance, the World Health Organization (WHO) partnered with the character, Mr. Bean, to produce a public service announcement that explains the importance of getting vaccinated and dispel myths about vaccines. The video was widely shared on social media and has been praised for its effectiveness in communicating important vaccine information in an engaging and accessible way.

Music has also been used to promote vaccine uptake. In 2021, the UK, the “Vax Because” campaign featured a song by artist Dave called “In the Fire.” The song addresses the reasons why some people may be hesitant to get vaccinated and encourages listeners to get vaccinated to protect themselves and their communities. The song was widely shared on social media and helped to increase vaccine uptake among younger people. Museums and theaters have also played a role in promoting vaccination. For example, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City offered a free admission ticket to anyone who gets vaccinated at their on-site clinic. The Sydney Opera House in Australia has also hosted vaccination clinics, providing an opportunity for members of the public to get vaccinated while enjoying a cultural experience. 

Moreover, art installations and exhibitions have been used to raise awareness of the importance of vaccination. For example, the Museum of Science in Boston, MA, hosts an exhibition entitled, Project Vaccine: Our Best Defense, which includes interactive activities designed to educate the public about the development of the COVID-19 vaccines. The exhibition explores the different types of vaccines, viral transmission and the role of vaccines in preventing disease and future pandemics. 

The use of arts and culture to promote vaccine confidence has been effective for several reasons. First, cultural institutions and artists have existing platforms and audiences that can be leveraged to promote vaccination. Cultural institutions are often seen as trusted sources of information and have the potential to reach a wide audience. Second, the creative use of art and music can make vaccine information more engaging and accessible. The use of celebrities and public figures in public service announcements can also increase the appeal of vaccine messages. 

Third, cultural institutions and artists can provide a sense of community and social responsibility around vaccination. For example, museums and theaters that require proof of vaccination for entry can create a shared sense of responsibility for public health. Similarly, music festivals that require attendees to be vaccinated can create a sense of community around the importance of vaccination.

Read the full report here.

From LA County Arts: Today, the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture announces over $31 million dollars will be awarded to over 750 arts, cultural, and equity-building organizations, a historic County investment in the nonprofit creative sector.

Over twenty-six million dollars of that sum comes from Los Angeles County’s allocation of the Biden Administration’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) relief and recovery programs. To distribute these one-time funds, the Department of Arts and Culture designed and implemented Creative Recovery LA. This initiative supports the nonprofit creative sector that is facing ongoing challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic, and focuses on organizations located in and serving communities most impacted by COVID and inequity. With a $26.4M total, 668 grantees, and over 1,900 individual grants awarded through the program’s innovative 5-in-1 grant opportunity design, Creative Recovery LA is believed to be the largest single publicly funded arts grant program in the history of the Los Angeles region.

The rest of the $31M is funded by the Department of Arts and Culture’s flagship Organizational Grant Program, which sustains LA County’s cultural ecosystem with funding to arts organizations of every artistic discipline, budget size, and geography, and the innovative Community Impact Arts Grant initiative, which supports municipalities and social service and social justice nonprofits that use the arts in their community service programs.

“This is part of the County’s effort to address inequities and better support underserved communities that were hit hard by the pandemic, and that includes the arts and cultural organizations that serve our communities,” said Janice Hahn, Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Chair and Supervisor to the Fourth District. “All three of the Department of Arts and Culture programs that make up this $31 million investment—the ARPA funds that the County earmarked for the creative sector, along with the Department’s two ongoing grant programs—prioritize equity and organizational sustainability, so that we can build back LA County’s creative economy in this challenging time.”

“My work to develop and advance Los Angeles County’s Cultural Equity and Inclusion Initiative, and now the Countywide Cultural Policy, is a testament to my commitment to ensuring all Angelenos, regardless of where they live, have access to the arts,” said Hilda L. Solis, Supervisor to the First District. “These grant programs are aligned with that commitment because they support equity and enable our Department of Arts and Culture to succeed in its mission to advance arts, culture, and creativity throughout Los Angeles County.”

