April 2025 News
May 7, 2025 • 6 minute read
“Neutrality is not an option,” writes Vu Le in his NonprofitAF blog, “We are in a fight to save democracy and humanity, and foundations have an outsized role to play.” Amid growing calls for philanthropy to defend and resource nonprofits against attacks, a Unite in Advance campaign launched this month, urging funders to stand together to defend foundations’ freedom to speak, give, and invest. “The price of inaction is our freedom,” write the organizers, and the campaign focuses on foundations’ right to self-determination in how they serve their missions.
But “If we defend only the right to give and not the right to give in service of equity and justice, we’ve already conceded too much,” writes Lori Villarosa, Founder & Executive Director of Philanthropic Initiative for Racial Equity, in response to Unite in Advance. Many groups, including the Solidaire Network and ABFE: A Philanthropic Partnership for Black Communities, have already developed models for philanthropic solidarity-in-practice explicitly committed to social justice.
“Solidarity demands specificity,” writes Villarosa. “What’s under threat is not just our freedom to give; it’s the legitimacy of racial remedy, inclusion, and equity.” NPN continues to assert that all people and institutions have a role to play in creating a more just and equitable world, and that we — the cultural and philanthropic sectors — must engage in this work together. “Repairing the harms of systemic racism and expanding who belongs strengthens every institution, every community, and every freedom,” writes Villarosa. “Recognizing this interconnectedness strengthens our collective ability to defend civil society.”
Stormshaping: Presenters Imagine New Futures
More than 50 arts presenting organizations from NPN’s national network gathered in Houston, Texas, in April, hosted by NPN Partners DiverseWorks and MECA. The gathering’s theme — Stormshaping: Adaptation, Resistance, Reimagination — acknowledged the challenges and uncertainty of the current moment, and offered an invitation to attendees to reframe: “It’s not about reacting to tornadoes, but instead to become the storm.” As a first-time attendee and a staff member at DiverseWorks, Eva Martinez was eager to connect and learn, be in community, and capture the event in this blog post.
Read “An Invitation to Dream: Reflecting on the 2025 NPN Partner Meeting”
Amanda Ekery Explores Syrian and Mexican Shared Culture in Árabe
2024 Creation Fund artist Amanda Ekery’s new work, Árabe, is a collection of twelve original songs about Syrian and Mexican shared culture, with accompanying essays that tell the history and stories behind each song. In this Voices from the Network post, Ekery talks about two of the songs from Árabe, and shares an essay about her version of the song “Yenobak Eih” and how the project began with the discovery of a collection of Arab-American song records and home records from the 1930s and 40s in the back of her grandmother’s closet.
Read “‘Yenobak Eih?’ (What Do You Get?): Syrian and Mexican Cultures Come Together in Árabe”
Announcements
Links Hall Eulogy
Links Hall—a groundbreaking space for experimental, risk-taking work in Chicago for nearly 50 years—announced that it will sunset at the end of its season this June, due to ongoing financial hardships.
In a moving press release, Links’ Executive Director SK Kerastas shared the difficult journey of arriving at this decision and the importance of creating “space for people to come together to grieve, connect, rage, dance, celebrate, and say goodbye” with dignity.
“Links Hall has been such a meaningful part of NPN’s story for decades—hosting conferences and gatherings, supporting hundreds of artists through NPN programs, participating in NPN’s Japan/US Exchange Program, and so much more,” says NPN’s Director of National Programs, Stanlyn Brevé. “They’ve also been a vital space for creative growth, helping shape the work of influential artists like Sharon Bridgforth, Holly Hughes, Elia Arce, and Darrell Jones. While Links Hall’s presence will be deeply missed, their impact will continue to resonate through NPN and the many artists and communities they’ve touched.”
It is no surprise to folks who know Links Hall that their announcement includes a collective future vision, even while mourning in this moment: “May Links Hall closing create fertile soil for Chicago performance to seed and grow in new ways,” Kerastas writes. “May we free up resources for other performance spaces and inspire new maps of connection. May this moment incite funders to double down on their support of small, experimental arts organizations and the independent artists and collectives that give breath to this city.”
Read artist Ellen Chenowith’s reflection, “Links Hall Eulogy”
This Home Is Your Home
The Arab American National Museum is celebrating its 20th Anniversary in May and launching a year-long celebration titled AlBayt Baytak — Arabic for “this home is your home.” Located in Dearborn, Michigan, AANM presents original programming in Michigan and in major cities across the US. It is home to the most comprehensive collection of Arab American research and history, including a public library, digital archive, oral histories, and rare archival materials that tell the evolving story of the Arab American experience.
“Over the last 20 years, AANM has become more than a museum,” says the museum’s director Diana Abouali. “It’s a living home for Arab American culture. Whether it’s a family tracing their heritage or a national celebrity like Mo Amer dropping by on tour, we hear the same thing: ‘This place feels like home.’”
AANM became part of NPN’s national Partner network in 2016; the museum is also one of the Ford Foundation’s America’s Cultural Treasures, and is featured this month in Hyperallergic.
Upcoming Creation Fund Activities
Inebria Me (premiere), San Cha
May 16-18, 7:00 pm
Keith Haring Theater (New York, NY)
Inebria Me adapts Los Angeles-based composer, musician, and performance artist San Cha’s 2019 album of original music, La Luz de la Esperanza, into an experimental opera. Drawing inspiration from eclectic sources — Federico Garcia Lorca, Robert Wilson, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and the Ecstasy of Saint Theresa to name a few — Inebria Me‘s captivating narrative and libretto are driven by San Cha’s personal and artistic influences.
Árabe Release with the New York Arab Festival, Amanda Ekery
May 23, 7:00 pm
NuBlu Classic (New York, NY)
Árabe, the fourth full-length release by Syrian-Mexican-American vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and composer Amanda Ekery, invites audiences to explore Syrian and Mexican shared history and culture on the El Paso border — the story of Ekery’s life, lineage, and identity. It features twelve original songs and accompanying essays with the stories and history behind each track, covering everything from food, gambling, and evil eyes, to immigration law, biracial identity, and the fraught relationship between immigrant entrepreneurship and workers’ rights.
Elysium: Leviticus or Love and to walk amongst HUMANS ~ Book II, dani tirrell
May 29, 6:30 pm
May 30, 1:00 pm
May 31, 5:00 pm
Kubota Garden (Seattle, WA)
Book II is a performance piece that combines live and recorded music. This offering centers around Black and brown bodies leaving this world and entering the “afterlife.” Leviticus or Love and to walk amongst HUMANS ~ Book II brings the club to heaven and imagines what heaven or utopia would look like if Black bodies were free to imagine. The performance connects the pomp and circumstance of the church to the pomp and circumstance of the club, where God can live in a community that embraces “sin” and welcomes those who are not traditionally considered “worthy” of God’s grace.
Learn more about Book II
What We’re Reading
Each month, NPN’s staff and board engage with a reading that helps shape our analysis of the sociopolitical landscape and deepen our understanding of how to embed liberatory practices throughout our work.
For the April session, we focused on the episode “When No Thing Works with Norma Wong” (November 12, 2024) from the How to Survive The End of the World podcast.
In the episode, adrienne maree brown and Autumn Brown sit down with great teacher, Norma Wong, whose new book, When No Thing Works: A Zen and Indigenous Perspective on Resilience, Shared Purpose, and Leadership in the Timeplace of Collapse, was released the day after the election. Wong brings her years of organizing, electoral work, and spiritual practice to bear on this moment of collapse with wisdom, wit, and deep care for all life.