AMPLIFYING A CULTURAL
COMMUNITY: LEEWAY’S IMPACT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This impact assessment report is accompanied by three videos: •
“Shifting Power: Leeway’s History” explores the history of Leeway’s transition from a white-led family foundation to a foundation led by a multiracial community board supporting women and trans artists working on social change.
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“Planting Seeds: Leeway’s Grantmaking Model” is an animation of Leeway’s grantmaking model.
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“Amplifying a Cultural Community: Leeway’s Impact” is the accompaniment to this report and shows grantees and partners describing the impact of Leeway’s grantmaking and programming.
All are available at www.leeway.org.
Written by
Barbary Cook Dragonfly Partners Denise Brown Leeway Foundation
Design & layout by Cesali Morales cesali.design@gmail.com
Illustrations by Gabrielle Patterson
Edited by
Shauna Swartz
TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword
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Executive Summary
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and Trans Artists
Creating art for social change
2009
Funding Women
call, email or visit our website for more information about the Art and Change Grant or Transformation Award
Leeway Foundation annual posters designed by Tony Carranza
212.545.4078
www.leeway.org
2009 Art and Change Grant Deadlines: March 1, June 1, September 1
2009 Transformation Award Deadlines:
FOREWORD “Culture, like food, is necessary to sustain us. It molds us and shapes our relations to each other. An inequitable culture is one in which people do not have the same power to create, access or circulate their practices, works, ideas and stories. It is one in which people cannot represent themselves equally. To say that American culture is inequitable is to say that it moves us away from seeing each other in our full humanity. It is to say that the culture does not paint a more just society.” — Jeff Chang, We Gon’ Be Alright: Notes on Race and Resegregation Leeway Foundation celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2018. This important birthday seemed a good time to celebrate, reflect on and learn from what led us to this point in the foundation’s development. This milestone provided an opportunity to share what we’ve learned about developing a more equitable and community-engaged philanthropic practice, and its potential to have a deep and positive impact in the communities we serve. A big shift began in 2004, when after a generational transfer of Leeway’s leadership, the foundation began an exploration of what it would mean to focus its resources on supporting artists who were interested in creating work with community transformation as its core intent. It’s important to remember the context this work began in. This was before the field of arts philanthropy had widely embraced practitioners working at the intersection of arts, culture and social change. When Leeway began this work in earnest, there were a few arts funders explicitly supporting this work, among them the Nathan Cummings Foundation, the Kentucky Foundation for Women, the Lambent Foundation (formerly the Starry Night Fund) and the Ford Foundation. Social practice or socially engaged art as a field was gaining momentum in academia, but many of the artists and cultural producers we think of as exemplars of the kind of practices the foundation wanted to support identified in other ways — as community arts practitioners, as cultural workers and organizers, as political artists, and more. Though a number of the people involved in the foundation at the time were artists, we were also cultural organizers, invested in constructing a practice that engaged with questions of racial and cultural equity and framed philanthropy as a form of movement building, beginning with the baseline that relationships are central to this practice. It was clear to us that centering relationship and community-building is the most effective way to amplify the impact of our limited grantmaking resources. We hoped shifting power away from the foundation by involving community members in the organizational leadership and decision-making processes: •• Would open up the world of philanthropy to more challenge •• Expand the definitions of the form this work could take •• Create more opportunities in terms of access — not just who is funded, but the how of funding Our experience has taught us that funders have to be willing to use resources, both human and monetary, to achieve their vision for change. Over a decade ago, we set out to identify Amplifying a cultural community: Leeway’s impact | Foreword
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members of our community who are recognized and highly valued for their artistic and cultural contributions to the neighborhoods and identity-based communities within which they offer their work. Because many we seek out have never before claimed space as artists, we charged ourselves with creating a platform accessible to the people who are already doing the work in communities. Many of them for years, some for decades, others just beginning, including those who have never thought of themselves in the contexts of art and social change, or the formalized realms of cultural production. We believe this report affirms that in order to achieve Leeway’s goal of being accessible to a broad constituency — one that diminishes boundaries created by age, class, gender identity or ability — and do it well, there must be a commitment to using foundation resources to go out and meet people where they are. We are grateful to Leeway’s board and staff for their commitment to the work of the foundation and their meaningful contributions to this process. Their experience and insight greatly enriched the report we present to you now. Throughout this process we have been hugely appreciative of the ways in which the people we are in relationship with, some newly acquainted others long-term — applicants, grantees, community partners, our colleagues in philanthropy and our allies and accomplices from around the country — agreed to participate in this process and share their experience of and insights about Leeway’s impact and place in their communities. We are humbled by their openness and generosity. Over time, we have been excited and encouraged by the acknowledgment of the efficacy of Leeway’s philanthropic practice, as well as the increased support for individuals and organizations committed to working at the intersections of art, culture, community and change. We offer this report as a contribution toward moving the work forward and hope members of the different communities of which we are a part find it useful as they develop more equitable practices and explore ways of shifting power in philanthropy. As we embark on an organizational strategic planning process, we look forward to getting your feedback and continuing to be part of the field-wide learning exchanges from which we’ve gained so much. Ashe!
