Arts, Culture & Humanities

The National Corporate Theatre Fund (NCTF) announced four finalists in its video competition aimed at highlighting the importance of theater education's contribution to crucial skill development needed for the 21st century workforce. More than 5,000 votes were cast on NCTF's Facebook page, which received more than 13,000 visits during the competition.

With a $14 million annual operating budget, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS is one of the nation's leading industry-based, nonprofit AIDS fundraising and grant-making organizations. By drawing upon the talents, resources and generosity of the American theatre community, since 1988 BC/EFA has raised more than $195 million for essential services for people with AIDS and other critical illnesses across the United States.

National Corporate Theatre Fund (NCTF) announced the launch of a public service announcement video competition for NCTF’s 18 member theatres and affiliates.

Investment by businesses in the arts has dropped to its lowest level for seven years in the U.K., despite a government drive to encourage philanthropy.

Companies gave $212.6 million in the financial year 2010/11, according to Arts and Business, which compiled the figures.

That is $15.9 million down on the previous year and the lowest since 2003/4.

But overall investment in the arts, including money from private donors and trusts and foundations, rose by $45.2 million to $1.1 billion, Arts and Business said.

The fundraising tour for the recently-approved National Museum of African American History and Culture kicked off Monday night in Miami.

About 200 people, including former Miami Heat star Alonzo Mourning and his wife Tracy, filed into the Brickell offices of the Bilzin Sumberg law firm to learn about the project and make donations.

The museum already has exhibits, which travel the country, and a gallery inside the National Museum of American History. But the new building will provide a permanent home.

The North Carolina Museum of Art has announced a four-year, $2 million grant from the GlaxoSmithKline Foundation in support of arts education programming that will benefit more than 150,000 teachers and K-12 students in the state.

The grant will support the museum's Big Picture project, a series of professional-development programs, workshops, and online distance-learning resources designed to help K-12 teachers in all disciplines learn art-based strategies for promoting achievement among students and enhancing their motivation to learn.

Blackbaud announced that more than 70 organizations, including Dia Art Foundation, The Kansas Children's Discovery Center, Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, Taubman Museum of Art, and the Young at Art Children's Museum, are now using Altru, the company's comprehensive solution for managing arts and cultural organizations.

Altru helps general admissions arts and cultural organizations gain a clear view of their entire operation. It is designed to enable these organizations to cultivate supporters, sell and schedule programs, manage earned and contributed revenue, and keep everyone focused on the mission.

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation has announced the finalists for the second year of the Knight Arts Challenge Philadelphia. The 55 finalists — which include individual artists, artist collectives, community groups, music organizations and theater companies — offered a wide array of innovative ideas, rising above a field of 1,267 applicants.

The full list of finalists and ideas is included below and available online at KnightArts.org. Knight Foundation will announce the 2012 winners in the spring.

Artists play an integral role in the economic and cultural revitalization of cities and neighborhoods across the country, according to new research commissioned by Leveraging Investments in Creativity (LINC), a national service organization based in New York City that builds infrastructure for artists by investing in the organizations that support them.

The Milwaukee Art Museum announced Thursday that it has received the largest bequest in its history. The museum received $7.6 million from the estate of a Milwaukee business owner and his wife, Leonard and Bebe LeVine.

The funds will be restricted and used for acquiring art. A work by the late 18th-century, early 19th-century American painter John Singleton Copley has been acquired with the gift, according to museum sources, and could be a significant addition to the museum's holdings in American art. The identity of the painting has not yet been revealed.