Introduction

The Nathan Cummings Foundation’s Arts and Culture Program Guidelines build on our earlier efforts to sustain and share community-building models developed by small and mid-sized, culturally specific and community-based arts institutions. Our new objectives represent an expanded vision that acknowledges the roles that artists and cultural workers play in stimulating social change and championing economic justice in both traditional and non-traditional venues. By addressing art through the lens of social justice, we will continue to affirm artists and arts institutions that value and encourage creativity, innovation and risk-taking while fostering cross-cultural conversations that transcend race, ethnicity, class, age and geography. We will also support private, public and corporate policies that benefit artists, arts organizations and constituent communities; as well as cross-disciplinary strategies that align the arts community with others with similar or complimentary interests.

Goal

To support artistic practices, programs and policies that encourage cross-cultural and multidisciplinary collaborations, and give voice to the issues and experiences of underrepresented communities, in order to build a stronger society.

OBJECTIVE I: Art and Social Justice

Supporting arts and cultural organizations partnering with community groups that engage in responsive processes, collective problem solving, cross-cultural initiatives or the education of a broader public about social justice issues and shared community concerns. These programs should have national or multi-state impact and might include: residencies; new works of performing art or exhibitions of visual art that have more than one committed venue; documentation initiatives that have commitments for comprehensive distribution plans; cross cultural and multi-state collaborations; and the dissemination of existing works that have resonance in other communities.

Strategies:

• To identify, support and document key projects that involve cultural institutions working collaboratively with multigenerational, multiethnic, multidisciplinary and/or broad geographic communities in response to economic and social justice issue articulated by those communities;

• To identify and support museums that have re-envisioned their institutions’ relationships with underserved constituencies. Grantee selection for this program initiative will be made through a request for proposals process. Unsolicited applications will not be accepted.

• To develop and support a communications strategy that includes the publication and dissemination of research that substantiates the importance of the arts in influencing social change; and the dissemination of information about collaborative projects that leads to effective public education as well as social and political action; and

• To convene artists and arts administrators to foster information exchange, coalition-building, the development of collective strategies as well as to provide direct support.

OBJECTIVE II: Public Policy and Corporate Accountability

Defending against adverse public, private and corporate policies, arts censorship, and other legal and social challenges that impact the well being of the non-profit cultural community.

Strategies:

• To identify and support arts policy organizations that facilitate discussion between policymakers and grassroots practitioners; and develop policy that is informed by research as well as evolving practices within the impacted communities.

• To identify interventions and practices that will help enable non-profit arts organizations to enter into relationships with corporations that are equitable and mutually rewarding and that affirm the values and mission of the arts organization.

• To support communications strategies, including convenings, research, the development of web-pages as well as hard copy publications that foster access, encourage the exchange of ideas and educate the field about the state of the arts and the implications of policy decisions for the arts community.

  Note: Where policy affecting the arts may also have an impact on other programs, grants will be made through Interprogram.