Grantmakers in the Arts

**GIA WEBINAR** GIA Webinar Working Together: Arts Funding, Solidarity, and Non-Hierarchial Program Structures Meet our guest speaker Randi Berry, Executive Director, IndieSpace Randi is an indie theater maker and organizer with over 20 years of dedicated service to the performing arts community. As the Executive Director of IndieSpace, she oversees radically transparent, equity-focused funding, real estate programs, and advocacy for individual artists, theater companies, and indie venues. She is dedicated to coalition building, partnerships and removing barriers to access. Randi oversaw the merger of Indie Theater Fund and IndieSpace in 2022, which together has provided over $2.5M in direct funding and countless hours of professional development and real estate advisory and consulting for the indie theater community. Randi co-founded the Cultural Solidarity Fund with 17 other cultural organizations, raising over $1.3M to support 2,030 artists. She spearheaded various initiatives through IndieSpace, including the AAPI Transportation Fund, Pay Your People, Milk and Eggs, Little Venue that Could and a 0% interest loan program for small budget organizations. Randi's expertise in real estate has benefited over 90 organizations, providing advisory services and securing affordable spaces, like the 99 year lease at $1 per year for the West Village Rehearsal Co-Op. Join Randi Berry (IndieSpace), Sruti Suryanarayanan (Art.coop), Salem Tsegaye (formerly Mosaic Network and Fund), and Haowen Wang (Dance/USA) on Tuesday, May 21 at 2pm EDT for an interactive session that encourages participants to consider obstacles and possibilities in giving agency of program design and decision-making to artist-centered and non-hierarchical approaches. Learn more and register: https://bit.ly/3TVVjs8

**GIA CONFERENCE** DEADLINE EXTENDED – 2024 GIA Conference Call for Submissions Closes April 26! Call for sessions is now open! The deadline to submit a proposal has been extended to Friday, April 26 at 5pm EDT. Please note that the GIA office will be closed from April 22-26, at which time the team will be unable to assist with session proposals. Learn more about guidelines and considerations, and submit your proposal: https://bit.ly/4ajIXjV Please contact program manager Jaime Sharp at jaime@giarts.org with questions. Join us October 6 – 9, 2024 in Chicago, to reunite with the GIA community and continue in propelling an equitable philanthropic agenda. Submitting conference breakout session proposals is a benefit of membership in Grantmakers in the Arts. If you are unable to log into your account or have questions regarding your membership, please contact gia@giarts.org. If you're not currently a Grantmakers in the Arts member, please join 300 foundations, nonprofit re-grantors, and government agencies representing over 1,000 grantmakers, and become a member today!

**NEWS FROM THE FIELD** Join National Council on Aging for the Age + Action Conference May 6-8, 2024 The 2024 Age+Action Conference will be held in person on May 6-8, 2024, in Arlington, Virginia. This national conference brings together hundreds of professionals who are dedicated to ensuring every person has the resources to age well. Learn more and register: https://bit.ly/3xMO4uU

**GIA CONFERENCE** Last Call – 2024 GIA Conference Call for Submissions Closes NEXT WEEK! Who can submit for the GIA conference? Submitting conference breakout session proposals is a benefit of membership in Grantmakers in the Arts. If you are unable to log into your account or have questions regarding your membership, please contact gia@giarts.org. If you're not currently a Grantmakers in the Arts member, please join 300 foundations, nonprofit re-grantors, and government agencies representing over 1,000 grantmakers, and become a member today! Call for sessions is now open! We encourage GIA members to submit plans for workshops, panels, round table discussions, and affinity groups. Learn more about guidelines and considerations, and submit your proposal here. The deadline to submit a proposal is Friday, April 19th at 5pm EDT. Please contact program manager Jaime Sharp at jaime@giarts.org with questions. Join us October 6 – 9, 2024 in Chicago, to reunite with the GIA community and continue in propelling an equitable philanthropic agenda.

**GIA WEBINAR** GIA Webinar Working Together: Arts Funding, Solidarity, and Non-Hierarchial Program Structures How do we think about ways of funding structurally based on a trust model? Can we build ourselves around the artists’ desires and individual choices? This webinar will explore various funding processes currently working in the field that use a non-hierarchical or solidarity-based approach. Join Randi Berry (IndieSpace), Sruti Suryanarayanan (Art.coop), Salem Tsegaye (formerly Mosaic Network and Fund), and Haowen Wang (Dance/USA) on Tuesday, May 21 at 2pm EDT for an interactive session that encourages participants to consider obstacles and possibilities in giving agency of program design and decision-making to artist-centered and non-hierarchical approaches. Breakout sessions will be facilitated by advocates of the Solidarity Economy Movement, including members of Art.coop. Learn more and register: https://bit.ly/3TVVjs8

