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Lessons from the New York City Cultural Agenda Fund

July 26, 2019

In 2014, The New York Community Trust brought together a small group of funders and advocates to figure out how the arts community could play a role in shaping the City's cultural plan. The New York City Cultural Agenda Fund, a funder collaborative, grew out of the group's recognition that New York City needed a strong and vocal advocacy community with a deep understanding of equity to effect change. Led by The New York Community Trust and Lambent Foundation, the Cultural Agenda Fund's goals were to strengthen advocacy, influence policy, and advance equity by ensuring that small and diverse arts groups were valued.

Beyond Green: The Arts as a Catalyst for Sustainability

May 8, 2016

The creative sector has played a significant role in efforts to raise awareness of the impacts of climate change and encourage sustainable social, economic, and environmental practices worldwide. Many artists and cultural organizations have embarked on remarkable projects that make us reflect on our behaviors, our carbon footprints, and the claims of infinite growth based on finite resources. Sometimes treading a fine line between arts and advocacy, they have sparked extraordinary collaborations that reveal new ways of living together on a shared planet. The 'art of the possible' will become even more relevant as 2016 dawns - bringing the challenge of how to implement the Sustainable Development Goals and the Climate Change Agreement adopted at the end of 2015. Yet with negotiations overshadowed by scientific controversy, political polemic and geographic polarization, individuals can easily lose faith in their own ability to shape change beyond the hyperlocal level. Against this challenging backdrop, could the arts and creative practice become a particle accelerator - to shift mindsets, embrace new ways of sharing space and resources, and catalyze more creative leadership in the public and private spheres? The goal of this Salzburg Global Seminar session was to build on path-breaking cultural initiatives to advance international and cross-sectoral links between existing arts and sustainability activities around the world, encourage bolder awareness-raising efforts, and recommend strategic approaches for making innovative grassroots to scale for greater, longer-term impact.