Even in the arts, it is vital to have professionals that can act as leaders and provide management and direction to nonprofits that help cultivate and promote the arts.
Unfortunately, recent research by The James Irvine Foundation and The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation found that the arts sector faces "critical leadership challenges during the next 10 to 15 years." This is due to older arts leaders entering retirement age during that time, according to the study.
To help offset this shortage of arts leaders, the two foundations are giving organizations working toward developing futures leaders in California’s art community more than $700,000 in grants.
"The sector’s future depends in part on its ability to retain and cultivate talented young arts professionals so that they can more effectively move into leadership roles in the coming years," said James E. Canales, president and Chief Executive Officer at the Irvine Foundation.
The study reported that there is a "good supply of mid-career arts managers who are able to fill the roles," but that the funds for training and developing is sorely lacking in most nonprofit arts organizations.
To help address the shortcomings in training money, Irvine and Hewlett are supporting several arts networks that are providing their members with seminars, workshops and other forms of professional development.
"Offering up-and-coming leaders opportunities to develop is no less crucial for the arts than it is for any other field, particularly in these times of rapid change and economic challenges," said Paul Brest, president at the Hewlett Foundation.
Among those receiving grants were: the San Francisco Bay Area Emerging Arts Professionals, GenArts Silicon Valley, and the Center for Cultural Innovation’s Creative Capacity Fund. Irvine also provided a grant to the San Diego Foundation for its San Diego Emerging Leaders of Arts and Culture programs.
