Coronavirus Response: Into the weeds (Podcast Transcript)

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Sherylynn Sealy:
Welcome to a podcast by Grantmakers in the Arts, a national membership association of public and private arts and culture funders. I’m Sherylynn Sealy, GIA’s program manager. This is the second podcast of the Coronavirus Response Series. In this podcast, we’re providing insight on funding practices that center equity and reframe recovery toward new relationships. We’ve heard about what funders should keep at the forefront of their recovery strategies, but how can funders be drivers toward a re-imagined and more equitable future for the sector? We’re glad to present this series of conversations with leaders in the field. Joining us we have Ruby Lopez Harper, senior director of local arts advancement at Americans for the Arts, Brian McGuigan, program director at Artist Trust and Trella Walker, director of advisory services and head of the social innovation and equity council at Nonprofit Finance Fund. This is a combination of separate dialogues between the presenters and GIA, and we address each presenter’s rapid response efforts, collaborations and partnerships that have been formed and what you can learn from them and ways to ensure new practices become a part of the status quo. Let’s dive in. Thank you for joining us Ruby.

Ruby Lopez Harper:
Thank you for having me. I’m so honored and humbled, really.

Sherylynn Sealy:
Glad to have you. So what are some of the new equity focused rapid response practices that didn’t exist before COVID-19 and should continue during recovery?

Ruby Lopez Harper:
So some of the responses that I’ve seen, I think are pretty, I want to say, mundane. Because these mechanisms existed before the crisis, but the way that we’re leveraging them now is what makes them rather unique and the rate at which the changes are happening. So I think the one that stands out the most for me, having been a former funder and worked both with artists and organizations and project support and operating support is the quick, very quick, very quick shift from project support funds to operating support funds and the removal of the one-to-one match and the lifting of certain reporting requirements.

Ruby Lopez Harper:
And just the flexibility that funders have moved to respond to their grantees with has been really, I think, notable and yet frustrating because it’s like, “Y’all, if we could have made project support operating support a year ago, what would be different right now?”

Sherylynn Sealy:
Yeah. That’s right.

Ruby Lopez Harper:
And we’ve all talked about, it’s so scary to do that. Is that though?

Sherylynn Sealy:
Right.

Ruby Lopez Harper:
Because we’re all doing it right now.

Sherylynn Sealy:
I know. With a quick turnaround.

Ruby Lopez Harper:
And everybody seems fine with it. So I think those are the things that I’m really hoping stick and that funders reflect on as they think about how to forward. The other thing though, that I’d like to see not continue forward is the limitation of who can access additional funding during the crisis right now. I see a lot of funders who may have additional funds and they’re like, “Well, we’re going to direct them to existing grantees.” That’s great. And there’s a huge swath of your community that may be struggling, that you’re going to leave out of that. And so you have implicitly, or said it without saying it, valued certain organizations over others in your community. And so I would really… I would love to see more collaboration around funding and support structures and hope that, funders shy away from being the single entity superhero championing the survival of our community. No, we have to work together. It’s a community, it’s a village for a reason.

Sherylynn Sealy:
Yeah.

Ruby Lopez Harper:
So, yeah. I also appreciate that a lot of folks are open to conversation and are a little more transparent, I think even about their limitations and “We can’t move that quickly because, and we can’t…” Sometimes it sounds like excuses, but I think there’s also a level of honesty that’s happening that I hope continues as we move through this.

Sherylynn Sealy:
Yeah. Yeah. I agree. And that was a really helpful look at what you’re seeing across the board, but then flipping things around and shifting towards your own organization, has anything changed with your equity practice? And was it a simple transition if yes.

Ruby Lopez Harper:
The thing I would say that has shifted most remarkably, for me specifically, but I think also for colleagues that we still have water cooler talk is you’re jumping from thing to thing, but has been the flexibility. We recently had a conversation around core hours and how do we structure our day. And the openness of the organization to accommodate and listen to staff that have other life frameworks that they have to accommodate during the time that we’re at home. And not just the organization being supportive of those accommodations, but our own colleagues being supportive of those accommodations. And just a month ago and now we’re talking about how great it is that our colleagues kids sit in a Zoom call or walk through a Zoom call, they Zoom bomb and everybody thinks its just… It’s not shocking, it’s okay and it happens, we accept it. And that everybody’s… It’s endearing to see someone’s cat walk across their monitor or their dog sitting in their lap.

