Visual Arts Research & Resource Center Relating To the Caribbean, Inc.

Citywide, racial and cultural inequities have historically plagued area residents and artists. Aesthetic hierarchies valuing Eurocentric cultural norms have relegated Black, Latino, Asian and Native American cultural institutions and cultural production to the sidelines - undervalued and underfunded - despite comprising the majority of NYC’s population. Within mainstream institutions, young professionals of color have too few opportunities for career advancement. The principal goal of CCCADI’s Innovative Cultural Advocacy Fellowship (hereafter “ICA Fellowship") is to increase the number of engaged and culturally diverse administrative and management personnel working in professional theater, performing arts, and visual arts including technical and administrative positions, fundraising and marketing, and to provide a rigorous and inspiring historical context for their work as advocates for cultural equity and cultural democracy. By exposing Fellows to cultural arts leaders across arts disciplines who reflect their heritage and backgrounds, the program paves the way for both diversity in the arts workforce and leadership pipeline, and for cultural equity systems that reflect the aesthetic standards of NYC’s diverse communities.

SouSou! Saturdays program is inspired by the cooperative economic practice known throughout the African Diaspora by such names as "Colecta", "Box Hand", "San", "Partna", or "Sou-Sou". We've borrowed from, transformed this long-standing practice of collective trust, and contributed into a "cultural SouSou" for the community. (Activities appropriate for children ages 4 -11). Families participate in an fun and educational art making experiences; receive exposure to diverse art forms (visual and performance artists); work with professional artists, specifically artists of color; gain enrichment grounded in credible arts learning standards; and learn of valuable cultural arts resources in their neighborhood.