Building Equity in Support for Individual Artists

Sunday, October 16, 8am-4pm
Intermedia Arts

SOLD OUT

Facilitated by Carlton Turner, Executive Director, Alternate ROOTS.

As grantmakers, we know that some funding outcomes are not equitably distributed to artists across identity groups. This preconference explores what equity means for funders in daily life and in their work with individual artists, and how to integrate principles of equity into grantmaking practices. Throughout the day, participants will examine the spectrum of their influence, from the personal to the institutional, in achieving more equitable outcomes for support to individual artists. The day will conclude with a discussion on how individuals can influence their organizations and collectively change norms in the field to ensure more equitable funding to artists.

Agenda

Presenter Bios

Barak adé Soleil, Founder, D UNDERBELLY

Barak adé Soleil makes dance, theatre, and performance art. He is founder of D UNDERBELLY, a network of artists of color, and recipient of the AUDELCO Katherine Dunham Choreography Award for excellence in Black theatre. Mr. adé Soleil has engaged diverse and distinct communities throughout the US, Canada, Panama, Europe, and West Africa throughout his creative career. His directing, performing, and process speak to the expanse of contemporary art and utilize techniques drawn from the African diaspora, disability and queer culture, post-modern and conceptual forms.

Eyenga Bokamba, Executive Director, Intermedia Arts

As executive director, Eyenga Bokamba advances Intermedia Arts’ mission to be a catalyst that builds understanding among people through art. She manages finances, oversees the stability and growth of programs and community partnerships, and drives the organization’s focus on equity and inclusion. She previously served as executive director of Sprockets, Saint Paul’s out-of-school time network; youth programs manager at Pillsbury House, an arts-integrated social service agency; and as a language arts teacher for 13 years. Bokamba is a recipient of a Bush Leadership Fellowship. She is a practicing visual artist and was inducted into the National Association of Women Artists in 2011.

María López De León, President & CEO, National Association of Latino Arts & Cultures

María López De León joined the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (NALAC) 18 years ago and has served as executive director, now as president and CEO, for past 14 years. De León has been involved in all aspects of development and implementation of the NALAC programs and strategic initiatives, including three grant programs, a renowned annual leadership institute, and several national convenings. She is a cultural organizer and practitioner dedicated to strengthening communities through the arts and experience working with Latino artists and arts organizations. She serves on multiple arts and culture policy panels and is a noted speaker and advocate for the arts, cultural equity, and social and economic justice.

Melissa Dibble, Managing Director, EmcArts

Melissa Dibble brings to EmcArts more than two decades of experience in cultural administration. Her work as a lead facilitator for EmcArts programs is influenced by the work in community engagement and partnership development that she previously led with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. In addition to her program delivery work as a facilitator, workshop leader, and on-site coach, Dibble serves as the managing director of the company, overseeing staff development, financial management and board relations. Working in close partnership with Richard Evans, she is deeply engaged in strategy development, helping to “build the structure around his creative vision.”

Esther Grisham Grimm, Executive Director, 3Arts

Esther Grisham Grimm’s career-long escapade in the arts spans administration, museum education, youth development, and philanthropy. She is the executive director of 3Arts, a nonprofit arts service and grantmaking organization dedicated to supporting women artists, artists of color, and artists with disabilities working in the performing, teaching, and visual arts in Chicago. 3Arts offers multiyear support through unrestricted awards, residency fellowships, project funding, professional development, and promotion. She serves on the board of directors of the Alliance of Artists Communities (vice chair), the American Friends of the Vienna Museums (secretary), Arts Alliance Illinois, and The Hypocrites theater company.

Gabriela Muñoz, Artist Program Manager, Arizona Commission on the Arts

Gabriela Muñoz is an interdisciplinary artist, arts educator, and arts administrator who holds a BA in English literature and a MFA in printmaking from Arizona State University. Muñoz’s work as curatorial associate in contemporary and Latin American art at Phoenix Art Museum allowed her to support the development of her peers. An artist in service of other artists, she is currently artist programs manager at the Arizona Commission on the Arts, where she leads the AZ ArtWorker initiative and facilitates dialogue and knowledge-sharing between Arizona artists, their national and international artist peers, and residents of Arizona communities. Her collaborations with colleagues at various museums and cultural organizations have allowed her the opportunity to foster community through public programs, artist grants, and creative partnerships.

David Nicholson, Executive Director, Headwaters Foundation for Justice

David Nicholson is driven by the possibility of creating justice by bringing together coalitions that will transform the current climate of hate, fear, and inequity. Before joining Headwaters in 2004, he worked for the State Department of Education as director of the Children’s Trust Fund, which partners with local communities to prevent child abuse. He is actively involved in the Native American community and has served on various local and national boards of directors, advisory committees, and task forces that align with his passion for philanthropy, racial justice, environmental justice, and the well-being of Native American families.

Lori Pourier (Oglala Lakota), President, First Peoples Fund

Lori Lea Pourier, an enrolled member of the Oglala Lakota Nation in southwestern South Dakota, has served as the president of First Peoples Fund since 1999. She has 26 years of experience in community economic development with a specific emphasis on native arts and culture. Her philanthropy work began at First Nations Development Institute. Pourier was awarded Native Americans in Philanthropy’s 2013 Louis T. Delgado Distinguished Grantmaker Award and the Women’s World Summit Foundation’s 2013 Women’s Creativity in Rural Life Award. During her tenure at FPF she has served as an advisor to national foundations and private family foundations.

M. Jenea Sanchez, Founder, Border Arts Corridor

M. Jenea Sanchez was born and raised in Douglas, AZ in 1985. After receiving her MFA from Arizona State University in 2011, she returned to Douglas to continue her art practice and teach art and design at Cochise College and Douglas High School. Sanchez and her husband are also the founders of Border Arts Corridor (BAC), a platform for creative expression providing the borderlands community an immersive arts district through bi-national artwalks, film festivals, workshops, performances, public dialogues, and artist residencies.

Carlton Turner, Executive Director, Alternate ROOTS

Carlton Turner is the executive director of Alternate ROOTS, a regional arts service organization based in the South. He works across the country as a performing artist, arts advocate, policy shaper, lecturer, consultant, and facilitator. He is on the board of Imagining America, Appalshop, First Peoples Fund, the Arts x Culture x Social Justice Network, serves on the governance council of the Southern Movement Assembly, and is an advisory member of the We Shall Overcome Fund. Turner is also a co-founder of the performing group M.U.G.A.B.E.E. He lives in Utica, Mississippi with his wife Brandi and three children.

Schedule:

• 7:15am: Breakfast
• 8:15am: Bus to venue
• 8:45am: Program
• 4:00pm: Bus to hotel