Grantmakers in the Arts

One of my favorite presenters was DéLana R.A. Dameron, founder of the fledgling Black Art Futures Fund. Here she was, speaking on a panel in front of people who represent philanthropic and government funding agencies that give out hundreds of thousands (or millions) of dollars a year, talking about her tiny organization as if it was just as important as all the rest. And she quickly cleared any doubt about that from the room.

At this GIA conference, the microphone isn’t just a tool for being heard, it’s a social justice issue.

The rules of engagement, sent out in advance, names the use of a microphone as a way of helping folks with disabilities participate in the event. It’s right up there with recognizing other points of view, not over talking, and giving props to the native people whose lands the meeting is taking place upon. To not use the microphone, then, is to exclude, to discriminate, to be rude.

There are more people of color here than people of the usual colors. It’s amazing and, to an outsider, unexpected. So many women, so many shades of skin. LGBT folks. Younger and older. It’s the dream, right? Real-time diversity. And the talk about race and funding is surprisingly and admirably direct.

There was a lot of polite talk among the assembled arts funding professionals about how to build equity into giving. But the artists you invited to join you at this conference, they cut to the chase.

The Denver-based, spoken-word artist Molina Speaks, laid out so clearly just what the responsibility is for funders as he delivered a bit of his “live scribe poetry” to the crowd assembled in the Sheraton Hotel meeting room.

I’m an outsider. A journalist. A critic-at-large. A Denverite. Over the course of the 2019 GIA conference, I’ll post a few observations. Here is the first one:

1. You show up.

I go to a lot of conferences. Not as a participant but as an observer and this is what I see: Reluctance. Folks are more interested in where they’re going for dinner than in the program; they straggle into sessions late, take a coffee break every 20 minutes.

Philanthropy has a crucial role in supporting arts and culture organizations to address inequities at the community level, write Kerry McCarthy, vice president for philanthropic initiatives for The New York Community Trust, and Maurine Knighton, program director for the arts at the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, in Stanford Social Innovation Review.

Creative Capital has invited 12 arts writers to explore key moments in the history of the Creative Capital Award in celebration of the nonprofit's 20th anniversary. The Los Angeles Review of Books in collaboration with Creative Capital has begun publishing 12 essays over 12 months on issues facing contemporary art in the United States, as the magazine states.

In his review of Edgar Villanueva's Decolonizing Wealth, Michael Seltzer, distinguished lecturer at the Marxe School of Public Affairs at Baruch College, discusses that the book places a spotlight on "how colonialism has been perpetuated and the importance of eliminating its persistence in today’s wealth and philanthropic circles in particular."