Ruby Lopez Harper:
And these points of humanity that we’re open to now in a way that I don’t think we were open to nor invited in as a collective has really been the energy that underpins some days being easier to get through than others. And it’s those moments that like, “I love your dog. I wish I had a dog.”

Sherylynn Sealy:
Yeah.

Ruby Lopez Harper:
It humanizes us in a way that wasn’t happening when we were in the office. And I think also just the desire to continue to embed the work even more so than before it isn’t a siloed check box.

Sherylynn Sealy:
Right.

Ruby Lopez Harper:
It permeates everything we do. And while we may have a specific focus in one specific area about something, it still is how do we embed that value? How do we continue to embed that value? And I’m finding that more and more as I’m moving in different conversations. My role shifted slightly in January. And so all of that has opened up conversations I wasn’t in before, but to be able to be there and to say things and have it be received and then hearing other people also, I think has been also very bolstering in that I was concerned, not just for our organization, but I think for the field in general, that in times of crisis, when people are deploying resources and focus in relief, response effort, certain things can fall by the wayside unintentionally. And I feel that it has happened a little bit, but not to the point that we have completely dropped the ball. I think people are still trying to figure out how to navigate equity in the things that they’re doing right now and in the things that they’re doing forward, but nobody has said, “It’s completely stopped it.”

Sherylynn Sealy:
Right.

Ruby Lopez Harper:
“We don’t care anymore.”

Sherylynn Sealy:
Right.

Ruby Lopez Harper:
They still care. And it maybe have slowed down the things that they had… I mean, hasn’t, it slowed down everything we thought we’d be doing.

Sherylynn Sealy:
That’s true. Yeah.

Ruby Lopez Harper:
But it hasn’t stopped it. And that’s given me a lot of hope.

Sherylynn Sealy:
Yeah. No, I think that’s great. And I appreciate you saying that. And so, as a result of the COVID-19 response, a lot of new partnerships and collaboratives have been formed. So how can folks continue relationship building both within sectors and across sectors for longterm impacts and to see a different, more equitable funding ecosystem?

Ruby Lopez Harper:
Yeah. That’s the million dollar question. If we weren’t doing it before and it’s necessary. We’ve been thinking a lot about what are the core skills are the core tenets or the core, what are the things that are going to be vital to the field succeeding forward. And relationships and partnerships are going to be one of the strongest ways that we can continue to succeed. Both because consumption is changing. And the way that people interact with art is changing. And infrastructure around the arts is compromised at this point. And infrastructure inside community where the arts are, is also compromised. And so the only way that we’re going to get through it is to work together. And I think, if you’re thinking about just arts organizations, if you’re not already talking to your audience and the people that are interacting with you, what do you think is going to happen on the other side of this?

Ruby Lopez Harper:
And if you aren’t talking to your partners, if we aren’t working together, arts agencies and funders, if they’re not talking about how they’re going to plot the path forward together, this isn’t a singular lift. There isn’t one silver bullet that’s going to save all of it. It’s going to take concerted, collaborative, collective, in sync, all of us together words to keep it going because no single anything has the weight, the heft, the muscle, or the resources to save it in any community. And one of the things that we’ve been thinking about even just around how do we support artists? How do we help communities think about the way that they support artists? In some of those conversations and strategies are embedded cross sector work. And how do we help… Who do we need to tell what, in order to help move what along in order to make space for artists to be embedded in municipalities? And some of that work’s already been underway, but how do you preserve it in the interest and in the wake of what’s happening right now?

