From the Field

Consumers Guide to Grants Management Systems

Tech Impact, in partnership with Grantbook, PEAK Grantmaking and Technology Association of Grantmakers, has published their 2024 Consumers Guide to Grants Management Systems. The report details platforms that serve public and private grant-making foundations. It highlights common features in grants management systems software, analyzes the current state of the marketplace and evaluates different systems based on a redeveloped ratings rubric. This most recent edition also standardizes essential “must-have” software features, including cloud based systems with a demonstrated client base in the private- and family-foundation sector.

Trends in Out-of-School Time Arts Education Settings

In a new Wallace Foundation–commissioned study, Erica Halverson of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and colleagues review current trends in out-of-school time (OST) arts education environments that primarily engage Black, Indigenous and young people of color (BIPOC youth) in the United States. OST education, or the time available for learning when young people are not in school, including both self-directed and structured or supervised learning, provides a unique vista into learning and development in general.

For instance, from their analysis of common practices of OST arts programs serving BIPOC youth, the authors advance four propositions about learning opportunities the arts can provide with a focus on equity and diversity in education:

“Creating representations, the core mechanism of disciplinary learning in the arts, supports a definition of learning that expands social cognition to include personal, cultural, and historical understanding through the creation of artifacts.
The mechanism for enacting an expansive definition of learning is through the exploration of identity and narrative in OST arts practice. Centering the role of learners’ personal and emotional lives in the learning process invites youth to experiment with their identities and write themselves into larger discourses.
Practicing creativity happens purposefully and with depth so that learners can safely explore difficult topics, imagine new worlds, and share their unique stories and perspectives.
Collaboration is an outcome of collective learning and not a mechanism to individualistic outcomes that frames learning as a sociocultural process requiring intentional design and reorganizes traditional knowledge and power structures.”

New Data Demonstrates Economic Benefits of Public Art

Earlier this year, CODAworx published The Economic Power of Public Art, which analyzes data on the size and scope of the public art industry. Globally, commissioners awarded approximately $4.4 billion in public art commissions in 2023 alone. Using databases that include over 13,381 records of registered artworks, the book provides insight into the ways public art contributes to local economies and community engagement. For instance, the 2022 Cincinnati BLINK festival, which is the largest immersive arts festival in the United States, added over 1,600 jobs and $126 million to the local economy. The book also ranks the top artists, companies and cities for public art.

Benefits of Guaranteed Income for Artists

In response to the precarious economic situation many artists face, Creatives Rebuild New York started its Guaranteed Income for Artists program in 2022, which provided 2,400 artists across New York State with monthly, no-strings-attached payments of $1,000 for 18 consecutive months. Preliminary data and analysis of the program shows the many ways guaranteed income strengthened artists’ economic situation, including that participants reported they were less likely to have difficulties paying bills, more likely to have savings and more likely to have enough financial cushion to choose the kinds of work they wanted to pursue. More comprehensive data will be released in December 2024.