Yaddo named a grantee from The Ruth Foundation for the Arts
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. » Spa City artist retreat Yaddo has been named as one of the inaugural grantees of newly launched arts philanthropy The Ruth Foundation for the Arts.
The Ruth Foundation for the Arts (Ruth Arts) marked its debut in the landscape of arts philanthropy recently with the announcement of its inaugural grantmaking cycle. The new foundation is supported by a bequest of $440 million from the late Ruth DeYoung Kohler II, a lifetime supporter of the arts, and expects to award grants totaling more than $17 million annually.
The first class of Ruth Arts grantees — an initial round of funding that precedes the regular giving cycles that the organization will embark upon later this year — includes 78 nonprofit arts organizations that have been awarded a total of $1.25 million in funding. These individual grants range from $10,000 to $50,000 each.
Ruth Arts launches with a unique artist driven nomination process for this initial round of grants, which was guided by a group of nearly 50 artists. These artists, drawn from across the country and at all stages of their careers, were asked to propose organizations they felt had deeply influenced their own engagement with art, presented visionary community programming and connected deeply with artists’ processes.
The grantees were then drawn from these nominations. Artists will remain an integral part of the nominating and invitation processes moving forward.
Among the organizations included in the Ruth Foundation for the Arts inaugural grantmaking cycle is Yaddo.
Based in Saratoga Springs, Yaddo’s mission is to further the creative process by providing an opportunity to work without interruption in a supportive environment. Founded in 1900 by financier Spencer Trask and his wife Katrina, a poet, Yaddo offers residencies in the following disciplines: dance, film, literature, musical composition, performance, the visual arts and video.
Yaddo artists are selected by panels of other professional artists without regard to financial means. Residencies last from two weeks to two months and include room, board and a studio.
“This is such an honor,” Yaddo president Elaina Richardson said in a press release about the award. “The fact that one of our Yaddo guests felt strongly enough to put us forward is wonderful in itself, but then to receive such generous and unrestricted funding is an immense gift and appreciated more than ever in these days of recovery for all arts groups. The Ruth Foundation’s support will allow us to welcome several hundred guests to Yaddo this year and to provide access grants to assist those artists who might otherwise not be able to accept the gift of time and space.
“We’re profoundly grateful to Ruth Arts.”
The Ruth Foundation for the Arts plans to continue providing support for organizations in the arts with invitation-based awards in two cycles each year. The next cycles of Ruth Arts’ grants will be announced later this year, and will total approximately $17 million, reflecting the expected annual valuation of grants moving forward.
While grants will remain on an invitationonly basis for a twice-annual cycle as the foundation grows and develops, Ruth Arts will continue to work with artists to guide and inform its programming and will host their artist nominating processes on a regular basis.
In addition to its grantmaking, Ruth Arts also plans to pilot several important partnerships in the coming years, including establishing an artist advisory committee, a Visiting Artists program for art schools, a fellowship program for artists and research grants for cultural workers.