Noah Bloom Appointed as Executive Director of Neighborhood Music School

Noah Bloom has been appointed as the new Executive Director of the Neighborhood Music School (New Haven, CT) after a search that began earlier this summer and involved board members, staff, parents, and community members offering input for what they were looking for in a new leader.

Noah is a graduate of the Community Arts Education Leadership Institute and worked at Church Street Music in New York City.

"An organization like ours ideally seeks a leader who is immersed in the vibrancy of New Haven and its surrounding towns, and who also possesses a deep appreciation and understanding of music, the arts and education," they wrote in a press release. "These qualities define Noah."

Read the full release >>

Leaders of Color Speak Out

A new piece in the Chronicle of Philanthropy discusses racism experienced by leaders of color in the non profit field. Nicole Wallce writes that "people of color have reached pinnacles of power in philanthropy that once would have been unimaginable…but things are still rough in the trenches."

"The Chronicle spoke with more than 25 leaders of color at nonprofits and foundations, people at different points in their careers, devoted to different causes across the country. The picture they paint isn’t pretty.

Leaders described feeling isolated, navigating difficult, racially fraught power dynamics with grant makers, and enduring affronts to their dignity — even having people touch their hair. In interview after interview, they talked about the need to prove themselves repeatedly."

Read the full story here >>

10 Arts Organizations Receive Seed Grants To Launch New Creative Aging Programs

The National Guild for Community Arts Education and Lifetime Arts are pleased to announce that 10 nonprofit arts education organizations from 9 states have been selected to receive seed grants of $7,000 each to support the launch of new, innovative arts education programming for older adults in their communities.

The population of older adults in the U.S. is projected to double by 2060, making up a larger percentage of the total population than today. Our current generation of elders is living longer lives and looking for meaningful ways to stay active and engaged. Research shows that participation in activities that foster creative engagement and skills mastery in a social environment has positive psychological, physical and emotional health benefits for older adults. The National Guild and Lifetime Arts are committed to preparing organizations to support healthy aging in adults of diverse backgrounds through the arts.

The recipients of the seed grants are listed below, along with the artistic focus of each creative aging program.

Art League Houston, Houston, TX (Visual Art)
Art Works Now, Hyattsville, MD (Painting)
Bloomingdale School of Music, New York, NY (Guitar)
Flynn Center for the Performing Arts, Burlington, VT (Social Dance)
Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL (Collage)
Jacob Burns Film Center, Pleasantville, NY (Digital Storytelling)
Newark School of the Arts, Newark, NJ (Singing & African Drumming)
Powers Music School, Belmont, MA (Chorus)
Studio Arts Boulder, Boulder, CO (Pottery)
Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, Beverly Hills, CA (Theater/Writing)

Read the full descriptions of funded programs.

The new programs will provide their communities with much-needed opportunities and services for older adults that honor their wisdom, life experience, and creativity. The programs will also serve as case studies for the wider field, demonstrating that high-quality participatory arts programs for older adults can be developed with little more than effective professional development, organizational commitment, and a monetary investment that is achievable for many community arts education organizations.

“We are excited to see another cohort of creative aging organizations equipped to begin their new programs,” said National Guild executive director Jonathan Herman. “The recipients will become part of a growing movement that is reimagining what aging looks and feels like in our communities.”

The 10 seed grant recipients were chosen from a larger group of 20 organizations who were selected to participate in the multi-phase Catalyzing Creative Aging program, provided in partnership with Lifetime Arts. Between November 2018 and June 2019, staff and faculty from these organizations received training and coaching via a series of workshops, webinars, and consultations (online and in person) designed to increase each organization’s capacity to serve older adults through skill-based, participatory arts programs. The final phase of the program includes ongoing coaching for seed grantees as they launch their programs.

The goals of the Catalyzing Creative Aging Program are to:

Increase organizational capacity to serve older adults through skill-based, participatory programs
Provide models of high-quality creative aging programs to the field
Raise public awareness about the benefits of creative aging programs

“Our long-term partnership with the Guild is making its mark across the country as more and more arts education organizations join creative aging stakeholders like museums, libraries and senior service organizations,” said Lifetime Arts CEO Maura O’Malley. “We’re thrilled to see the positive results of our training and coaching as each Guild cohort successfully designs innovative, responsive and effective programs for older adults.”

