Practitioners and researchers continue to observe misalignment between, on the one hand, communities of color that are championing new models for social change and, on the other hand, a predominantly white funding community that maintains the status quo.
Prompted by this reality and by conversation at the 2017 Conference for Community Arts Education, in May 2018 the National Guild’s ALAANA Network held a video chat that brought together Guild members and funders for a conversation centered on the growth and development of communities of color. Led by Lara Davis, co-ambassador for the ALAANA Network and arts education manager at the City of Seattle Office of Arts and Culture, the conversation focused on the state of funding inequality in POC communities, examples of successful paradigm shifts, and the strategies ALAANA organizations and Guild members can use to change the dynamics of scarcity and exclusion.
This article is adapted from the ALAANA event and includes insights from Arianna Cisneros, Durell Cooper, and Deron Hall.