The Ebony McKinney Arts Leadership Award (2018–2019)
On June 11, 2018, Emerging Arts Professionals SFBA (EAP), with support from the San Francisco Arts Commission (SFAC), opens a call for nominations (including self-nominations) for the 2018 Ebony McKinney Award. This award is a collective effort to recognize arts and culture administrators who are addressing critical issues facing San Francisco’s arts community, and to continue the work of Ebony McKinney, whose deep commitment to cultivating leaders of color and increasing equitable access to the arts in the Bay Area made a lasting positive impact locally and nationally before her death in July 2017.
The family of Ebony McKinney greatly appreciate the creation of this award to honor her legacy in such an inspiring way. We can think of no greater gift than a grant to other arts administrators driven as she was by the goals of empowering those in the arts community to help deserving artists.
– Ron McKinney
2018 NOMINATIONS & APPLICATION
Nomination deadline accepted until JULY 11, 2018 11:59PM PDT EXTENDED to Friday, JULY 20, 10:00AM PDT
Full applications for those nominated will be open from July 20 to August 12, 2018 EXTENDED to Sunday, AUGUST 26, 11:59PM PDT
Self-nominations are accepted. Note: self-nominators will be asked to provide an additional letter of support in the application round.
Leadership takes many forms, finding curious moments/topics to investigate and challenge. Leaders support others in visible and often invisible ways, empowering their communities and collaborators. Deeply rooted leaders often don’t get the appreciation for all the work they do. On June 11, 2018, Emerging Arts Professionals SFBA (EAP), with support from the San Francisco Arts Commission (SFAC), opens a call for nominations (including self-nominations) for the 2018 Ebony McKinney Award. This award is a collective effort to recognize arts and culture administrators who are addressing critical issues facing San Francisco’s arts community, and to continue the work of Ebony McKinney, whose deep commitment to cultivating leaders of color and increasing equitable access to the arts in the Bay Area made a lasting positive impact locally and nationally before her death in July 2017.
EAP will provide the awardee with $4,000 unrestricted funds to support the powerful work benefitting San Franciscans and connected Bay Area communities. We will work with SFAC and other partners to identify opportunities for the awardee to share work with practitioners, policymakers, and other allies. We hope this is a first step toward a future expanded Bay Area award with additional regional partners
ARTS LEADERSHIP AWARD CANDIDATES:
- invest in and promote emerging/innovative ideas in the field
- center equity in their everyday work
- engage a community of people
- supports people in becoming/flourishing as arts advocates
- amplify the importance of and value of artists’ roles that Ebony championed at EAP throughout her work
ELIGIBLE CANDIDATES:
- Works as an arts and culture administrator or worker; Candidates may be independent or employed by an institution or organization; May or may not also have a creative practice; May or may not have several roles and positions in and out of the field
- Has demonstrated leadership in the field of arts and culture
- Has at least 3 years of sustained focus exploring an emerging idea or solution for the Bay Area arts and culture field
- Lives in San Francisco and/or has a deep and meaningful commitment to San Francisco art and culture.*
- Are committed to collaboratively sharing/scaling/seeding their work between local and national and/or international communities
- Actively explores one of the Affinity Topics developed by Ebony: Creative City, Culture Equity, Regenerative Practice, and/or Arts & Enterprise
*This award is funded through the San Francisco Arts Commission, so it is focused on San Francisco residents. Those who live in the greater Bay Area, but who can show a strong commitment and connection to San Francisco may also be eligible.
DEFINITIONS / BACKGROUND
WHO is a Culture Worker or Arts Administrator? You work in the field of arts and culture, that may be as a teaching artist, a gallerists, curator, non profit organization staff member (who manages or produces arts programming), you may be an independent media maker who publishes or produces events, you might be a community artists who runs your own or another artists programs. You make it possible for folks in your community or beyond to have access to creative and cultural experiences. This program is not intended for individual artists looking to focus on their own individual art practice.
AFFINITY TOPICS
REGENERATIVE PRACTICES: How can we make arts administration more sustainable? What can we do as individuals to renew our energy and passion? What can we do as a network to support each other? What can we do as leaders of programs and organizations to encourage a healthier arts and culture ecosystem?
CULTURAL EQUITY: No single racial or ethnic group forms a majority of California’s population, making the state a minority-majority state; with that dynamic in mind we’ll explore how arts workers advance the conversation on cultural equity across the sector and beyond; how do we tackle institutional or systemic oppression or rethinking creative place keeping strategies?
THE CREATIVE CITY: We will explore the utopian idea of the creative city, where artists and arts organizations are viewed as critical components of a healthy ecosystem. We’ll ask what role the arts and culture sector can play in “civic creativity” or “cultural strategy” that creates “social wealth” and helps shape public sentiment, city planning and policy.
ARTS & ENTERPRISE: We will explore the relationship between creative / cultural production and enterprise with an eye on traditional models being implemented in innovative ways and new social-impact business models that not only generate revenue but sustain projects and communities.
