Move the Money: Grantmakers in the Arts & Art.Coop Solidarity Economy Discussion Series

How can arts & culture grantmaking engage in systems-change work that addresses root causes rather than symptoms of inequity? Grantmakers can play a role in the transformation of the sector by following the lead of BIPOC creatives who are innovating models for self-determination and community wealth.

Watch this series of funder discussions in which presenters and movement organizers share example of projects that make tangible the principles laid out in the GIA-commissioned report, Solidarity Not Charity: Arts & Culture Grantmaking in the Solidarity Economy, by Natalia Linares & Caroline Woolard from Art.Coop.

The first discussion was held on December 2, 2021 with East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative.

East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative supports BIPOC and allied communities to cooperatively organize, finance, purchase and steward mixed-use and residential property in the East Bay.

The second discussion was held on January 13, 2022 with Dr. Jessica Gordon-Nembhard, author of Collective Courage: A History of African American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice, and Gregory Jackson, co-founder of Repaired Nations.

Jessica Gordon-Nembhard is the author of Collective Courage: A History of African American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice as well as other studies, including Wealth Accumulation and Communities of Color in the U.S. Dr. Gordon-Nembhard will discuss her research as well as the opportunities to expand her research on incarcerated worker co-ops' best practices and benefits to incarcerated people, their families, and their communities, among other related topics.

Specializing in consultation, training, education, research, and development, Repaired Nations incubates start up cooperative organizations and provides much needed capacity to under-resourced community organizations. We will discuss their mission and work with co-founder Gregory Jackson, who also serves as Staff Attorney for The Sustainable Economies Law Center and Governance Director for East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative.

The third discussion took place on February 8, 2022 with Daniel Park of Obvious Agency and Carlos Uriona of Double Edge Theatre.

Obvious Agency is a worker-owned cooperative grounded in anti-capitalist, anti-racist, non-normative, liberatory, and feminist frameworks.

Double Edge Theatre is an artist-run organization founded as a feminist ensemble and laboratory of actors’ creative process. The Double Edge Ensemble creates original theatrical performances developed through a long-term process with collaborating visual and music artists.

The fourth discussion took place on Tuesday, March 8, 2022 with Aisha Shillingford of Intelligent Mischief.

Intelligent Mischief is a creative studio and futures design lab unleashing Black imagination to shape the future.

The final discussion in the series took place on Wednesday April 13 and included Carlton Turner, founder, Mississippi Center for Cultural Production and Allen Kwabena Frimpong, co-founder, ZEAL & Liberation Ventures.

The Mississippi Center for Cultural Production supports community development from the ground up through cultural production, focused on self-determination and agency, strengthening their local food system, advancing health equity, and supporting rural artistic voices.

ZEAL is a creative studio cooperative for Black artists throughout the diaspora.

Liberation Ventures is a field-building organization that takes a networked approach to in building a culture of repair towards winning on reparations in the US.