Denise Brown Executive Director Amplifying a cultural community: Leeway’s impact | Foreword
Amadee Braxton Board President 4
Leeway would like to thank: Barbary Cook for the rigor, flexibility and good humor she brought to the process. We look forward to working with you in the future. Bonfire Media for their enthusiasm for this project, nuanced grasp of the work of Leeway and its grantees, but most of all their patience. Most especially Emily, Sheila, Gabrielle and Maddie, who really made sure this train ran on time. Maria Rosario Jackson for her guidance and support early on in helping us set the frame for this project and reminding us of the importance of “invisible work.” Sage Crump for helping us kick off this process as we imagined the future and Leeway’s place in it. Aarati Kasturirangan, Arleta Little, Carlton Turner, Eleanor Savage, Ezra Berkley Nepon, Gretjen Clausing, Jess Garz, Pamela Shropshire, Roberto Bedoya, Sharon L. Robinson, Tina Morton and community members who participated in the July 2019 strategic planning session for reviewing the products and providing critical feedback at different stages of the process. The staff and board of the Foundation, particularly Sara Zia Ebrahimi and Melissa Hamilton, for their diligence in managing all the moving parts and reminding us time and time again that if it wasn’t in Basecamp, it didn’t really exist; the board’s impact assessment working group – Germaine Ingram, Carolyn Chernoff and Eli VandenBerg – for their thought partnership; and Cesali Morales for her artful report design. Everyone who agreed to be interviewed, adding their voices to the telling of the story of Leeway’s impact, and the participants in the community meeting who provided their vision of what Leeway is and can be. The realization of this work is only possible as the result of their willingness to candidly share their experience of the foundation. Special appreciation goes to Linda Lee Alter and Sara Milly, who stepped aside to support a transformative vision of what Leeway could become and were willing to tell their story. And finally, to everyone who has been part of the Leeway community over the past 25 years. Our work is only possible because of your willingness to engage with us and share your gifts with Leeway and the communities you love so deeply.
Amplifying a cultural community: Leeway’s impact | Foreword
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In 2018, Leeway began an impact assessment process to learn more about the impact of their grants on artists and cultural producers in the wider Philadelphia area. In the fall of 2018, Leeway and Dragonfly Partners together designed the impact assessment process as an action research project, with findings being brought regularly to staff and board members for their input through the summer of 2019. The impact assessment looks at what you need to know about Leeway’s approach to philanthropic practice, and the impact it has had on grantees, grantmaking panelists, the ecosystem of social change artists and cultural producers in the wider Philadelphia area, local partners, and national philanthropy.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT LEEWAY “Foundations say, ‘Let’s talk about inclusion and equity,’ but then you won’t change your internal systems to change these systems.” (grantee) •• Leeway’s history — Between 2004 and 2007, Leeway went through a multi-year antioppression organizational development process to look at issues of racism and privilege inherent in foundations. Leeway made a commitment to focus on racial equity, and to include trans and gender-nonconforming artists in all their programs. The white, founding family members transitioned out of the foundation’s leadership, and Leeway began to be led by a multiracial community board of directors. •• Leeway’s approach to shifting power in philanthropic practice — Leeway’s experience shows that in order to shift power from the funder to grantees, a foundation needs to makes changes at all three levels of the organization: its strategic focus, its leadership and the behaviors of program officers. In Leeway’s case, this meant making several changes described below. In terms of strategic focus this meant: •• Focusing on racial justice •• Becoming a trans-affirming organization In terms of leadership, this meant: •• Shifting away from being a white family-led foundation to a multiracial community board-led organization •• Having a board committed to enacting its values across the whole organization •• Becoming led by women of color (at the board and staff levels) In terms of program officer behavior, this meant: •• Centering building relationships and community-building with grantees at the core of its work •• Handing staff’s decision-making power over to independent grantmaking panels made up of artists and cultural producers •• Supporting grantees to build power for and in their communities Amplifying a cultural community: Leeway’s impact | Executive Summary 6
•• Providing feedback to all applicants so decision-making is transparent •• Ensuring expansive outreach — stepping out into the neighborhood Another foundation might not choose to take all of the actions that Leeway took for a variety of reasons, but in order to generate the same kind of impact in terms of shifting power to grantees, they do need to take action at all three levels of the organization.
