Increased public and private funding to artists of color and arts nonprofits and creative businesses led by people of color
Increased policies in public and private institutions that work effectively to close racial disparities
Increased democratic engagement among communities of color
Ideas are only as good as the audiences they reach. We partner with artists, culture-bearers, designers, and media makers of color to create narratives with organizers, movement leaders and advocates. We also transfer ideas into the realm of public policy by partnering with officials within municipal and state agencies.
What We Fund: We fund conveners that bring together artists, researchers, and cultural critics of color together with public policy and social movement leaders to advance shared racial justice outcomes. We support public- and private-sector policy development that emerge from our Create and Clarify approaches.
Accepting letters of intent: No
What We Fund: We fund conveners of narrative-change practitioners and support campaigns that seek to shift narratives that support racial justice public policy initiatives and the democratic participation of communities of color.
Accepting letters of intent: No
What We Fund: We fund place-based initiatives that incentivize local arts philanthropies to close racial disparities in their grantmaking programs, policies, procedures, and behaviors in partnership with front line and community-based leaders.
Accepting letters of intent: No
You can see all grants given under our Connect strategy below.
And explore other Thriving Cultures grants in our database.
|
Year Approved
|
Organization
|
Status
|
Amount
|
Duration
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 |
Twenty43 Ventures
This grant is for general program support of Tweny43 Ventures (formerly BIPOC Storytelling Fund). |
Active | $500,000 | 36 months |
| 2024 |
The Center for Cultural Power
The purpose of this grant is general operating support. |
Active | $550,000 | 36 months |
| 2024 |
Color Congress
The purpose of this grant is general program support to Color Congress. |
Active | $300,000 | 36 months |
| 2024 |
Firelight Media, Inc.
The purpose of the grant is for general operating support. |
Active | $375,000 | 36 months |
| 2024 |
OTV | Open Television
The purpose of this grant is general operating support. |
Active | $900,000 | 36 months |
| 2023 |
U.S. Department of Arts and Culture
The purpose of this grant is general operating funding to support USDAC in bridging their programming budget gap as they wait for new grant commitments to be confirmed in the Spring. Please see the attached email for more context. |
Active | $50,000 | 12 months |
| 2023 |
New Commonwealth Racial Equity and Social Justice Fund
The purpose of this grant is to support the New Commonwealth Fund’s coordination of Boston’s Thriving Cultures Disruption Pilot (BTCDP). |
Active | $250,000 | 12 months |
| 2023 |
BlackStar Projects, Inc.
The purpose of this grant is to provide BlackStar Projects with general operating support. |
Active | $1,000,000 | 60 months |
| 2022 |
Center for Working Families
The purpose of this project grant to the Center for Working Families is to support their team in participating in the Thriving Cultures’ Policy Table Cohort. |
Active | $125,000 | 12 months |
| 2022 |
Get Free Movement Fund, Inc.
The purpose of this grant is to support the Project Truth, Reconciliation, and Reparations team in participating in Thriving Cultures’ Policy Table Cohort. |
Active | $125,000 | 12 months |
| 2022 |
Twenty43 Ventures
The purpose of this grant is to support the early planning efforts and expenses of the BIPOC Storytelling Fund. |
Active | $750,005 | 20 months |
| 2022 |
PeoplesHub
The purpose of this grant is to support the PeoplesHub team in participating in Thriving Cultures’ Policy Table Cohort. |
Active | $125,000 | 12 months |
| 2022 |
re:power Fund
The purpose of this grant is to support the Progressive Governance Academy team, a joint program of re:power, State Innovation Exchange, and Local Progress), to participate in Thriving Cultures’ Policy Table Cohort. |
Active | $250,000 | 12 months |
| 2022 |
IllumiNative
The purpose of this grant is general operating support. |
Active | $750,000 | 36 months |
| 2022 |
New Commonwealth Racial Equity and Social Justice Fund
The purpose of this grant is to support the New Commonwealth Fund’s coordination of Boston’s Thriving Cultures Disruption Pilot (BTCDP). |
Closed | $250,000 | 12 months |
| 2022 |
Storyline Inc.
