Beyond the Project: Supporting Artists from the Ground Up

As with organizations, funders have a critical role in helping and supporting individual artists with more than discrete project needs. This session explores financial well-being and individual artists, and how funders can expand their funding guidelines to help artists survive unexpected challenges and have the capital to take risks in their creative processes. Ben Cameron from the Doris Duke Foundation will share lessons learned from its comprehensive recent assessment of its nine support programs for individual artists and the creation and execution of the Doris Duke Artists Awards Program, a hybrid approach offering multi-year support to select artists in jazz, dance and theatre. Kristen Madsen will share how the safety net assistance that MusiCares provides to music people helps prevent the sector from losing its creative talent and why non-project support to artists is critical for the overall health of the arts eco-system.

Since 2006, Ben Cameron has been program director for the Arts at the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation in New York, NY, supervising a $15 million grants program focusing on organizations and artists in the theatre, contemporary dance, jazz and presenting fields.  He has previous served as the executive director of Theatre Communications Group, the national service organization for the nonprofit professional theatre. 

A 25-year veteran of the music and arts industries, Kristen Madsen is currently serving as the director of Creative Sonoma, a new entity is designed to support and encourage the creative enterprises in the county through programs and innovative partnerships.  She began her career in the arts management field working at the Utah Arts Council, where she acted as consultant to nonprofit organizations, and at the California Assembly of Local Arts Agencies.