Resourcefulness, Diversity, Engagement — How Kansas City Is Doing The Arts Right

Organizations such as Artists of Color Alliance, Kansas City Artists Coalition, Charlotte Street Foundation, KC StartUp Village and Foundation, and the Mid-America Arts Alliance are helping new work get created and presented to audiences, while the Nelson-Atkins Museum impresses with its robust curation and community engagement. – The Clyde Fitch Report

Herb Alpert Was A Helluva Trumpet Player. For 30 Years He’s Also Been A Brilliant Philanthropist

He has been a consistent and articulate proponent of the arts at a time in which the field is under siege. His free-wheeling and improvisational approach belies a coherent underlying strategy that is both forward-looking and impactful. And in an almost uniformly risk-adverse philanthropic climate, Alpert has shown a refreshing tendency to boldly go where other funders are unwilling to tread. – Inside Philanthropy

The Singularity Is Complete: Tyshawn Sorey Glues Together Jazz And Classical (And Whatever Else Appeals To Him)

Sorey’s work eludes the pinging radar of genre and style. Is it jazz? New classical music? Composition? Improvisation? Tonal? Atonal? Minimal? Maximal? Each term captures a part of what Sorey does, but far from all of it. At the same time, he is not one of those crossover artists who indiscriminately mash genres together. – The New Yorker

How Social Impact Philanthropy Is Impacting Arts Such as Theatre And Dance

A case study: “First, its focus on social impact theatre provides another illuminating example of a funder embracing the red-hot field of socially focused arts programming. And second, its work underscores the growing influence of institutional funders operating in fields like dance and theater that traditionally lack robust individual and government support.” – Inside Philanthropy

The Difference Between Audience Engagement And Community Engagement

“The term [‘community engagement’], and more importantly the idea, is something that funders and other decision makers are looking for — and we know it. … With the increased use of this term, there has been some confusion as to what community engagement actually is. One of the most common points of confusion has come around differentiating the terms ‘community engagement’ and ‘audience engagement.’ Let’s start by defining what each of these terms is individually.” – Americans for the Arts

Are Arts Orgs’ Diversity Initiatives Just A New Form Of Paternalism?

That’s the charge made by a few leading arts figures, among them Madani Younis, creative director of London’s Southbank Centre: “This paternalism on the one hand allows institutions to co-opt the concerns of diversity, of gender, of class and so on. On the one hand, you say: ‘That’s super good. These guys are on it, they hear the cry and they are looking to change something’. But on the flip side of that new paternalism, those very institutions then get to decide what the pace of change is. And for me that is perverse.” – Arts Professional

Two Chicago Ensembles Make A Mission Of Programming Female Composers

Oboist Ashley Ertz started the group 5th Wave Collective especially to perform and promote music written by women. “Since April 2018, the volunteer-based group of more than 115 musicians has performed works by more than 50 female composers via 12 concerts throughout Chicagoland.” And the Chicago Sinfonietta under composer Mei-Ann Chen — who perform more female-authored music in a single program than the Chicago Symphony manages in several seasons put together — has just released a recording titled Project W: Works by Diverse Women Composers. – Chicago Tribune

The Art World Is Finally Responding To Older African American Artists

Well, indeed: “‘There has been a whole parallel universe that existed that people had not tapped into,’ said Valerie Cassel Oliver, curator of modern and contemporary art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond.” For some of the artists, the attention can feel like a bit of a mixed blessing, but the advantages are strong. – The New York Times