Supporting Performing and Visual Artists
One of NPN’s primary objectives is to support artists’ ability to move their work around the country and the world, to reach new audiences and communities. This objective is achieved through four programs: Performance Residences, Freight Fund, Visual Artists Network Exhibition Residencies, and international opportunities through the International Program.

A second key objective is to facilitate the development of new work, to support NPN Partners’ ability to commission fresh, exciting creations and collaborations; this is accomplished through a Creation Fund.

Building the Capacity of the Field
NPN strengthens the management and community engagement capacities of NPN Partners and the artists they support. NPN provides a mechanism for leaders to increase their knowledge and expand their leadership abilities through the Mentorship and Leadership Initiative. Another critical objective is to enable artists and NPN Partners to engage more deeply and authentically within diverse communities (Community Fund).

While NPN works to increase the skills and competencies of individual artists and presenters, it is also engaged in a larger, field-wide effort to build knowledge, connections and impact. This field-building effort is achieved in part through regular face-to-face convenings (Annual Meetings and Mid-Year Meetings). These convenings support the sharing of ideas and best practices among presenters and artists.

As a leader in a maturing field, NPN has been key to the exploration of issues such as succession planning, participatory planning and evaluation, shared leadership, and institutionalized inequities. With its extensive web of colleagues across the country, NPN has been at the center of conversations that help the field deepen its ability to face the critical issues of our day, particularly around the role of artists, cultural equity and the value of innovation and creativity.

Exercising Leadership Locally and Nationally
Seeking avenues for the development of new opportunities, NPN continually expands the resources available to presenters and artists by discerning the leading edge of needed change. By engaging locally in New Orleans, NPN has responded to its home community’s needs by nurturing several Intermediary Projects and taking leadership on creating a Multi-Tenant Arts Facility. This facility will positively impact the ability of many small non-profits to maintain a secure office environment, and will give NPN a permanent home of its own.

On a national level, NPN collaborates with other organizations through National Initiatives which help develop new markets and audiences for artists, leverage other efforts and services to benefit the field, and increase artistic pluralism. Chief among these National Initiatives is the Visual Artists Network (VAN) which expands NPN’s capacity to support innovative, community-engaged artists working in the visual arts.