Using Religion As the Bridge for the Arts vs. Race Divide

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Tahlib

While American Art experts complain about being underpaid and undervalued, they also remain the chief advocates for preserving a traditional European paradigm, and caste system about the Arts. This is most evident when they are confronted with those seeking social change, and specifically when confronted by African American activists. The problem for Arts professionals is less a challenge to their expertise but a challenge for how they make "inclusion" their new priority by inviting those with non-European perspectives into the decsion-making process.
In a recent article, "Arts Policy Library: Fusing Arts, Culture and Social Change" the author Talia Gibas notes "that arts philanthropy, as currently structured, perpetuates inequality across the arts and culture sector, and across society as a whole, by disproportionately funding large institutions that focus on Western European traditions." Talia however also notes that there is no easy solution, but I do have one for consideration and that is to use the key of interfaith expressions to open the doors to inclusion. In the coming weeks of Black History Month, we will explore opportunities for using religious inclusion as a bridge for the Art vs. Race divide.

FURTHER READING

• Aaron Dorfman, Funding for the Arts Sometimes Benefits All of Us (HuffingtonPost)
• Grantmakers in the Arts’ Online Forum on Equity in Arts Funding 
• Phil Hall, review of Criteria for Philanthropy at Its Best 
• Heather Higgins, “The NCRP’s Uncharitable Philanthropic Power” (Forbes.com) 
• Niki Jagpal and Kevin Laskowski, “The Philanthropic Landscape: The State of Social Justice Philanthropy” 
• Diane Ragsdale, The times may be a’changin’ but (no surprise) arts philanthropy ain’t (ArtsJournal) 
• Jesse Rosen, New Philanthropy Report Ignores Orchestras’ Service to Communities