The Indigo Arts Alliance (IAA), a non-profit and artist residency in Portland, Maine, has bought the 8,000 sq. ft constructing it had been renting since its founding in 2018. The constructing, which was purpose-built and designed with IAA co-founders Daniel and Marcia Minter, homes artists’ studios, workplaces and areas for exhibitions and programming that IAA makes use of to help Black and Brown artists specifically. Achieved by means of fundraising over the past yr and a half, the acquisition of the constructing marks a major step in guaranteeing the organisation’s long-term sustainability.
“From our very inception, Indigo Arts Alliance was envisioned as a legacy organisation that may function a mannequin of group engagement for the humanities with a particular give attention to amplifying Black and Brown creativity,” Jordia Benjamin, IAA’s govt director, tells The Artwork Newspaper. “Our property possession secures our legacy and ensures that our long-term dedication to serve native, regional and international artists of color can exist for generations to come back.” She provides: “This neighbourhood has change into the most costly and some of the fascinating in Portland. We knew that it was crucial that we buy the constructing as a result of fixed rise in rents and demand for actual property within the space.”
Since its founding in 2018, IAA has hosted practically 80 artists in residence by means of three programmes: its mentorship residency, the David C. Driskell Fellowship at Black Seed Studio and the C. Daniel Dawson Curatorial & Analysis Fellowship. IAA has welcomed creatives with heritage in 22 nations whose residencies vary from one to 3 months, with round 14 becoming a member of every year throughout the three programmes.
Sarah Okay. Khan, 2019 Indigo Arts Alliance artist in residence alumnus, working inside one in all two devoted artist studios which can be part of the IAA Studio Constructing throughout her residency in 2019 Photograph by Darren Setlow
Other than the David C. Driskell Fellowship, which is application-based, residents are nominated to use by alumni advisors, group members and the non-profit’s community. Artists could be rising to established and usually are not anticipated to provide a remaining venture throughout their time. Residents can adapt IAA’s studio house to suit their wants, and previous individuals have been practitioners of a variety of disciplines together with portray, sculpture, dance and choreography. Along with its constructing, IAA has bought two close by rental items the place artists can dwell freed from cost throughout their residencies.
The East Bayside neighbourhood the place IAA is positioned is residence to a traditionally numerous group with many immigrant and Black residents. “It was important that Indigo Arts Alliance—the state’s first Black-led, Black- and Brown-centred, now Black-owned [building]—could be positioned right here,” Benjamin says. “IAA wished to confront the false narrative that Maine is an ‘all-white state’. You will need to us that the group and our visiting artists can see one another present. On this means we protect and contribute to evolving historical past by correcting a false narrative.”
Group is on the core of IAA’s mission. Artists in residence are linked to others from close by neighbourhoods and throughout New England, serving to to create networks that final past the residency. IAA additionally hosts occasions, curatorial initiatives and a public e-book pageant that features a e-book giveaway for native households.
Left to proper: Arisa White (2022 Indigo Arts Alliance residency alumnus), Joan Morgan, Matt Garza and Yasmine Jameelah in dialog on the primary ground of the IAA Studio Constructing throughout a day panel for The Welcome Desk, an intergenerational symposium offered in June 2024 by Indigo Arts Alliance to have a good time the cultural and culinary traditions of worldwide historic social justice actions Photograph by Mia Del Bene
The non-profit additionally companions with different cultural organisations to have interaction with communities outdoors of Portland, such because the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay, with which IAA organises a multi-year collection of public symposia known as “Deconstructing the Boundaries”. Centered on pressing points dealing with Black, Brown and Indigenous communities, equivalent to land and meals resilience, the ultimate version will happen this July and give attention to ecological justice and the local weather disaster. Having a everlasting house will assist IAA proceed to construct these and different relationships sooner or later.
“IAA exists to form, help, raise up and rework our society by means of practices of affection and creativity,” Benjamin says. “Our possession permits us to honour our ancestors and elders, guaranteeing that their histories are held, preserved and instructed by centring cultural knowledge and data. To cite an African proverb from the Akan folks, Sankofa: ‘Take knowledge from the previous to information the current and future.’ This proverb embodies who we’re, what we do and the place we’re going.”
