Protect the Infrastructure Sign on to the Intermediary Manifesto

Intermediaries are vital tools for facing the dangerous times in which we are living. At a time when their work can have unprecedented impact, many are struggling for survival. Shifts in the funding landscape and opaque assessments of this political moment have created precarity for many organizations. This is especially true for those supporting cultural work by systemically oppressed people creating cultural work that speaks to the issues of our times and are creating programming that extends the purview of the arts and culture ecosystem. This is coming at a time when these organizations can play an instrumental role in supporting artist and cultural workers to play an instrumental role in the fight for democracy and justice. In order to shift to meet the moment, we have to be around. This is a call to both support individual organizations before they disappear and move into a posture of solidarity that intentionally builds cultural movement infrastructure.

The Intermediary Manifesto was developed through monthly collective conversations over the course of 3 years. The manifesto asserts the importance of these organizations as places of political education and collective action. For some, these assertions are aspirational. For some, these assertions are current practice. For all, they are a tool for accountability.

The assertions are an invitation for others to join in uplifting and activating the capacities for justice within these organizations. If your work has been supported, your understanding expanded, your connections deepened or the impact of your work extended through a relationship with an intermediary organization, we hope you will sign on and protect this valuable component of the ecosystem. We need them now more than ever.