Ruby Lopez Harper:
And I think the more that entities can work together and leverage their collective power. I think the more we’re going to be able to make happen. Because I think it really is, this is a moment that supersedes that singular champion, this is a moment that it isn’t about a standalone any solution it’s going to have to be about multiple strategies put together with multiple entities moving in a united front. And I think that’s really where I see a lot of the relationship building and the importance of maintaining partnerships and significantly working cross sector in a way that advances the community as a whole, but also understands the place that arts and culture has inside that community.

Sherylynn Sealy:
Yeah. No, thank you. And so when we think about a lot of arts organizations and the fact that they have statistically lower budget sizes and staff sizes, how can the funder community use this moment of rebuilding to ensure that new practices become the status quo?

Ruby Lopez Harper:
I would love to say that there’s a way to fix it. And some of the things that I think we’re already stumbling over as a sector, as a field is limiting who can access these relief funds are limiting, who can participate or limiting who is able to get to that. Because we know that those organizations, we know that the communities of color are traditionally marginalized, disenfranchised, under resourced, left out. And in some cases there’s no trust. We’re resilient for a reason. And sometimes I think when there’s no space made, we continue to just do what we do.

Sherylynn Sealy:
Yeah.

Ruby Lopez Harper:
What I would love to see is organizations making space, not necessarily saying, “Here’s a dedicated fund.” I think that’s helpful, but it doesn’t un other that community, it doesn’t bring them into the DNA of the organization.

Ruby Lopez Harper:
It says, we’re going to set aside this money and we’re going to treat you differently for whatever reasons we have, instead of thinking through and working with those organizations to understand what are the barriers to you participating with us, and what does participation look like with us, for you? What are the things that you need that we can provide or what… Sometimes it isn’t, it’s almost always money. Let’s just [crosstalk 00:13:30].

Sherylynn Sealy:
Yeah.

Ruby Lopez Harper:
Very important.

Sherylynn Sealy:
Yeah.

Ruby Lopez Harper:
But sometimes it’s more than that. And how do we open ourselves to have a different conversation about what it is to partner with organizations in your community and not in an extractive way and not in how many grant programs do individual artists need to apply to in order to get enough money in order to get through what’s happening and how are we re traumatizing them every single time they have to apply for a $250 grant.

Sherylynn Sealy:
Yeah.

Ruby Lopez Harper:
It’s just so much. And it’s unintended consequences. Nobody thought about that. Everybody thought, “This is so great. I’m giving $250 away.” Yeah. But that’s not enough. When do we get to a position where we’re not asking organizations that serve populations of color to keep begging for space. Or they keep begging for help. There should be an invitation. There should be a welcoming and a belonging, they’re in the community. How can you not serve them? It’s a fundamental question for me that I don’t understand what’s keeping people, especially now, you see so many things moving so quickly and yet people are still not quick to respond to that. And we know that communities of color are being impacted by what’s happening in a disproportionate rate. That is also going to impact the organizations that interact with them, that represent them. Their art is affected in a dramatic way.

Ruby Lopez Harper:
So if we’re horrified at all of this, then why are we not horrified about the rest of it? It isn’t just a slice, but I think sometimes we allow it to be because it’s easier to get our heads around, but that’s the thing we need to stop and change as we go forward. How do we create a welcoming, inclusive infrastructure that supports all of the organizations in our community and supports the expression of all art and culture in our community. That’s what makes us rich. That’s what makes us alive. How can we not?

Sherylynn Sealy:
Yeah. And so as we rebuild, that is, I think, the hope of so many people and myself included.

Ruby Lopez Harper:
Same.

Sherylynn Sealy:
And I’m keeping hopes high. I’ve said this before, but I will continue to say I’m keeping hopes high that that is exactly what we will see, because we’ve seen how quick funding best practices have turned around. So anything is possible at this point, I believe.

Ruby Lopez Harper:
Anything is possible so why not let it?

Sherylynn Sealy:
That’s right.

Ruby Lopez Harper:
Why not embrace the opportunity? I feel sometimes, it’s so cliche, but we really could be the Phoenix rising from the ashes this time. Not like before.