**GIA MEMBER SPOTLIGHT** GIA's member spotlight is Cave Canem! Cave Canem was founded by Toi Derricotte and Cornelius Eady in 1996 to remedy the underrepresentation and isolation of African-American poets in the literary landscape. That year, Cave Canem welcomed the inaugural cohort of Fellows to our Retreat—a residency of intensive poetry workshops and readings, which offers an unparalleled opportunity to join a community of peers and study with a faculty of renowned poets—at Mount St. Alphonsus Seminary, in Esopus, New York. Since 2003, University of Pittsburgh | Greensburg has hosted the flagship program. Cave Canem Fellowships have supported more than 500 poets, many of whom have gone on to distinguished literary careers, including winners of the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize, recipients of the MacArthur Fellowship, and Poets Laureate. Learn more about their initiatives: https://bit.ly/4aJInwc Image 1: The Spring 2023 Regional Workshop | NYC poets are happily huddled together in a circle. Photo courtesy: Nicholas Nichols Image 2: (L to R) Bettina Judd, Patricia Smith, Courtney Faye Taylor, Remica Bingham-Risher being introduced by KenYatta Rogers and Darrel Alejandro Holnes at the “Black Women As (Keepers of) the Archive” panel at AWP 2024. Photo courtesy: Morgan Maben Image 3: Cave Canem Prize Reading by Ariana Benson and Colette Benson. 2023 Cave Canem Prize Winner, Ariana Benson (left) with her mother, Colette Benson (right), are standing in front of a Schomburg Center for Black Research step and repeat while holding Ariana’s newly published book, “Black Pastoral.” Photo courtesy: Morgan Maben Photo courtesy: Morgan Maben Image 4: Cave Canem fellows, faculty, and staff at the annual Cave Canem Retreat in 2023. Photo courtesy: Morgan Maben Image 5: Spring 2023 Regional Workshop | NYC instructor Jennifer Falú shares her work at the culminating workshop reading. Photo courtesy: Nicholas Nichols Image 6: (L to R) Cave Canem Fellows Anacaona Rocio Milagro, Sacha Marvin Hodges, and Gustavo Adolfo Aybar make conversation at Cave Canem’s AWP 2024 booth. Photo courtesy: Morgan Maben

**NEWS FROM THE FIELD** Join WESTAF's Creative Vitality Summit Now in its third year, the Creative Vitality™ Summit will bring together artists, designers, technologists, arts advocates, and policy experts to consider the impact of new economic models, new forms of investment, and technological change in arts, culture, and the creative economy. The Creative Vitality Summit is hosted by the Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF) virtually April 9-10, a nonprofit regional arts organization with deep experience studying the impact of arts and the creative economy, particularly in investigating and comparing regional creative vitality through the Creative Vitality Suite. Learn more and register: https://bit.ly/3vRurRR

**NEWS FROM THE FIELD** Support the National Worker Cooperative Development and Support Act Please join Grantmakers in the Arts in endorsing the National Worker Cooperative Development and Support Act (HR 7221), which aims to promote and expand worker-owned cooperative businesses in the United States by endowing the Small Business Administration, Internal Revenue Service, Department of the Treasury, Department of Commerce, United States Department of Agriculture, and Department of Labor with responsibilities and authorities to implement programs and initiatives to support worker co-ops. Individuals and nonprofits can endorse here. Here is more information on the bill. Grantmakers in the Arts holds Public Policy & Advocacy as one of its core funding focus areas. As part of realizing this vision, we teach our members about advocacy and lobbying, the difference between the two, and how grantmakers can support both. Learn more: https://bit.ly/49yqzTW

**GIA CONFERENCE** 2024 GIA Conference Call for Submissions Now Open! Grantmakers in the Arts is thrilled to welcome you to Chicago for our 2024 Conference! The GIA Conference is the largest annual convening of arts funders and the most comprehensive opportunity for our colleagues in the field to learn from each other. We greatly value the experience, ideas, and programs that members share and the field at large. Call for sessions is now open! We encourage GIA members to submit plans for workshops, panels, round table discussions, and affinity groups. The deadline to submit a proposal is Friday, April 19th at 5pm EDT. Please contact program manager Jaime Sharp at jaime@giarts.org with questions. Learn more about guidelines and considerations, and submit your proposal: https://bit.ly/4ajIXjV Join us October 6 – 9, 2024 in Chicago, to reunite with the GIA community and continue in propelling an equitable philanthropic agenda.

**GIA BOARD OF DIRECTORS** Congratulations GIA Board Members Gabrielle (Gaby) Strong & Tina Kuckkahn on their NDN Collective Appointments! GIA Board Member Gaby Strong was recently named the new NDN Collective Vice President, and GIA Board Member Tina Kuckkahn was named Managing Director for NDN Collective's Foundation. “It has been a blessing to join our relatives in the ramp up of NDN Collective, being able to support movement infrastructure, strategize on policy and actions, offer huge investment opportunities and to rematriate resources to our people at a scale that’s never been seen before,” said Gaby. “I’m looking forward to the next phase of this journey as we nurture our roots in the Ȟesápa (Black Hills) while fulfilling our commitment to our People throughout Turtle Island aka North America.”