 |
 |
 Contents Great Grants 
Upcoming January 11, 2008 May 21, 2008 May 23, 2008 Apply Anytime Fast Facts Through the Arts Stabilization Toolbox, the Arts Fund has funded the creation of 23 strategic plans for small and midsized arts organizations in Atlanta. Join Our List If this newsletter was forwarded to you by a friend, you will need to join our mailing list to get the next one. We will only send you emails like this quarterly newsletter and announcements about special events. Join here. Photo Credits Header (left to right): Wren's Nest storyteller Akbar Imhotep, tells Brer Rabbit stories to a group of children in the parlor of the Wren's Nest. (2007 Toolbox) Carolyn Cook performs in Pamela Gien's The Syringa Tree at Horizon Theatre Company. (2006 grant) Atlanta Celebrates Photography's "My Atlanta" exhibit at the Piedmont Park Community Center in October, 2007. Photo by Michael David Murphy (2005 grant) Guitarist John Huston performs at DeKalb Symphony Orchestra. (2005 grant) In articles (top to bottom): Out of Hand Theater's original production of "MEDS" in 2007. Photo by Linnea Frye (2007 Toolbox, 2006 grant) “Daughter of the Great Goddess” by Carolyn Mazloomi, is a quilt from an exhibition at Hammonds House. (2007 Toolbox) |
|
|
Welcome and Greetings of the Season In this time of celebration and reflection the arts play an important part in enriching the joy of holiday traditions and memories. The season is filled with choral music, theatre with friends and family (I noted over 40 holiday shows in regional theatres), vacation visits to museums and, of course, dance, with dozens of interpretations of The Nutcracker. This is also a time of giving. As you consider your year-end gifts, please support the arts. The most valuable contributors to arts organizations are the audiences who are passionate about their work. But, if you aren't sure of the best way to help the arts in metro Atlanta thrive, please consider a gift to the Arts Fund. Your gift will make a difference by helping the Arts Fund provide critical financial support and services designed to strengthen the hundreds of arts organizations in and around Atlanta. Please take a moment to watch a short video message about how you can help. Best wishes for a happy and healthy new year,
National Arts Strategies: "Financing the Future" Workshop Register now for the February 28-29 National Arts Strategies workshop "Financing the Future" in Atlanta! This two-day seminar is designed to help staff and board members of arts organizations develop a clear understanding of the strategic issues impacting all aspects of their organization's finances. During this seminar, participants will learn frameworks to ensure that operating funds are available when needed, cash flow is not a crippling problem, and revenues are accurately predicted. "Financing the Future" is the third program in the Business of Arts and Culture series offered by National Arts Strategies. Local support for this program comes from The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta and the Fulton County Arts Council. Four Organizations Receive Toolbox Awards 
The Arts Stabilization Toolbox Award program accepts applications three times annually from arts organizations who apply with a specific organizational challenge. Recipients are matched with a management consultant and work with the Georgia Center for Nonprofits to complete their project. In October, four organizations were selected to receive Toolbox awards: Hammonds House received a public relations plan; Horizon Theatre Company will produce a development plan; VSA arts of Atlanta will work on a board development project; and Youth Ensemble of Atlanta will develop a strategic plan. Additional Toolbox awards will be granted in January and after the May 23, 2008 deadline. A full list of Toolbox recipients is available on the Arts Fund website. Our Impact: The Arts Fund in the Community Lisa Cremin presented a session, "What's the Future for Arts Funding?" at the Southeastern Council of Foundations' Roanoke, Virginia conference in November. Her talk addressed future trends in the field, noting that the arts struggle for support even though the benefits of the arts on education, diversity, quality of life for seniors, and urban renewal are widely documented. The Southeastern Council of Foundations is a membership association of grantmaking foundations and programs that promotes excellence throughout the field of philanthropy and the creation of new philanthropic resources to benefit the region. The Arts Fund participates in the Arts Supporting Agencies Partnership (ASAP), a group that works together to leverage resources, coordinate services and strategies, and advocate for the value of arts and culture. ASAP presented a day of programming for the community on October 12 at the Woodruff Arts Center. In addition to the Arts Fund, the ASAP group includes the Fulton County Arts Council, City of Atlanta's Office of Cultural Affairs, Brand Atlanta, Metro Atlanta Arts & Culture Coalition, and the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau. In The Field: Milestones For Our Grantees 