Sherylynn Sealy:
Yeah. Yeah, no, that’s right. Well, thank you so much for joining us today, Ruby, this has been such a great conversation.

Ruby Lopez Harper:
My gosh. Thank you so much for having me.

Sherylynn Sealy:
Of course. Thank you for joining us, Brian.

Brian McGuigan:
Thanks for having me.

Sherylynn Sealy:
Of course. So for our first question, what are some of the new equity-focused rapid response practices that didn’t exist before COVID-19 and should continue during recovery?

Brian McGuigan:
Our practices, our work towards racial equity has been ongoing for some time. It was a focus of the organization of Artist Trust before I started working there six years ago. And in the last five years, it’s been something we’ve been deeply committed to. So our practices haven’t evolved during the pandemic. They’ve just continued. Our focus has primarily been on racial equity and that’s evolved to a race end approach. Seeing how race compounded with all the marginalized identities has a deep impact on individual artists. And the pandemic has really brought that into focus, the race end approach in the “normal world” our systems and structures already working against people of color queer and trans artists, women artists, especially older women artist.

Brian McGuigan:
And now we have a virus that people of color at higher rates and people over 60 and the immunocompromised are in a higher risk as well. So we’re approaching our work with a race end approach helps us understand who really is the most vulnerable right now and how we can prioritize those artist through our response programs. But this is work that we’ve been doing and will continue to do. And we just need to maintain some level of flexibility in our approach and a little bit less process in our approach as well.

Sherylynn Sealy:
Yeah. Yeah, I think that’s great. And especially the note on being flexible, because we know that things are constantly changing and the race end approach. I found that both within talking to colleagues, et cetera, and friends, et cetera, I hear, “Now more than ever, we’re all going to come together. We don’t have to talk about race right now.” And it’s like, “Well, this is when you talk about it. And when we’re not in a pandemic.” So I appreciate you raising that as part of your approach near focus as we move through these really strange uncertain times. So our next question is, as we consider the partnerships and collaboratives that have been forged as a result of COVID-19, how can folks continue relationship building both within sectors and across sectors for longterm impacts and to see a different, more equitable funding ecosystem?

Brian McGuigan:
We’re in a whole new world right now. And it’s definitely requiring us to build partnerships in ways that we haven’t done before. The way that I’m approaching it is thinking about what do artists need right now, what are the most critical and immediate needs. And the things that we have identified are unemployment’s figuring out how to navigate the unemployment process and then housing as being the two critical things. I need money and I need to keep my home.

Sherylynn Sealy:
Right.

Brian McGuigan:
So in looking at the Cares Act and reading through the pandemic unemployment benefits, I realized very quickly that I was not the person to translate that for artists because it is really complicated. So I decided to go to an expert and figure out who can support us in providing that translation for artists. Identified a group called the Unemployment Law Project. And this is a group of attorneys that support people who have been denied for unemployment, as many of the artists in our community have because they are nontraditional employees, they’re gig workers and independent contractors and freelancers.

Brian McGuigan:
So we reached out to them a couple of emails and a phone call, and were able to put together a webinar in about a week where we were able to address the Cares Act at that time. So this was two weeks ago before there was more information about Cares before the state government had opened up employment benefits to non traditional employees. So there was still information that we were trying to figure out. And then I think one of the things to keep in mind is, normally these partnerships take months, but we don’t really have time for that. So we just had to jump in, send the emails, make the phone call, set up a test Zoom call, and then we put it together. So it wasn’t perfect necessarily. And it wasn’t how we normally do things, but the world that we live in isn’t normal anymore. And we just had to be fine with that.

Brian McGuigan:
As far as housing goes, we developed a partnership with the Washington State Tenants Union, and we’ll be doing a webinar next week about the governor’s moratorium on evictions, and also providing clarity around how the eviction process works, how people, how artists, can work with their landlord to provide a way for them to maintain their housing, even if they don’t have the money to afford it. And this is something that we know that we’re hearing from artists is incredibly distressing for them.

Sherylynn Sealy:
Yeah.

