We are thrilled to announce the recipients of Catalyzing Vitality grants-the newest partners of the Barr Foundation’s Arts & Creativity program.
Arts and creativity that bolsters communities and advances critical conversations comes from all types and sizes of organizations. Yet, historically in the arts field, long-term, flexible funding has disproportionally flowed to large and well-established organizations. Meanwhile, plenty of smaller organizations—many led by people of color—have been creating equally bold, inspiring, and impactful work without access to similar kinds of funding.
Aligned with this framing, the Barr Foundation’s Arts + Creativity team has been exploring a range of ways to deepen support for BIPOC-led, -serving, and/or -rooted arts organizations across Massachusetts. One of the results of that exploration is a new initiative, Catalyzing Vitality. This initiative supports small grassroots organizations that expand access to arts, culture, and creativity, serving as platforms and resources within and for communities of color. Their commitment to artistic development, partnership, experimentation, and the celebration of cultural heritage enlivens the Commonwealth, with several of these organizations claiming titles such as “first,” “only,” and “largest.”
Catalyzing Vitality builds on our racial equity work to date and our commitment to centering BIPOC artists, organizations, and communities in our program strategies. Its development was built on lessons-learned from Powering Cultural Futures, our first major initiative to focus on BIPOC-led and -rooted organizations, deeply investing in organizational development and artistic leadership that launched in 2021. Catalyzing Vitality is an opportunity to expand our understanding and support of the BIPOC arts ecosystem more broadly by funding a collection of emerging and grassroots arts organizations across Massachusetts.
We are so excited to publicly launch Catalyzing Vitality and to support this tremendous group of arts and cultural organizations. Each organization receives a three-year, general operating support grant. Additionally, the grantees will have opportunities to engage in shared learning related to organizational development along with informal gatherings based on their own goals and priorities. We are looking forward to sharing more about how their work is catalyzing vitality in our communities in the years ahead.
The Catalyzing Vitality Grantees
AIR (Artists Initiative for Revolution) Boston
Berkshire Black Economic Council
Boston Arts Music and Soul Festival (BAMSFest)
Boston Asian American Film Festival
Boston Comics in Color Festival
Boston Writers of Color (Program of Grub Street)
Cape Verdean Cultural Center/ Cape Verdean Association in New Bedford
Chhandam Institute of Kathak Dance
Hamilton Garrett Music and Arts Academy
New England Repertory Orchestra
Roxbury International Film Festival
