A new report commissioned by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation surveys the efforts of 15 foundations, including Ford Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, and Surdna Foundation, that are working to “incorporate equity — both in their internal operations and in their grantmaking.” The Road to Achieving Equity presents key findings from the survey, challenges the foundations have faced, and recommendations for foundations looking to begin their own work toward equity.
Racial Equity
Grantmakers in the Arts (GIA) is committed to addressing structural inequities and increasing philanthropic and government support for BIPOC artists and arts organizations. Racial equity is a lens through which GIA aims to conduct all of its work, as well as a specific area of its programming.
Since 2008, GIA has been elevating racial equity as a critical issue affecting the field. To actualize this work within the sector, GIA published its Racial Equity in Arts Funding Statement of Purpose in 2015. Through webinars, articles, convenings, and conference sessions, GIA provides training and information to support arts funders in addressing historic and structural inequity through their grantmaking practices as part of an effort for racial justice as a means toward justice for all.
GIA believes that all oppressed groups should benefit from funding. We give primacy to race because racism is the means by which oppressed groups are manipulated into opposing programs that assist them. Therefore, Grantmakers in the Arts’ equity work – including our discussions of support for trans artists, artists with disabilities and for disability arts – is NOT race-exclusive but IS race-explicit. GIA’s vision for the future of our work is to increasingly reveal how the liberation of all oppressed people is interdependent.
GIA has made a strategic decision to foreground racial equity in our work for several reasons:
- Within other oppressed peoples’ communities (including women, members of the lgbtqi community, people with disabilities, and others), it has been well-documented that people of color still face the worst social outcomes.
- GIA feels that others’ strategies of combining considerations of race with other considerations too often result in racialized people being pushed into the background or ignored.
- The U.S.’ creation of race was established to keep oppressed peoples separate.
Unless we articulate our support for racialized peoples, while calling out this separation strategy, we inadvertently reinforce this separation strategy.
Specific themes of our racial equity programming include:
- The analysis of how funding practices create structural challenges for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color)/ALAANA (African, Latinx, Asian, Arab, Native-American) organizations (Eurocentric quality standards, matching requirements, among others).
- The impact of these practices, as manifest in racialized disparities in levels of funding.
- An exploration of the use of coded language to justify racial inequity (i.e. referring to white audiences as “general” or “mainstream,” while organizations of color are “culturally-specific.”
When it comes to self-identifying language, GIA seeks to use terms that communicate our respect. We do not seek to impose language on members of any group. We respect the manner in which anyone prefers to self-identify. When referring to issues of racial equity, “we use the term BIPOC to highlight the unique relationship to whiteness that Indigenous and Black people have, which shapes the experiences of and relationship to white supremacy for all people of color within a U.S. context.” We take this explanation and practice from the BIPOC Project.
GIA has also used the racial and ethnic identifiers African, Latinx, Asian, Arab, and Native American. We have used African, Latinx, Asian, Arab, Native American – represented using the acronym ALAANA – because we know that many believe the term, “people of color,” conflates together entire groups of people and as a contrast to white. This results in a continued centering of whiteness as the norm and the standard from which other identities deviate.
GIA does not refer to organizations that are founded by, led by, and feature the work of ALAANA/BIPOC communities as “culturally-specific,” as we believe this term centers whiteness as the norm from which other organizations deviate.
GIA is committed to communicating respectfully. GIA does not ask that anyone self-identify with or use any term other than ones they prefer.
I am inspired by the article in this 2016 fall issue of the Reader by Minnesota arts funders who for several years have been on a quest to further racial equity in arts philanthropy in their communities. Grantmakers in the Arts began our work in racial equity in 2012, and like this group, we slowly built our vocabulary, our understanding, and our vision for action. Minnesotans are doing the same.
Read More...
by Monica
Grantmakers in the Arts has released an expansion of its landmark Racial Equity in Arts Philanthropy Statement of Purpose with new definitions, recommendations, and resources to support arts funders in taking up and continuing this important work.
by Monica
By Ana Sofia Knauf, writing for The Stranger:
The [Seattle Office of Arts & Culture (ARTS)] launched a series of racial equity workshops in August to raise "community-wide awareness about existing inequities" and to ensure arts organizations had the training to discuss racial issues. . . . To meet [high] demand, ARTS officials announced they commissioned two more workshops, which will be held in late September. Carmen Morgan, national speaker on diversity issues and founder of artEquity, will lead the discussions, both of which focus on supporting people of color as organizations grapple with racial equity.
The Sustainable Arts Foundation has recently committed to increasing racial equity in the arts. Starting this fall, at least half of our awards will go to applicants of color. Visit their website to read more about this decision and the thinking behind it.
by Monica
A recent article from Createquity identifies and discusses four different visions for cultural equity:
The further we delved into the literature around cultural equity, and the more we consulted experts and connected with some of the activists who precede us, the more we came to realize that shared understanding simply doesn’t exist. . . . But in our own conversations, we found it helpful to divide the visions for success we were reading and hearing from advocates into four archetypes: Diversity, Prosperity, Redistribution, and Self-Determination.
by Monica
A new blog post from the Johnson Scholarship Foundations highlights the work of four Native American women in nonprofits and philanthropy who are driving change in their communities. Lori Pourier, executive director of First People’s Fund, is recognized as “a leader in the field – not just for Native arts and culture – but arts and culture period. She is the go-to person for the ‘creative economy’ in Indian Country."
by Monica
The Los Angeles County Arts Commission has released a new literature review on Public Engagement in the Arts. The report explores different ways in which “public engagement” can be defined and practiced, the purposes public engagement has been used for in the arts, and how the terms “audience” and “participant” have evolved and blurred over time. It also places public engagement in the context of one of the most urgent conversations taking place in arts and culture today, that of cultural equity and inclusion.
by SuJ'n
In July and August 2016, GIA hosted four web conferences devoted to the topic of grantmaking practices that advance racial equity. The sessions offered concrete examples from the field on how various grantmakers from public, private, and intermediary perspectives are approaching different aspects of the grantmaking cycle to address inequities that have been traditionally imbedded in their organizational practices or in the funding ecosystem.
by Monica
Artist Trust has announced the first iteration of its Racial Equity plan, introduced in a press release as "the next step in showing dedication to equity in the arts." The intention of the plan is to address and change historical and ongoing disparities in access to institutional funding, recognition, business practices, and job opportunities. It highlights shifting paradigms in Artist Trust programs, operations, and communications, both showcasing work that is in progress, revealing future plans, and celebrating past successes.