The purpose of this grant is to support Storyline, Inc. in launching an apprenticeship program to help cultivate the next generation of community-engaged and accountable storytellers. |
Active | $50,000 | 24 months |
| 2022 |
New York Community Trust
The purpose of this grant is to support the Mosaic Network and Fund, a project of New York Community Trust. |
Active | $300,000 | 24 months |
| 2022 |
Grantmakers in the Arts
The purpose of this grant is general operating support. |
Active | $765,000 | 72 months |
| 2021 |
OTV | Open Television
The purpose of this grant is general operating support. |
Active | $950,000 | 36 months |
| 2021 |
Pop Culture Collaborative
The purpose of the grant is general program support for the Pop Culture Collaborative. |
Active | $600,000 | 36 months |
| 2021 |
The Center for Cultural Power
The purpose of this grant is to support the Constellations Network in the building of a Narrative and Culture change ecosystem that centers and amplifies QTBIPOC (Queer, Trans, Black, Indigenous, People of Color, and Immigrant communities) artists who are shifting worldviews from domination and extraction to collaboration and interdependence – Artist Disruptors. |
Closed | $1,000,000 | 36 months |
| 2020 |
The Center for Cultural Power
The purpose of this grant is to build Narrative Strategy and the field of cultural strategy by co-creating funder recommendations with varied practitioners, co-leading a funder briefing with Surdna Foundation and increasing the visibility of cultural strategy thought leadership. |
Closed | $63,500 | 12 months |
| 2020 |
OTV | Open Television
The purpose of this grant is general operating support. |
Closed | $225,000 | 12 months |
| 2020 |
For Freedoms
To support artists fees and travel stipends for the For Freedoms Congress (FFCon), a gathering of artists, academic and cultural institutions, and organizations that are transforming our political landscape through creative civic engagement. |
Closed | $225,000 | 12 months |
| 2020 |
Race Forward
The purpose of this grant is general program support to Government Alliance on Race and Equity (GARE). |
Closed | $225,000 | 12 months |
Our cultural institutions shape how we view the world, and Javier Torres-Campos, the Director of the Thriving Cultures Program at the Surdna Foundation, is doing his part to help shape those cultural institutions for the better. Javier doesn’t…
If there was ever a moment for cultural strategy and investment in Black, Indigenous, and artists of color, it is now. Amid a global pandemic and a national uprising against systemic racism, we are witnessing the power of artists, cultural…
The Surdna Foundation is pleased to announce its hire of Robert Smith III as Program Officer of the Thriving Cultures program. Robert will help guide the implementation of the Thriving Cultures’ refined strategy, Radical Imagination for Racial…
Helicon Collaborative recently released Not Just Money: Equity Issues in Cultural Philanthropy, a research study conducted with funding from the Surdna Foundation. The study continues Helicon's examination of inequities in arts funding in the…
The University of Pennsylvania’s Social Impact of the Arts Project released a report yesterday entitled, “Culture and Social Wellbeing in New York City.” The two-year research project studied the economic, education, environment, public…
You can see all grants given under our Connect strategy below.
And explore other Thriving Cultures grants in our database.
|
Year Approved
|
Organization
|
Status
|
Amount
|
Duration
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 |
Twenty43 Ventures
This grant is for general program support of Tweny43 Ventures (formerly BIPOC Storytelling Fund). |
Active | $500,000 | 36 months |
| 2024 |
The Center for Cultural Power
The purpose of this grant is general operating support. |
Active | $550,000 | 36 months |
| 2024 |
Color Congress
The purpose of this grant is general program support to Color Congress. |
Active | $300,000 | 36 months |
| 2024 |
Firelight Media, Inc.
