Edwin Torres | Resume

Edwin Torres is a nationally recognized social change leader in the nonprofit, philanthropic and public sectors with proven results increasing resources for underestimated communities and influencing equitable funder practice and governmental policy.  

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EXPERIENCE 

PRESIDENT & CEO
Grantmakers in the Arts 2017 – present 

  • Partnering with the national board of directors to set a vision for the future of the field of arts grantmaking and for the work of the organization

  • Achieving quantified impacts on the national cultural funding field by providing professional development, information and a national network

  • Grantmakers in the Arts have influenced our members to increase 
    Support to Arts Organizations and to Individual Artists
    Support to BIPOC Artists and Organizations, Artists with Disabilities, Trans Artists, and Artists and Organizations that work as part of the Solidarity Economy 
    General Operating Support
    Multi-year Support

  • Nationally recognized leader in informing the cultural funding community about the actions of our federal government, their potential and actual impacts and how to advocate for change

  • Advancing arts grantmakers’ embrace of economic justice, racial equity and public policy advocacy, strengthening our national brand beyond the field of culture 

  • Partnering with the national nonprofit and funding communities to participate in legislative change that benefited communities and the nonprofit and philanthropic fields 

    • Successfully advocated for the federal legislature to drop the proposed provisions in the 2025 budget bill, H.R.1, that would have allowed the Treasury Department to eliminate nonprofits’ tax exemption by labeling them supporters of terrorism without due process

    • Successfully advocated for the federal legislature to drop threatened increased taxes on foundations

    • These increased taxes could have had harmful impacts on nonprofit organizations and the communities they serve

    • Successfully advocated for the inclusion in H.R.1 of a new permanent universal deduction, rewarding the charitable giving of residents of modest means, incenting more giving in low-income communities

    • Influenced the U.S. Department of Education to highlight the importance of equitable access to arts and culture when determining how to reopen schools

    • Successfully advocated to include arts-related provisions in the Child Care for Working Families Act, which proposes to better help low-income families pay for childcare and expand high-quality state preschool options

    • Successfully advocated for the Supporting Older Americans Act’s provision that the Administration on Aging include the arts in the issues to be identified and addressed and be included among supportive services for older Americans

    • Influenced Representative Suzanne Bonamici’s (D-OR) development of the Arts Education for All Act, the broadest arts education policy bill ever introduced in Congress

  • Working to actualize our vision of arts and culture as parts of all fields’ support to communities

  • GIA has partnered on programs and presentations with Bolder Advocacy, Grantmakers in Health, United Philanthropy Forum, Grantmakers for Effective Organizations, National Center for Disaster Philanthropy, National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, Trust-Based Philanthropy Project, EDGE Funders Alliance, among others

  • Overseeing governance, programming, finances and fundraising 

    • Raised income and surpluses to their highest levels yet

    • Tripled operating reserves

  • Building a diverse staff and board of directors 

  • Serving as a nationally recognized leader, named Vice Chair of the board of directors of United Philanthropy Forum and Co-Chair of its Public Policy Committee 

  • Serving as a sought-after public speaker and writer on such topics as the arts and health, pro-worker policies, economic justice, among others


DEPUTY COMMISSIONER OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS
City of New York, Department of Cultural Affairs 2014 – 2017

  • Worked with the commissioner to oversee the budget and grantmaking of the largest public cultural funding agency in the United States 

    • Negotiated historic budget increases with the Office of Management and Budget 

  • Led the development of the first Cultural Plan for the City of New York, increasing support to BIPOC artists, artists with disabilities, low-income communities and strengthening ties to other City agencies

  • Led the development of a study of and efforts to support the diversity of New York City’s cultural institutions

  • Led the development of the sections of the City of New York’s long-term sustainability plan, One New York: The Plan for a Strong and Just City focused on neighborhoods and community cohesion, collaborating with several other agencies including Department of Health, Parks and Recreation, among others 

  • Wrote a chapter of the City’s long-term sustainability plan making explicit how culture builds community connection, which strengthens resilience 

  • Led the redesign of the agency’s capacity-building program to serve organizations, artists and small businesses with other agencies in key neighborhoods 

  • Facilitated University of Pennsylvania’s study of the Social Impact of the Arts in New York City

  • Was invited to document our accomplishments for a chapter in The Routledge Handbook of Urban Cultural Planning


PROGRAM OFFICER 
The Rockefeller Foundation 2009 – 2014 

  • Among the outcomes our grantees achieved are:

    • Demonstrate the role of arts and culture in sustainability, justice reform and community development 

    • Expand the number of climate retrofitted buildings in New York City through demonstrations and financing products

    • Ensure the retrofitting of New York City’s schools had positive economic impact on the small business community and on students

    • Present evidence of the ineffectiveness and inequity of the City’s stop-and-frisk policy

    • Document and share the impact of alternatives to incarceration

    • Ensured the State of New York’s economic development plans had a positive impact on residents reintegrating into society post-incarceration 

    • Reduce wage-theft, evictions and crime in low-income neighborhoods


PROGRAM ASSOCIATE FOR MEDIA, ARTS & CULTURE
The Ford Foundation 2002 – 2004 

  • Collaborated on grantmaking portfolios supporting the creation and presentation of new works of art and performance, particularly by BIPOC artists 

VISUAL ARTS DIRECTOR
Bronx Council on the Arts 1994 – 2002 

  • Oversaw programming, fundraising and administration of art gallery and artist-in-residence program 

PROFESSIONAL APPOINTMENTS/HONORS 

  • United Philanthropy Forum, Vice Chair, National Board of Directors, 2022-present; 

    • Co-chair, Public Policy Committee, 2022-2024

  • Martin E. Segal Theater Center Civic Engagement in the Arts Award, 2016 

  • Grantmakers in the Arts National Board of Directors; Member, National Forum on Racial Equity, 2010 –2016

  • ArtPlace America, Member, Operations Committee, 2010 – 2014

EDUCATION 

  • M.S. Management, Leading Organizational Change, 2012 The New School, New York, NY 

  • M.A. Art History, 2001 Hunter College, CUNY, New York, NY 

  • B.A. Studio Art, 1997 Herbert Lehman College, CUNY, Bronx, NY 

  • Trained in facilitation and equitable organizational development by ArtEquity, Interaction Institute for Social Change, KIP Inner Prizes, People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond, Race Forward, True North EDI, The 5 Behaviors of a Cohesive Team, NY Peace Institute, among others

  • Trained in Community Organizing by Midwest Academy and The Highlander Center