The Wren's Nest received a $50,000 grant from the Watson-Brown Foundation to make restorations to the historic home of Joel Chandler Harris. The gift also includes an additional $80,000 matching challenge grant. (2007 Toolbox) Atlanta Celebrates Photography hired Amy Miller as executive director. Former executive director, Anne Dennington, became board president. (2005 grant) Judi Barber joined the Madison-Morgan Cultural Center as executive director. (2005 grant, 2005 Toolbox) Out of Hand Theater received a New Generations: Future Audiences grant from Theatre Communications Group to continue strengthening connections with their under-30 audience. Out of Hand was also named Atlanta Magazine's Best "No Rules Theater" for 2007. (2006 grant, 2006 Toolbox) Hammonds House Museum and Resource Center of African American Art was one of seven organizations awarded an artist residency as part of a 2007 pilot project launched by the National Performance Network. (2007 Toolbox) Dana Lupton, executive artistic director of Moving in the Spirit received Bank of America's Local Hero Award. Additionally, Moving in the Spirit is a 2008 recipient of Emory University's Martin Luther King Jr. Community Service Award. (2005 grant) Vanessa Manley has joined the New Arts Exchange as executive director. (2007 Toolbox) Laura Cole, director of education for the Atlanta Shakespeare Company (2006 grant) and board president of the Atlanta Coalition of Performing Arts (2003 grant), was named Lexus Leader of the Arts for November 2007. Art Papers received major national and international grants from the Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts, the American Center Foundation, the Imlay Foundation, and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. In addition, Editor-in-Chief Sylvie Fortin was named Lexus Leader of the Arts for December 2007. (2007 grant) Dad's Garage received six "Best of Atlanta" recognitions from Creative Loafing, including Readers' Pick for Best Theater Company. (2006 Toolbox, 2004 grant) This space is for announcements of our recent grant or Toolbox recipients. Please submit items to jphillipson@atlcf.org. Multicast Gives Gift to Arts Fund The Arts Fund is excited to be working with Multicast, a provider of online streaming video, to produce videos for the Arts Fund's website. The first video is available now. |
|
|
 Dad's Garage seeks to elevate the awareness of the arts through ensemble-driven comedy improvisation and original theatrical works. Grants: From 2003-2007 - Four loans to cover cash flow issues. Photo: The cast of A Very Merry Unauthorized Children’s Scientology Pageant 404-523-3141
The Arts Loan Fund is available to small and midsized metro Atlanta arts organizations. Operating support for the program is provided by ING. |
|
|
Dad's Garage Theatre Company 
“The unexpected is to be expected,” says Lena Carstens, managing director of Dad’s Garage, “all arts organizations know that unexpected circumstances happen – shows don’t sell, fundraising falls short.” Since the Arts Loan Fund began offering loans in 2003 to arts organizations that might otherwise have trouble borrowing money, Dad’s Garage has had one more place to turn when the unexpected happens. The organization has applied for, received, and repaid four loans from the Loan Fund. For Dad’s Garage, the loans have helped them “even out the ups and downs of cash flow management.” Sometimes that has meant making payroll. Having the money when they need it has kept the theatre out of the “downward spiral” that occurs when an organization doesn’t have the cash to market its next show. The process of applying for and receiving loans has caused the organization to examine and improve its internal financial controls. The loans require us to understand how we got in crisis … and how to resolve it,” says Carstens. The Arts Loan Fund is part of an overall strategy of stabilization for the Arts Fund, operating as a short term solution to make sure longer term grants and Toolbox awards are able to move forward. Dad’s Garage knows this well, having received a recent grant to support an audience development position and Toolbox awards for board development and technology planning. “Atlanta is different from cities in general,” says Carstens, “we have so much turnover and such a transient population. The Arts Fund is so integral because it provides stability in a city that is in some ways celebrated for its instability.” |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|