RESOURCE EQUITY: Connecting Culturally Specific Dance Communities with Grants Funding
by ANNE HUANG
Introduction There’s a large, diverse, and vibrant multicul- tural dance community in the San Francisco Bay Area. As a long-time capacity building specialist and resource equity advocate, I’ve worked extensively with Bay Area cultural artists and culturally specific arts organiza- tions. They include Charya Burt, Kyoungil Ong, Naomi Diouf, Oakland Asian Cul- tural Center, CubaCaribe, Bisemi, Halau ‘o Keikiali’i, Cunamacue, and many others. I connect artists and arts organizations with resources such as grants funding, space, and professional development opportunities. I advocate for resource equity by working with funders to create equitable funding guide- lines, speaking on panels such as Grantmakers in the Arts and Dance/USA, and connecting funders with culturally specific communities. Funders, artists, arts organizations, and arts advocates have long grappled with these questions – What does it take to support the large, diverse, culturally specific dance com- munities in the Bay Area? What are the key factors to help these dance communities thrive? I will share common challenges of cul- turally specific dance communities, and solu- tions to address these challenges. This article will not address the needs of all culturally specific dance communities, but focus on my work with cultural artists and culturally spe- cific arts organizations rooted in traditional cultures, often in immigrant communities. Landscape and history of culturally specific dance communities The passage of the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act brought large waves of diverse immigrants into the United States. Many immigrant artists settled in the Bay Area from regions as diverse as Cambodia, Liberia, India, Iran, and Senegal. During the 1970s, culturally specific dance was practiced widely, but was largely limited to classes and performances in church basements, living rooms, and commu- nity centers, taught on the side by individuals who had migrated to the area seeking a better life for themselves and their families. In the past four decades, the Bay Area’s culturally specific dance community has grown from a grassroots collective of cultural artists to the largest multicultural ethnic dance community in the United States. We now see a community of established, professional culturally specific dance companies, directed by nationally recog- nized teachers. The first generation of dancers have become our elders and culture bearers. Despite this dramatic artistic growth, many cultural artists and cultural arts organizations have tremendous difficulty accessing financial and other resources, and have fragile organiza- tional infrastructure. Many cultural arts orga- nizations support high-caliber artists, yet have either no paid staff, or lack the professional staffing infrastructure to adequately support the artists. While the root causes of these chal- lenges are complex, creating culturally relevant strategies to secure grants funding and devel- oping professional administrative staff can go a long way towards building organizational sustainability of culturally specific arts organi- zations and career viability of cultural artists. What does it take for culturally specific dance communities to secure grants funding? 1. Develop professional grant writers dedicated to culturally specific dance communities The number one question I receive from artists is – “Can you recommend a grant writer?” My grant writing colleagues and I are inundated with grant writing requests that we do not have the capacity to sup- port. Many cultural artists cannot offer the hourly fee of seasoned grant writers. The seasoned grant writers often do not have room to accept new clients. Most importantly, the cultural artists and arts
organizations rarely find the seasoned grant writer who have the cultural com- petency to craft compelling grant applica- tions that fully articulate the depth and nuance of the culturally specific dance organization’s work. To increase culturally specific dance communities’ ability to access grants fund- ing, we need to create a professional devel- opment program to train grant writers from culturally specific dance communi- ties to support their own dance commu- nities. These grant writers can be artists who would like to prepare their own grant applications, dance community stakehold- ers who would like to do grant writing part-time, or emerging arts administrators who would like to work as full-time devel- opment professionals. What does this grant writer training program look like? Since grant application deadlines are usu- ally once a year, the ideal training program is a year-long training program with a small cohort of culturally specific grant writ- ers. The program will include small-group workshops, followed by sustained, inten- sive hands-on grants coaching by seasoned grants coaches, such as myself and Kevin Seaman. The program participant will learn about grants research, grant writing, creating compelling work samples, funder engagement, creating organizing systems for grants related materials, and refining the skill to work with