KEY ELEMENTS OF HOW LEEWAY DOES ITS WORK Building community “So, it’s been really powerful for me to have a community that is just so multiple, so complex and such an ecosystem that is different creative mediums, different neighborhoods, different racial and ethnic groups, different generations.” (grantee) •• Social change happens through building relationships — Leeway believes that building relationships and community are necessary to achieving social change, and that centering relationships is a way to amplify the impact of limited grantmaking resources. The organization sees it as a form of movement building. Leeway has built strong, vibrant relationships with artists and cultural producers, relationships that are binding and full of trust. •• “Radical hospitality” — Leeway takes care of people when they’re in Leeway spaces in a thoughtful way, purposefully offering comfort and sustenance so that artists and cultural producers feel valued and respected. •• “Local love” — Artists and cultural producers emphasize how unusual it is for them to have a local arts and social change funder that supports them in their own city and community compared to colleagues in other cities and regions. •• Leeway is well known, and loved, by grantees and partners — Artists and cultural producers feel a strong sense of connection to Leeway. It was striking how much grantees and partners knew about Leeway. They pay attention to Leeway, maybe because they feel paid attention to.
Shifting power to artists •• Shifting power through grantmaking — Leeway’s grantmaking process disrupts the traditional power dynamic between a funder and grantee. It’s transparent and clear, which makes it easier for applicants to understand and navigate. Leeway is clear about what it’s looking for. Leeway’s staff don’t make grantmaking decisions; independent panels do. •• Flexibility — When it comes to the work the grantees do, Leeway is flexible and realistic about the unexpected twists and turns an Art and Change Grant project can take. •• Working at the margins — Leeway is committed to figuring out as an ongoing process what the new edge of art and social change work is, and who is now at the margins who can be invited into that work. Amplifying a cultural community: Leeway’s impact | Executive Summary 7
•• Stepping out into the neighborhood — Leeway doesn’t wait for applicants to come to them; they go out to where they are. Leeway holds information sessions for artists and cultural producers out in neighborhoods and tries to hold these in new places where they haven’t yet received as many or any applications. “I think what’s great about the evolution of Leeway is that they’ve always tried to figure out what’s at the margins now and how do we push that and bring that closer to, I mean not the center, who cares about the center, but how do we lift up those voices? How do we broaden the platform so that other folks can stand on that? Now that we’ve pushed at these margins, what’s beyond those margins? And what’s beyond that?” (grantee)
A culture of learning and experimentation
•• Internal culture of learning and experimentation — Leeway staff and board have built and continue to nurture an internal culture of learning and experimentation. •• Space for grantees to experiment — Grantees think that there is a lot of space given by Leeway in the application process and the project/award itself to learn and make mistakes. •• Learning exchanges — Leeway’s practices have been informed by learning from artists, organizers, peer organizations and other partners in the field, and from being in spaces where current philanthropic practice is being rebuilt to better support ideas and constituencies outside the mainstream.
Elevating and celebrating artists •• Programming and celebration — Leeway celebrates and promotes its grantees with verve and joy through the annual artist book, events, exhibitions, performances, etc.
