Vital Arts’ Post

A key learning from the report: “Increased funding and support from businesses, philanthropy, governments, and the media is essential to reflect our art and humanities community’s significant economic contribution and national prominence.”

Interesting in learning more about the state of the arts and culture sector in Philadelphia? A study connected by the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance and PA Humanities, the Culture Check "gathers the voices of Pennsylvania’s cultural, arts, and humanities organizations, along with other nonprofits and community groups." The report shares important information about the cultural sector, its recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, opportunities for growth and engagement with the community, and much more. Learn more about this year's findings here: https://lnkd.in/eiUP2HRZ

If confederate flags and monuments are truly about honoring "your" heritage, then certainly there must be a better way for "you" to do that without forcing "me" to honor "your" heritage too, especially if I consider confederate icons to be hate symbols. Maintaining confederate flags and monuments on courthouse grounds is forcing "me" to honor "your" heritage. More appropriate places to honor "your" heritage would be: museums, cemeteries, or "your" house. Walton County Board of County Commissioners

The latest news from our Executve Director.

Generating $1.3 billion and supporting 19,834 jobs in 2022, nonprofit arts and culture organizations are an economic engine for Georgia. Learn more about this sector in a first-of-its-kind, state-level study by Americans for the Arts: https://lnkd.in/eqmTjKn3 

There is power and Data.

Want an investment that brings consistently growing returns? Not only are the Arts essential to the development of our national identity and culture, but $$valuable$$ to the US economy and exports. EVERY dollar invested in the Arts, is returned to the US economy tenfold. AND, the surplus returns from the Arts are growing faster than the US economy.

Mike Bloomberg received the Presidential Medal of Freedom yesterday, the highest form of acknowledgement that one could receive as a civilian for his contributions to the world. It’s a profound celebration of his leadership. I learned so much about leadership working with and for Mike and the talented leaders he brought to the company, including the inspiring Dan Doctoroff. I learned about the impact that one person can have on culture, and the responsibility that business and HR leaders have to uphold the right culture despite the changing tides. I saw that culture doesn’t get shaped and defined in the big sweeping moments planned by Events Teams for executives to stand on stage. It happens in the small, micro moments when we all work every day, side by side. It is defined by leaders at the top, and upheld by every day leaders. All of us. I look back on the years I spent at Bloomberg with so much gratitude for how it shaped me as a person. It is there where I saw purpose and profit actually work in action. Where I watched people execute critical work — providing reliable data and information to the worlds most powerful decision makers — with the highest levels of integrity and ethics. It is where I saw people across functional areas, geographies, tenure, ages, backgrounds all work together towards a common mission — one that served the wealthiest in the world and provided resources to the most vulnerable. It is where I was trained to do what I do today, to help leaders and companies lead with more humanity at work. I saw glimpses of what was possible there, in action. It raised the bar for me on what leadership could and should look like. He set it high. Mike always came across as an every day leader. No office. Took the subway to work. Said hello with a smile in the elevator. Acknowledged the existence of my newborn son when we first chatted. He was not easy on us, in fact he was tough and difficult and pushed us as a team and company in ways that often felt impossible. But he made us better because he believed that we could do it. And he cared about his people the whole way through — from the best work spaces to the most generous benefits, to real investments in people and infrastructure to make work and the workplace optimal. His leadership influence runs deep for me — shaping how I run my own company, idealis., in so many ways. As a philanthropist, advocate for the vulnerable, visionary for the future, and enabler of leaders across the world, I am so grateful to have been in his orbit and to have learned from him and those I worked with while there. Congratulations Mike, and thank you for your fierce leadership and guidance to all of us who are aiming to have positive impact in the world. Your legacy runs deep and wide.

What are the unintended consequences of Prop 28 for arts education nonprofits in California that no one seems to be talking about? I offer my own thoughts here in an opEd piece for Dream A World Education‘s latest newsletter.

A really well done study. One major takeaway for any of us involved in evaluating grants or distributing grant money is the disproportionately high number of large budget organizations receiving the bulk of grants funding. This seems to be a recurring theme in other studies and we need to do better in getting to smaller and BIPOC organizations that are in need. #artsfunding #grants