Darlene McClinton is the grants manager for ArtsGreensboro, a community-supported nonprofit organization and the largest public and private alliance dedicated to sustaining the Greensboro, North Carolina, arts economy. McClinton also is an artist, educator, entrepreneur, collaborator, ally, and advocate. Since joining ArtsGreensboro in December 2019, she has made a significant difference in their outreach efforts, diversifying their grant pool, and expanding their artist support grant applications over 400% from the previous year. This post is the latest in our series featuring the many Americans for the Arts members doing transformative work for arts education, public art, advocacy, arts marketing, and more.

On the morning of June 30, 2021, a new and unexpected threat to a pro-arts piece of federal legislation became apparent. The full U.S. House of Representatives was beginning final consideration of the INVEST in America Act of 2021 (H.R. 3684), which included an arts and transit provision that had not attracted any opposition—until an amendment from Rep. Bob Gibbs (R-OH) aimed to strike the pro-arts provision from the bill. Rep. Gibbs argued that that federal dollars shouldn’t be used for “feel-good frescoes and metro station murals.” What Rep. Gibbs and other opponents fail to realize is that the provision does not require art projects, but rather allows local transit authorities the option to hire artists and install public art in transit projects if they wish. And it doesn’t cost the federal government money, but rather allows local transit authorities the option to spend their budget hiring an artist if they want to. Arts-related votes on the floor of either chamber of Congress are a rarity, so a dynamic advocacy strategy becomes extremely important when one occurs—and in this case, Americans for the Arts marshalled every arts advocacy tool in our war chest in response.

The Arts & Science Council (ASC), the local arts agency for Charlotte-Mecklenburg in North Carolina, for nearly 60 years engaged in practices that led to inequitable funding to organizations and creative individuals. In June 2019, ASC’s Board of Directors approved a Cultural Equity statement. It creates a framework to set organizational policies and practices and offers external visibility for the organization’s commitment to cultural equity. It also guides ASC’s decision to cap operating support grants for large institutions to fund small and mid-sized organizations so they can build their capacity and thrive. The board agreed that if it is committed to doing this work, ASC must report to the community on its progress. The report was not done in a vacuum. Experts in the history, equity, cultural transformation, philanthropy, and public relations space served as external readers. Their feedback was valuable. When the report was published on February 24, 2021, it felt liberating. While I knew the facts in the report were startling, I never thought I would experience so intimately the uncomfortableness, the defensiveness, and the scaredness of white people reacting to the unvarnished truth.

Lawren Desai is the executive director and curator of a/perture cinema in downtown Winston-Salem, North Carolina. In January 2020, a/perture cinema celebrated its 10th anniversary of serving the Winston-Salem community the art of film and providing a communal cinematic experience. As an art house cinema, a/perture’s mission is to entertain and engage the community through the art of film by showcasing informative, educational, thought-provoking, and inspiring films—the films that enrich our lives, engage our minds, promote diversity, and build community. Desai spoke with us about the inception of a/perture cinema, the organization’s adaption to COVID-19, as well as the organization’s plans going forward.