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The Art of Hip Hop Fund is a sponsored project of The Black Donors Project. The Black Donors Project is a participatory action research project with a distinct focus on Black charitable giving in the arts and its intersections. Our project's unique approach revolves around conducting research and crafting activations informed by our findings, challenging established paradigms, disrupting inequitable systems, and fostering greater inclusion.
Hip Hop serves as an entry point, a throughline, in our exploration to honor our cultural storytellers and foster a shared understanding of giving patterns and funding needs across cultural lines. However, a lack of national grant offerings specifically tailored for artists/creators/storytellers who work within the medium of Hip Hop, hinders our ability to clearly understand the unique giving preferences of each community.
Therefore, and in response to the absence of a national granting body for the art of Hip Hop, we took the initiative to design one, driven by and for our community, a vision to understand what giving looks like across cultural lines and a mission to provide opportunities for artists who use Hip Hop as a medium.
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The goal Our goal is to ensure transparency and build a dedicated team of advisers that honor Hip Hop and your valuable contribution to this endeavor. We are actively tapping into our existing network and expanding to new ones to make this vision a sustainable reality. If you or anyone you know is interested in helping build this initiative, let's connect and collaborate.
We aim to build a collective of forward-thinkers committed to empowering the narrators of a global, cross-generational artistic phenomenon. By aiding in the establishment of this grant initiative, we endeavor to furnish cultural storytellers within Hip Hop with deserved resources and acknowledgment.
We believe that small donations drive change. Our approach embodies inclusivity, aiming to involve everyday philanthropic donors from diverse communities of giving—our communities are often sidelined from philanthropic dialogues due to a historic wealth-centric focus. We are determined to democratize philanthropy by encouraging participation of individuals from various backgrounds and identities. This initiative emphasizes the crucial role that individuals, irrespective of their socioeconomic status, play in the betterment of society.
Custodian: Jeri Rayon is the founder of The Black Donors Project, a grassroots participatory action research project, dedicated to amplifying Black philanthropic giving and the arts to support Black-led organizations. She is a skilled leader in the nonprofit sector, with a diverse background in arts research, philanthropy, and project management. As the former executive director of Rennie Harris Puremovement (2002 -2016), the world's first and longest-running Hip Hop concert dance theater company, Jeri gained firsthand knowledge from Hip Hop legends and pioneers, fostering a deep appreciation for and commitment to the Hip Hop art form.
Recognized as a 2022-2023 National Leaders of Color Fellow and an invitee to the 2023 Skoll Social Impact World Forum in Oxford, UK, Jeri's skills in critical inquiry and collaboration have been instrumental in helping her access networks dedicated to amplifying the voices of our storytellers. She has served as a grant panelist for various organizations, including SouthArts, Miami Department of Cultural Affairs, The Map Fund, and YoungArts. Jeri is also a founding member of Women of Color in the Arts and the creator of Artists Within Reach: Notes to my Younger Self. Designed as a three-year project, Notes to My Younger Self featured free master classes spotlighting the narratives of Black men with contributions from cultural icons rooted in Hip Hop like DJ Rich Medina, Academy award winner Tarell McCraney, NAACP award nominee, Malik Yoba, Grammy Award Winner Dice Raw, and Tony Award nominee Desmond Richardson which posed the question "If you could go back in time, what advice would you give your younger Self?"