Brian McGuigan:
We’re really trying to provide that information and resource and do it as quickly as we can. So that’s been a main focus on the resources side is thinking about what are the partnerships that we can put together that will provide people the information that they need to navigate this uncertain world. And then we’re also working on funding partnerships. We established the COVID-19 Artist Trust Relief Fund pretty quickly after the pandemic became a pandemic.

Brian McGuigan:
And we have given out about $300,000 so far to individual artists who are actively fundraising for this. The funds started with seed funding from the city of Seattle. And that was $50,000 and we’ve since grown into over a half million dollars in the span of four weeks.

Sherylynn Sealy:
Wow. Yeah.

Brian McGuigan:
And that started with just a phone call in my driveway at the end of the day on a Friday. And I spoke with the deputy director there, Calandra, and she said, “Can you have me something by Monday, a proposal?” And I said, “Sure.” And she said, “Normally this would take a lot of time because you’re getting a grant from the city agency and there’s a lot of process and so on.” But she said, “If you can get me something by Monday, we can get you a check in a few days.”

Brian McGuigan:
So it was such a different way of working with the city agency, because normally we would submit an application, we would wait a few months to hear it back, just like any other funding program. But they understood that people needed help right now. And we had the flexibility to be able to do that through our funds. And we worked together before, and this was a way for us to evolve our partnerships through the relief funds. So we’ve taken that approach with other funders as well, really trying to reach out to donors and foundations who we’ve worked with in the past and say, This is what we need now. This is what we’re hearing from our community. Here’s our vision for doing this work. Can you come on board with us? And many people have been really, really down to do that. We were able to convert our funding from the Tremaine Foundation, which was a restricted project based funding opportunity into general operating funds.

Brian McGuigan:
And that, again, was just a phone call with Heather Pontonio at Tremaine. And Heather said, “Sure, how could we not do something like this?” But I think you have to ask, you have to make that phone call and say, “Hey, we really want you to be a part of this. People really need your help right now.” Another partnership that we put together was with All In Seattle, that’s a philanthropic group made up of tech sector executives and venture capitalists. And here in Seattle, we have a really big tech sector. We have Microsoft and Amazon, the birthplace of those two major corporations, Facebook and Google are here. And there’s always been this tension between the tech sector and the arts. Artists feeling like the tech sector has gentrified our city so much. And artists are having trouble maintaining a life here and wanting to figure out how to connect with the tech sector in a way that feels authentic and real, and allows them to continue to do their work in this city, which is changing so much.

Brian McGuigan:
And this was an opportunity that just came up. We reached out and established a partnership with them, just with a few phone calls. And the people who are part of All In Seattle, those executives and venture capitalists had been a major source of funding for this relief program. And we couldn’t have done this work without them. And they felt really compelled to maintain a space for arts and culture so that when we’re all back together again, the artists can be here to build the community that brought them to Seattle in the first place, and that give their employees something to do and to be part of. So it was really special to have those opportunities to sector reach across ways that we think about things and work together to create this fund that supports artists right now.

Sherylynn Sealy:
Yeah. And I think people in this weird time are primed and ready to help and step up and step in. So it’s really exciting that you’ve had a lot of funders supporting the relief fund, who typically don’t support the arts, who you haven’t really worked with in the past, right?

Brian McGuigan:
So many new funders that have never supported the arts, who understand that there’s an incredible need for artists right now. And they want the world to be the world that it was once we’re able to have that world again. And artists are going to be the ones that give us that world, the concerts that they go to, the theater, the shows, the performances, the exhibits. We need to be with artists right now so they can be with us once the world is a world again.

Sherylynn Sealy:
Absolutely. And for our final question, and you spoke to this earlier, a lot of arts organizations have statistically lower budget sizes and staff sizes. So how can the funder community use this moment of building or rebuilding, but I’m going to say building here, to ensure that new practices become the status?

Brian McGuigan:
Whatever new practices you’ve created to support artists, arts organizations, and communities right now, you can make part of your status quo. If you can do that during a pandemic and a global economic crisis, you can do it anytime.

