A Tool Asks for Racial Equity Lens in Selection Process of Artists and Arts Organizations
A discussion tool to encourage racial equity in the review and selection process of artists and arts organizations was recently launched to interrogate and apply a racial equity lens to every step of the grantmaking process.
With funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the tool has Eleanor Savage, Jerome Foundation program director, as lead author, and Ama Codjoe, project manager of Equity in the Panel Process, as editor. However, the tool results from a collaborative process, based on a structure that Savage developed considering best practices shared by the Racial Equity Tool's team.
These are the tool's contributors:
- Jordan Baylon of Calgary Arts Development
- Pam Breaux of National Assembly of State Arts Agencies
- Francene J. Blythe of Native Arts and Cultures Foundation
- Moira Brennan of MAP Fund
- Emilya Cachapero of Theater Communications Group
- Gargi Shindé of Chamber Music America
- Kathy Hsieh of the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture
- Ken May of South Carolina Arts Commission
- Tariana Navas-Nieves of Denver Arts & Venues
- Jane Preston of New England Foundation for the Arts
- Dara Silver of The Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County
The resource states that "valuing racial equity requires examining how our organizational practices can support equitable outcomes by assessing/addressing racial disparities and inequity."
The announcement adds:
To address racial equity in the panel process, we must actively investigate who has access to opportunities and who doesn’t. Put another way, anti-racist grantmakers must design and implement systems and protocols that increase access and decrease barriers for historically under-resourced groups.
Image: Racial Equity Tool group