The 2018-2019 Catalyzing Creative Aging Program, led by the National Guild for Community Arts Education in partnership with Lifetime Arts, is made possible with support from Aroha Philanthropies and the Moca Foundation. The training phase of Catalyzing Creative Aging was supported by the NAMM Foundation. For more information, visit www.nationalguild.org.

The National Guild for Community Arts Education ensures all people have opportunities to maximize their creative potential by developing leaders, strengthening organizations, and advocating for community arts education. Through these strategies, the Guild aims to address our country’s widening opportunity gap which leaves millions of individuals with little or no access to the creative resources they need to reach their full potential. Together, the Guild’s national network of 400+ members serves 2.5 million students annually, employs 16,000 teaching artists, and reaches 8 million people through performances and exhibits. www.nationalguild.org

Lifetime Arts, Inc. was founded in 2008 as a service organization with a singular goal: to enrich the lives of older adults through arts education. Lifetime Arts works nationally to build the capacity of organizations, agencies, and individuals to initiate, develop, implement, and sustain professionally conducted Creative Aging programs for the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. population. www.lifetimearts.org

New Research Highlights Benefits of Music Education

The University of British Columbia published news in emerging research on the benefits of music education.

According to a new study,"high school students who take music courses score significantly better on math, science and English exams than their non-musical peers." The study outlines particular benefits of musical instruction for students, including information retention, hand-eye-coordination, literacy skills, and overall improved academic perfomance.

Researchers hope that this study promotes the importance of musical education, in a time when many districts and administrators are cutting funding for the arts.

Read the full story here >>

Opera America Announces IDEA Opera Grants

Opera America has annonced IDEA Opera grants, a new program to promote composers and liberettists of color.

Two grants will be awarded to composer-librettist teams that identify as African, Latinx, Arab, Asian or Native American and have U.S. citizenship, permanent residence or DACA status. Applicants must be able to demonstrate their ability to create theatrical works for the trained voice and instrumental ensemble.

Each winning team will receive up to $12,500 to advance their work through workshops, readings or other developmental activities. Grantees will also receive a high-quality video portrait of the team and their work for promotional use.

Applications are due September 9.

Read the full release and apply here >>

Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts Announces New Executive Director

After a six-month long search, Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts (Berkeley Heights, NJ) has named Peter H. Gistelinck as its new Executive Director.

In a press release from the organization, Wharton shared that Gistelinck joins WIPA from Kalamazoo where he was President and CEO of the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra from 2014 through 2019. Prior to that, from 2006 through 2014, he was Executive Director of the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. Before immigrating to the United States in 2006, Gistelinck was Director of Sales and Marketing and Co-Artistic Director for the Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra in Belgium and General Manager of Business Affairs at one of France's leading Baroque orchestras, Le Concert Spirituel in Paris.

"I am absolutely honored to have been chosen as the next leader of the renowned Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts," said Gistelinck. "This institution, because of its commitment to diversity in the arts, outstanding leadership, and nationally-praised educational programs with sweeping community impact, is poised to become even more prominent in the field of performing arts education. I am thrilled to have been given the opportunity to be part of this endeavor."

Read the full release >>

Eerie Arts Awarded Grant for Refugee Arts Program

Eerie Arts & Culture (Eerie, PA) has been awarded $37,500 from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. The funding will go towards programs to support immigrant and refugee arts programming. The grant recieved coverage in Eerie News Now, a local news organization.

"It enables us to work with artist that are already living in our community," said Kelly Armor, folk art director for Erie Arts and Culture. "Most of them are refugees."

"This grant helps us work with these artist through a variety of activities to build their share their abilities and capacities to be able to share their art," said Armor.

Read the full story >>

Building a Creative Aging Movement: Collaboration with Aroha Philanthropies

Aroha Philanthropies Announces National Initiative in Collaboration with the National Guild for Community Arts Education

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – Participatory arts education programs for older adults have been shown to improve participants’ health and strengthen social engagement. Aroha Philanthropies and the National Guild for Community Arts Education (the Guild) announced today the launch of Building a Creative Aging Movement, a multi-pronged effort to advance the emerging field of creative aging, which seeks to promote well-being and advance equity and inclusion through engaging the creativity of adults ages 55+. This visionary effort includes a philanthropic investment of nearly $500,000 over two years, and aims to foster well-funded, comprehensive creative aging programs through training and networking opportunities, leadership development, and advocacy. Special attention will be paid to amplifying the work of small-budget and culturally-specific organizations.

