Daily News Roundup: NYC Plan for Arts Groups Links Funding to Diversity

N.Y. Mayor Unveils “Cultural Plan” With Diversity Focus: The first-ever blueprint for City Hall’s relationship with arts nonprofits calls on groups to develop “meaningful goals” for making staffs and boards more diverse and links city grant decisions to their progress, The New York Times reports. “We do this because we believe in fairness,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

Big Donors Form Nonprofit to Take Over San Antonio Symphony: Operation of the orchestra, which has long struggled with deficits, will be turned over September 1 to Symphonic Music for San Antonio, a new charity established by Texas supermarket chain H-E-B, the Tobin Endowment, and the Kronkosky Charitable Foundation, all major financial backers of the symphony, writes the San Antonio Express-News.

Saint Joseph’s U. Gets $50 Million Alumni Gift: The donation from former insurance executive James Maguire will bolster the Philadelphia Catholic institution’s endowment, increase scholarships, and support a program in risk and insurance management, The Philadelphia Inquirer writes. Mr. Maguire, who graduated from Saint Joseph’s in the late 1950s, and his wife have now given the university $75 million.

With Tax Bill Due, Ky. Theme Park Sold to Charity for $10: The for-profit owner of Ark Encounter, a Noah’s Ark-themed attraction in Northern Kentucky, sold the $48 million property to a nonprofit affiliate as it wrangled with local officials over a new safety tax, reports the Lexington Herald-Leader. Ark Encounter had unsuccessfully sought an exemption from the levy as a religious organization.