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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:
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:
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.
Artistic responses to the Ferguson no-indictment decision add to a long history of the arts being used to spotlight and counter injustice. Kim Diggs writes for North Texas' Star Local Media:
Because the arts have historically been instrumental in pushing agendas for social change, could the same tactics work to affect judicial change?
Inside Philanthropy shares a blog post by Doug Stamm, CEO of Meyer Memorial Trust Fund, on his journey from being comfortable with his "socially liberal bona fides" to meaningfully involving himself and the foundation with the struggle for racial equity.
The Evelyn & Walter Haas, Jr. Fund of San Francisco is offering a two year paid Program Fellowship at a starting annual salary of $70,000, plus benefits, with substantial professional development opportunities averaging a day a month (including senior staff coaching and mentoring, staff training and meetings, participation in workshops, and conferences). Applications are due by December 22, 2014 with the term to start on or about February 2, 2015.
Learn more.
During the summer of 2014, the editorial team at Createquity scanned the research on diversity in arts patronage, arts creation, and arts administration. It found that research generally fell into four categories: 1) arts participation, 2) broad demographic shifts impacting the field, 3) specific demographic shifts impacting specific disciplines, and 4) recommendations to arts organizations on how to diversify their audiences. Last week, the team shared about its initial thoughts on the research scan and the development of their hypotheses.
In order to better showcase the work GIA, its members, and other funders and researchers are doing in the areas of racial equity & social justice, we have transformed our previously static Arts and Social Justice page to a more dynamic group page. We have also distinguished Racial Equity as a priority within the broad realm of social justice. This is consistent with the 2013 GIA Board action to make racial equity a core part of our work. While the posts on this page start in mid-year 2014, GIA has been working on race and social justice matters for many years.
A new report by the D5 coalition and Forward Change, Philanthropic Paths: An Exploratory Study of the Career Pathways of Professionals of Color in Philanthropy, explores the various paths professionals of color take as they advance to leadership positions in philanthropy as well as the tools that helped them get there and gave them staying power. It provides a nuanced picture of the career experiences of 43 philanthropic professionals of color ranging from Program Officers to CEOs working in an array of foundations.
An initiative is underway to stimulate a broader conversation within the field of philanthropy to articulate the values and practices of justice funders. This conversation is being facilitated through a weekly blog series that seeks new voices for inspiration, stimulation, and provocation that will “generate contemplation and discussion now, as well as serve to generate content for a framework for social justice philanthropy that we can begin layering with examples of existing practice over the course of the next year.” Do join this conversation and tag your social media with #justicefunder.
Last month, Helicon Collaborative published Making Meaningful Connections: Characteristics of Arts Groups that Engage New and Diverse Participants with funding from The James Irvine Foundation. This research shares the attributes of organizations that successfully invite, reach, and meet the needs of diverse audiences. On its heels, the Regional Arts & Culture Council based in Portland, Oregon recently published An Introduction to Engaging Diverse Audiences. This toolkit presents six building blocks that build and strengthen community relationships and provides an excellent compilation of other previously released resources, including the Helicon report.
Rick Lowe of Project Row Houses in Houston, Texas, has been named as a MacArthur Fellow in the 2014 class that will be announced on September 18. Lowe will be the keynote speaker at the Tuesday Luncheon Plenary of the GIA 2014 Conference taking place next month in Houston. Read about Mr. Lowe and the entire 2014 class.
By Janet Brown from her blog Better Together
My first year at Grantmakers in the Arts (GIA) was 2009. When I travelled the country to meet members and learn about their work, I was surprised by my conversations with most private funders.