From the Field

Culture in Crisis: Policy Guide for a Resilient Creative Sector

UNESCO’s new report, Culture in Crisis: Policy Guide for a Resilient Creative Sector, offers best practices on how policymakers and funders can advocate for the inclusion of the creative sector in recovery plans and contribute to a more resilient cultural sector. Researchers conducted open-format virtual debates in 65 countries with more than 1,000 artists and cultural professionals. From these discussions, the report pulls concrete interventions for supporting individual artists, sustaining cultural industries and organizations, and assisting creative industries to prepare for new market conditions.

COVID-19 Sector Benchmark Insight Report 5

The Results Group for the Arts (TRG Arts) and analytics company Purple Seven have continued to track the effect of COVID-19 on philanthropic giving in their recent COVID-19 Sector Benchmark report. Studying donations to 117 arts organizations across North America and the United Kingdom, TRG Arts found that COVID-19 is having a detrimental impact on giving, with individual donations decreasing by 14% in North America over the past nine months. However, the study reveals a silver lining: more people in North America are donating than did in 2019. The report also examined giving by amount and type of donor, offering insights into donors’ giving habits.

Arts Strategies for Addressing the Opioid Crisis

The National Endowment for the Arts just released Arts Strategies for Addressing the Opioid Crisis: Examining the Evidence. This program scan and literature review offers compelling evidence that arts based treatment has a positive impact when treating substance use disorders. Holistic treatments and programs that incorporate arts therapy have been shown to help manage pain, reduce cravings, and work against isolation and stigma. The report also highlights evidence gaps within arts therapy studies and offers suggestions for future research.

Foundations Respond to Crisis: A Moment of Transformation?

The Center for Effective Philanthropy published Foundations Respond to Crisis: A Moment of Transformation? which details what foundations are doing to support their grantees and partners during the COVID-19 pandemic. The report analyzed results of a survey sent to almost 900 foundation CEOs, including 41 interviews, and found that foundations, like state arts agencies, are accelerating their giving and being flexible with grantee requirements. Foundations also are loosening grant-making restrictions, contributing to emergency funds, and being more supportive of their grantees’ community and advocacy work.