Sherylynn Sealy:
Awesome. Couldn’t have said it better. Thank you for joining us today, Brian.

Brian McGuigan:
Thank you for having me.

Sherylynn Sealy:
So thank you for joining us Trella.

Trella Walker:
Thank you so much for having me.

Sherylynn Sealy:
Yes, of course. So for our first question, what are some of the new equity focused, rapid response practices that didn’t exist before COVID-19 and should continue during recovery?

Trella Walker:
We’re seeing more and more funders give general operating support for organizations, which we think is absolutely phenomenal, letting leadership be in a position to make the decisions that are necessary for the organization to function and survive and navigate these challenging times is exceptionally powerful and liberating for them. The other one that I see is really powerful is minimizing the capacity necessary to receive funding. So a lot of organizations, particularly small organizations, have a challenge with accessing funds because they don’t have capacity. So by reducing the necessary capacity to apply for funding, it is really being helpful in this time when there’s so many other things that are at crisis level.

Sherylynn Sealy:
Yeah. That’s great. And then you guys at the Nonprofit Finance Fund have a pretty strong equity lens in the work that you do. So has anything changed with your equity practice? Was it a simple transition? How did that go?

Trella Walker:
So I can’t say that something per se changed, but I think it’s definitely been an opportunity for us to implement things that we have considered for a long time. For example, we’re in charge of the New York City COVID-19 Response and Impact Fund. And one of the things that we decided to do, not by the request of the funder, but because we thought that it was important, is to make sure that the eligibility requirements were really flexible and allowed for smaller organizations, particularly those that were community center and led by people of color, were able to access the funds. So we made the entry threshold $750,000. And we strongly encouraged community centered organizations led by people of color to apply because we know that those are the organizations that are often having the greatest impact, particularly in this time of crisis.

Trella Walker:
Another project that we were able to do is Nonprofit Finance Fund has an inaugural social innovation and equity council of which I am the head. And we were given $250,000 from Fidelity Charitable Trust Initiative to disseminate into the nonprofit sector. We took that grant and implemented the Trust Based Philanthropy Pillars of Practice so that we could make sure that this particular funding was disseminated to community centered organizations led by people of color. Now, what did that mean? It meant that we took the time with a zero application process on behalf of the organizations that participated. Those organizations were identified because we had worked with them in some way, not necessarily that they were clients, but that we could engaged with them. We were familiar with their practices and impact in the community. And then we were able to reach out to them to figure out what their financial needs were.

Trella Walker:
These organizations were a million dollars or less, and the criteria was that $25,000 could have an impact on the organization for the next three months. And they were having an impact in the community that they served. It was very, very helpful and enlightening about how money could be utilized. And we did not give consideration to the size of the organization other than the million dollar cap.

Sherylynn Sealy:
Okay. So then as you were looking at the different organizations, did you notice anything about how the inequities were showing up in different ways?

Trella Walker:
Yeah, so a lot of the organizations that we ended up funding were arts organizations in particular. And the real big aha moment for us was that those arts organizations were not just performing artists. They were not just showing up in traditional arts ways. These were organizations that in their community centered orientation were literally affecting literacy and food health and wellness, because they may have been the sole provider for childcare in a particular neighborhood. Or they were engaging in literacy opportunities for youth. And they were really helping supplement parents and their ability to provide for their children. And so it’s something that is often lost when we talk about arts organizations, we think of them just as performing artists and there is major community impact, particularly by those community centered organizations.

Sherylynn Sealy:
Yeah. That’s great. And I appreciate you bringing all of that up too because I think when we talk about arts organizations, it can happen that the depth that arts organizations can go into in regards to serving the community, folks might forget that there are these other components beyond the performance. So thank you for bringing that up. So then as we consider the partnerships and collaboratives that have been forged as a result of COVID-19, and it sounds like you alluded to it a little bit just now, how can folks continue relationship building within sectors and across sectors for longterm impacts and to see a different, more equitable funding ecosystem?

