Preconference Events
Virtual preconference sessions will be offered on Friday, November 5 from 2:30-5:30pm AST via Zoom Meeting. Anyone who has already registered for the virtual conference is eligible to purchase a ticket for a virtual preconference offered as part of the preconference day. The purchase of a conference ticket does not include access to the preconference events on Friday.
2:30pm-5:30pm AST
Presenters: Celeste Smith, The Pittsburgh Foundation and Grantmakers in the Arts Support for Individual Artist Committee Co-Chair; Jessica Gaynelle Moss, artist, independent curator, art collector, and arts consultant; Mahoganëë Amiger, vocalist, recording artist, songwriter and youth educator-mentor; Lillian Osei-Boateng, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Support for Individual Artist Committee Member; Alicia Bell, Borealis Philanthropy; Allen Kwabena Frimpong, ZEAL and Liberation Ventures; Meena Malik, New England Foundation for the Arts; Quita Sullivan, New England Foundation for the Arts, Grantmakers in the Arts Board Member; Tiffany Wilhelm, Opportunity Fund; Ce Scott-Fitts, South Carolina Arts Commission and Grantmakers in the Arts Support for Individual Artist Committee Co-chair; Toya Beacham, multi-disciplinary artist, graphic recorder
The National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA) defines reparations as “A process of repairing, healing, and restoring a people injured because of their group identity and in violation of their fundamental human rights by governments, corporations, institutions and families. Those groups that have been injured have the right to obtain from the government, corporation, institution, or family responsible for the injuries that which is needed to repair and heal themselves. In addition to being a demand for justice, it is a principle of international human rights law.” With this in mind, how should arts and culture funders respond to the needs and debts that are owed to artists? What does this process of repairing, healing, and restoring look like when funders face the realities of “swimming with the current” and institutional best practice? How can funders leverage power to be a mover and shaker within the institution? Join the individual artist virtual preconference workshop to explore how funders can be advocates for artists in reconciliation from systemic harm in the form of wealth building and reparations. Let’s explore and discuss the possibilities.
Please note this session will be presented in English. Captions and live interpretation will be provided throughout in both English and Spanish.
2:30pm-5:30pm AST
Presenters: Hope Ghazala, Licensed Social Worker, facilitator, organizer, PeoplesHub; Caroline Woolard, Open Collective Foundation, Pratt Institute, art.coop; Angie Kim, Center for Cultural Innovation; Karen Ristuben, Essex County Community Foundation; Stratton Lloyd, Essex County Community Foundation
In spring of this year, GIA released Solidarity Not Charity: Arts & Culture Grantmaking in the Solidarity Economy, a report that explores how the grantmaking community can support culture workers and artists through an increasingly just economy. “Creatives are ‘going back to the future’ to practices of shared livelihoods rooted in cultural traditions,” report authors Caroline Woolard and Natalia Linares remind us.
In collaboration with artists who contributed to the report and GIA members Essex County Community Foundation (ECCF) and Center for Cultural Innovation (CCI), this workshop will amplify the foundations and current labor of artists and cultural workers anchoring the solidarity economy.
Participants will discuss their own efforts and challenges and will learn about the challenges and impacts of ECCF’s Creative County Initiative, CCI ChangeMakers, a cohort-learning leadership support program, and collectively imagine a cooperative center for the study of cultural liberation.
Join us for a dynamic discussion of one another’s work and these emerging case studies to develop actionable recommendations for how to invest and support BIPOC creatives who are innovating models for self-determination and community wealth.
2:30pm-5:30pm AST
Presenters: F. Javier Torres-Campos, Surdna Foundation; Sonya Childress, Perspective Fund; Favianna Rodriguez, Center for Cultural Power; Dey Hernández and Tina Orlandini, AgitArte; mapenzi chibale nonó, Parceleras Afrocaribeñas
How can funders invest in building a more just future via the narrative change ecosystem? In 2019, the Surdna Foundation launched a national partnership with key leaders from across the narrative change ecosystem. Under the stewardship of the Center for Cultural Power and nearly 100 change leaders, this network is building the essential bridge(s) between justice movements leaders and the cultural sector. And, on the Island, Puerto Rican artists and cultural leaders are building and shaping movements to visibilize, amplify, and positively represent Afro-Caribbean communities by transforming the narratives and realities of Black communities.
Join us for a dynamic discussion and deep dive into these emerging case studies with actionable recommendations for how to invest in building a more just future via the narrative change ecosystem.
Please note this session will be bilingual, presented in both Spanish and English. Captions and live interpretation will be provided throughout.
2:30pm-5:30pm AST
Presenters: Elizabeth Alexander, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; Alexis Ortiz, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; Neeltje van Marissing Méndez, Flamboyan Foundation; Mayra Santos Febres, Letras Boricuas Selection Committee; Carina del Valle Schorske, Letras Boricuas Selection Committee; Aracelis Girmay, Letras Boricuas Selection Committee; Willie Perdomo, Letras Boricuas Selection Committee; Félix Joaquín Rivera, Letras Boricuas Selection Committee; Carlos Rodriguez, Flamboyan Foundation; Jen Benka, Academy of American Poets
This individual artist focused preconference session will delve into the collaborative work of funders who have situated their grantmaking work at the intersections of cultural preservation, recovery and resilience for the Island’s cultural ecosystem, and creative approaches to supporting individual artists. In collaboration with The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Flamboyan Arts Fund, this preconference session will focus on case studies that illustrate how funders in Puerto Rico and the continental US can collaboratively mobilize financial and other resources to create new streams of support for individual artists.
Focusing on Letras Boricuas – a first of its kind fellowship for emerging and established Puerto Rican writers from across the archipelago and the diaspora – participants will have the opportunity to learn about establishing new funding opportunities, how the initiative came together and the challenges we faced along the way, the rigorous and collaborative program design process, navigating power dynamics, centering antiracist practices and language, balancing the unique needs of artistic communities in Puerto Rico and in the diaspora, bilingual communications, how to create space for each party to bring its expertise to the table, and how to translate experience from the continental US into the Puerto Rican context.