ABOUT US
ORIGINS
Following the sunset of ArtPlace America in 2020, the Arts and Culture program directors at the Barr, Kresge, and William Penn Foundations sought to build on its insights and momentum. Partnering with Helicon Collaborative, they conducted research—including interviews with grassroots leaders—and reaffirmed the need for sustained investment in the integration of arts, culture, and creativity into efforts to build healthy, racially equitable, and sustainable communities. In response, they pooled resources to launch a $13 million initiative dedicated to advancing these practices and deepening field-wide knowledge.
In 2022, Aviva Kapust and Erik Takeshita were appointed as Co-Directors. Under their leadership, the fund sharpened its focus on culture as a central force in community power-building. Culture has always been integral to how communities organize, sustain movements, and drive systemic change, yet it has often been siloed, underfunded, or narrowly understood in ways that limit its impact. Too often, it is valued primarily for its tangible expressions rather than recognized as essential to building power. C&CPF seeks to shift this paradigm, positioning culture as fundamental to how communities shape their futures.
VALUES
Follow those who are closest to the ground:
We honor the expertise of frontline organizations, practitioners, and communities most impacted by structural oppression. We seek to enlist them as co-designers in grantmaking and other critical aspects of C&CPF.
Be true partners and provide flexible support:
We’re not here to set rules and limits, we’re here to create space for expansive work. We create trusting relationships with grantee-partners so that they can be honest about their struggles and their successes. We strive to make our grants as flexible and straightforward as possible, and stand ready to share our experience and networks to aid however we can.
Minimize harm, center care:
We understand that any intervention in an ecosystem carries the risk of disrupting hard-earned relationships and progress, even with the best intentions. Recognizing this, we commit to moving with care, humility, and respect. Our aim is not just to avoid harm but to actively support and strengthen the ecosystems we are part of, staying accountable to those most impacted by systemic oppression.
Build on what’s working:
We build on existing knowledge and rely on practice-based experience, including calls-to-action from frontline practitioners, advice from trusted social justice funders, and equity-centered research methodologies and findings.
Unite means and ends:
We believe that what is won is just as important as how it is won. To that end, we support community power building rooted in culture as both a goal and a strategy.
OPERATIONAL MODEL
C&CPF functions as a lab, which means our work is exploratory and adaptive. We bring together frontline organizations, community members, funders, and thought leaders to explore ideas and strategies beyond traditional programs, structures, and geographic boundaries. This provides a space to test new approaches, make nimble and responsive investments, and engage in continuous, iterative learning. Just like in a lab, we ask critical questions: what works, what doesn’t, and why. Our aim is to strengthen both the transformative efforts happening in frontline communities and the strategies used to support those efforts, by organizations like ours.
