“Public art programs are a powerful strategy that state arts agencies employ to encourage public appreciation of the arts, enliven public space, strengthen community identity, and engage and support artists from all backgrounds,” said Declan Wicks for National Assembly of State Arts Agencies. “The Hawaiʻi State Foundation on Culture and the Arts (SFCA) has undertaken a series of steps to ensure that its Art in Public Places program—the first statewide percent for art program in the nation—supports the full diversity of Hawaiʻi’s artistic community and acquires works of art expressive of the Hawaiian islands and the multicultural heritages of its people.”

Strengthened by the curatorial statement’s findings, SFCA continues to increase the visibility and acquisition of works by Native Hawaiians. the agency undertook a complement of strategies, including:

inculcating an agency culture dedicated to community work and engagement;
hiring Kānaka artists and curators at the Hawai’i State Art Museum to continue to engage with the Native Hawaiian artwork in the APP collection;
expanding and diversifying the locations of exhibitions and juried shows from which SFCA acquires artwork;
making it easier to invite the APP program’s Acquisition Award Selection Committee to consider works of art for acquisition.

Ultimately, these actions work to break down what SFCA describes as the “arbitrary line” that is historically drawn between traditional and contemporary art—a line that has so often kept Native Hawaiian practitioners from representation in the APP program. A 2022 SFCA report to the state legislature highlighted the recent progress made by the agency and the impact of supporting Native Hawaiians through the APP program: From just 2020-2022, SFCA has increased its percentage of total works by Native Hawaiians from 3.9% to 18.3% and has purchased nearly $1.5 million in Native Hawaiian art.

Learn more here.

From PBS News Hour: The blend of science and art is called neuroarts or neuro-aesthetics. The new book, “Your Brain On Art: How The Arts Transform Us,” shows both the growth and importance of the field that connects the arts and our health. Jeffrey Brown visited the Johns Hopkins Medical School in Baltimore to see the progress for our arts and culture series, CANVAS. Watch the full episode here.

“For many in the LGBTQ+ community, Pride Month is a month of celebration. It is a time to reflect on the history of the LGBTQ+ movement and to authentically celebrate queer lives,” said Kelsey Andersen for PEAK Grantmaking. “It is a time of community, of belonging, of love, of joy—and unfortunately, it is also a month where queer celebrations and increased visibility can lead to more opportunities for violence.”

“This is a crucial moment for philanthropy, and the lack of support for the LGBTQ+ community is deafening.”

Draconian laws are on the rise all over the world, including the United States and East Africa, which are brutalizing LGBTQ+ communities. For the first time in its more than 40-year history, the Human Rights Campaign in June declared a state of emergency for LGBTQ+ persons in the United States. In April 2023, Equality Florida issued a travel advisory for those considering travel or moving to the state of Florida given the plethora of hateful anti-LGBTQ+ laws being passed. On May 28, 2023, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signed the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 into law, which calls for life imprisonment for consensual same-sex sexual acts, the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality,” up to 20 years imprisonment for the promotion of homosexuality, and imposes an obligation on Ugandan citizens to report anyone suspected of engaging in homosexuality. The law has inspired a similar bill in Kenya and a related discussion among Tanzanian parliamentarians.

Provide immediate general operating support funding. This is a humanitarian crisis. Activists are fighting against well-organized and well-funded enemies pouring their funding into lobbying efforts, and LGBTQ+ activists are facing violence at extreme levels. Funding is needed to help fund safety efforts, salaries, and lobbying. Public charities and private foundations face different funding barriers, but this support can be provided, and further discussions can and need to take place about general funding in the current context, both domestically and internationally.

Who are you funding, and do you know who they fund? Does your organization fund through intermediaries or fund organizations who both make grants and fundraise? Do the research to find out who these organizations give their money to. You may be surprised to see funding being given to groups in the anti-LGBTQ+ movement. If this is the case, hold them accountable by having a conversation. And if they’re unwilling to stop supporting hateful groups, stop funding them.

Add a wellness budget line into your program budget template. Now more than ever, activists (whether they are focused on LGBTQ+ activism or not) are facing extreme burnout. See them for the human beings that they are and support their well-being.

Support your LGBTQ+ colleagues. Your colleagues may or may not be out at work. Either way, they are experiencing high levels of anxiety and stress right now. Be understanding and supportive, which can show up in many ways. It can be as simple as asking “How are you feeling today?” or “I’ve been listening to the news, I’m here if you need a listening ear or someone to talk to.” If you’re in the office, you can offer a lunchtime walk. This offers both a wellness opportunity as well as creating a space for someone to open up outside of the office should they want to. And finally, be understanding if someone has an off day or doesn’t want to take you up on your offer for a walk or a chat. Some days are more emotionally and physically draining than others, but your colleague knowing they have your support is more helpful than you might realize.

Read the full call to action here.

From Candid.: The marginalization of African Americans has cost the U.S. economy an estimated $16 trillion in gross domestic product (GDP) between 2000 and 2020, a report from The Investment Integration Project (TIIP) finds.

Funded by the Surdna Foundation and developed in partnership with TIIP’s Racial Equity Working Group, the report, Introduction to Racial Inequity as a Systemic Risk: Why Investors Should Care and How They Can Take Action (52 pages, PDF), highlights the need for the financial industry to address the long-term systemic risk of racial inequity and promote the equitable distribution of resources, power, and economic opportunity in the United States.

