This essay by Holly Sidford, commissioned by the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP), explores issues in arts and culture funding today and makes the case for changes that will better serve disadvantaged communities and people. This is one of four essays on issues of equity in organized philanthropy that follow on NCRP's 2009 report, Criteria for Philanthropy at Its Best: Benchmarks to Assess and Enhance Grantmaker Impact. Download PDF
Holly Sidford gave this keynote at a conference organized by the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation. The conference theme was "Bright Spots and Balance Sheets," and addressed issues related to leadership and capitalization in cultural organizations. Holly's remarks build on Helicon's research report, Bright Spots and Hard Bargains, completed in January 2011 and available below. Download PDF
The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation commissioned Helicon to explore the qualities and characteristics of performing arts organizations perceived by their peers to be “bright spots” -- that is, organizations achieving exceptional success without exceptional new resources. This report is the beginnings of a typology of what’s working in the performing arts field. Download PDF
A report commissioned by the James Irvine Foundation's Communities Advancing the Arts program that captures emerging trends relevant to the arts programs of community foundations in California. The findings are relevant to other funders as well. Download PDF
Grantmakers in the Arts commissioned Helicon to do a follow-up to its 2009 survey of the impact of the recession on arts funders. Download PDF
Helicon Collaborative and WolfBrown have completed the first psychographic study of donors to artists and artist-driven projects. The findings from this study are available below, in A Research Report on What Motivates Bay Area Donors To Give to the Arts and Artists, and in Field Reports from the Fund For Artists Matching Commissions Program. Read more Download PDF Listen to Podcast of Marcy Cady's talk about insights gleaned from this study.
The report describes how some of the individual artists and arts groups participating in the Fund For Artists Matching Commissions Program successfully raised funds to meet their match requirement. Download PDF
In 2009, Leveraging Investments in Creativity commissioned Helicon Collaborative and Princeton Survey Research Associates International to conduct a national survey of artists, capturing the impacts of the recession on their lives and work. This summary highlights the findings. Download PDF
The Oregon Arts Commission kicked off its Capacity Building Initiative for the Arts with a convening on October 1. Holly Sidford gave the keynote speech. Download PDF
This report, commissioned by Grantmakers in the Arts, summarizes interviews with diverse public and private sector funders. Download PDF
Four funders in the Puget Sound region - Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, 4Culture, Seattle Foundation and Seattle Mayor's Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs - commissioned Helicon Collaborative to capture evolving impacts of the recession on cultural groups and identify options for collective action. While the findings are based on interviews with cultural leaders in the Northwest, the report has relevance for cultural groups and funders in other communities across the country. Download PDF Powerpoint Presentation Press Coverage
With creative thinking, effective politics, and some luck, the Obama Administration's first success will be the passage of a massive stimulus package designed to create millions of jobs while addressing America's depreciated public infrastructure and paltry progress on clean energy. We need it; it's important; I hope the bill passes the morning of January 21. Read Article
No matter your political persuasion, your age, background or place of residence, your professional role or disciplinary affiliation, if you work in the nonprofit cultural sector, Barack Obama's presidential campaign holds lessons for you. The campaign marks a watershed in popular consciousness, and we will all do well to adapt—or evolve—accordingly. Read Article
In Helicon's view, the non-profit cultural sector in the United States is at a pivotal and exciting moment in its evolution, a moment of some uncertainty but full of opportunity. After five decades of growth in the number of professional artists and non-profit cultural groups – with parallel increases in the number of dollars invested in the system and the number of people touched by it – the sector appears to have hit a wall. Read Article
Organizational Energetics is a theory of organizational health and development, and related practices of diagnosis and intervention, that enhance the effective functioning of groups and organizations. The Organizational Energetics (OE) theory is based on the natural movement of energy. Because energy is not culturally or linguistically bound, groups from any culture can use this model as a diagnostic self-help tool. The OE model allows groups (and the individual members of groups) to align with natural forces, remedy dysfunctional behavior, and become more balanced and effective in achieving their missions. Download PDF
California is a wellspring of artistic and cultural innovation and creativity and is on the forefront of many of the developments in this sector. This is cause for pride and celebration. However, the sector also faces real challenges to its future viability. This working paper describes five key themes which, if not addressed, may threaten the health and well-being of the sector going forward. Download PDF