Pittsburgh's Regional Strategy for the Ford Foundation's America's Cultural Treasures Regional Challenge Initiative
Pittsburgh's Cultural Treasures
America's Cultural Treasures
Overview
The Heinz Endowments is honored to join the Ford Foundation and its national partners on the America’s Cultural Treasures Regional Challenge Initiative. The Endowments has long held a deep commitment to supporting Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) and cultural organizations in the Pittsburgh region. In the wake of a global pandemic and racial justice uprisings, philanthropy has been rightly challenged to examine its history and role in addressing inequity. Alongside other national and regional partners in this effort, we welcome this opportunity to lift up a proud cultural tradition, better understand its needs and significance, and invest in meaningful ways that will contribute mightily to the culture and dynamism of our community.
Ford’s goal for the program is to “provide regionally significant cultural organizations of color with meaningful sums of operating support during this period of unprecedented upheaval, and to encourage related local efforts to strengthen cultural endeavors that reflect and benefit BIPOC communities over the next five years.” The Ford Foundation will provide $5 million that will be matched with $5 million by the Endowments. Given Pittsburgh’s demographics, the Ford Foundation and the Endowments have agreed that our regional focus will center support for the Black cultural sector, highlighting organizations whose historic contributions, commitment to cultural activities in the region, and future promise we will celebrate as “Pittsburgh’s Cultural Treasures.”
The primary objective of the Pittsburgh’s Cultural Treasures program is to develop and implement the most celebratory, elegantly strategic, streamlined and appropriately measured regional challenge program in the nation.
Awardees
The organizations chosen to receive a total of $5.4 million were identified as leaders in producing work that centers and seeks to advance the people and culture of Black communities in southwestern Pennsylvania. The unrestricted grants range from $150,000 to $1 million.
The 16 recipients were selected from among 160 Black-led organizations identified by local foundations and cultural leaders. A steering committee of representatives from local and national philanthropies and cultural organizations developed the criteria for evaluating the list of organizations and made recommendations regarding recipients, with final selections made by the Endowments.
The organizations receiving funding through the Pittsburgh’s Cultural Treasures program are:
1Hood Media ($250,000) 1Hood Media builds liberated communities through art, education, and social justice programs, inspiring and developing the artists and activists of today and tomorrow.
Afrika Yetu arts center ($150,000) Afrika Yetu fosters the rich, diverse cultural perspective of people of African heritage through high quality education, vibrant performances and visual art exhibitions.
Afro American Music Institute ($500,000) The Institute engages youth in the practice, theory and knowledge of Afro American musical contributions to the world through music lessons, performance, and scholarship opportunities.
August Wilson African American Cultural Center ($1 million) Guided by the enduring truths and essential values evident in the work of August Wilson, the Center focuses on arts, storytelling, and learning related to the African American experience.
Balafon West African Dance Ensemble ($150,000) Balafon provides insightful, woman-centered perspective on West African tradition and culture as a source of healing and balance, and provides quality education and entertainment to audiences of all nationalities and walks of life.
BOOM Concepts artist studios ($150,000) BOOM is dedicated to the development of artist and creative entrepreneurs representing marginalized voices, providing a space for field building, knowledge sharing, mentorship, and storytelling.
Hill Dance Academy Theatre ($500,000) The HDAT provides professional level training in Black Dance traditions, history, culture, and aesthetics that engages and empowers students to pursue dance careers.
Kelly Strayhorn Theater ($750,000) Named after 20th century entertainment legends Gene Kelly and Billy Strayhorn, the Kelly Strayhorn Theater fosters bold and innovative artistry with a global perspective, and upholds a firm commitment to diversity in voice, thought, and expression.
Kente Arts Alliance ($250,000) The Kente Arts Alliance is an African American arts organization that presents cultural programs that entertain, inform and uplift the residents of underserved communities.
Legacy Arts Project ($250,000) The Legacy Arts Project preserves, promotes, and creates Africana arts that honor the history, heritage, and cultures of Africa diaspora with an aim of advancing healing and wellness, education, and community empowerment.
Manchester Bidwell Corporation ($500,000) Established in 1968, the Manchester Bidwell Corporation is a nonprofit art, education, and music organization that includes a vocational education and arts center, recording studio and record label.
New Horizon Theater ($250,000) New Horizon Theater presents consistent, high-quality cultural event that reflect African-American points of view, and provides a space for ethnic writers and performers to further their professional development.
PearlArts Studios ($150,000) PearlArts is a dance-focused arts organization that provides music and media arts programming, and offers artistic experiences through creative residencies, innovative collaborations, dance and sound education, and outreach opportunities.
Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company ($250,000) Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company develops and showcases the works of local playwrights, and nurtures a racially and culturally diverse community of playwrights, directors, actors and technical specialists as they hone their craft and network creative opportunities.
Ujamaa Collective fair-trade marketplace ($150,000) Ujamaa Collective acts a catalyst to advance Africana Women by providing a fair trade marketplace for cultural, artistic and entrepreneurial exchange.
