Art + Activism = Change. But It’s a Formula Philanthropy Largely Ignores.

Ongoing efforts to roll back social gains, such as reproductive and LGBTQ rights, have made one thing clear: Focusing on politics alone won’t create lasting social change. Political debates and legislation are too closely tied to the whims of the White House, Congress, and the Supreme Court. Instead, what drives long-term shifts is culture — the public attitudes and narratives that underlie progress.

That’s why some of the most effective social movements combine activism with art — music, film, theater, visual arts, and more. When artist-activists and community and labor organizers work together, they have the power to convert minds and hearts and transform societies. Many are using art to create powerful narratives — taking control of the stories that shape how we think about history, culture, people, and places.

Kehinde Wiley’s “Rumors of War” monument in Richmond, Va., for example, replaces the traditional white Confederate general with a young Black man in dreadlocks and sneakers, riding high on his horse. In doing so, Wiley subverts the underlying narrative of white supremacy expressed by the Confederate monuments that still stand all over the South. The audience now sees the young Black male as a hero.

But too often, philanthropy fails to make the connection between art and social activism. Most donors are stuck in programming “silos” that prevent them from seeing the importance of grant-making approaches that strengthen these alliances, drive large-scale cultural shifts, and make it harder to undo policy reforms every time the political pendulum swings left or right.

Although artists and community organizers have started to collaborate more often, historical giving preferences continue to encourage them to stay in their own lanes and make it difficult to get funding.

Starting in the early 20^th century, cultural philanthropy largely ignored art for social change and excluded artists of color from receiving charitable donations. Instead, early donors built elite art institutions and commissioned and acquired high-end art in a market where white male gallerists and museum curators were the predominant voices in defining value. Such patterns continue today, with much of art funding neither reflecting community interests nor lifting its aspirations.

Rob Kim, Getty Images

Philanthropy, like the elite art and cultural institutions it funds, is largely removed from the circumstances that ignite social change. Take Occupy Wall Street and the Movement for Black Lives, where art and organizing received little upfront foundation support. Growing economic inequality triggered Occupy, while white police killings of Black people precipitated the Movement for Black Lives. Labor and community organizing and spontaneous expressions of art, including murals, videos, comedy, music, and spoken word, spread the importance of both issues to a wider audience.

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Organizers and artists, however, need money to expand and sustain collaborative work. Philanthropic funds can help these nonprofits hire staff, develop communications and field operations, and launch new strategic initiatives. Donor dollars can go toward artist-driven organizations like the Center for Cultural Power or to advocacy groups such as the League of Conservation Voters or the National Domestic Workers Alliance, all of which use art and culture to further social-justice causes.

When artists, organizers, and funders share common interests, and when trust between them develops, their overlapping work becomes more entwined, their partnerships deepen, and all three can more effectively reach their goals. Cliff Albright of the Black Voters Matter Capacity Building Institute calls these relationships “the infrastructure of power-building,” and they’re the type of connections that philanthropy can facilitate and fund.

Backed by Evidence

Fortunately, a growing number of foundations are showing what’s possible with targeted funding of artist-organizer collaborations. Grant makers, always seeking evidence, should look closely, for example, at how combining arts, organizing, and social-justice grants helped address Baltimore’s housing crisis.

In 2013, the CrossCurrents Foundation, of which I’m a co-founder and chair, funded a collaboration between muralist Justin Nethercut, also known as “Nether,” and long-time housing organizer Carol Ott, currently a tenant advocacy director at Economic Action Maryland. Nether and Ott wanted to bring attention to neglected and blighted communities in the city and to encourage Baltimore residents and policymakers to hold these landlords accountable.

Working with a team of artists, Nether pasted or painted 15 murals on the walls of vacant buildings. Each mural — a vivid and colorful piece of art on a desolate Baltimore street — told a story about housing, slumlords, Baltimore, and the dreams of both the artist and the community. Every mural included a QR code, which took viewers to a website that named the building owners and the elected officials in whose district the buildings sat.

Ultimately, the murals ignited a media storm that forced the city to reckon with the large volume of blighted properties it The mayor increased the city’s $2.5 million budget for demolition to $22 million to tear down or renovate 1,500 abandoned houses — a major community victory.

This collaboration is one among several that signal a desire within philanthropy to move away from a troubling history of ignoring artist-activists. The Art for Justice Fund, the Pop Culture Collaborative, and Constellations Culture Change Fund are similar examples of national philanthropic initiatives that invest in a range of social justice issues.

Importantly, many of these donors have embraced trust-based philanthropic approaches that allow the communities they serve to determine how funds are allocated. That’s why grant makers new to the field don’t need special expertise to get started. They can rely on artists and organizers with long experience in the field, funder networks that allow fellow grant makers to share best practices about where their dollars should go, and diverse boards that include community representatives.

When artists and organizers combine forces, they have enormous power to move people and change minds. There’s no stronger antidote to the fickle nature of politics and the ongoing threats to social justice and civil rights — and no better opportunity for philanthropy to break free of problematic art funding practices.