Artists

Artists and culture bearers are the authors and facilitators of creative acts, education, and experiences that deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world. Increasing economic and social challenges in the Bay Area are threatening both the financial stability and the creative agency of artists. Our grantmaking strategy seeks to increase assets for Bay Area artists to advocate for their needs, with durable models of self-governance and a robust network of support for innovative ideas. These outcomes are intended to form the foundation of a more inclusive and properly resourced operating environment, where artists and culture bearers have greater control of their working conditions and can realize their full potential.

Bay Area artists and culture bearers shape and benefit from the services, policies, and practices that most impact their creative agency and economic well-being.

Support for artists is provided through three avenues intended to improve artists’ ability to develop and share their work, engage with audiences, and thrive in the Bay Area.

Essential services. Services available to support artists have grown dramatically in the past decade, but are still not available widely enough. Our grantmaking seeks to strategically expand critical and relevant artist services (such as discipline- and function-specific capacity building, technical services, fiscal sponsorship, legal aid, and event insurance), both to ensure the availability of existing services in outlying parts of the region and support new approaches to artist services.

Formal and informal artists’ networks. Networks, alongside established organizations, provide critical support for artists. They foster social connections and provide critical support to artists, particularly for those living far from the region’s core, or those whose processes and methods are undervalued or not widely understood by existing programs and institutions. We support existing and new artist networks that cultivate communities of practice, strengthen emerging fields, and facilitate learning and development.

Financial support for artists. We work with intermediary organizations to provide modest support to a small number of artists’ projects.