The purpose of the grant is for general operating support. |
Active | $375,000 | 36 months |
| 2024 |
OTV | Open Television
The purpose of this grant is general operating support. |
Active | $900,000 | 36 months |
| 2023 |
U.S. Department of Arts and Culture
The purpose of this grant is general operating funding to support USDAC in bridging their programming budget gap as they wait for new grant commitments to be confirmed in the Spring. Please see the attached email for more context. |
Active | $50,000 | 12 months |
| 2023 |
New Commonwealth Racial Equity and Social Justice Fund
The purpose of this grant is to support the New Commonwealth Fund’s coordination of Boston’s Thriving Cultures Disruption Pilot (BTCDP). |
Active | $250,000 | 12 months |
| 2023 |
BlackStar Projects, Inc.
The purpose of this grant is to provide BlackStar Projects with general operating support. |
Active | $1,000,000 | 60 months |
| 2022 |
Center for Working Families
The purpose of this project grant to the Center for Working Families is to support their team in participating in the Thriving Cultures’ Policy Table Cohort. |
Active | $125,000 | 12 months |
| 2022 |
Get Free Movement Fund, Inc.
The purpose of this grant is to support the Project Truth, Reconciliation, and Reparations team in participating in Thriving Cultures’ Policy Table Cohort. |
Active | $125,000 | 12 months |
| 2022 |
Twenty43 Ventures
The purpose of this grant is to support the early planning efforts and expenses of the BIPOC Storytelling Fund. |
Active | $750,005 | 20 months |
| 2022 |
PeoplesHub
The purpose of this grant is to support the PeoplesHub team in participating in Thriving Cultures’ Policy Table Cohort. |
Active | $125,000 | 12 months |
| 2022 |
re:power Fund
The purpose of this grant is to support the Progressive Governance Academy team, a joint program of re:power, State Innovation Exchange, and Local Progress), to participate in Thriving Cultures’ Policy Table Cohort. |
Active | $250,000 | 12 months |
| 2022 |
IllumiNative
The purpose of this grant is general operating support. |
Active | $750,000 | 36 months |
| 2022 |
New Commonwealth Racial Equity and Social Justice Fund
The purpose of this grant is to support the New Commonwealth Fund’s coordination of Boston’s Thriving Cultures Disruption Pilot (BTCDP). |
Closed | $250,000 | 12 months |
| 2022 |
Storyline Inc.
The purpose of this grant is to support Storyline, Inc. in launching an apprenticeship program to help cultivate the next generation of community-engaged and accountable storytellers. |
Active | $50,000 | 24 months |
| 2022 |
New York Community Trust
The purpose of this grant is to support the Mosaic Network and Fund, a project of New York Community Trust. |
Active | $300,000 | 24 months |
| 2022 |
Grantmakers in the Arts
The purpose of this grant is general operating support. |
Active | $765,000 | 72 months |
| 2021 |
OTV | Open Television
The purpose of this grant is general operating support. |
Active | $950,000 | 36 months |
| 2021 |
Pop Culture Collaborative
The purpose of the grant is general program support for the Pop Culture Collaborative. |
Active | $600,000 | 36 months |
| 2021 |
The Center for Cultural Power
The purpose of this grant is to support the Constellations Network in the building of a Narrative and Culture change ecosystem that centers and amplifies QTBIPOC (Queer, Trans, Black, Indigenous, People of Color, and Immigrant communities) artists who are shifting worldviews from domination and extraction to collaboration and interdependence – Artist Disruptors. |
Closed | $1,000,000 | 36 months |
| 2020 |
The Center for Cultural Power
The purpose of this grant is to build Narrative Strategy and the field of cultural strategy by co-creating funder recommendations with varied practitioners, co-leading a funder briefing with Surdna Foundation and increasing the visibility of cultural strategy thought leadership. |
Closed | $63,500 | 12 months |
| 2020 |
OTV | Open Television
The purpose of this grant is general operating support. |
Closed | $225,000 | 12 months |
| 2020 |
For Freedoms
To support artists fees and travel stipends for the For Freedoms Congress (FFCon), a gathering of artists, academic and cultural institutions, and organizations that are transforming our political landscape through creative civic engagement. |
Closed | $225,000 | 12 months |
| 2020 |
Race Forward
The purpose of this grant is general program support to Government Alliance on Race and Equity (GARE). |
Closed | $225,000 | 12 months |