Racial Equity & Arts Funding in Greater Pittsburgh

Why this research project, and why now? There is urgency to this inquiry. It is written against the real-world backdrop of patterns of cultural appropriation, omission, and exclusion in the Pittsburgh area arts community dating back decades. Racial Equity and Arts Funding in Greater Pittsburgh is an opportunity to promote understanding about past and current practices regarding race and arts funding in Greater Pittsburgh. It is an inquiry into how resources, in the form of competitive grants programs by public arts agencies and private foundations, are distributed.This report offers recommendations on how equity issues can be addressed through revisions to grantmaking policies and procedures, with the goal of making some features common practice among all funders, both public and private. Recommendations include broader initiatives that go beyond grantmaking processes to policy shifts and special programs