Philanthropy has rarely been scrutinized as closely as it is today. The increasing influence of private wealth in electoral politics, the rise of "philanthrocapitalism," and the toxic effects of these trends on nonprofit cultural institutions stand in opposition to growing demands for accountability, decolonization of wealth, and structural change from Indigenous communities, self-organized artists' collectives, and many others. Social movements fighting for economic, racial, and climate justice are challenging philanthropic organizations, critiquing the structural limits of philanthropy and advocating a shift from charity, which often perpetuates the very conditions it seeks to alleviate, to an approach that grounds giving in justice and addresses the structural inequities that make philanthropy necessary in the first place.
In celebration of The New School's 100th anniversary and its legacy of promoting academic freedom, tolerance, and intellectual exchange, the Vera List Center is hosting a dynamic national event, Moving Movements: Women in Philanthropy. Recognizing the role of women in leading social movements and the importance of women philanthropists like Vera List (after whom the center is named), this program considers how taking an intersectional feminist approach to philanthropy can make cultural organizations more social justice-driven, inclusive, and effective. The speakers, who hail from community organizations, private foundations, and artist and activist groups, explore key challenges faced by philanthropic and cultural institutions and discuss how values and resources can be realigned to transform such organizations into anchors of political and civic life.
Given the center's focus on art as a political practice, we aim to put forward an expanded notion of cultural organizations in which values play a central role in everything from programs to publics, from architecture to finances. Moving Movements: Women in Philanthropy builds on the center's May 2019 event, How Soon Is Now: Art, Activism, and Accountability, and calls on donors, leaders of philanthropic organizations, activists, and artists to reshape philanthropy in ways that advance social movements.
Panelists
Cecilia Clarke, President & CEO, Brooklyn Community Foundation, New York
Michelle Coffey, Executive Director, Lambent Foundation, New York
Catherine Gund, Founder-Director, Aubin Pictures
Pia Infante, Co-Executive Director, The Whitman Institute, San Francisco
Hali Lee, Co-Director, Donors of Color Network; founder, Asian Women Giving Circle, New York
Moderator
M. Bryna Sanger, Deputy Provost, Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs, The New School
Closing Reflection
Mary Watson, Executive Dean, Schools of Public Engagement, The New School
Moving Movements: Women in Philanthropy is presented by the Vera List Center as part of The Women's Legacy Project, a university-wide year-long initiative that honors the often invisible intellectual and philanthropic contributions of women at The New School. A project of historical recovery, it insists on the central role of women in the university's 100-year legacy of progressive thought and action—creatively, politically, philosophically and/or practically—and charts the road ahead. As part of the week-long, interactive Festival of NEW, the Vera List Center looks at gendered activist and social justice-oriented philanthropy and what it means today has meant historically and may mean in the future.
