Effective Philanthropy Meets the Artists Where They Are
CREATE EQUITY | AFTA
By Ian David Moss
One of the dangers of project support, when pursued too zealously, is that it can take the funded organizations away from their core mission—and often, then, their core competencies. The whole point of supporting the arts, to my mind, is to encourage innovation, expectation-challenging, and all what goes along with leading a creative life. Laying out the path ahead of time with too-great specificity potentially squashes the very thing that makes the arts special. I think the same principle can be applied to artists, either when they are funded directly or when their activity is supported through a grant to an organization. I would like to think that most philanthropists who truly believe in the arts can trust creators enough not to try to do their work for them. [link]
By Ian David Moss
One of the dangers of project support, when pursued too zealously, is that it can take the funded organizations away from their core mission—and often, then, their core competencies. The whole point of supporting the arts, to my mind, is to encourage innovation, expectation-challenging, and all what goes along with leading a creative life. Laying out the path ahead of time with too-great specificity potentially squashes the very thing that makes the arts special. I think the same principle can be applied to artists, either when they are funded directly or when their activity is supported through a grant to an organization. I would like to think that most philanthropists who truly believe in the arts can trust creators enough not to try to do their work for them. [link]
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