Arts Program

Through our arts program, the Foundation recognizes the arts as a significant vehicle for communication and education, and supports the cultural pluralism of the United States through its expression in the creative arts. In 1992, we targeted our grants in three focus areas. The arts program funded projects that encourage freedom of expression and arts advocacy; supported arts institutions in their efforts to create new agendas and become more accessible to all populations; and supported arts education, primarily for youth in at-risk situations.

Some of our 1992 grants are described in detail below.

ARTS ADVOCACY/CREATIVE AUTONOMY

The arts program funded promising efforts to help the arts community to identify common interests and concerns and to develop a strong commitment to the arts and humanities. We encouraged organizations protect freedom of expression through various strategies including public education, media advocacy, coalition development, litigation, and grassroots action. The Foundation took particular interest in programs with potential for national Impact.

NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO
Washington, DC $200,000

At a time when issues of cultural equity and cultural values are increasingly important, National Public Radio endeavors to increase public understanding of the many currents of culture that shape people's beliefs and actions, and societal structures. This two-year grant supports a new, inter-disciplinary approach to news and culture through the establishment of the first Cultural Desk within NPR's News Division. The Cultural Desk will combine the resources, expertise, and talents of the investigative arm of the News Division with the analytical and creative resources of the Cultural Programming Division.

PEOPLE FOR THE AMERICAN WAY
Washington, DC $75,000

Artsave, a nationwide research, technical assistance, and public education project developed by People for the American Way to protect freedom of expression in the visual and performing arts, was created in 1990 to respond to the attacks on the N ational Endowment for the Arts and the growing number of assaults on creative artistic expression throughout the United States. Through Artsave, PFAW serves as an information resource about issues of free artistic expression and efforts to curb such expression, educates the public about the dangers of censorship, and assists artists and art institutions in addressing these challenges through grassroots organization, media strategy, and litigation.

ARTS EDUCATION

In 1992, we continued to support model arts education programs which have a primary concern for youth in at-risk situations. In addition, we supported organizations with a commitment to multicultural education. Through our grants we hope to learn more about what makes arts education successful and meaningful for children. We took particular interest in innovative programs which might result in replication.

THE CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY ARTS OF SANTA FE
Santa Fe, New Mexico $150,000

Many arts institutions do not engage teenagers or respond to their unique needs. The Center for Contemporary Arts seeks to address this challenge by creating a new cultural facility exclusively for teenagers. The Teen project will provide contemporary arts programming to serve Santa Fe's ethnically and culturally diverse youth in the visual and performing arts. Projects include a weekly radio show as well as teen collaborations with CCA visiting artists. Teens have helped design the programming and the new facility, which will feature a video cafe, a performance sound stage, and a visual arts gallery. This project has potential as a national model for other communities which wish to engage the resources of their art institutions to develop meaningful programs for youth.

HEARD MUSEUM
Phoenix, Arizona $25,000

There is no comprehensive educational resource today that includes information on the major groups or schools of Native American fine art. The Heard Museum will use this grant to create a resource that directly addresses this void in educational materials through the production of a Native American Fine Art Resource Guide. Developed with the aid of an advisory group of teachers, curriculum specialists, museum directors, and museum education managers, the guide will include more than seventy Native American artists whose work ranges from narrative and abstract painting to collage, installations, and sculpture. National distribution of the guide is planned through the National Art Education Association, the College Art Association, the National Indian Education Association, the American Association of Museums, and the New Press.

NEW AGENDAS/ACCESS AND DIVERSITY IN THE ARTS

Many arts institutions all over the country are working to create new agendas for themselves that recognize and encourage cultural pluralism. We have sought to strengthen culturally diverse arts organizations in new ways, and have also supported efforts of arts institutions to diversify their board, staff, and audience.

ALTERNATE ROOTS
Atlanta, Georgia $100,000

Artists increasingly recognize the creative potential in developing more meaningful relationships with the communities in which they work. The Community/Artist Partnership Project is a regional program which will develop, document, and disseminate new ways of presenting the performing arts within communities across the thirteen states of the Southeast through the establishment of performing arts residencies. Arts groups will work together with coalitions of community organizations, health and welfare agencies, civic and social clubs, schools, churches, business, and industry, to make the arts more accessible to all populations. The project will document the process through a casebook of residency studies and will compile a handbook for artist/community residencies.

COLLEGE ART ASSOCIATION
New York, New York $90,000

People of color are greatly under-represented among those achieving graduate degrees in the arts and undertaking academic or museum careers. The College Art Association's Professional Development Fellowship ProgramforArtists and Art Historians seeks to address this situation. The Program subsidizes the Fellows' final year of study and helps to place them in professional positions in museums, art schools, universities, and other arts institutions. Through the Fellowship Program, CAA seeks to broaden the dialogue and interaction among diverse cultures of the United States and to encourage future generations of students from under-represented communities to study art and art history and pursue careers in the visual arts. roups will work together with coalitions of community organizations, health and welfare agencies, civic and social clubs, schools, churches, business, and industry, to make the arts more accessible to all populations. The project will document the process through a casebook of residency studies and will compile a handbook for artist/community residencies.