Beginning in 1985, Art Matters’ grants supported experimentation in art, providing fellowships for artists and, to a lesser degree, funding for the organizations that showed new art. Some of its initiatives addressed AIDS while others were designed to counteract the effects of the late 1980s culture wars on funding and on the rights of artists.

Art Matters was the brainchild of Laura Donnelley, who in the early ‘80s, began to think about ways she could help artists who were struggling to say something with bite and punch, who made “art that mattered.” It took a couple of years to incorporate and the first rounds of grants were made in 1985, totaling $160,900; by 1996, we had given almost 2000 artists over $2 million. Donnelley provided not only all of the operating and granting money for the first six years but also created a small endowment to continue its operations after she refocused her giving in 1991.

Art Matters’ giving focused primarily on fellowships for artists who were experimental in media and ideas, attempting to allocate grants across the country. For a number of years, before word of the foundation spread, we funded organizations that sponsored and presented new work, usually the alternative and (often artist-run) spaces that had cropped up in many cities. We tried to make it easy for artists to get the money, eschewing lengthy applications or needs statements. We made the turn-around time as short as possible, easier before the initial trickle of requests became an inundation.

Although it was often debated, we developed a pattern of giving fairly small grants to many artists rather than larger ones to fewer. We made grants where need was simply assumed, and promise, rather than accomplishment, was the issue. To insure we had the diversity and breadth of experience and knowledge we needed, our board grew from five to thirteen people.

When conservative groups started taking pot shots at art in 1989, their wrath was often directed toward precisely the younger, more experimental and more vulnerable artists that Art Matters had funded. Art Matters responded to defunding and the threat of censorship by making a particular effort to aid artists whose message was endangered by the chilling effects of the culture wars. We supported a number of organized efforts that directly challenged the government’s position on cultural funding and AIDS, including the National Campaign for Freedom of Expression. This was, in part, an effort to defend some of the art we had encouraged artists to create. In this way, Art Matters became a participant in the activism of the late 1980s, supporting strong statements and actions intended to protest and to produce change.

Although Laura Donnelley understood our ardor and stood by us as we reshaped our giving, the oppositional stance that Art Matters forged was difficult for her. Sadly, but with great grace, she turned the foundation over to the board, leaving us with an endowment to support our ongoing work. Although an act of exceptional generosity, the endowment was too small to sustain the level of funding that had been attained. Facing the possible elimination of governmental funding for the creation of new art and for its display, we felt that Art Matters was needed more than ever.

It was not an issue of money alone, however, because both the NEA and Art Matters stood for something that was endangered by the culture wars. Our advocacy of inclusiveness was perhaps as important as the dollars awarded.

After Donnelley withdrew, Art Matters surveyed its grantees to see what they would choose for us to do, given limited resources. The results were inconclusive, but it was clear that they wanted us bigger, not smaller. We tried to increase our capacity to give at first by a traditional approach: making fundraising appeals to foundation colleagues, presenting them with the opportunity to use Art Matters as a conduit for making grants to individuals; most were neither mandated nor legally structured to do it themselves, despite their concern. We had limited success.

Taking another tack, we sought contributions from the broad public that claimed interest in contemporary art. We initiated a number of professional mass mailings, inviting contributions of any size to our fund for fellowships. Returns barely covered the cost of the campaign.

Meanwhile, as government funding dwindled, a challenge was posed by the public sector to non-profit organizations: adopt the practices of the entrepreneurial world, and pull your own freight. After much debate, we decided to invest our endowment in the creation of a mail order catalog of artist-made objects. We projected that within two to three years, this business would generate enough income for us to afford to maintain and even expand our grants program.

Many artists willingly designed a wide range of products that Art Matters produced. Because it was handled impeccably, the initial mailing of 1.2 million catalogs made impressive returns, not to mention garnering awards from the industry. Unfortunately the income was insufficient to capitalize the new business for ensuing seasons, and thus we sought outside investors.

Although the amount needed was modest, we had difficulties raising funds from outside investors and continuing to award grants. However, we continued to operate the Art Matters foundation and with the help of the Lannan Foundation, produced the book Art Matters: How the Culture Wars Changed America, a collage of pieces addressing art in the 1980s and ‘90s, a collage of pieces addressing art in the 1980s and '90s, the complicated time dominated by public controversy during which Art Matters thrived.

In 2005, Laura Donnelley and the board reignited our grants program. We are delighted to announce that in 2007, as in prior years, Art Matters will be making grants to a broad range of artists.