Responding to needs for connection and technical support expressed by recipients of the 2021 grants, BANF convenes the awarded artists to develop a thriving community of mutual support. This is not designed as a professional development course, but as an opportunity to build a core community that shares knowledge, experience, and inspiration.
The current framework incorporates concepts from adaptive change practice, abundance theories, and catalytic thinking. We will use methodologies that center creative practice like Theater of the Oppressed and Play Theory. The curriculum is not predetermined but will be co-designed responding to the needs and interests of the cohort.
We believe that through the relationships built in the learning community, award recipients will strengthen their capacities, open up the potential for new collaborations and new ways of thinking and working. The experience is designed to support leadership as artists, in hope that it resonates beyond their personal practice and contributes to the thriving of BIPOC artists and communities within Greater Houston and beyond.