Organizations Supporting the Advancing Well-Being in the Arts Initiative

Organizations that are regranting Wallace funds to small organizations founded by, with, and for communities of color

A group of 3 mixed race woman performing a dance number on a purple stage

Wallace’s Advancing Well-Being in the Arts initiative seeks to fund dozens of small arts organizations, each with an annual budget of less than $500,000, that were founded by, for, and with communities of color. It is tricky for a philanthropy such as Wallace to fund such small organizations. On one hand, nonprofits can complicate their tax status if they receive more than 30 percent of their annual income from a single funder. Grants to small organizations must therefore be relatively small, but numerous enough to have a meaningful impact. On the other hand, Wallace’s learning approach requires deep relationships with grantees. But Wallace lacks the staff bandwidth to maintain such relationships with hundreds of organizations.

We are therefore working with two networks of organizations who are serving as intermediaries and funneling funds to small organizations throughout the U.S.

The first is a network of six regional arts organizations established in the 1970s by the National Endowment for the Arts and state arts organizations to help manage national initiatives. These organizations are:

The second is a collective of arts service organizations that represent artists and arts organizations of color. These organizations have deeper connections to creative communities of color than the regional arts organizations. They are helping Wallace fund a diverse set of small organizations, especially those that may not be formally incorporated as independent, nonprofit arts organizations which the regional arts organizations cannot fund directly. This collective includes:

Organizations Supporting the Advancing Well-Being in the Arts Initiative

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