Trella Walker:
So response to that particular question, I feel like we need to flip the entire field on its head. And instead of focusing on collaborations and partnerships, and more of a linear approach, that we literally should start with the community. That we need to have more grant making that goes to the community and has the community to inform what they need, how it is designed, how it is implemented in the community. And that is the best way for us to really determine who has impact. A lot of times we’re doing external assessments of organizations and determining based on size or our promotional materials, or even witnessing a particular event, that this organization has to be impacting the community. But when you put the community at the center, they can tell you who is there every day, who is showing up, who is changing that community. And that is who we need to be focused on funding.

Sherylynn Sealy:
Yeah. And then in terms of best practices, also, we have been hearing since before COVID-19 a community centered approach is the best way to go about funding. And so I’m glad that you brought that up just now.

Trella Walker:
Yeah. This is not a new conversation. We’ve really been exploring ideas. And previously I said, trust-based philanthropy, that is one idea of an approach, but the reality is forming trusted relationships between grantees and grantors and using opportunities to fully engage and include. And I have to change that language to include the community is really, really important because we don’t need to identify partnerships because they will tell you who is working in succinct harmony in their community. They will tell you who is supporting them and you can bring them all into the picture as opposed to us trying to figure out how to best support the causes that we deem important.

Sherylynn Sealy:
Yeah, that’s great. And so then when we’re thinking specifically about a lot about arts organizations and how a lot of artists organizations have statistically lower budget sizes and staff sizes, how can the funder community use this moment of rebuilding to ensure that new practices become the status quo? And I say, new practices, use the term new like, yeah, air quotes. So anyway, what are your thoughts?

Trella Walker:
So small organizations will stay small as long as they are getting small funding. The reality is that if we are able to, again, assess what is needed in a particular community and fund that, not based on the size of the organization, but funding the infrastructure that is necessary to truly support the organization, then organizations that are really having impact will grow according to their impact, not according to their current budget size. And I think that is super, super duper crucial. The other thing is if we can really focus on stabilizing organizations by funding things like reserved, it would be astronomically impactful to these organizations. If we look at where we are right now, an organization with a six month reserve has a much stronger opportunity to survive this crisis than those that don’t have any reserves at all. So we really can look at practices that we’ve discussed and we’ve acknowledged and implement those practices so that these organizations are strengthened and fortified moving forward. And we’re getting beyond responding to this crisis and recovering from it, but we’re creating resilient organizations moving forward that are fully supporting the communities that they need to support.

Sherylynn Sealy:
Yep. I think that’s fantastic. And with that, I must ask, do you have any final thoughts?

Trella Walker:
It’s time for us to really evaluate all that we’ve heard, all that we know and not overlook them because they’re uncomfortable. Because there’s nothing more uncomfortable than an entire country in crisis. That’s where we are. So what do we do with this opportunity to pause, to think, to reevaluate, to alter practices? And what is our part and our obligation to make sure that arts and culture are at the root of that pause? We know that arts organizations are life sustaining. There’s been so many things happening and if it wasn’t for the opportunity to see beautiful creative art on our technology, if it wasn’t the opportunity to hear music, to engage with our neighbors and share through artistic expression, I think we would all be in a whole different and much more negative place.

Sherylynn Sealy:
That’s right.

Trella Walker:
So we need to make sure that this exists long after crisis. It has to move from responding to crisis, to a state of recovery, but more important, along time resilience.

Sherylynn Sealy:
That’s right. Thank you so much for joining us today. Trella,

Trella Walker:
Thank you so much, Sherylynn, it’s been a real pleasure

Sherylynn Sealy:
To our listeners. We would like to continue these conversations. So visit the COVID-19 response page on our website and tune into our next COVID-19 response webinar that will be hosted in June. And to keep current on new updates on COVID-19, the GIA conference and other programming, be sure you’re following us on Facebook at GI Arts, Twitter at GI Arts and Instagram at Grantmakers in the Arts. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me, Sherylynn Sealy, at sherylynn@gaarts.org. Thanks so much for listening.