Ford Foundation Launches Initiative for the Arts

Art Business News, August, 2000

SPECIAL REPORT--The economy is better than ever. The arts are flourishing. What more could a theatergoer, art lover or ballet fanatic ask for? Ask the Ford Foundation, one of the country's largest supporters of the arts, and the answer is simple: How about an assurance of longevity?

In answer to its own question, the Ford Foundation has come up with one decisive and sweeping answer--New Directions/New Donors for the Arts, a $42.5 million initiative designed to help U.S. arts organizations achieve long-term sustainability for the 21st century.

A tall order? Perhaps. But look what the Ford Foundation has managed to accomplish thus far: When it was created in the `60s, the Foundation merely aimed to develop some non-profit arts groups around the country, commission some new work and train artists to ensure quality. The Guthrie Theatre, Santa Fe Opera, New York City Ballet and Dallas Symphony Orchestra prove the Foundation's efforts were a certain success.

The `70s brought about the Foundation's wish for arts stabilization, improved management and ease in adapting to changing times. Between the Ford Foundation and the Rockefeller and Mellon Foundations, the National Arts Stabilization (NAS) was born, and hundreds of art groups were strengthened.

Next step, expansion. Citing collaborative work and crossed boundaries as the best stimuli for creativity and diversity in the arts, the Foundation in the `80s increased support to minority arts organizations, providing $7 million to develop 15 minority museums and $3 million to build the institutional capacity of leading minority performing arts companies based in New York, such as Ballet Hispanico, Dance Theatre of Harlem and Reportorio Espanol.

Now the Foundation has turned its ear toward the needs and provisions of the present day and future. Hoping to sustain the grand mechanics of the financial machine they've built, the Ford Foundation has earmarked 28 grants, ranging from $1 million to $2.5 million, for what it refers to as 28 "exemplary" and "financially healthy" art institutions. The challenge grants will be designated for permanent capital, and used by each institution to seek a dollar for dollar match--at least--in contributions from individual donors.

"New Directions/New Donors for the Arts responds to the current explosion of cultural activity and rapid growth of wealth in the United States," said Susan V. Berresford, president of the Ford Foundation. "It grows out of our desire to see if we can jump start a process that gives greater permanency and financial stability to cultural organizations."

To boot, the initiative also boasts an adjunct $2.5 million grant to the Nonprofit Finance Fund so that the grantees' success in building individual donor support can be documented. This information, in turn, will be used to develop publications, Web-based resources and training opportunities for the larger art field's benefit.