Building a Creative Aging Movement exemplifies a combined commitment—on behalf of Aroha Philanthropies, the National Guild, and lead programmatic partner, Lifetime Arts—to lifelong learning in the arts.

Aroha Philanthropies Executive Director Teresa Bonner said, “Aroha is thrilled to develop this partnership with the Guild and our long-time partner Lifetime Arts. This initiative proudly supports national creative aging programs and the teaching artists who lead them, bringing the gift of creativity to older adults.”

The goals of the Building a Creative Aging Movement initiative are:

To build organizational capacity to develop and sustain arts learning programs for older adults and foster a dynamic learning community for the ongoing exchange of advice, information sharing, and support.
To create a pipeline of arts education leaders who understand the importance and impact of creative aging; have increased awareness of how ageism impacts their leadership and organization’s ability to serve older adults; and bring people together across their team, organization, and community to advance creative aging.
To equip the field with the knowledge, readiness, and tools necessary to advocate for creative aging programming within organizations.

“This partnership will allow the National Guild for Community Arts Education to infuse the values of anti-ageism across all of our work, and more fully deliver on our commitment to creative programming for older adults,” said National Guild CEO Jonathan Herman.

This effort will support two more cohorts of the Guild’s Catalyzing Creative Aging program. A total of 40 organizations will participate, 20 of which will receive seed grants to implement their new creative aging programs. Additionally, the grant will support leadership development activities including training and network development, regional professional development events led by the Guild’s newly launched Creative Aging Member Network, a Creative Aging track at the Conference for Community Arts Education, and revisions to the Community Arts Education Leadership Institute (CAELI) curriculum to include an emphasis on anti-ageism and the piloting of a creative aging “speakers bureau”. The initiative will also support advocacy efforts including anti-ageism training for the Guild’s staff and board and the development of an advocacy toolkit and a culminating report to be published in Spring 2021.

About National Guild for Community Arts Education

Founded in 1937, the National Guild for Community Arts Education ensures all people have opportunities to maximize their creative potential by developing leaders, strengthening organizations, and advocating for community arts education. Through these strategies, the Guild aims to address our country’s widening opportunity gap which leaves millions of individuals with little or no access to the creative resources they need to reach their full potential. Together, the Guild’s national network of 400+ members serves 2.5 million students annually, employs 16,000 teaching artists, and reaches 8 million people through performances and exhibits. More information is available at nationalguild.org.

About Aroha Philanthropies
Awakening Creative Expression

Within all of us, creativity lies waiting to be awakened and expressed, bringing new chances for confidence, connection, purpose and joy. Aroha Philanthropies supports the development of artistic and creative opportunities – and the personal discoveries that go with them – for everyone.

Aroha fulfills its mission to awaken creative expression and build communities through its three program branches, each with a different area of focus:
Discovery Arts: Sparking wonder through creativity for children and youth
Vitality Arts®: Inspiring creativity for ages 55 and better
Humanity Arts: Enhancing homes and empowering creativity for adults with mental illness

Aroha Philanthropies is a private foundation based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. For more information, visit arohaphilanthropies.org.

Vitality Arts® is a registered mark of Aroha Philanthropies.

Applications for Imagining America Fellowships Now Open

Imagining America is currently accepting applications for fellowship programs designed for graduate and undergraduate students from IA member institutions.

Applications are open for the following graduate and undergraduate student fellowship programs:

PAGE Fellows Program (Publicly Active Graduate Education)

PAGE Fellows participate in a yearlong working group for collaborative art-making, teaching, writing, storytelling and co-creating knowledge within and for community

JGS Fellows Program

Selected fellows will commit to a year-long learning exchange that includes tuition support, project support, and opportunities for professional development.

Creative Capital Launches Annual Awards

In commemoration of its 20th anniversary, Creative Capital is moving to an annual cycle of awards and retreats, which will allow them to support more artists across all disciplines. Awardees receive $50,000 in project funding as well as career development services for artists.

Creative Capital says, "this new award cycle is a natural extension of our mission to advocate for artists who explore and push boundaries. It will allow prospective awardees more clarity and flexibility in the application process, and ensure that Creative Capital is available for cutting-edge projects when that assistance is most critical."

Creative Capital supports innovative and adventurous artists across the country through funding, counsel, gatherings, and career development services.

Read the full release here.