Artists Foundation
We are an organization that support artists and their visions rather than artists supporting our organization's vision - Kathleen Bitetti, Executive Director
Current Profile of the Artists Foundation
The mission of the Artists Foundation: is to nourish excellence in the arts by enhancing the public role and economic position of artists; to build community among practicing artists and new communication between this vital community and the public; to support access to essential resources for artists in all disciplines, particularly low income and under served artists' access to health care and other social services; and to sponsor exhibitions of art for art's sake as well as innovative uses of art to promote public consideration of issues vital to diverse social, political, and economic groups.
Many Artists Foundation programs create working models that can be expanded and adopted statewide and nationally. Our priority is to initiate new collaborations that support artists and nurture these projects until they are thriving, funded, and staffed by appropriate entities.
The Foundation's collaborations with other organizations have also helped to maximize the Artists Foundation's income by keeping programing and administration overhead costs low. The Foundation's chief constituency is working artists and members of the public who have limited income. Unlike many arts organizations, the Foundation does not actively solicit monies from the artists it serves. The Foundation recognizes that artists are among the least affluent groups in society. All Artists Foundation's programs/services are either free or at little cost to the patron.
PROGRAMS
The Artists Foundation's programs, services, collaborations, and policies focus on five specific areas:
Providing advocacy and public policy initiatives for working artists and the arts community.
Developing needed resources and services for artists that are of no cost or little cost to artists
Community building within the arts community- especially among artists.
Supporting/ Sponsoring the presentation of the arts in traditional, nontraditional and public spaces.
Fostering collaborations/ nontraditional partnerships that are mutually beneficial to both the artists community and collaborators.
Artists are included as chief planners in Artists Foundation's programs, services, and policies.
