Ruth Arts tells Wisconsin Arts Board about Artist’s Choice grants, Milwaukee project space and plans to seek IRS approval to fund individuals

Karen, executive director of Ruth Arts, gave the Wisconsin Arts Board a 30‑minute presentation on the foundation’s history, grant programs and the new public space the foundation opened in Milwaukee’s Walkers Point neighborhood.

Ruth Arts traces its roots to the RDK Foundation and the career of Ruth (born 1941), a long‑time director at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center. Karen said the foundation launched in 2022 and that its flagship, Artist’s Choice, is a nomination program in which artists invite organizations to receive unrestricted operational grants. She said the program “surprises” winners with unrestricted support and that winners have moved into the foundation’s larger pool of core grants.

Karen described several program strands: Artist’s Choice (a nomination‑based unrestricted award), a core operating grant program for organizations with budgets under $2,000,000, multi‑year grants called Thought Leaders/Sites & Stewardship/Future Studies, and regranting partnerships in Milwaukee that funnel funds to individual artists through local partners. She said the foundation has awarded 187 grants spanning 35 states and that the foundation’s annual distribution is “about $15,000,000,” as of the figures she presented to the board.

On the question of individual artist funding, Karen said Ruth Arts is a private trust foundation and currently does not have IRS authorization to make grants directly to individuals; the foundation has applied to the IRS to develop that capacity and is waiting for a determination. In the meantime, she said, Ruth Arts uses regranting partners (for example, MIAD, the Open Fund, and Linden Sculpture Garden) to get funds to artists in Milwaukee.

Karen described the Walkers Point project space as flexible and built to host exhibitions, workshops and artist residencies. The foundation’s inaugural show highlighted the estate archive of artist Benny Andrews and included community programming such as risograph workshops and student presentations.

Grantee and audience focus: Karen said the foundation emphasizes unrestricted operational support to better surface organizational needs and to help grantees attract other funders. She said the Artist’s Choice process centers artists’ perspectives by changing the nominating artist each year and that the program’s surprise element has helped draw new attention to winners.

Questions from board members covered Ruth Arts’ geographic reach, staff capacity and the foundation’s approach to supporting youth and regranting. Karen said the foundation’s staff is six people and that the organization is “firmly planted in Milwaukee” while running national programs; she reiterated that direct awards to individuals depend on final IRS approval.

“Artist’s Choice is a participatory grant program in the sense that we don't dictate who those organizations are,” Karen said. “We firmly believe that artists can speak and should speak for their community.”

Karen invited board members to visit the Walkers Point space and highlighted convenings the foundation has hosted in Marfa, Atlanta and Milwaukee.