News From Around the Art World: June 16, 2020
Five Foundations Pledge $1.7 Billion for Nonprofits
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation are among the five major charities that have collaborated to establish a $1.7 billion fund to support nonprofits struggling with Covid-19-related financial losses, in an initiative spearheaded by the Ford Foundation.
Via Art Forum
The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago agreed to cease contracting with the Chicago Police Department.
MCA director Madeleine Grynsztejn addressed the concerns raised in TCA’s petition with her own letter, clarifying that the MCA did not contract the CPD directly, but rather maintained a business relationship with the police through the museum’s private security firm Securitas. Grynsztejn concluded the response by stating that the museum will ask to be alerted any time Securitas engages with the CPD. A post on the museum’s Instagram page confirmed that commitment, stating that the MCA “is not engaged in any current contracts, ongoing contracts, or special services with the Chicago Police Department (CPD), nor does it fund the CPD.”
Via Artsy News
Diversity-Inspired Museum Fellowships Are Noble—But Do They Lead to Success?
Over the past few years there has been much discussion about the art world’s pipeline problem: that there are not enough paths to professional success and achievement for people of diverse backgrounds. This has galvanized efforts by numerous foundations to create curatorial fellowships at museums and institutions in order to diversify their curatorial ranks.
By Naiomy Guerrero, ArtNews
11 Chicagoans each awarded $50,000 by Field Foundation for the plans they have to make a difference in the city
In a time when protests for social inequities are everywhere, some Chicagoans are protesting through their daily passions.
Bronzeville resident Dorothy Burge is protesting through the art of quilting. A member of the Women of Color Quilters Network, the recent retiree is transitioning her hobby of quilting with a message into a full-time endeavor thanks to The Field Foundation’s Leaders for a New Chicago award, announced Tuesday by the Field Foundation, in partnership with the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
By Darcel Rockett, Chicago Tribune
How Have Artists Shaped Previous Protest Movements? 7 Historians on How the Past Can Help Us Understand the Present
To help us better understand the current moment and the role art and artists have to play in it, we asked academics who have studied artistic responses to previous rebellions and Civil Rights movements to provide context for what we’re seeing now. Read on for their perspectives on how artists of the past contributed to and helped shape historic moments of change.
Via Artnet News