Beginning January 1, 2022, The Aspen Institute Artist-Endowed Foundations Initiative | AEFI will undertake the 12-month project Building the Artist-Endowed Foundation Community’s DEAI Capacity to Host BIPOC Interns and Fellows. AEFI is pleased to announce that Nikki Kirk has accepted our invitation to join the AEFI team as the Project Consultant for this important work.

Click here to learn more.

A distinguished group of leaders in the visual arts and allied fields has agreed to serve as advisors to AEFI's 12-month research, professional education, and feasibility and planning project: Increasing the Artist-Endowed Foundation Community's DEAI Capacity to Host BIPOC Internships/Fellowships.

Click here to learn more.

This resource library, prepared by AEFI Project Consultant Nikki Kirk, assembles information resources that AEF leaders can use to orient and inform themselves and their colleagues about effective practice in DEAI and hosting internships/fellowships, including for BIPOC students. Hyperlinks bring the reader to online resources or digital documents.

Click here to access the Resource Library.

AEFI’s principal research component—the National Study of Artist-Endowed Foundations—was initiated in 2007 with the support of a donor consortium led by the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, Roy Lichtenstein Foundation, and Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and including major arts funders such as the Ford Foundation and Getty Foundation.

Sign up to receive press announcements for AEFI's latest research findings, new publications, public events, and professional development activities as this news becomes available.

AEFI’s research has been featured in key publications covering the arts and philanthropy, and journalists writing for a variety of online and print platforms have drawn on AEFI’s materials as resources to inform their work.

AEFI's Donor Consortium has enabled it to conduct and publish the findings of ground-breaking research, as well as disseminate research findings through a variety of events targeted to key audiences, such as artists creating foundations, as well as their advisors.

Please check this list for links to a variety of sources offering additional information on topics of interest to artist-endowed foundation creators and leaders.

On Wednesday and Thursday, April 24 and 25, the virtual 2024 AEF Leadership Forum will convene senior staff and board leaders of artist-endowed foundations, as well as graduates of the Seminar on Strategy for AEF leaders. to discuss key issues and opportunities in practice and policy that are influencing the field's charitable work as its members navigate the many crosscurrents marking this moment in our culture and democracy. Chief among the community's concerns is the evolving impact of technology as an opportunity as well as a risk and the shifting legal climate around Diversity, Equity, Access, and Inclusion (DEAI) as it impacts foundation hiring and grantmaking for diversity.

Learn more here.

Celebrating AEFI's first in-person event since 2019, over 60 AEF leaders gathered on September 7, 2023, at Independent 20th Century Art Fair in NYC. The evening's special program featured a conversation with Derrick Adams, Artist & Founder, Charm City Cultural Conservation, and Deana Haggag, Program Officer for Arts & Culture, Andrew W. Mellow Foundation, reflecting on the topic of artists and legacy.

See more about the event here.

Running weekly online from March 7 to May 24, the 2023 Seminar on Strategy for AEF Leaders supported the professional development of individuals who currently have, or will have, policy-setting and leadership responsibilities for artist-endowed foundations—directors, officers, trustees, board members, senior staff—as well as those supporting an artist’s stewardship planning efforts with respect to a potential foundation.

This past fall, the Aspen Institute Artist-Endowed Foundations Initiative | AEFI was pleased to continue its project Increasing the AEF Community's DEAI Capacity to Host BIPOC Internships and Fellowships with a four-part, online workshop series focused on professional practice around Diversity, Equity, Access, and Inclusion and Hosting BIPOC Internship/Fellowships.

The virtual 2022 Artist-Endowed Foundation Leadership Forum took place online Tuesday, May 24, and Wednesday, May 25. An invitational symposium, the Forum convened senior staff and board leaders of artist-endowed foundations to discuss key issues and innovations in practice and policy that are influencing the field’s charitable impact in art stewardship and cultural philanthropy as its members navigate the multiple crosscurrents that mark this moment in time. The event was presented by AEFI and hosted by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and Virginia Museum of Fine arts.

