Beginning this month, Amy Kitchener, executive director of the Alliance for California Traditional Arts (ACTA), joins the Grantmakers in the Arts board of directors. Grantmakers in the Arts (GIA) is the only national network of private, public, and corporate arts funders. GIA provides leadership and service to advance the use of philanthropic resources on behalf of arts and culture. GIA’s strength is in its diversity of members: private, family, community and corporate foundations, national, state and local governmental agencies, nonprofit national, regional and local service organizations. What they all have in common is a belief that America is a better place to live and our communities are stronger when the creativity of artists is prevalent in all aspects of society.
The goals of GIA include providing information, research, communication and convening opportunities. Additionally, GIA has a goal of public policy and advocacy, serving as a source to nationally disseminate information on why artists and arts organizations are valued tools for community economic, educational and cultural revitalization.
Kitchener was elected to the Board of Directors by GIA’s membership last fall. Her place on the GIA board provides a unique connection to her perspectives as an intermediary grantmaker focused on supporting and sustaining the folk and traditional arts. Kitchener and ACTA have been active GIA members since 2003 and have organized and presented many sessions at the annual national conference seeking to raise the visibility and relevance of the folk and traditional arts field. Kitchener has also contributed periodic essays to GIA’s periodical, the Grantmakers in the Arts Reader which features readings on arts and culture, reports from arts grantmakers, and summaries of recently published reports, books, and studies.
“I believe that Grantmakers in the Arts is the most influential arts and cultural policy shaping organization in the country and I’m eager to apply my experience working with California’s heritage-based artists and practitioners who are often ‘under the radar’ of the arts funding establishment.” Kitchener joins the far reaching cohort of arts philanthropy leaders serving on the GIA board representing: Alliance of Artists Communities, Arizona Commission on the Arts, ArtPlace America, Barr Foundation, Bonfils-Stanton Foundation, CrossCurrents Foundation, The GRAMMY Foundation/MusiCares, The Heinz Endowments, The Howard Gilman Foundation, John H. & Wilhelmina D. Harland Charitable Foundation, Inc., The Joyce Foundation, Leeway Foundation, Los Angeles County Arts Commission, Montana Arts Council, Nathan Cummings Foundation, Native Arts & Cultures Foundation, The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York Community Trust, Target, Tucson Pima Arts Council, The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, and Young Audiences San Diego.
For more information about GIA and its Board of Directors, please visit http://www.giarts.org.