Lara Davis's Blog

Tuesday morning’s IDEA LAB of artists was on point, my people. I was particularly struck by Rosten Woo, who in a nutshell, produces communication art. Putting “interpretation” at the center of his work, he creates things like aesthetically-designed and clearly legible pamphlets on zoning so that street vendors know their rights, and glossies that highlight art and cultural occurrences in neighborhoods that, “due to racism, or the mere fact it takes place in someone’s backyard,” are not recognized as cultural staple within a community. I’m a fan.

Day 1 of the main conference has been pretty spectacular. The opening plenary inspired with three local artist presentations centering cultural organizing, innovation, and love. The sessions themselves were brilliant – a confluence of ideas and grappling with critical issues that the philanthropic community must consider, unpack and engage through action and accountability.

The preconference session Investing in Filmmakers: Arts and Media drew primarily funders from across the nation to discuss, as framed by Janet Brown in her opening statement: how can we move forward in a way that advances filmmakers as individual artists? Participants from organizations and foundations where opportunities for filmmakers are minimal to embedded in general artist-funding programs were eager to discuss and find ways to more intentionally invest in these artists. This included ideas for cross-sector work, such as film and community development, and supporting current grantees to engage storytelling thru film making. Those with more established artist funding and development programs in media spoke to the benefits of filmmaking beyond an advocacy and communications focus to one of tangible social impact, followed by comments on artist access to power and decision-making in these processes.