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Authors Aja Couchois Duncan and Kad Smith explore how, “in our nonprofit sector, we are often confronted with making sense of the widespread translatability of cultural moments and forces. We don’t have to look far to see how cancel culture informs the way in which we experience everyday interactions on the Internet and in real life.” How can we separate ourselves from toxicity, and bring healing instead?

Examples of, “[drawing] on inner work and healing practices to both replenish ourselves and cultivate our individual and collective resilience,” include tapping into awareness, honoring the sacred, cultivating compassion, re-yoking our bodies, and nourishing our human forms. “Our mutuality flourishes when our love ethic is strong. And our love ethic is nourished by the practice of loving accountability. Loving accountability means we are learning together, and that we are risking vulnerability in service of creating authentic connection and a better future.”

Read the full article here.

“Please join Chair Maria Rosario Jackson and NEA partners for an overview of the NEA’s Equity Action Plan,” on Wednesday, June 1 from 2-3pm ET via zoom. The session is free, but registration is required. Questions for the panel will be accepted until May 27.

Read NEA’s Equity Action plan here.

Register for the webinar here.

“Events at the Whitney Museum of American Art this year have featured a consistent new guest: the museum’s union. Last night, at the museum’s annual gala and Studio Party, about 50 people turned out, standing on the curb with signs bearing such slogans as ‘LIVING ARTISTS LIVING WAGES,’ ‘HONK FOR A FAIR CONTRACT,’ and ‘WHITNEY WORKERS WANT FAIR WAGES’ and banging on drums as guests filed into the museum’s lobby for a luxe dinner,” said artnet news. “Compared to the demonstration that followed the opening of the Whitney Biennial, it was a clear increase in participation, plausibly stemming from a wage offer on April 19 that fell far below the union’s proposal.”

“According to a release that the union sent out, the Whitney’s director, Adam Weinberg, brings in a yearly salary of just above $1.1 million, and ‘the combined compensation for the fourteen highest-paid museum executives for the prior year totaled $4.5 million.’ Signs on the street revealed that many employees, in contrast, earn $17 per hour, and claimed that they are unfairly kept as temporary employees, barring them from certain benefits—including union membership.”

Read the full article here.

Congratulations to GIA’s Support for Individual Artists co-chair Celeste Smith, who was selected for the Bridging Fellows Program. “The Bridging Fellows program provides changemakers in Pittsburgh, Chicago, and Dallas the opportunity to strengthen their individual and collective leadership capacity and grow networks to support building healthy and equitable communities.”

From the Independent Sector: “A Bridging Fellow actively engages individuals, communities, and/or organizations for the purpose of building bridges across varying differences, including ideological, racial, socioeconomic, and geographical. Bridging Fellows-formally and/or informally-build relationships, trust, and opportunities for open and honest communication towards sustainable change and impact – including but not limited to- activists, community residents, organization leaders, community liaisons, youth development coordinators, program officers, case managers, community organizers, educators, human resource professionals, etc.”

“Through participation in the fellowship, Fellows will receive capacity and skill-building activities and instructions around bridging frameworks, share their bridging expertise with the cohort and broader social sector, and commit to deploy these practices in their organizations and communities. As a cohort, they will share their learnings and deepen their connections with each other across sectors, institutions, and geographies.”

Read the full announcement, and meet the 2022 fellows here.