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From New England Foundation for the Arts: The New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) today released a comprehensive evaluation of the National Theater Project (NTP).

NTP functions as a full system of support for devised theater, which in addition to funding, animates an informed, interactive network of producing theaters, presenters, and ensembles. Since the first round of NTP grants in 2010, NEFA has infused over $11 million into the field through the program. To date, 96 new theater works have been supported through Creation and Touring grants; touring of those works has reached 43 different states across the U.S. NTP projects have toured in-person and virtually to large and small arts presenters, military bases, universities, regional theaters, and festivals. 

“This thorough evaluation includes recommendations that will enable NEFA to deepen the support of NTP grantees and the development of the field,” said Quita Sullivan, NTP program director. “The report demonstrates how the NTP model of artists, presenters, and advisors creates an ecosystem of continual growth and impact. I am grateful for the artists, presenters, and advisors who took time to participate in this evaluation.”  

NEFA commissioned McNeil Creative Enterprises to complete the National Theater Project Evaluation. The evaluation team delved into the program data and activities and surveyed artists, presenters, advisors, and staff to:

Understand what has worked well and the potential areas for improvement.
Identify and track the most applicable NTP performance measures.
Illustrate how NEFA can sustain its equity, diversity, intersectionality, and accessibility (EDIA) commitment and priorities.

NEFA’s National Theater Project is made possible with lead funding from the Mellon Foundation and additional support from the Doris Duke Foundation. Both funders recently renewed their commitment to NTP; the Mellon Foundation awarded $4,412,000 and the Doris Duke Foundation has awarded $1,725,000, each over a three-year period. “In this critical moment where artists are providing us with narratives to help us deeply understand and contend with the social conditions and social imaginations of our current times, it is reassuring to know that NEFA will be in a good position to further the work of the National Theater Project for the next few years,” said NEFA executive Director Harold Steward.

This evaluation examines the impact the program has had on the field and explores how it can continue to evolve to deepen support, including:

How NEFA’s equity, diversity, intersectionality, and accessibility (EDIA) values drive the program design, from the program structure to advisor recruiting, and creating responsive grant criteria.
How diversifying and strengthening the field is reflected in the grantees and project tours.
How NTP gatherings, including regional convenings across the country to learn about the needs in the field and annual cohort meetings to fully support projects, remain an essential piece of program design.
How the program design strengthens connections among artists, advisors, and presenters, supporting the field at large.

Access the full report here.

From The Center for Effective Philanthropy: Nonprofits across the United States played a vital role during a period of crisis that began in March 2020 with the COVID-19 pandemic and was followed by a nationwide racial justice reckoning that summer. As nonprofits experienced heightened demand coupled with marked uncertainty about revenues, they responded with resiliency and imagination, while many funders also stepped up, increasing philanthropic giving in a time of urgent need. Following this intense period of trial and turmoil, we wanted to take stock of current nonprofit perspectives and understand their evolving experiences with funders.

Access the full report here.

“The boats kept coming. One by one, cruisers and catamarans eased toward the beach in Kahana, a small and tightknit neighborhood just north of Maui’s hardest-hit areas,” said Reis Thebault for Washington Post. “Each one was laden with supplies: generators, propane tanks, trash bags full of clothing and ready-to-eat meals. And each one was greeted by two dozen people, the first among them wading waist-deep into the ocean to retrieve provisions from the boat and pass them down the chain, which wound its way to shore.”

“A lot of us are born and raised here,” Naki said, looking around as the chain of volunteers hauled in boxes of tinned sausage. “There’s a lot of pride in Lahaina, so it hurts, a lot. But this is all we have here now, each other, and we’re making do.”

As the response has worn on, the greatest needs have shifted. There is now plenty of nonperishable food and bottled water. Generators, fuel and Starlink satellite internet systems would be most useful, volunteers say.

Sheryl Nakanelua knew instinctively where she needed to go when she fled her Lahaina home as flames spread. She made her way to Kahana and set up a tent across from Lumlung’s house, where she’ll stay until her family is let back into her subdivision, one of the few that was spared.

“This is our family place, it’s home,” she said of the Kahana neighborhood. “This is the best part to be at. It’s what’s keeping us positive.”

The Olowalu farm is uniquely well prepared to handle this sort of disaster. Run by the Garcias’ nonprofit, Regenerative Education Centers, it was already operating off the grid, with its own power, plumbing and food. The nonprofit has launched a fundraiser to help pay for the fire effort, which will continue as long as there’s a need.

The property, even after being raked by the fire’s severe winds, is verdant and shaded by tall mango trees. On Friday, volunteers and staff readied the farm to fill any needs. They butchered and smoked a wild pig, set up new solar panels and scoured the internet for portable toilets. Eddy Garcia whirred with adrenaline, his satellite-connected cellphone ringing every few minutes with someone offering help.

