Arts and Community Development

The new grant from Basic Income for the Arts, “will give 2,000 artists €325 (~$354) a week with no restrictions on spending.” This pilot program will be tested over the course of three years (2022-2025).

As part of their February spotlight on land, wealth, and ownership, Common Future shares a series of pieces drawing reflections on the legacies of land, wealth, and culture theft and cataloging actions by BIPOC communities in response. "The loss of land not only results in stripping financial wealth from families, but cultural wealth as well," Jennie Stephens, executive director of the Center for Heirs’ Property Preservation and Common Future network leader emphasizes. “It’s far more than just a parcel of land — it can be a window to the past that tells the story of a family, a community, or a way of life. Knowing about your family’s history and culture creates a sense of place and belonging.”

The Henry Luce Foundation announced recently the commitment of $14 Million in new grants intended to amplify diverse experiences and fund community-engaged projects.

The newly released Monument Lab’s audit of the United States' commemorative landscape, in partnership with the Mellon Foundation, answers important questions like: "Who are the 50 individuals most frequently represented by a public monument in the US? What percentage of those 50 are white and male? How many are women? And what are the dynamics that helped shape who is—and who is not—on that list?".

In a recent article, Next City tackled the concept of third places and "the importance of public space, separate from home or work, designed by and for Black people."

The City of New York announced funding for a new cultural space to be built to serve as Pregones/Puerto Rican Traveling Theater’s headquarters. "With just over $3 million in new City funding added as part of this year's capital budget, the project is now fully funded with $10.2 million in City support," according to the press release.

"What is the #ShiftThePower movement and how much has it achieved?," writes Alliance Magazine discussing a webinar aimed to answer these questions with a panel of activists and professionals working with small, grassroots organizations within local communities.

"In order to resolve generational wealth extraction from BIPOC and working-class communities, there needs to be more accountability for investors and funders, and more agency for these communities," write Shante Little and Curt Lyon in Alliance Magazine.

Data from 2019 analyzed by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Bureau of Economic Analysis shows growth in the arts and cultural sector before the coronavirus pandemic.

THE FRONT, a gallery and performing arts space that serves the communities of San Ysidro and Tijuana, sits on a busy thoroughfare only a few hundred yards from the busiest border land crossing in the Western Hemisphere. A program of Casa Familiar — a social service organization that operates senior and affordable housing to health services to youth programming in facilities scattered in and around San Ysidro’s well-loved Beyer Park — THE FRONT was opened in 2004 as a passion project for artists living and rooted in San Ysidro, the southernmost neighborhood of San Diego.