A To-Do List for Arts Philanthropists Who Want to Advance Womxn Arts

By Idelisse Malave, Kerry McCarthy, Debbie Zimmerman, and Erin Zona

Last October, we had the pleasure of sharing at the Grantmakers in the Arts annual conference in Denver the work of the Women’s Arts Consortium, a gathering of four groups created during the second wave of feminism in the 1970’s that is still going strong. Sure, we told the story of women’s arts groups, how we’ve kept going despite founder transitions, how we have ongoing capacity needs, and how we’ve thrived in spite of (we’ll let you fill in the blank!) The funders in the room were concerned about definitions: Who gets to be a woman in this context? What does the support for trans artists look like? How do we center the work of womxn of color in this new era?

Most importantly, the funders stood up and defined what future next steps for this sector could be. We asked them to articulate what actions needed to be taken to ensure that womxn arts, feminist arts, can thrive in the future. They quickly got to work and outlined a To-Do list that all of us, arts practitioners and arts funders alike, need to get busy with. Here’s a start:

  1. Work to ensure womxn are adequately represented on boards and on acquisition committees.
  2. Follow the money – when large foundations announce large womxn’s initiatives, track what they’re doing.
  3. Ensure gender balance in any panel process–whether selecting artists for a residency program or selecting grantees.
  4. Center Black girls and womxn in the work because lifting them up, lifts everyone up.
  5. Pay womxn a living wage and consider childcare when awarding opportunities to womxn.
  6. Make more unrestricted grants to womxn artists and organizations.
  7. Get the facts. Conduct some research. Find out how many womxn arts organizations there are in the nation, who’s doing what, how they are being funded (or not), what’s working, what needs improving, and consider bringing them together.

This list could keep each one of us busy for a long time, and we’ve each begun taking steps to address these issues. The question now is, what are you going to do about it? How will you advance the work of womxn artists over the short- and long-term? Join us.