Spotlight on Arts: Grantmaking in California

This report by the Foundation Center provides a quick overview of private arts and culture funding in California. Based on 2004 data, the most recent year for which information was available, the report lists the largest arts grantmakers and analyzes where funding is going. Performing arts organizations captured the largest share (37 percent) with museums (32 percent) a close second. The report, sponsored by the Irvine Foundation, also includes a mini-directory of California foundations funding the arts.

Download (2006) (PDF, 197 KB)

Crossover: How Artists Build Careers across Commercial, Nonprofit and Community Work

This study, cosponsored by Irvine, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and Leveraging Investments in Creativity, shows how California artists move more fluidly between the commercial, nonprofit and community sectors than is commonly believed. Their ability to do so, the study concludes, is a major stimulant to regional economic activity and the quality of life. The study, by the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, is based on a Web survey of Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay area musicians, writers, and performing and visual artists. With New York, these two regions support more artists per capita than the nation's other large metropolitan areas.

Download (2006) (PDF, 3.1 MB)

Critical Issues Facing the Arts in California: A Working Paper from The James Irvine Foundation

This working paper, published by the Irvine Foundation and AEA Consulting, identifies the major challenges facing the arts and cultural sector in California. Based on interviews with arts leaders and a review of the relevant literature, the paper describes five key themes that, if not addressed, may threaten the health and well-being of the sector going forward. The themes are: Access, Cultural Policy, Arts Education, Nonprofit Business Model, and Preparing the Next Generation of Artists and Arts Managers. This working paper is the first phase of a project to engage arts leaders and others in a discussion on how to ensure a more sustainable future for the arts in California.

Read the paper and let us know your thoughts through a blog we have started to encourage dialogue about these issues, at www.californiaculture.blogspot.com.

Download (September 2006) (PDF, 162 KB)

California: The Dream and the Challenge in the
Twenty-First Century

This essay, by Kevin Starr, the State Librarian Emeritus of California, eloquently discusses the concept of California as a state of mind, a way of life, and an evolving dream. It places the Golden State's history, culture, and people, in context with the challenges and dreams of the new millennium.

Go to essay. (2004)

California Arts Audience Research Project — The Performing Arts in California: Rebuilding, Repositioning, Re-emerging

To gain insights into audience development for the performing arts in California, a group of foundations - The Walter & Elise Haas Fund, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and The James Irvine Foundation — commissioned a research project. The extensive report, done by ArtsMarket, was completed in March 2000.

Download: Executive Summary (2003) (PDF, 147 KB)

Investing in Creativity: A Study of the Support Structure for U.S. Artists

This unprecedented national study by the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan research and policy center in Washington, DC, documents and analyzes the environment of support for artists in the United States. The study addresses the following questions: What are the important features of our current structures of support for artists? What are its strengths and weaknesses? How might we improve it? More information about the project is available at www.usartistsreport.org.

Download (2003) (PDF, 831 KB)