Read the full piece here.

From the National Endowment for the Arts: Welcome to the Careers in the Arts Toolkit— an online resource promoting equity, access, and inclusion for people with disabilities seeking careers in the arts.

Every day, people with disabilities add significant value and talent across the spectrum of arts careers. They are performers, visual artists, teaching artists, cultural workers, administrators, and more. Yet, historically, people with disabilities have not had access to the same career opportunities as people without disabilities. Reasons for this range from inaccessible facilities to disability benefit earning limitations to misconceptions about the skills and talents of people with disabilities. Through a variety of initiatives, the National Endowment for the Arts has worked to bridge this inequity, for the benefit of not only people with disabilities, but also America’s arts institutions and their patrons.

In this spirit, the Careers in the Arts Toolkit empowers individuals with disabilities to explore arts careers and access resources to support their success. It also educates arts employers, educators, and grantmakers about the critical role they play in fostering disability inclusion and the resources available to help them successfully do so. Learn more about the toolkit.

What You’ll Find in This Toolkit:

Resources for Artists, Cultural Workers, and Youth with Disabilities. This section features tips on pursuing careers in the arts, best practices for obtaining the supports people with disabilities need to succeed on the job, and background on types of arts careers.
Resources for Arts Employers. This section explains the benefits of disability inclusion in the arts, ways for arts leaders to ensure their institution is disability inclusive, and how to take proactive steps to hire, present, cast, and advance people with disabilities in arts workplaces.  
Resources for Arts Educators. This section explores how arts educators can prepare students with disabilities for careers in the arts, and best practices for fostering disability inclusion within their educational institutions.
Resources for Arts Grantmakers. This section will help grantmakers understand their role in practicing equitable philanthropy that is inclusive of people with disabilities.

Access the toolkit here.

From Funders’ Committee for Civic Participation: The census doesn’t end when the counting stops. Planning for the 2030 Census is well underway. The census has disproportionately undercounted people of color, immigrants, young children, and low-income households, among others. Ongoing engagement from philanthropy—to convene, educate, advocate, and invest—is critical to help ensure that Census Bureau policies and operations center the insights and lived experiences of historically undercounted communities.

The Funders’ Committee Census Initiative (FCCI) developed a Ten Year Blueprint for Philanthropic Census Engagement. This resource includes Census Bureau milestones and Funder Actions to showcase how philanthropy can engage and invest in census work throughout the decade.

Access the full resource here.

“Friends, family members and activists are mourning the death of O’Shae Sibley, a Black gay man who was stabbed late last month while dancing with friends at a New York City gas station,” said Rachel Treisman for NPR. “The 28-year-old professional dancer and choreographer was killed while voguing to Beyoncé’s music as his friends filled up their car on the way home from the Jersey Shore on July 29.”

The voguing tributes to Sibley are especially fitting, Williams says, as they “personify the LGBTQ community’s historic resilience amid highly discouraging societal treatment.”

Voguing occupies what he describes as a salient space in Black American LGBTQ history.

The highly stylized form of dance emerged in New York between the 1960s and 1980s, giving rise to the drag, queer and trans competitions known as balls.

Black and Latino voguers would battle it out on behalf of their houses — groups that were “part competitive affiliation, part surrogate family,” as the National Museum of African American History and Culture puts it.

They used the “rhetorical functions of voguing” to queer gender norms in drag and gender performative genres, peacefully settle disputes among rivals (such as by “throwing shade”) and share their personal stories, Williams explains.

“Amid their exclusion from White LGBTQ rights discussions, the ball scene and voguing granted Black LGBTQ people a haven to not only foreground their queer aesthetics and extraordinary talents but also express the intersectional marginality of being Black and LGBTQ in a queerphobic, American ecosystem aiming to inflict unwarranted violence upon them and erase their social contributions,” he adds.

LGBTQ people of color also face discrimination within the broader LGTBQ community based on intersectional factors like race, he adds. Because of that, he says, LGBTQ people of color “must meticulously analyze the cultural politics of LGBTQ and non-LGBTQ spaces and exercise the utmost caution in every environment we enter, and always be on alert for potential danger.”

Williams says there’s no one-size-fits-all approach, but points to Sibley’s death as another sign that more needs to be done.

“There exists a clear need for local, state, and federal LGBTQ safety initiatives, task forces, and an acknowledgment of the limited safety avenues for this minoritized community if something as innocuous as a Black gay man joyfully dancing with friends at a gas station can put someone’s life in danger and result in murder,” he writes.

Read the full piece here.

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.