“The Department of Arts and Culture’s grant programs are crucial to the livelihood of diverse arts nonprofit organizations. By bringing these resources to communities that have been impacted by long-standing inequities, we are helping to ensure all Angelenos can access the many benefits of the arts. Our grantees harness the creative power of the arts to enhance youth development, affirm cultural identity, revitalize our local neighborhoods, and much more. Through the equitable investment of arts funding, we have an opportunity to maximize the unique impact of the arts nonprofits serving the diverse communities of Los Angeles County,” said Holly J. Mitchell, Supervisor to the Second District.

“Creative Recovery LA is a significant public investment in the value Los Angeles County places on the arts, which are essential to the community recovery, connection, and creative expression,” said Lindsey P. Horvath, Supervisor to the Third District. “Grants to arts nonprofits will support their economic recovery and a more equitable County where we prioritize and celebrate diverse voices.”

“Investing in the arts is investing in our communities, because arts and culture resources improve mental health and wellbeing, economic opportunity, and youth development,” said Kathryn Barger, Supervisor to the Fifth District. “The reach of these grant programs is incredible. They support everything from grassroots organizations with micro, small, and mid-sized budgets, to major cultural institutions, and everything in between. They serve millions of our residents and visitors every year in every corner of the County, including those who are most vulnerable, and they provide stable careers for artists and arts workers. We need that kind of breadth to restore the County’s arts infrastructure and our creative economy.”

“The Department of Arts and Culture invests in LA County’s cultural life. One core way we do that is by making public funding accessible for hundreds of arts and equity-focused organizations—museums, art centers, dance companies, theaters, arts educators, music, folk and traditional arts, youth justice, literary organizations, and more—that provide culturally relevant programs that reflect, and serve, our diverse communities,” said Kristin Sakoda, Director of the LA County Department of Arts and Culture. “Arts organizations were hit hard by COVID-19 and continue to face challenges. We created the largest public sector arts grant in the region’s history with the $26.4M Creative Recovery LA to meet this moment, and together with our annual Organizational Grant Program and Community Impact Arts Grant, we aim to catalyze the work of rebuilding and re-imagining LA County as the creative capital of the world with a lens of cultural equity and inclusion for all Angelenos.”

Learn more about the program here.

Poet and President of the Mellon Foundation, Elizabeth Alexander, was recently interviewed by Jenna Abdou for Fast Company about how her arts background informs her leadership. “Art went on to be a vessel for Alexander. As a Pulitzer Prize finalist, she delivered the poem at President Obama’s inauguration, ‘Praise Song for the Day.’ Through her teaching, most recently as the chair of African American Studies at Yale, literature is an invitation into our shared humanity. Today, as president of the Mellon Foundation, the largest funder of the arts and humanities, creativity is an agent for change, following her boldly shifting their mission to center on social justice.”

“Good artists have to be open to different ways of being and doing,” said Alexander. “I want people to come as they are and become even better in who they are. Things run best when we have different cultural backgrounds, disciplinary training, approaches, and styles. The way we express beauty and what we bring to this urgent work is unique. That’s what making art and encouraging people to make art is all about. Modeling that value and ethic at Mellon is important. I need everyone to feel like their contributions matter and that being at their individual best is how we’re going to be here. Saying that we would be a social justice philanthropy and helping to remake the organization wasn’t a piecemeal affair. It was an immersive creative act.”

“From my lens as a poet, if a poem can’t hold contradiction and conflict, it’s not a very dynamic poem. This is where my background as a scholar in African American studies is relevant. I didn’t have to read anything that wasn’t written by a white man in my PhD education. I chose to, but I didn’t have to. But, what we know about history is that there were other people, right? What happens when you put their experiences onto the timeline? To me, it’s not even about whether there is conflict between what an enslaved person and an owner of slaves wanted out of life. They had different aims in 1830. But, they existed at the same time. So, you can’t just tell one story. Deep learning is hard. But, it’s not that hard once you start doing it. We can hold more than one story at the same time.”

Read the full interview here.