cultural artists to craft compelling grant application language. Often artists and arts organizations con- tact me because they would like to access grants funding and find the grants seeking process mysterious and confusing. To be successful in grants seeking, artists/arts orga- nizations need to possess the following skills: a. Grants readiness – ability to assessing your own grants readiness, and draft a list of grants that are the best match for you b. Grants calendar – an annual calendar with all of your grants application and report deadlines, upcoming action items, and dates for funder engagement com- munication. This manages the countless grant deadlines in a chronological fashion c. Grants narrative – ability to tell your story in a cohesive fashion and edit your text quickly, as word count varies from one grant application to another d. Work samples – ability to prepare com- pelling work samples that complement your narrative e. Budget – ability to prepare clear budget notes that address potential panelists’ doubts f. Funder engagement – funder engage- ment is a year-round process; this involves inviting funders to events, call- ing funders to discuss proposed proj- ects, getting panel comments, and letting funders know about your major accom- plishments and announcements g. Ideally, ability to score your own appli- cation according to the scoring criteria I propose a grant writer training program that helps the participants master these skills. This professional development program can create a career pathway for stakeholders in culturally specific dance communities, and bring crucial financial resources to support these communi- ties. More importantly, this program will foster a community of development pro- fessionals from culturally specific dance communities, who are deeply dedicated to supporting these communities. 2. One-on-one technical assistance to support grant applications One-on-one technical assistance provides highly effective support to the applicant during the grant application process. Once cultural artists/arts organizations decide
which grants to target, they often feel baffled by the guidelines and application questions. The folk and traditional artists, in particular, struggle with the Artist State- ment, as they practice art forms shared by cultural collectives and cultural traditions that are passed down from one generation to another. This technical assistance can be provided by these entities: a. Funders – San Francisco Arts Com- mission, California Arts Council, and Dance/USA, Alliance for California Tra- ditional Arts, Walter and Elise Haas Fund, and City of Oakland Cultural Funding Program have been great at providing technical assistance to appli- cants. This support can include 15-45 minute one-on-one technical assistance sessions that applicants can sign-up for online, or contacting program officers to schedule the individual sessions. The applicants have the opportunity to ask funders individualized questions about their projects and receive guidance that’s customized for that applicant. I have found this type of opportunity extremely useful in helping me articulate my proj- ect in a compelling fashion. As a coach for Dance/USA Fellowships to Artists Program, artists have given me very pos- itive feedback about the effectiveness of this one-on-one technical assistance. b. Artist service providers – This tech- nical assistance can also be provided by an artist service program, such as World Arts West’s Artist Support Ser- vice Program and Bisemi Foundation’s Cultural Artist Incubator Program. World Arts West’s Artist Support Ser- vice Program provides hands-on grants
coaching for culturally specific dance companies seeking fiscal sponsorship. I help the applicant with grant narra- tive, work samples, and budget notes, as well as overall grants strategies for the proposed project. I have been an art- ist development coach for Bisemi, both in 45 minute coaching sessions dur- ing Bisemi’s Professional Development Workshops, as well as sustained one-on- one coaching where I meet with the cul- tural artist over a period of 4-6 months. This type of support allows the grants coach to help the artist/arts organization target specific grants, think about mul- tiple sources of funding for one project, and how to leverage one grant towards another grant, and efficient usage of narrative and support materials for multiple grant applications. c. Individual coaches – Artists and arts organizations can hire individual grants coaches to strengthen existing staff’s skill in grant writing and other grants related skills. 3. What can funders do to support grant- seeking from culturally specific dance communities? a. Post past successful grant applications on funder’s website Crafting the grant narrative from scratch often feels daunting for cultural artists and cultural arts organizations. Sample applications can be especially helpful for the emerging grant writer. Here are two examples - 1. Cal Humanities - calhum.org/fund ing-opportunities/humanities-for-all 2. NEA - arts.gov/foia/reading-room
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in dance APR 2019
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