Introducing the Learning and Leadership Committee for the Racial Equity and Arts Funding in Greater Pittsburgh
The Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council is proud to announce the Learning and Leadership Committee that will guide its next round of Racial Equity and Arts Funding in Greater Pittsburgh research.
This year’s project, supported in part by a National Endowments for the Arts Research Grant, is a 5-year follow-up to our 2018 Racial Equity and Arts Funding in Greater Pittsburgh report and will explore if, how, and in what ways arts grantmaking in Greater Pittsburgh has progressed toward distributive justice.
“I moved to join the Learning and Leadership Committee because the cultural and artistic landscape of Pittsburgh has been transformative in my own development and I would like to be a part of its growth and cultivation for years to come,” says new committee member Taliya Allen. “I believe the LLC is an avenue to positive change and impact that will lovingly shape the Black arts community.”
The project will reassess racial equity in grant amounts and grant dollars distributed to arts organizations. The research will also gather data on policies, practices, and power structures within funding organizations and dig into their impacts on funding outcomes. If and where changes have resulted in more equitable funding outcomes, the Arts Council will aim to tell those stories in a way that might encourage replication across the national arts funding field.
The committee members, who include a wide range of local artists, advocates, and teaching artists, were selected after a public nomination process and votes from returning 2018 Learning and Leadership Committee members. The following members will begin their work in July 2023 and continue through January 2024.
Taliya Allen. Arts advocate, administrator and consultant, writer, and one-third of the core of the Black Transformative Arts Network (BTAN), where she leads the visibility efforts for BTAN and works with creatives to develop and execute their concepts.
Demeatria Boccella. President of Demeatria Boccella Productions and founder of FashionAFRICANA, a global multi-media program and educational platform that explores Black beauty, culture, and history through fashion and art.
Dr. Amber Epps. Executive Director of Protohaven, maker, artist, musician, mom, member of the #NotWhite Collective, and co-owner of Arts & Crafts: Botanica & Occult Shop.
Pralhad Gurung. Himalayan origin multidisciplinary artist (fine arts) and co-founder at IIF | IFACA BHUTAN.
Sharnay Hearn Davis. Cultural Strategist and Community Engagement Consultant, founder of the Sisters Lifting as We Climb Network.
Divya Rao Heffley, PhD. Associate Director of the Office for Public Art, architectural historian, Indian immigrant, and mother.
Mia Hooper. Director of Development and Grantmaking for the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council.
Diane Hunt. Senior Program Officer at Allegheny Regional Asset District and artist.
Kilolo Luckett. Founding Executive Director and Chief Curator of Alma Lewis, art historian, and storyteller.
Amanda Neatrour. Artist, musician, and opera singer whose work and mission centers creating opportunities to tell stories and highlight artists who have traditionally been underrepresented or not celebrated.
LaKeisha Wolf. Executive Director of Ujamaa Collective, teaching artist, cultural worker, creative entrepreneur, and arts administrator.
TJ Young. Associate Professor of Dramaturgy at Carnegie Mellon University, playwright, new works advocate, and storyteller.
Alison Zapata. Owner of Zapata Studios, specializing in murals, member of the #notwhite Collective, rostered teaching artist for Young Artists, PA Council on the Arts, Pittsburgh Center for Arts and Media, and Pittsburgh Cultural Trust