Giving Compass' Take:

• Grantmakers In the Arts discusses a new study from the Memphis Music Initiative (MMI) which analyzes exclusionary arts funding practices.

• Are funders doing enough to serve minority communities, especially when it comes to the arts? The MMI study identifies disruptive philanthropy — or conscious giving — as a model to follow.

• Disruptive philanthropy is worth a close look, as is funding more arts education in general, as this article explains.

The Memphis Music Initiative (MMI), dedicated to broaden and strengthen existing music engagement offerings in and out of schools and supporting youth-centered, community-based music spaces, released a new study that looks at the landscape of equity in arts funding alongside patterns of exclusionary funding practices which all too regularly confront black and brown arts organizations.

In Memphis, like in other cities, black and brown youth have had declining access to high quality music engagement programs, according to the study. Towards the Future of Arts Philanthropy evaluates the funding and programmatic practices of MMI in the context of arts funding, arts education, youth development, and community empowerment to observe its effectiveness and provides strategies and their framework for others committed to equity, diversity, and inclusion in the arts.

The study undertakes a critical examination of arts philanthropy as it meets racialized communities. “A multitude of structural and institutional criteria impact the ability of racialized arts organizations to attract funding, especially transformative funds,” notes the report in efforts to name the problem, to which actionable strategies are recommended.

Read more about the Memphis Music Initiative and equity in arts funding by Carmen Graciela Díaz at Grantmakers in the Arts.