Arts Education Receives 12 Percent of Total Foundation Support for the Arts, Report Says

Foundation Funding for Arts Education: An Overview of Recent Trends, by Loren Renz and Josefina Atienza, reports that grant making in the area of arts education grew more quickly from 1998 to 2003 than did overall support for the arts. The study, based on information from more than 1,000 foundations, shows that arts education received nearly 12 percent of total arts support in 2003, and that the number of grants to arts-education programs increased from 2,400 to more than 3,100 in the years studied. The number of nonprofit groups receiving grants for such programs also grew, from 1,400 to about 1,800, with nearly 80 percent of grant dollars going to arts-education organizations as opposed to schools or other institutions. Produced jointly by the Foundation Center and Grantmakers in the Arts, with support from the Wallace Foundation, the report says the Kresge Foundation gave more to arts education in 2003 than any other grant maker, with nine capital grants amounting to $9.4-million.

Publisher: Foundation Center, 79 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10003-3076; (212) 807-3690 or (800) 424-9836; fax (212) 807-3691; http://fdncenter.org; 17 pages; free for download on the Foundation Center’s Web site.