“Racial Equity and Arts Funding in Greater Pittsburgh” is the result of a yearlong study of hundreds of arts organizations, primary data from 20 local funders (public and private), and secondary data from publicly available resources. The research was convened by a group of 12 local arts leaders, researchers and funders who formed the Learning and Leadership Committee under the auspices of the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council. This Committee, a group comprised primarily of people of color, informed the core questions, frameworks, and context for the research, which was conducted by the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council. The report reveals a stark contrast between funding for White-majority organizations and ALAANA organizations, with key findings including disparities in the number of arts grants, total amounts of funds, and the average amount of grant dollars received by ALAANA organizations* when compared with White/Non-Hispanic organizations. From the report: “These realities vary somewhat from year to year and by funder. Another key issue is the variability of grants and funding that ALAANA arts organizations receive annually, adding unpredictability to the fragile economic condition of many organizations (page 11).”
The report offers sets of recommendation for foundations, public arts agencies and arts organizations to act upon that “address funders’ decision making processes as well as initiatives that policy makers could collectively adopt.”Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council recognizes this work as part of their long-term commitment to racial equity in the arts and in our communities. The Committee’s work was made possible by a grant from the Advancing Black Arts Program of The Pittsburgh Foundation and The Heinz Endowments.
