From the first day of our Cultural Equity Precon, Broad & Deep: Transformation Through Systems Change full group presentations, Wednesday 2015

1. Vanessa Braun, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
Justin Laing, The Heinz Endowments, Arts & Culture Prog
ram
Adil Mansoor, Dreams of Hope
Tiffany Wilhelm, Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council
Broad and Deep:
Transformation throug
h Systems Change

2. OR…
Broad and Deep:
Transformation
through Systems
DISRUPTION

3. Systems of Oppression
Race, Gender, Class, Ability,
Sexual Orientation, Age,
Education, Nation of Origin,
Religion...
The "ism"s

4. Oppression:
Institutionalized power that is historically
formed and perpetuated over time. It allows
certain ‘groups’ to assume a dominant position
over ‘other groups’ and this dominance is
maintained at institutional and structural
levels.
This means oppression is built into institutions
like government and education, philanthropy
and, yes, our arts sector.
-Ignite! Anti-Racist Toolkit

5. Systems of Oppression
…have a history – they have formed over time
in specific political, economic and social
contexts.
…run through our language and shape the
way we act and the way we do things.
…are built around what are understood to be
“norms” in our societies.
…are linked - multiple forms oppress (or
privilege) each of us at the same time

6. Structural
Institutional
Interpersonal
Personal
Levels of Oppression

7. Power: the ability to control or
coerce.
Privilege: “an invisible package
of unearned assets”—Peggy
McIntosh.
Power and Privilege

8. Increasing Accessibility
in Pittsburgh Arts and Culture
A multi-faceted, regional initiative to help
arts and culture organizations welcome
people with disabilities to their facilities,
programs, and events as visitors
and patrons, artists and
performers, employees
and volunteers.

10. Goals
1. Educate managers and artists
2. Build a network
3. Deliver technical assistance and
resources
4. Strengthen Pittsburgh’s
connections at regional, state,
and national levels.

11. How it Feels: Customer Service
for People with Disabilities
Mgr of Diversity Initiatives, Pittsburgh Pirates

12. Working with Artists with Disabilities
Included performances by and a panel of
six artists with disabilities

13. Trained 22 Interpreters
ASL Interpretation for Performance

14. First Four Years: The Numbers
January 2011 to December 2014
Workshops Presented 19
Organizations Participating 60+
Workshop & Meeting Attendees 788
Presenters with Disabilities 23
2012 – 2014 Pittsburghers at LEAD 48
Access Peer Group Members 70

17. The Tree of
Structural Racis
m in the Arts

19. Goals
1) increasing awareness and understanding of
the structural nature of systems including
racism
2) increasing the visibility of artists and arts
organizations of color
3) promoting shared definitions and language
for conversations about race
4) preparing and enabling more individuals to
be agents of change
5) build a network of relationships and support

20. Disruption of Typical Arts &
Culture Philanthropic Process
The Transformative Arts Process

21. Usual Heinz Endowments Arts &
Culture Philanthropic Process
• Reflect on prior work successes & mistakes;
• Staff develop strategy based upon prior
experience and build it on top of other models
with which we are familiar;
• Develop an RFP and ask for community input;
• Share RFP with community;
• Solicit responses;
• Panel or staff makes decisions;

22. Starting Differently
• Reflected on prior processes focused on arts,
youth and distressed neighborhoods ;
• Wrote a paper on these reflections to share
with community;
• Convened colleagues in community
development, arts education, schools, arts
organizations, & politics;

23. The first paper we wrote communicating where we were going
Make Our Thinking Visible

24. Wanted a Strategy Process Imbued With
Relationship Building

25. Engaged Race & Racism

26. Enlisted Colleagues

27. The Boston Foundation: Involve
partners in looking at philanthropy

28. El Puente: Arts, Youth and Gentrifying
Neighborhood

29. Youth Radio: Big $ and Youth
Development

30. Respond to Grantees Request for Data

31. Did Not Use RFP. More Like Shark Tank.
janera solomon of Kelly
Strayhorn Theater: Incubate
spaces for African American
artists interested in social
justice on Penn Ave
James Brown of the
Lighthouse House
Project: Take the
Lighthouse Program to
a free standing building
serving more and more
accessible.
Charlie Humphrey
of the Pgh Center
for the Arts:
Media Literacy
Programs in AA &
Distressed
Neighborhoods

32. A Year Later…
• $800,000 appropriation
– Grants for cohort and
movement building
– Consultant team to
manage process
– Stipends for advisory
board members
– Evaluation

33. Development of TAP Advisory
Board
As Told by Adil Mansoor

34. Partnered on Purpose, Way of
Working and Decision Making

35. Working with youth

36. TAP Field
Building
Strategies
Separate
ineffective
programs
from effective
ones.
Attract people
to attend the
programs
already
operating in
their
neighborhoods.
Support
effective
programs in
AA/DN over
generations.
Recruit, train,
support and
develop
individuals
for the field.
Build
community
among those
doing the
work.
What is “Field Building”?

37. The Online Community

38. Disruptions & Non Disruptions
• Time
• Structure is still the structure
• New relationships;
• Strengthened relationships;
• Better understanding of the work of grantees;
• Grantees may have more incentive than non
grantees;

39. Questions?

40. What are we doing (or
what could we be doing) to
DISRUPT within our
system(s)?
Arts Organizations (Vanessa)
Arts Education (Adil)
Philanthropy (Justin)
LAAs/Arts Service Organizations
(Tiffany)