Freelands Foundation has awarded £608,000 in the form of seven new grants to small and medium-sized Black-led visual arts organisations in Bristol, Leicester and London.
The Space to Dream fund will allow the selected organisations to work with artists, curators and local communities as part of the foundation’s £3m commitment to address racial inequality in the visual arts.
The seven organisations were selected by the foundation’s Diversity Action Group.
They are 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning in Brixton, the Arab British Centre in Central London, Bernie Grant Arts Centre in Tottenham, Cubitt Artists in Islington, June Givanni Pan African Cinema Archive in Peckham, Rising Arts in Bristol and Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage in Leicester.
Each organisation will use the fund to invest in a different aspect of programming or outreach,
Rising Arts plans to use the grant to expand its youth-led programme, using mentoring, young trustees, networks and collaborative commissions to embed diverse voices into the cultural sector.
“This funding will allow us to put resources into the recommendations that came directly from people of colour in our community,” said Euella Jackson and Jess Bunyan, Co-Directors.
“We will celebrate the legacy of the work that has come before and build on this towards a future sector where young people of colour can truly thrive.”
The Bernie Grant Arts Centre will use the grant to develop a visual arts programme shaped by international guest curators, bringing world-class programming to local community groups.
Hannah-Azieb Pool, Artistic Director and CEO, said the grant “will make it possible for us to commission ground-breaking new work by Black artists and allow us to create a bold, ambitious new home for Black visual arts”.
Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage will use the award to explore African diasporic identities across the Midlands through a documentary photography project marking the 60th anniversary of independence for many African and Caribbean nations.