Women of Visions artist collective ($150,000) Women of Visions, believed to be the longest-running collective of Black women artists in the United States, promotes the arts, culture, and history of women of African descent by helping them excel as artists and to grow professionally through exhibitions, community collaboration, and educational programming.
The Endowments is partnering with Pittsburgh-based POISE Foundation, America’s oldest Black community foundation, in designing and managing the Pittsburgh’s Cultural Treasures program.
To learn more about the program and this first cohort of awardees, read the press release.
Program Goals
Program Values
Immediate and Deep Investments
Leveraging the Ford Foundation’s grant and local funding, we hope to create transformational change by investing unrestricted dollars in Black-led cultural institutions, intermediary organizations and cultural anchors in our neighborhoods. Through the initiative we also seek to improve our ability, and that of the philanthropic sector, to become more aware of and responsive to emergent strategies from the field in the future. We believe that by providing immediate sizable support, we will acknowledge the tremendous work that continues to take place in our communities and celebrate the impact of Black-led cultural institutions, intermediaries, and neighborhood anchors on the financial, managerial, and artistic health of our region. We also believe that the leaders of these critical cultural organizations will find respite, rejuvenation and opportunities for increased creativity and innovation as a result of the monetary and general support received from the initiative.
Proclaim and Promote the Black Cultural Sector
The Endowments will utilize this grantmaking program to celebrate the work and accomplishments of Black-led organizations throughout Pittsburgh and the region. The awards are meant to recognize the perseverance of the Cultural Treasures and amplify their authority, excellence and ability to uphold the beauty and reflect the necessity of autonomy and independence. Using data-driven asset mapping and community voices, the Endowments will publish the findings drawn from the exploration of Black Cultural Treasures through digital and print publications.
Data Driven: From the Field First
Utilizing quantitative and qualitative information, the Endowments will work alongside a steering committee and community stakeholders to explore and document how deeply the work of cultural treasures impacts the overall vitality of the communities within which they exist, and who are those most deeply affected by their work. This data will be gathered through a series of community conversations and stakeholder focus groups that began in December 2020, as well as through community input from interviews, surveys and an online platform launching in mid-2021 to solicit nominations of Pittsburgh’s Black cultural treasures. Through the online platform, the program will engage in an asset-mapping project that will broadly describe Pittsburgh’s Black cultural resources and map them in real time.
While only a select number of Black-led cultural organizations will be recipients of monetary awards, community members and cultural workers are encouraged to use the online nomination form to help identify and map all Black-led cultural assets. By doing this, our communities will directly contribute to the conversation, “What defines a Cultural Treasure?” This input will also help us to marry the definition held within the Black community with that developed within philanthropic institutions. Together we will identify and underscore the unique characteristics of Black cultural organizations that make them invaluable to life in our city and region.
Program Strategy
Design & Implementation
The initiative will distribute approximately $9 million dollars directly to Black-led cultural organizations, including to consultants and participants that aid in program design and implementation. Grants will be informed by a steering committee comprised of local, regional and national Black artists and arts leaders as well as representatives from the POISE Foundation and the Endowments. Final grant decisions will be made by The Heinz Endowments and the board of the POISE Foundation. Additional criteria will be developed in collaboration with the steering committee and made available for the public to review.
The initiative will consist of three primary grantmaking components:
Component 1: Initial Grants
Grants ranging from $500,000 to $1 million will immediately be provided to a select group of Pittsburgh’s Cultural Treasures that have served as leaders and have demonstrated a commitment to Black people, arts and culture over a significant period time. These Black-led cultural anchors have made undeniable cultural contributions to the region and are recognized as authorities in the field by both philanthropy and by the communities with whom they work and represent.
Component #2: Capacity-Building Support
Concurrent with the community conversations described above, the Endowments will work with its partner, the POISE Foundation, and CJAM Consulting to design the program and manage asset mapping. Pittsburgh-based civic and cultural leaders as well as national and local consultants will assist in building a major funding program focused on capacity-building and implemented over multiple years with various levels of investment. The program will target a Pittsburgh cohort of organizations, in line with Ford Foundation criteria and Pittsburgh community input. Members of the selected cohort will receive significant multi-year support and will have access to a variety of capacity-building resources. All aspects of the program will be designed in collaboration with its participants to yield self-determined outcomes. Grant levels will be determined by the plans outlined by each participating organization.
Component #3: Funding Forward – Special Opportunity Awards
Funds will be set aside to be responsive to what is learned and in order to meet unanticipated needs as the initiative progresses. In addition, we expect that special opportunities will arise during the next three to five years that may require additional investment. We are reserving funds that will be geared toward supporting these developments.
The Heinz Endowments’ Creativity program is committed to learn from the insights produced by joining the Ford Foundation in its America’s Cultural Treasures Regional Challenge Initiative. We are especially interested in understanding, as a result of this effort, how to better integrate equity into our giving. We also plan to share the findings of this work with other Pittsburgh philanthropies.