Ashley Brown/Houston Public Media
A local organization is recognizing minority-run arts groups that have impacted communities of color and Houston’s art scene with a new arts initiative.
The BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) Arts Network and Fund, also known as BANF, has designated eleven local arts organizations as “Houston Cultural Treasures.” The program provides a $5 million grant over a two-year period for operational and technical support.
“The disparity in arts funding nationally and here in the Houston area is spectacular,” said BANF’s Project Director, Sixto Wagan. “In Houston, PWI organizations have a median income that is 22 times more than bipoc arts organizations. If you understand the systemic inequalities facing the bipoc community – this disparity in funding will come as no surprise.”
BANF was started in 2021, to help BIPOC artists and organizations – many who were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Oftentimes, BIPOC organizations in Houston are overlooked and underrepresented – limiting opportunities. Two years after its creation, BANF has invested in many organizations, like the most recent investment of $6 million distributed between 25 local artists.
“We are intentional about working with and for our communities,” said Dr. Kheli Willetts with BANF’s Steering Committee and Principal Consultant Founder of Dira Professional Development. “Our leadership team brings philanthropy, artists, arts organization leaders, and community leaders together to listen, learn and respond. We’ve built community design and review teams whose work repairs histories of an equitable access by centering on humanity, care, and the recognition of voices that have had a direct impact with organizations and artists.”
The SHAPE Community Center in Third Ward which has been in Houston since 1969 is one of the recipients. Its deputy director Shondra Muhammad said the designation is an honor and the groups selected have done a lot of work in the Houston area to expose residents to the arts.
“We’re excited and overwhelmed,” she said. “We’re so proud of this whole collaborative and what they’re all doing with bringing so many cultural treasures together to help support this thread in Houston.”
The arts group will also be able to participate in a two-year learning cohort that Muhammad said could be a benefit to everyone involved.
“It expands our reach, it brings us information that we may not have had that other organizations have already started working on,” she said. “It also brings us into other communities who aren’t necessarily familiar with shape and it gives us the chance to learn from their work.”
The other organizations chose:
Recipients will receive grants that range from $100,000 to $500,000.
