When I read about the closing of the Picower Foundation, it just plain took my breath away. A few days earlier, it was the JEHT Foundation, and while JEHT didn’t support arts education, it was truly one of the most important, leading funders of human rights anywhere in America.
They both fell victim to the Madoff scandal–The $50 billion Ponzi scheme.
Picower I knew well. The Center for Arts Education had been supported generously by Picower for a number of years. They were a tough group of grantmakers, who asked difficult questions, did some very fine work in a number of areas including education, and always kept their grantees honest.
There is something about the obliteration of these funders that is just stunning. All of the sudden, they’re gone. Dissolved. Doors shut. It’s very sad, particularly for the fine people that worked at these foundations. Bob Crane, the head of JEHT was one of the most well liked foundation executives around. For many years previous to JEHT, he ran the Mertz Gilmore Foundation.
The web of philanthropic support, like everything else in this economy, is changing in ways that are difficult to understand and predict. Perhaps the worst case scenarios are the best approach, at least for the time being. Even though it is said that you cannot cut to success, I think we’re heading into unchartered territory.
Last week I heard from the Greentree Foundation, another long-time supporter. They’ve converted to an operating foundation, have taken the same hit as everyone else, and have decided to get out of the education funding business altogether. I got a check representing a “terminal grant.”
More and more people are thinking about President Elect Obama’s stimulus plan and how it will reach into the arts field. An early Obama arts platform referenced an “artist corps.” And indeed, Kiff Gallagher is moving his Music National Service Initiative (MNSi) forward. MNSi recently received a $500,000 grant from the Hewlett Foundation. Many are hopeful that something broader will be done to blunt the blow that practically everyone fears for FY10.
For the arts education field, the hits are coming from many different directions. The schools are looking at significant budget cuts, which will in turn lead to a reduction in contracted services. Pound for pound the early cuts will be to contracted services, certainly before faculty. Most arts education organizations are in fact a type of service provider, so such cuts, combined with cuts from foundations, corporations, government, and individuals, are concocting a brew that has not been seen for quite a while, if ever.
Me? I am already thinking primarily about what it takes for an organization to survive such a brew. Can you cut to survival? That’s another story entirely.
Once again, Richard, you have articulated the anxiety over the loss of funding that arts organizations are experiencing. The loss of the Picower Foundation on top of everything else is heartbreaking.
-K.