Introduction
The Cultural Equity Statement is based on the Fund for the Arts organizational values.
The values and guiding principles for our organizational community include:
- Equity – Listen to, engage with, invest in, and support historically excluded individuals, groups, and communities
- Belonging – Create a safe and welcoming environment for engagement where an invitation is not required
- Accountability – Be who we say we are and do what we say we will do for each other and the community we support
- Stewardship – Manage the resources that have been entrusted to us equitably and responsibly
- Gratitude – Value one another and the community we support
- Storytelling – Tell the stories of arts, artists, and arts organizations in our community however, whenever, and to whomever we can.
- Learning – Continue to be curious and seek opportunities to expand our knowledge and understanding
Cultural Equity Statement
To support a full creative life for all, Fund for the Arts commits to championing policies and practices of cultural equity that empower a just, inclusive, equitable community.
Definition of Cultural Equity
Cultural Equity embodies the values, beliefs, policies and practices that all people are represented in the development of arts policy, support of artists, nurturing of accessible, thriving venues for expression and the fair distribution of programmatic, financial and informational resources. This includes specific commitment to people who have been historically underrepresented based on race/ethnicity, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, socioeconomic status, geography, citizenship status or religion.
Acknowledgements & Affirmations
- The ability to express, celebrate and champion cultural tradition and heritage is elemental to honest civic discourse and the well-being of our community.
- Cultural equity is critical to the long-term viability of the arts sector, particularly given the changing demographics in our community.
- We must all hold ourselves accountable, because acknowledging and challenging our inequities and working in partnership is how we will make change happen.
- Everyone deserves equal access to a full, vibrant creative life, which is essential to a healthy and democratic society.
- Artists and cultural creators have a unique role in challenging inequity and imagining new and more just realities.
Modeling Through Action:
To provide informed, authentic leadership for cultural equity, we strive to…
- Pursue cultural consciousness throughout our organization through substantive learning and formal, transparent policies, and commit to frequent and on-going agency-wide honest conversations about inequity.
- Acknowledge and dismantle any inequities within our policies, systems, programs, and services, and report organization progress and challenges.
- Commit time and resources to expand more diverse leadership within our board, staff, and advisory bodies.
- Strive to be intentional in our engagement and support of a more diverse, equitable and inclusive arts community.
Our Values In Action:
We contribute to the overall health and well-being of our community by: generating resources for, investing in, and supporting our local arts, artists, and arts organizations.
Accordingly, we:
- Encourage substantive learning to build cultural consciousness and to proliferate pro-equity policies and practices by all of our constituencies and audiences.
- Improve the cultural leadership pipeline by creating and supporting programs and policies that foster leadership that reflects the full breadth of American society.
- Generate and aggregate quantitative and qualitative research related to equity to make incremental, measurable progress towards cultural equity more visible.
- Advocate for public and private-sector policy that promotes cultural equity.
Developed by the Fund for the Arts Board of Directors using the tools provided by the Americans for the Arts and others. Reviewed and updated by the Fund for the Arts Board of Directors on February 11, 2026.
