Since the 1990s, a small network of artist-endowed foundations has expanded dramatically, now controlling roughly $9 billion in assets, according to new research collected by the Aspen Institute’s Artist-Endowed Foundation Initiative (AEFI), a center that studies philanthropy in the U.S. The researchers tracked how, as the country’s economy has grown, a few hundred artists in the U.S. established nonprofits and endowed foundations before their deaths in the U.S., creating legal and financial frameworks to protect and promote their work. That latest figure is up about 17 percent from the $7.7 billion reported in 2018 when AEFI, which has offices in Washington, D.C. and New York, last published their findings. The new number is nearly triple the $3.5 billion the group reported in 2011. Related Articles According to financial figures provided by AEFI’s director, Christine J.…