ACI is committed to

holistically supporting emerging Queer, Trans, 2-Spirit, Disabled, Black, Indigenous, and people of color (QT2SDBIPOC) arts leaders. This includes building a community of arts leaders while supporting the development of transformational leadership.

Diversity in Arts Leadership (DIAL) Boston; now known as Creative Justice Fellows, was piloted with Americans for the Arts in the summer of 2022 as a 10-week summer internship program. In the winter/spring semester of 2024, the fellowship will run as a 12-week semester-long fellowship for Boston-based undergraduate students to gain hands-on experience with equity-focused arts and culture organizations.

For more information on the 2024 fellowship please click the link below!

Through our first iteration of the CELC, which ran from 2020 - 2021, we raised a community fund of $74K and distributed it to Queer, Trans, 2-Spirit, Disabled, Black, Indigenous, and people of color (QT2SDBIPOC) arts leaders.

From the 2018 - 2019 ACI convened a collective of six youth Queer, Trans, 2-Spirit, Disabled, Black, Indigenous, and people of color (QT2SDBIPOC) arts leaders, self-named the Youth United Artists (YUA).

A paid creative youth arts program, The YUA met once a week in addition to participating in a two-week long Training Institute and week-long Spring Research Intensive. The program follows a Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) process, understanding that youth are experts of their own lives and powerful agents of social change. YUA members conducted research about social issues affecting their own communities in order to engage in advocacy.

The 2019 Youth United Artists Cohort presented their work at the 2019 Arts Equity Summit, engaging in a cross-generational and cross-sector dialogue.

First piloted in 2017, Arts Leader Retreats are open to arts leaders catalyzing creative justice and equity in and through the arts. Community members are encouraged to convene and rejuvenate with a growing social justice artivist community. Workshops are shaped by the attending arts leaders interests, experiences and skills.

Retreats also promote unstructured time to simply rest and reconnect. ACI’s inaugural Arts Leader Retreat took place in November 2017, and we since supported and co-facilitated the MASSCreative 2021 Create the Vote Fellowship retreat, as well as the 2022 and 2023 Cultural Equity Incubator retreats.

Please reach out to us if you are interested in hosting a retreat of your own!

From 2014 to 2017, ACI ran an international Artist in Residence program for emergent artist leaders who use their art for social change. As part of their residency, Artist Leaders took part in ACI’s flagship Artist Training Institute, a two-week long convening focused on transformational entrepreneurship training and community building, hosted in Boston in 2014, 2015 and 2016.

To deliver effective and cross-disciplinary training, ACI partnered with several community partners. Following the training, the Artists in Residence explored their social issues in a global context by traveling to an international location of their choosing. Upon returning home, the Artists in Residence used their art created during their residency as a tool for activation through various community convenings, partnerships, and exhibitions (examples: 2015, 2016, 2016). 

Arts leaders we worked with include current and aspiring leaders in the arts sector, spanning: independent artists, curators, museum educators, arts traders, arts educators, and arts entrepreneurs.