According to the report, advancing racial justice and ending racial inequity are good for business, and companies in the top quartile of racial and ethnic diversity are 30 percent more likely to have financial returns above their national industry medians. Moreover, closing the wealth gap between white people and all communities of color (who are forecast to represent 52 percent of the U.S. population by 2050) would add substantively to the country’s GDP and reduce healthcare costs by more than $230 billion annually.

The report presents a roadmap to advance racial justice, while protecting corporate bottom lines. Two key actions include ensuring racial equity in senior management and on corporate boards—currently only 17.5 percent of board seats at Fortune 500 companies are held by people of color—and working against practices that propagate racial inequity in the education, employment, finance, health, and carceral systems, while promoting the full and equitable participation of people of color in society and the financial system. The report also calls for improved corporate governance and management; impact investing to leverage corporate investment portfolios, articulate fundamental values, and transparently convey beliefs about the significance of racial inequity; and engaging on a national level to hold industry leaders accountable.

“Racial inequities are among the greatest systemic threats to the health and functioning of our economy,” said Rodney Foxworth, founder of Worthmore and Racial Equity Working Group co-chair. “TIIP and Surdna convening this working group and developing this report will help to give this issue the attention it deserves in the financial market and provide investors with the understanding and tools they need to ensure our economy can continue to function in a modern society, making possible a more equitable future for us all.”

Read the full article here.

From the 2023 IDEAS Festival: Join us [Saturday, June 24 at 4pm] for a Behind the Actor’s Studio-style interview with powerhouse practitioners in social change and cultural equity! Grantmakers in the Arts President Eddie Torres will be joined by Pregones/Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre Founder and Artistic Director Rosalba Rolón in a session that will engage personal narrative to illuminate pathways of activism in the performing arts. Listen in as Eddie and Rosalba grapple with the tension between the individual and the societal as related to decisions on cultural values and funding. Come curious. Leave inspired. Learn more here.

From Third Wave Fund: There is too much at stake right now. Every day there are escalating political attacks and legislative curtailing of bodily autonomy and human rights. It is critical that gender justice movements are able to focus on the work ahead, instead of jumping through hoops and bureaucracy in philanthropy.  

Organizations that make up these powerful movements need and deserve consistent support to build new skills, to build power, to grow their own vision, and to experiment, fail, iterate, and try again. And they need this space without the risk of losing their institutional partners or funding. That’s why in 2016 Third Wave started the Grow Power Fund, our long-term support fund that awards six-year grants meeting youth-led grassroots gender justice organizations wherever they’re at in support of their sustainability and long haul visions for community liberation. 

In our new report, Resourcing Movements for the Long Haul: Lessons from the Grow Power Fund’s First Six Years, we document key lessons from the Grow Power Fund’s first cycle of long-term funding. 

This report is an invitation to all funders to shift and transform your grantmaking practice to meet the needs that youth-led movement leaders are naming. We hope you’ll join us in evolving your funding, and transforming your relationship with movements to be enriched by mutual trust as we listen to our grantee partners to meet them where we’re needed the most.

From Upstart Co-Lab: Upstart is launching a $100 million portfolio of funds and companies comprising the first impact investment strategy for the U.S. creative economy which will focus on fashion, film & TV, video games, food, the creator economy, the visual art market, immersive experiences, health & beauty and other creative industries.

Upstart’s approach will prioritize BIPOC and women entrepreneurs, and deliver people-focused impact: quality jobs, vibrant communities, and sustainable creative lives. To learn more about the impact that investing in the creative economy can create, please read Upstart’s Impact Report.

In tandem, Upstart will conduct an influence strategy focused on unlocking artists, art patrons and endowed cultural institutions as a new cohort of impact investors, and the creative sector as a new source of impact capital.

Upstart is seeking program-related investments from foundations; recoverable grants from donor advised funds; and mission-related investments from endowed nonprofit arts and culture organizations.  

Upstart Co-Lab’s Inclusive Creative Economy Strategy is supported by ImpactAssets. 

From Research Centre for Arts and Wellbeing: In this event we will make the case that the arts can support the wellbeing of all. We will present exciting research of how this can be enabled opening new horizons and creating new possibilities. 

We will launch our manifesto of the Research Centre for Arts and Wellbeing and our strategy of how to scale up place-based arts initiatives that can support mental health and wellbeing, and will benefit a wide range of people including individuals and communities that are disadvantaged or marginalised. 

We will showcase the work we have done in areas with high levels of health, social and economic inequalities offering opportunities for people to connect no matter where they are based.

We will highlight the contribution the arts can make in supporting the care of carers including our work with communities and organisations locally, nationally and internationally.

We will launch the diverse work of the Research Centre for Arts and Wellbeing and this of the Creative Arts Therapies International Research Alliance of which we are founding members.

Performances, workshops, presentations with keynote contributions from the WHO, the Arts Council, the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the National Centre for Arts and Wellbeing will offer rich experiences to participants in person and online. The voices of people with lived experience will frame the presentations to what matters to people participating in the arts.

Learn more and register here.