SUBMISSION TIMELINE & PROCESS
- June 11–
July 11July 20, 2018 > Peer/Self-Nomination Round NOMINATE HERE- Nominate a colleague, mentee, mentor, instigator, collaborator, or friend! Consider who around you is doing the work but gets little attention, someone who could do exponentially more with a little more resources
- Self-nominations are welcome during this time
- The nomination form is 5 questions and should take no more than 12mins
July 12–August 12, 2018July 21–August 26, 2018 > Application Round- Applications will be sent to all those who were nominated
- Those nominated will be asked to share more about their work
- Those who nominate themselves will be asked to provide a letter of support from a community member to help show your local impact
- The application form is 5 questions and should take approximately 30 (thoughtful) minutes to complete
August 15–September 20, 2018August 26 – September 13 > Application Review by Committee- The review committee members are familiar with the Bay Area Arts & Culture field and Ebony’s work and vision
- List of Committee Members coming soon
- September 20, 2018 > Award Ceremony & Public Announcement at SFAC Annual Grant Convening
- February 2019> Reporting on the impact of the award
- Details to come, but we aim to keep it short and sweet
- ROLES:
- EAP will receive the nominations, contact nominees to complete the application form, check for application completion, convene the review committee, and manage the logistics of the award
- SFAC acting as the funder for this program, working with EAP to support SF-based arts and culture workers through leadership development
- Selection Committee reviews nominations and applications, makes the final award decision, and will provide network support to the awardee
ELIGIBILITY
MADE is open to anyone living and working in the Bay Area (within the counties of: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma). No prior participation in EAP is required, however the strongest proposals come from those familiar with the goals and tone of our programs. Members of the network are able to receive MADE support once each year, provided that any previous grants through EAP are completed and final reports are filed and approved. Projects are expected to be presented in partnership with EAP and we’ll work with you to present a midpoint reflection (if the project is not yet completed) at Emergence 2017 in May/June. Projects must be in some way publicly accessible within the Bay Area.
BASIS FOR AWARD
The Selection Committee will review nominations and applications based on how well the candidates: invests in and promotes emerging/innovative ideas in the field; centers equity in their everyday work; engages a community of people; supports people in becoming/flourishing as arts advocates; and amplifies the importance of and value of artists’ roles in the field.
NOMINATION & APPLICATION QUESTIONS
NOMINATION
Nominations are now closed
>>> DEADLINE TO NOMINATE July 20, 2018
>>> NOMINATION FORM
- Explain how the nominee is deeply committed to the SF arts and culture community (350 characters max / ~50 words)
- Explain how the nominee’s work embodies at least one of the Affinity Topics (1000 characters max / ~150 words) (Affinity Topics are Creative City, Culture Equity, Regenerative Practice, and/or Arts & Enterprise. See more about these at http://www.emergingsf.org/made/ebony-award/)
- Share one example of a project that reflects the impact of the nominee’s work and/or ideology around supporting the arts? (1000 characters max / ~150 words)
- What do you foresee being the nominee’s next step in terms of moving the field / community forward? * (1000 characters max / ~150 words)
APPLICATION
>>> DEADLINE TO APPLY Sunday August 26, 11:59 PM PDT
>>> APPLICATION CHECKLIST
– Basic info
– Summary (100 words max.)
– Full description (700 words max.)
– Visual support materials
– Annotated list of visual support materials
– Letter of support (for those who self-nominated)
>>> APPLICATION
If you were nominated by a peer or self-nominated, you will receive a link to the online application.
To apply, follow your personal link. Outline the work that you do in the form of a brief summary and a full description. We highly recommend applicants draft your responses in a separate document and paste/upload when you are ready to submit. You cannot save your responses within the SurveyMonkey interface.
For SUMMARY (100 words max.), summarize who you are in a short paragraph. This should read as a narrative bio and will be used publicly in reference to the Ebony McKinney Arts Leadership awardees and nominees.
For FULL DESCRIPTION (700 words max.), please address the following:
- What form(s) does your work take? (e.g. administrator, educator, cultural organizer, curator, writer, philanthropist, advocate, etc.)
- Where does your work take place?** What specific communities do you serve? What is the significance or connection to that place/community? How does your work impact that place/community?
- Address your motivations for your work in the field.
- How does your work examine or activate at least one of the affinity topics? (listed at emergingsf.org/ebony-award)
- With this support, what impact could your work make in the field? How would funding impact your ability to continue this work.
** Because this award is funded by the San Francisco Arts Commission, awardees must show a strong commitment to San Francisco. If you are not a San Francisco resident, be sure to express how you are addressing critical issues facing San Francisco’s arts community and/or have a deep and meaningful commitment to San Francisco art and culture.
VISUAL SUPPORT MATERIALS: *ALL VISUAL SUPPORT MATERIALS SHOULD BE GATHERED AND SUBMITTED AS A SINGLE PDF.* Include up to two forms of support materials with your application.
- Up to 10 digital images – Combined as a single PDF file, one image per page (not to exceed 1200 x 1200 pixels). Each image file should be labeled with your name and a number that corresponds to an annotated image list (see below). For example, the first image submitted by applicant Jane Smith should be labeled Smith_Jane_01.
- Video: You may submit up to three works or three excerpts of works. We will view up to FIVE minutes of work in total. Please submit a list of URLs to Vimeo, Youtube, or a personal portfolio website as a PDF. If password protected, please include password in the annotated list
- Web-based Projects: submit a list of up to 3 URLs.
- Up to 5 Print materials (e.g. brochures, publications, books, etc.): Scan and submit as PDFs.
LETTER OF SUPPORT: (Only for those who self-nominated) Please upload a one-page (max) PDF letter of support from a colleague, collaborator, or community member that addresses one or more of the questions asked in the nomination round (below) and ensure that they provide context for your work together in the field.
- Explain how the nominee is deeply committed to the SF arts and culture community.
- Explain how the nominee’s work embodies at least one of the Affinity Topics: Affinity Topics are Creative City, Culture Equity, Regenerative Practice, and/or Arts & Enterprise. See more about these at http://www.emergingsf.org/made/ebony-award/
- Share one example of a project that reflects the impact of the nominee’s work and/or ideology around supporting the arts?
- What do you foresee being the nominee’s next step in terms of moving the field / community forward?
For additional information or clarification, contact us, Rhiannon and Katherin, the Co-Directors, at engagement at emergingsf dot org.
