Equity in Funding for ALAANA Arts Organizations: Understanding the Context

This research set out to unpack the disparities of unequitable funding for nonprofit arts field and its impact on arts organizations of color. Through a wealth of context and deeper understanding from interviews I use the term “ALAANA (African, Latino, Asian, Arab, and Native American arts organizations” to define nonprofit organization that preserves, promotes, serves “as evidenced from mission statement, programming, or both, the cultures of one or more explicitly identified ethnic group through the arts. While this is not a new issue for the arts field this research intends to further the conversation forward with a number of interviews from practitioners, foundations, and ALAANA arts organizations.The research structured into five chapters: Framing ALAANA Arts Organizations, Funding for ALAANA Arts Organizations, The Grantmaking Process, Governance and Internal Capacity, and Sustainability for ALAANA Arts Organizations. Dialogue around equitable funding and the grant making processes without understanding the context and characteristics of these organizations. Through interviews and seminal literature on this topic I determine the following themes that come out of consistent with the literature and interviews. Because of historical inequities in the U.S. ALAANA arts organizations have not had access to participate in competing for foundation giving or have chosen not pursue funding from foundations because of erroneous measures within the grant proposal and guidelines to procure funding. From this type of this research we understand that achieving equity in funding will not come without a clear value of art forms and discipline, a desire from the funders to engage with all art forms and disciplines, and a shift in funding practices that preclude ALAANA organizations from participating in the grant cycle. Funders support should take into account the context of their desired size and operating model. Without a collective dialogue from funders, ALAANA arts organizations, and practitioners the arts field achieving equity in funding will be a soloed movement and not a paradigm shift for all.