Virtual Information Session Watch Recording Here
Second Virtual Information Session Hosted by Mana Contemporary (with Sarah Dhobhany, ACLC Fellow '19-'20) Watch Recording Here
Final Application Deadline    Deadline Extended to July 5, 2020 by 11:59p
Interviews + Decisions  no later than August 7, 2020
Fellowship Dates  August 25, 2020 – June 11, 2021

Overview

Throughout the year, the Arts and Culture Leaders of Color Fellows (ACLC Fellows) will have the opportunity to learn in different formats including in-person, online, individually and in groups. This multimodal format is designed to accommodate diverse perspectives and needs of each fellow.

In addition to the training and programming below, the 16 fellows in the region are supported in building bonds of trust and collaboration with each other and with a diverse, national network of arts, culture, and heritage professionals.

While designed for busy, working professionals, the ACLC Fellowship is scheduled to be a significant time commitment (see schedule below) and is best suited for those who are ready to make a significant investment in themselves and who see personal investment as an opportunity to elevate their work and the work of their communities.

In-Person Intensives*

Opening: The four-day Opening Intensive is an in-person immersive learning experience coinciding with the 2020 Americans for the Arts Annual Convention (AFTACon) including two full days of self-assessment and cohort-building and two days of full participation in AFTACon - a broad set of national and regional experts, networks, and learning opportunities. Due to COVID-19 considerations, the Opening Intensive is virtual. 

Mid-Point: The two-day, in person convening in January 2020 focused on honing core business operations skills (i.e. grant-writing, public speaking, research and data strategy, etc.). Due to COVID-19 considerations, the Mid-point convening is virtual. 

Closing: The one-day Closing Intensive, at AFTACon 2021, is an opportunity for fellows to be recognized, present culminating projects, connect with new fellows, and plan for continued learning. Due to COVID-19 considerations, the closing convening may be conducted virtually. 

*Fellows will be provided full subsidies for travel, lodging, meals, and AFTACon registrations. All in-person convening locations will be fully ADA accessible.

Virtual Learning

Fellows will receive year-round learning opportunities as a cohort on the curriculum’s core themes, led by faculty member Margie Johnson-Reese and topical experts. Built to accommodate working professionals, the sessions will last approximately 90-minutes on Tuesday mornings 10 a.m. EST; 9 a.m. CST via Americans for the Arts’ Zoom video platform. See schedule below for details.

Virtual Leadership Deep Dive: The virtual session for arts senior managers and the local fellowship cohort on topics like: leveraging power to advance cultural equity; managing internal entrepreneurs; and instigating positive organizational change.

7 x 7s

Fellows will be introduced to at least seven senior leaders of color in the arts who will share for approximately seven minutes, their lived leadership experiences and insider knowledge. These Pecha Kucha-style talks aim to help Fellows expand their networks at the highest levels of arts management and benefit from the wisdom of leaders who have employed the skills needed to advance.

Reflections & Mini-Challenges

Regular opportunities built throughout the fellowship year to strengthen personal and professional reflective practice with the aim of building greater self-awareness and catalyzing professional growth. Mini-challenges are opportunities to "learn by doing" and practice scenarios likely experienced as senior leaders pushing for equity (i.e. interview simulations, data visualization, crisis management, organizational policy analysis, etc.).

Culminating Project

A higher-stakes challenge that fellows will complete, in collaboration with lead faculty, based on a relevant challenge in the workplace, region, or field. Beyond a thought experiment or simulation, this real-world action requires fellows to work together to push ideas into action, demonstrate skills, communicate in new ways, and share learning with the field.

Targeted Supervisor/ Mentor Learning

Fellows identify their current professional managers and/or mentors. The lead faculty provides opportunities to enhance each individual fellow’s trajectory through targeted education to these contacts – including but not limited to an:

1. Individualized introductory phone conversation about the fellowship;
2. Invitation to half-day convening in each city for local arts senior managers (and Fellow cohort);
3. Customized, in-person meeting between mentors and/or supervisors, faculty lead, and fellow to get together to share learnings at the end of the fellowship.

The first cohort of the year-long fellowship program will run from August 2020 through June 2021 and requires an investment of time including time away from work. Total program hours are the equivalent of about two (2) work weeks throughout the fellowship year. Fellows must be available for all dates (as relevant to fellow home city) to be eligible to apply and will likely require a strong commitment to investing in themselves throughout the fellowship year. The chart below offers an overview of the proposed training dates. 

Dates have been edited to reflect the new ACLC Fellow timeline due to COVID-19 implications.

2020 Reflections/ Challenges due: May 25, July 6, and September 14

In concert with national experts from 4Culture, Blood Orange, City of Oakland, Goucher College, Lincoln Center Education, Smithsonian Institution, The Theater Offensive, University of Texas at Dallas, and University of Wisconsin-Madison, Margie Johnson-Reese will be the lead faculty of the ACLC Fellows.

Margie has a 30-year portfolio as an arts management professional and has contributed to public policy in areas of public participation in the arts, public art policy and practice, community development, and cultural master planning and her career has included arts leadership in Dallas and Los Angeles.  She has been an advisor to the nation’s most diverse communities. She has worked directly with artists and other creative professionals to enhance their employment and business opportunities, in both the nonprofit and commercial sectors. She has guided the development of numerous cultural facilities and managing architectural design, budget and staff to guarantee that pubic service is a priority.

She served as a grant maker for the Ford Foundation in their Office for West Africa as the Program Officer for Media, Arts and Culture. In that capacity, she cites among her major accomplishments funding the restoration of the slave castles in Ghana and Nigeria and providing funding to preserve the ancient Arabic manuscripts of Timbuktu in Mali.

Margie formed MJR Partners, LLC in 2010, and provides professional arts management services and guidance to communities for planning, stabilizing and implementing inclusive public policy. Her clients have engaged her services to assist in stimulating strategic partnerships between the cultural sector and government agencies, foundations, corporations, and academic institutions to advance cultural understanding. She is a professor at Goucher College in Towson, Maryland, teaching Cultural Policy in the Arts in the graduate Arts Administration program.

A graduate of Washington State University in Pullman, Washington with a BS in Speech and Theater, Margie holds an MFA in Theater from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. She is a native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Fellows will take part in pre-, mid-, and post-fellowship evaluations and surveys to assess learning and growth toward program goals in the short and long terms.