Americans for the Arts

Americans for the Arts understands the value proposition of all Americans having access to the arts. After all, "to increase access to the arts for all Americans" is coded in its mission. Americans for the Arts also knows that our nation's arts and cultural sector nurtures the same purpose. The mission and vision statements that guide our field embrace this collective idea, which is also embedded through our policies and practices.

Mission statements are meant to inspire and frame the services that are provided by organizations. They also help to establish an outline for grant makers that can influence the decisions of their investment. In this context, we know that the research in our field has revealed that equitable access is not balanced and is affecting a great number of small to mid-size arts groups. America continues to be a place with mounting social and economic divide y con mucho political drama.

Cultural equity. Two simple words with seemingly clear, every day meanings. Merriam-Webster confirms the plainness of these words. Cultural: "Of or relating to a particular group's habits, beliefs, traditions, etc.," or "of or relating to the fine arts (such as music, theater, painting, etc.)" And equity: "justice or fairness in the way people are treated, " or "freedom from bias or favoritism." So putting these words together, we've got a concept that speaks about fairness and justice in the realm of arts and culture, about the arts treating people without bias or favoritism.

The Statement on Cultural Equity being released by Americans for the Arts addresses this issue of fairness and justice in the arts in a beautifully simple and straightforward way. Fairness is something we value as Americans, and yet injustice is rife within our nation, and the same power structures that perpetuate inequity in the larger society are present in the cultural sector. We shouldn't be surprised by this and yet, quite often, we are. Aren't we, as workers in the arts, all liberal-minded, good people?

It’s about commitment. Commitment to this place, commitment to doing some of this work. When you’re at Americans for the Arts and you’re participating in this work, it puts us in the forefront. So it’s good that we’re out there saying we’re tackling this—it’s a sore topic, but at the end of the day somebody has to do it. 

Since its inception, The Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County has celebrated more than 65 years of milestones. Throughout the decades, we have provided proactive leadership, sparked cultural growth, and granted financial support to create a flourishing cultural environment. In recent years, we have embraced that our mission has broadened from serving the arts to serving the greater community through the arts. To that end, one of our primary objectives is promoting diversity and inclusion through our work and that of our partners.

Animating Democracy’s new beautiful Aesthetic Perspectives framework gives voice and importance to the myriad aspects that work together to create strong art for social change. With this lens, it adds important ways of seeing “quality” in general, offering an eclectic voice in the family of other frameworks that describe what quality and excellence is—in product, in process, and in programs. Able also to hold the paradoxes, it states, “Ambiguity, contradiction, and co-existence are essentials for a tolerant democratic society. Art can help us live with the ambiguities and contradictions of our world; it can show us how each thing contains its opposite.”

Malawi has no shortage of artists. What’s needed is a more robust arts ecosystem in which artists can grow and thrive. There is no question that the arts are critical to fostering human development, establishing identity through shared cultural heritage, bolstering democracy, and protecting human rights. It is high time that international donors and the Malawian government realized that one of the country’s greatest resources—arts and culture—remains largely untapped.