LEEWAY’S IMPACT Impact on grantees •• Artists and cultural producers feel that they are part of the Leeway community — This community membership is not temporary and based on being a grantee, but long-term and based on a nourishing relationship with Leeway. •• Artists and cultural producers have built a clearer identity as an artist through Leeway’s invitation for self-exploration/reflection — Being a Leeway applicant and a grantee changes the way artists and cultural producers think about art and social change, and their own artistic and cultural practice and identity. “The application processes every year literally shaped my path moving forward. I really credit Leeway. Going through the rigorous set of questions, evaluating myself and my communities, my impact — having them in my head from the very beginning really impacted me.” (grantee)
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•• Artists and cultural producers feel validated and legitimized by getting the Leeway grant — This validation encourages them to apply for more grants from Leeway and from other funders. •• Artists and cultural producers have built their confidence to avail themselves of other opportunities — Getting the grant from Leeway is a springboard to applying, and getting, other grants and fellowships. •• Artists and cultural producers experience greater financial freedom — Transformation awardees described how they spent some of the grant on their artistic work, but they also used the money to do all sorts of other things: to travel, to learn or to pay rent. The key element was a freedom to choose whatever they needed. •• Artists and cultural producers connect new applicants to Leeway — All of the artists, cultural producers and local partners we interviewed had encouraged other artists to apply for Leeway grants.
Impact on panelists “I loved it. It was a phenomenal experience. There was incredible intimacy in the cohort. It was delicious. It was emergent, collective practice, which I totally loved.” (grantee and panelist) •• Who sits on the panel — The grantmaking panels are made up of artists, cultural producers and activists who are invited because the foundation sees them as exemplars of the kinds of practices Leeway exists to support. Leeway aims to create panels that are intergenerational, cross-cultural, multidisciplinary and representative of varied identities. •• Rigorous, emergent practice — Panelists agreed that the “charge” to the panel, including the definition of a Leeway artist, the facilitation and the feedback that is given afterwards to all applicants, means that the process has rigor, and that the consensus-based deliberation does not get reduced to a subjective judgment of art or allow one voice to dominate. •• Shifting power through experiential learning — For some artists and cultural producers, being on a panel taught them how philanthropic decision-making works, and they used this new knowledge and the power it gave them to apply for and get other grants, and to influence grantmaking processes in other places.
Impact on the ecosystem of social change artists in the Philadelphia area “Can you imagine what it’s like if Leeway didn’t exist for 25 years?! ... The amount of resource that filtered into the lives of the artists, the people who are getting paid to work with the artists. It’s such a cultural economy that is filtered through 25 years of grants.” (grantee and panelist) •• Stronger ecosystem of social change artists — While interviewees acknowledged that there are many variables that influence this ecosystem, almost everyone said yes, it was stronger and more sustainable because of Leeway’s work. •• Ripple effects — What impact are Leeway grants having on the communities that the Amplifying a cultural community: Leeway’s impact | Executive summary
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artists and cultural producers are part of and work with? The impact assessment revealed four rippling circles of change spreading outwards: 1. At the center of the circles is the artist or cultural producer and the change they personally experience, both through the application process and through the artmaking or cultural production process. 2. The second circle out is their community, however they describe it. The community changes because, first, the artist changes and they are part of their community, and second, because community members experience the art (i.e., the play, film, exhibition, performance, etc.) and are changed by that. 3. The third circle out is the artist’s community of artists that they pay for their work, and that they support to get grants from Leeway, other paid gigs and more professional exposure. Leeway artists and cultural producers appear to be redistributing the wealth that Leeway gives them. 4. The fourth circle is the social change that happens when the artist or cultural producer uses art and culture to amplify the effect of an existing social change campaign.
