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Grantmakers in the Arts announces the inaugural Public Sector & Cultural Policy Committee! 

The GIA Public Sector & Cultural Policy Committee is accepting nominations from interested individuals to serve on the Committee. 

Submit an Expression of Interest

About the Committee

For over 15 years, GIA members working in and with the public sector have been striving to advance racial equity through arts and culture and public policy. Following the notable increase in public sector workers amongst the GIA members – and the introduction of the Cultural Policy Action Lab – the Public Sector & Cultural Policy Committee (Committee) formalized in 2025. With the support of a group of national co-designers who bring deep experience leading equitable transformation in the public sector at all scales, the Committee aims to be an incubator for state and local funder organizing, supporting cultural advocacy, advancing field learning through cross-sector collaboration, and convening practitioners working to advance racial equity. The committee will advise, inspire, and inform GIA’s thought leadership and programming in support of more equitable cultural funding and public policy.

Committee Responsibilities

The operational goal of the Committee is to advance racial equity through arts and culture and public policy. The three primary organizing lenses for the Committee are: 

Organizing communities of practice & networks of care grounded in racial justice
Operationalizing cross-sector practice between arts and non-arts sectors
Advancing support for cultural advocacy & policy

Committee Structure

The Committee is comprised of up to 15 GIA members, public sector funders, and cultural policy advisors representing a spectrum of grantmakers who believe in the importance of advancing racial equity through arts and culture and public policy. The Committee meets for business for one hour, every other month starting in March, to advise, inspire, and inform GIA’s thought leadership and programming in support of more equitable cultural funding and public policy. Optional one-hour peer-to-peer learning labs occur quarterly in the interim months.

The membership seeks a diversity of:

Geographic representation, including regional, national, and international grantmaking programs.
Types of grantmakers working throughout the public sector including local, state, federal, and Tribal agencies; additionally private sector funders, national partners, and other nonprofit grantmaking organizations who work in collaboration with and support of public policy and advocacy.
Perspectives, experience, and years in the field.

Committee members serve up to two (2), two-year terms and a required year off the committee after four years of service.

To express interest in joining the committee or to suggest a colleague, please complete the nomination form by Friday, January 24, 2025.

You may also contact Nadia Elokdah, GIA vice president & director of programs, or current committee advisor, Randy Engstrom, co-founder and principal, Third Way Creative, for additional questions.