DRJaM’s Purpose
NPN was founded to create a more just and inclusive performing arts field for artists excluded from mainstream touring opportunities. In 2016, NPN rewrote its mission statement to explicitly focus on addressing the interlocking conditions of racial and economic injustice.
In alignment with NPN’s broader mission, the Department of Racial Justice and Movement Building (DRJaM) works with NPN’s National Partners and the field to explore what capacities, relationships, and resources are necessary for arts and culture practitioners and organizations to become political instruments.
In particular, DRJaM:
Elevates and implements NPN’s theory of change by advancing racial justice, building artists’ power, fostering relationships that contribute to movement building, and working toward systems change in arts and philanthropy.
Grounds and sharpens NPN as a cultural political instrument and an active force for social and political change by aligning its programs, partnerships, and resources with broader liberation movements and supporting others to do the same.
Fosters strategic implementation of cultural organizing by supporting artists and organizations as they leverage cultural work into a catalyst for the kinds of community organizing, coalition building, and political action that advances collective liberation.