Impact on local partners and national philanthropy and the field of art and social change How do others learn from Leeway? — All the categories of people we interviewed or who contributed to the ripple effect exercise (described on p. 39) said that they had learned something from Leeway: artists, cultural producers, teachers, activists, local nonprofit leaders, and local and national partners working in philanthropy. Leeway has had an impact nationally on the field of art and social change whereby the executive director has built community with, and influenced, peers who are working to change philanthropic practice. Leeway has also had a bottom-up effect, as artists and cultural producers learn from Leeway as a result of being grantees, panelists and partners and take that learning to organize change in their own spaces, philanthropic and otherwise. Partners are clear that the executive director’s leadership has been crucial to Leeway’s impact, supported by a board and staff who embrace and animate Leeway’s values and culture. What do partners learn from Leeway? •• Participatory grantmaking — Both local and national partners had looked to Leeway as a model for how to develop more effective participatory grantmaking processes. “There had been an internal conversation exploring whether our application processes or decision-making processes were unintentionally biased and hindering access to our funding for certain populations and groups.… I thought of Leeway and Denise because of their approach to decision-making. For this foundation, the way that Leeway approaches it is unusual. And so, I wanted to have people think more expansively, and creatively, about different ways of sharing power and responsibility and decision-making. I was very glad she agreed to speak with staff. It was not my expectation that we would wholesale adopt the Leeway [model], but it would stimulate fresh thinking, and that happened. Amplifying a cultural community: Leeway’s impact | Executive summary
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And to various degrees programs have begun to make changes to their applications and review processes.” (national partner) •• Becoming a trans-affirming organization — Local and national partners and artists and cultural producers were emphatic that Leeway had been a leader in getting organizations, including foundations, to work towards becoming trans-affirming. •• Racial equity — Nationally, where the philanthropic conversations on racial justice are slower and more cautious, Leeway’s decade-long practice and leadership in racial equity is an advanced model for partners. Partners have not only learned from Leeway’s focus on racial equity when it comes to grantmaking and organizational processes, but also in their transition away from being led by a white founder family to becoming led by a multiracial community board. •• Supporting individual artists — Leeway has also been a model for national partners for how best to directly support individual artists. •• How a family foundation can change when the family gives up power — As noted above, there was a strong appetite among the national partners working in philanthropy to have Leeway share more information about this change process in family foundation spaces, and so contribute to the emerging conversation about white families letting go of their historical philanthropic power and influence. “What I’ve learned from Leeway is a way of decentering whiteness in philanthropic practice. In this country, the majority of wealth is held by white people for a number of extremely problematic and often horrific reasons. And Leeway was a foundation where there was a shift from the original family that held the wealth to moving towards a more equitable distribution with community.” (national partner)
CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR LEEWAY A small number of interviewees offered thoughtful challenges to Leeway, stemming from their expressed desire to see Leeway continue to grow. For each of these challenges and opportunities we suggest questions that Leeway could explore either as part of their forthcoming strategic planning process or operationally within the Leeway staff team. Supporting working-class women of color — A small number of interviewees questioned if Leeway is doing enough to support working-class women of color, which seemed to be based on an assumption that many of the gay and trans artists that Leeway funds have class and economic privilege. •• How can Leeway learn more about the class background of applicants in order to ensure Leeway supports them as much as possible, while also not collecting demographic information in a traditional way that forces applicants into identity descriptions that don’t fully reflect them? Improving the grantmaking panel process — A small number of interviewees asked if there are enough local, working-class artists and cultural producers on the panels. One interviewee asked if Art and Change applicants should include work samples. Amplifying a cultural community: Leeway’s impact | Executive summary 11
•• How might Leeway want to change the makeup of the grantmaking panels in the future? οο Are there enough local, working-class artists and cultural producers sitting on the grantmaking panels? What is enough? •• Should the Art and Change applicants submit work samples as part of the application process? Expanding Leeway’s national influencing role — All the national partners we spoke to wanted to see Leeway increase the time it spends influencing national philanthropic conversations. They questioned whether or not Leeway wanted to do this or had the time necessary for travel and conferences to influence these conversations. •• Should Leeway spend more time working to influence national partners to take up key elements of the Leeway approach as described above? If yes, who does Leeway want to influence and why? Building power or bridges — We heard two different opinions about what role a Leeway grantee should play in supporting social change. First, they should support communities to build power. Second, they should act as bridge builders between polarized communities. This echoes a wider political debate: Is this a political moment to build bridges or build power? This may be a false dichotomy. Leeway may want to support artists to do both. •• Does Leeway want to support artists and cultural producers to build bridges, build power or both?
This report was made possible through the generous support of the Surdna Foundation.
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