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Abstract painting by Carlos Davila Rinaldi, shapes in blue, white, yellow, pink, and orange.

GIA Multiverse

Revisiting Pasts to

Build the Future

San Juan | November 5-8, 2023

GRANTMAKERS IN THE ARTS
Annual Conference

20
23

BIG Thanks to everyone!

Check back in the new year for recordings of all of our conference conversations & keyontes!

About

See you IN SAN JUAN!

2023 GIA Annual Conference: Revisiting Pasts to Build the Future

In-person Conference | November 5—8

Grantmakers in the Arts is eager to welcome you – finally - to San Juan! Following a pivot late in 2021, we postponed the in-person experiences to 2023, and here we are! While much has occurred in the interim, the communities and organizing efforts led by artists, culture bearers, and grantmakers, remain. As we look toward the future – a future that must be more equitable and just – we must reflect on how the past informed our present.


Puerto Rico, La Isla del Encanto, and its people shape and are shaped by place and environment, history and geopolitics, and a complex colonial history that defines its status as a US territory, the ancestors of our legacies – Taíno, African, and European – and diverse social and cultural narratives of an island and a diaspora. We look to Puerto Rico for energy and inspiration, creativity and struggle. While we do this, the creators who supply that source of relief at the end of a long day are succumbed to the inequities of the labor force, affordable space and access, asset ownership, and the nonprofit industrial complex. How are we, as stewards of wealth and holders of power, using our imaginations to build a present and future that will redress past and present struggle? Artists and activists are among the many calling for change, and they continue to lead the way for imagining different relationships of belonging in new futures.


Join us in-person for four days of immersion in the vast and layered cultural ecosystem of Puerto Rico with keynotes, breakout sessions, off-sites, cultural tours, and more!

Learn more >>                Conference Planning Committee >>

Summer Series

Something special this year, we present the GIA Summer Series! This virtual track of the conference offers an opportunity to participate in sessions if travel isn’t possible for you. These sessions will include conversations about just transition and the cultural funding sector, learning directly from Puerto Rican artists, supporting artists beyond museum walls, and more. You can register for just these sessions, one Wednesday per month between July and October, or you can register for the full conference and access to the Summer Series is included!

Learn more >>

Virtual Workshops | July—October

Register

01

Summer 

Series

Pass

DATES

Jul 19

Aug 23

Oct 4

oct 11 

oct 18

TIMES

2p—3:30p

EDT

For those who won’t be joining in-person, please join us during the Summer Series, a virtual track of the 2023 GIA Annual Conference where local artists and GIA members will share their learnings and recommendations,

just like in San Juan. 

Learn More >> 

02

Pre-

Conference

Sessions

DATES

Sunday

November 5

sold out 

TIMES

Half + Full Day Offerings

Want an opportunity to dive a little deeper into an important conversation about cultural organizing or support for individual artists? Want to help shape a new cultural policy committee or meet local community-based artists?

Add on a pre-conference! 

Learn More >> 

03

Full

Conference

Pass

DATES

NOV 5

NOV 6

NOV 7

NOV 8

sold out 

TIMES

8a—8p AST

LOcal Time

Join us in-person for four days of connecting, learning, and immersion in San Juan’s cultural ecosystem amongst colleagues and friends.

 

This ticket includes access to all GIA Summer Series Virtual Sessions, too! 

Register >> 

Keynotes

FEAT. VOICES

As with the last few conferences, the plenary sessions will not be separated by artists labs and keynotes; rather all plenary sessions will feature a combination of artists, artist-led organizations, or critical voices within the field speaking or in conversation. The invited slate of plenary session speakers is outlined below. 

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Agite
Art

Organization of working class artists and cultural organizers

Monday 11/6, 1:15P AT
Portrait of Tanicha Lopez
Tanicha
López

Jazz

Vocalist

Tuesday 11/7, 1:15p AT

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Rocío Aranda-Alvarado

Creativity & Free Expression Team

Ford Foundation

Tuesday 11/7, 4:30p AT

Portrait of Bre Rivera
Bre
rivera

Researcher, Author, Founder

Black Trans Fund

Wednesday 11/8, 11A AT

Portrait of Vu Le
VU
Le

Writer, Speaker

Nonprofit AF

Monday 11/6, 4:30p AT
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Tariana
Navas-Nieves

Director of Cultural Affairs

Denver Arts & Venues

Tuesday 11/7, 1:15p AT

maría-josé.jpg
Maria
Jose V

Artist, Director, Producer, Editor, Writer, Performer, Image Maker

Wednesday 11/8, 11A AT
Portrait of "La Bruja"
Caridad de la luz
"la bruja"

Poet, Playwright, Actress

Community Activist

Tuesday 11/7, 1:15p AT
Portrait of Dr Ramon Rivera-Servera
Dr. Ramon
Rivera-Servera

Dean and Professor

University of Texas at Austin

Tuesday 11/7, 4:30p AT
Betun.jpeg
Dania "Betún" Warhol

EspicyNipples

Wednesday 11/8, 11A AT

Hotel

The Iconic
Caribe
Hilton

The conference will be held at the iconic Caribe Hilton. Due to the overwhelming number of registrants, the conference hotel is now sold out, as well as the overflow hotel.

We encourage you to visit the FAQ page under "Where is the conference hotel and how can I make reservations?" for a list of recommended hotels in San Juan.

Dancers in red, yellow, and green dresses twirl while a man in a hat and a button-up shirt plays the drums. Masks and photos in the background of dance hall.

Anchor Sponsors

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The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

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Surdna Foundation

Signature Sponsors

Wallace

Foundation

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Mellon

Foundation

MAJOR Sponsors

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Booth Ferris Foundation

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Baisley Powell

Elebash Fund

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Concur

Technologies

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Flamboyan Foundation

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Miranda Family Fund

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Rockefeller

Brothers Fund

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Bloomberg

Philanthropies

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Lambent Foundation

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William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

Sustaining Sponsors

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David Rockefeller Fund

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Banco Popular

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