The Aspen Institute Artist-Endowed Foundations Initiative | AEFI was pleased to announce that the project Increasing the AEF Community’s DEAI Capacity to Host BIPOC Internships and Fellowships kicked off this spring with a four-part, online workshop series focused on professional practice around Diversity, Equity, Access, and Inclusion and Hosting BIPOC Internship/Fellowships.

The 2021 Seminar on Strategy for Artist-Endowed Foundation Leaders took place virtually from April to June. Presented by the Aspen Institute Artist-Endowed Initiative, the Seminar supports the professional development of individuals who currently have, or will have, policy-setting and leadership responsibilities for artist-endowed foundations—directors, officers, trustees, board members, senior staff—as well as those supporting an artist’s legacy planning with respect to a potential foundation.

The virtual 2020 Artist-Endowed Foundation Leadership Forum took place online Wednesday, November 18 and Thursday, November 19. An invitational symposium, the Forum convenes senior staff and board leaders of artist-endowed foundations to discuss key issues and innovations in practice and policy that are influencing the field's charitable impact in art stewardship and cultural philanthropy as its members navigate this complex moment in our country’s culture and democracy.

The event was presented by the Aspen Institute Artist-Endowed Foundations Initiative/AEFI and hosted by the California African American Museum and the Whitney Museum of American Art.

In May and June 2020, the Aspen Institute Artist-Endowed Foundations Initiative/AEFI hosted a series of five webinars designed to help AEF leaders assess the impact of the COVD-19 pandemic by better understanding the status and considerations of their key partner sectors looking forward.

Please read the summary memo here.

On Wednesday, April 22, leaders of 30 AEFs from across the U.S. met via Zoom for a 2.5-hour conversation to share their experiences, lessons learned, and questions being asked amid the pandemic. They contributed an extensive range of concerns, ideas, and visions to the discussion and these have been collected in a summary memo, available at the link below. I hope the members and friends of the AEF community will use this memo to advance the conversation in their own circles about the work of AEFs individually, as a community, and as important elements in the local and national ecosystems that must help sustain artists and the arts during this crisis and in the future.

Please read the summary memo here.

The 2019 Artist-Endowed Foundation Leadership Forum took place on Wednesday, November 6 at the Jewish Museum located in Manhattan. An invitational symposium, the Forum convened senior staff and board leaders of artist-endowed foundations to discuss key issues and innovations in practice and policy that are influencing the field's charitable impact in art stewardship and cultural philanthropy.

The 2019 Seminar on Strategy for Artist-Endowed Foundation Leaders took place in New York the week of April 28 – May 3. Presented collaboratively by the Aspen Institute Artist-Endowed Foundations Initiative (AEFI) and University of Miami School of Law (UMSL), the Seminar supports the professional development of individuals who currently have, or will have, policy-setting and leadership responsibilities for artist-endowed foundations—directors, officers, trustees, board members, senior staff—as well as those supporting an artist’s legacy planning with respect to a potential foundation.

The 2018 Artist-Endowed Foundation Leadership Forum took place on Wednesday, November 14 at MoMA PS1 located in Long Island City, New York. An invitational symposium, the Forum convened senior staff and board leaders of artist-endowed foundations to discuss key issues and innovations in practice and policy that are influencing the field's charitable impact in art stewardship and cultural philanthropy.

The 2018 Seminar on Strategy for Artist-Endowed Foundation Leaders took place in New York the week of April 29 – May 4. Presented collaboratively by the Aspen Institute Artist-Endowed Foundations Initiative (AEFI) and University of Miami School of Law (UMSL), the Seminar supports the professional development of individuals who currently have, or will have, policy-setting and leadership responsibilities for artist-endowed foundations—directors, officers, trustees, board members, senior staff—as well as those supporting an artist’s legacy planning with respect to a potential foundation.

The 2017 Artist-Endowed Foundation Leadership Forum took place on Monday, November 6th at the Whitney Museum of American Art. An invitational symposium, the Forum convened over 100 senior board and staff leaders of artist-endowed foundations to discuss key issues and innovations in practice and policy that are influencing the field’s charitable impact in art stewardship and cultural philanthropy.