January 2020: Starting with Why
Dear Friends, While I look to January as the start of a new year and a time for intention-setting, I am reminded that the start of the year is also
2019: Deep Listening, Intentional Building
Dear Friends, In June, I decided to take my own advice. For years, I’d hear Red Olive Clients and Black Art Futures Fund (BAFF) grantees speak about capacity and their
Small Ship, Big Sails: Asset-based Storytelling
Dear Friends, We’re here. The end of 2019 is upon us. While we at Red Olive are working with almost 15 groups across the country to tell their organization’s story
When Going Gets Tough: Managing Barriers to Local Arts Patronage
I’ve been thinking about DéLana’s most recent monthly letter, in which she describes using a local arts calendar to find distraction and comfort in the weeks following her father’s death.
Finding Solice in Local
Dear Friends, Last September, when my father died, I had been in South Carolina for two months and stayed for a third month to be with my mother and continue
A New Model for Supporting Black, Artist-Led Organizations
In late-August, Red Olive began a pilot program with the South Carolina Arts Commission and three South Carolina-based Black art organizations: Gullah Traveling Theater, Speaking Down Barriers, and The Watering Hole. In addition to receiving a one-time general operating support grant, these Black artist-led arts organizations will work with Red Olive to develop fundraising best-practices and to increase their organizational capacity and stability. We’re thrilled about this innovative partnership and the opportunity to test ways to better support small, Black artist-led organizations in the compounding challenges they face.
