10 YEARS OF EQUITY AND JUSTICE IN THE ARTS

On Tuesday, May 20th, we gathered with the Greater Boston community in celebration of our 10th birthday and a decade of investment in creative justice. We enjoyed delicious food, arts workshops, and several music, dance and drag performances from our talented artists.

We are incredibly grateful to all of the artists, leaders, colleagues, and friends with whom we have collaborated and built with over the years. None of this work would have been possible without you, nor will any of the work to come be possible without you!

We are hoping to raise $50,000 by the end of our fiscal year in July 2026. If you couldn't attend the event, but you're still interested in investing in our future, please make a gift of any size. Thank you for your continued support as a member of our ACI family.

ABOUT ACI

Arts Connect International (ACI)'s mission is to build equity in and through the arts. We envision a world where many words thrive in harmonious relation to each other. We envision living beings nurturing cultures of care that liberate all through creative expression.

Since 2014, we have pursued our mission through all of our community programming, activations at the Cultural Equity Incubator in Boston's Seaport District, and our publications with the Transformative Research Collective. Check out all that we do on our website, and sign up for our newsletter!

In celebration of ten years of this important work, here are some highlights of what we've accomplished over the years:

Artist in Residence Program: From 2014 to 2017, ACI ran an international Artist in Residence program for emergent artist leaders who use their art for social change. As part of their residency, Artist Leaders took part in ACI’s flagship Artist Training Institute, a two-week long convening focused on transformational entrepreneurship training and community building, hosted in Boston in 2014, 2015 and 2016.
Youth United Artists: From 2018 - 2019, ACI convened a collective of six youth queer, trans, 2-spirit, disabled, Black, Indigenous, and people of color (QT2SDBIPOC) arts leaders, self-named the Youth United Artists (YUA).
Cultural Equity Learning Community (CELC): Since 2020, we have trained more than 3K arts and culture workers across the US through the CELC, a two-unit, 12 session, asynchronous anti-racism course with wrap-around supports open to arts and culture leaders committed to building intersectional racial equity.
Ripple Grants: Through our first iteration of the CELC, which ran from 2020 - 2021, we raised a community fund of $74K and distributed it to queer, trans, 2-spirit, disabled, Black, Indigenous, and people of color (QT2SDBIPOC) arts leaders.
Cultural Equity Incubator (CEI): In 2021, ACI became the fiscal sponsor and administrative steward of the Cultural Equity Incubator (CEI), a creative home for Boston’s small and mid-sized organizations and collectives led by and for queer, trans, 2-spirit, disabled, Black, Indigenous, and people of color (QT2SDBIPOC) arts communities. At the CEI, we work to equitably share space, governance, networks, and resources to support one another in actualizing our creative efforts.
Consult with ACI: Through our consulting services, we commit to supporting arts and culture collectives, organizations, and institutions on their journeys toward equity and creative justice. Using art as a tool for transformation, we have supported clients with a suite of consultancy services, including specialized trainings on anti-racism and creative justice, mapping and leadership analysis and coaching, and research.
Creative Justice Fellows: Formerly Diversity in Arts Leadership (DIAL) Boston, Creative Justice Fellows ran in 2024 as a 12-week fellowship for Boston-based undergraduate students to gain hands-on experience with equity-focused arts and culture organizations.
Transformative Research Collective: The Transformative Research Collective (TRC) is a collective of artists, academics and community members who generate research by and for community, grounded in practice and lived experience, as part of building collective liberation. Check out some of our past publications:
- From Grassroots to Systems Change: Art for Social Justice (2022)
- Embodied, Intergenerational Knowledge: Reconceptualizing Leadership Nurturing in Arts and Culture Management Education (2021)
- Moves Toward Equity: Perspectives from Arts Leaders of Color (2019)
- Examining Cultural Equity in the Arts (2018)

TRANSITIONING LEADERSHIP

As we celebrate 10 years of important work and relationships, we bid farewell to founding co-director of Abundance, Marian Taylor Brown. We are incredibly grateful to Marian for her trailblazing, bold leadership over the years. Although her departure is bittersweet, she has paved the way for the next generation of queer, trans, disabled, Black, and POC artists to further steer ACI and the sector further in alignment with equity and justice. We will continue to collaborate with Marian on specific projects and through Consult with ACI.

We also extend our deepest gratitude to Dawn Meredith Simmons, who served as co-director of Internal Diagnostics from 2021-2024. As a neutral co-director, Dawn has helped guide us toward alignment and growth. Her expertise, brilliance, and bright personality will be missed in our full co-director meetings, but we look forward to continuing to collaborate as community members.

Thank you, Marian and Dawn

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Help Us Invest in ACI's Future!

We're celebrating 10 years of creative justice and community work.