CULTIVATING BLACK FUTURES: ART & LIBERATION

(Editor's note: As public funding for the arts continues to shrink, philanthropy and individuals are being asked to give more and more often. One locally-founded philanthropy has always valued the power of the arts and has offered generous support from the start. This month, we cede this space to Black Future CoOp Fund to offer a view on the importance of supporting the arts.)

 by Andrea Caupain-Sanderson, co-architect and BFCF Interim Managing Director

The Black Future Co-op Fund (BFCF) is committed to uplifting Black-led solutions that ignite Black generational wealth, health, and well-being. The Fund was born in June 2020, when four Black women set out to create a cooperative model of philanthropy rooted in the beauty, soulfulness, and strength of Blackness.

For the past five years, we have been shifting the philanthropic paradigm as we invest in generational prosperity, connect Black communities for collective power, and promote truthful Black narratives. Within each of these areas of impact, art plays a central role. The creative spirit cultivates and catalyzes liberated Black futures.

BFCF supports the arts because we know how vital they are to Black survival, resistance, and joy. From spirituals carrying coded messages of freedom, to the Harlem Renaissance that redefined American culture, to today's artists who challenge systems and imagine new worlds—Black artistic expression is not luxury, it is lifeline.

Images from the BFCF Family Gathering at Salish Lodge, courtesy of the organization.

 When a society grows increasingly dangerous and oppressive, the arts offer precious spaces of freedom and nourishment. Today in the U.S., we are witnessing the systematic weakening of the social safety net. We face forces of institutional violence that are eager to steamroll justice. They seek to harm and disempower Black communities, along with other under-resourced communities.  

In times like these, how do we keep our vision turned toward liberation? The arts ground us. They are one way that we can sustain our connection to inspiration, community, our bodies, and this earth. In Toni Morrison’s words, “Art reminds us that we belong here.”

BFCF celebrates Black creativity and invests in Black creators. Our We See You grants recognize that supporting Black artists, cultural workers, and creative spaces is an act of community preservation, healing, and power-building. We want to ensure that Black stories are told by Black voices, that our cultural heritage is protected and passed forward, and that creative expression remains accessible as a tool for individual and collective liberation. 

Investing in the arts also generates economic opportunity and community vitality. Black artists and cultural organizations are widely underfunded despite their outsized cultural impact and community reach. Black philanthropic support can help build sustainable creative ecosystems.

When philanthropy supports the arts, it amplifies voices that have been historically marginalized, while centering beauty and creativity as forms of both resistance and healing.

Ultimately, the arts transform how we see ourselves and each other. They challenge dominant narratives, build empathy across difference, and create space for difficult conversations and collective imagination.

Art knows: A more just and joyful world is possible.

Art asks: What can emerge next?    

Art says: Be bold. We are vast, and we are beautiful.

The arts don't just reflect our communities—they help us envision and build the future we deserve.

ARTE NOIR is one Black Future Co-op Fund grantee that wonderfully embodies the commitment to envisioning and building this future. Like the Black Future Co-op Fund, ARTE NOIR is a Black woman-founded and Black woman-led labor of love dedicated to celebrating and sustaining Black culture.

With its Central District location serving as a vital home for Black creativity in Seattle, we have witnessed ARTE NOIR persistently and joyfully create forms and platforms that enrich and inspire our communities. From its art gallery to the gift shop offering works of Black makers, from this online publication to the recording studio, ARTE NOIR keeps stretching to find new ways to celebrate Black brilliance, center Black stories told by Black voices, and spark discovery.

Creating space for the deep nourishment that Black creativity offers, ARTE NOIR serves as a genuine community vision-holder. And that’s something we greatly need right now. 

We invite you to join the Black Future Co-op Fund in supporting the work of ARTE NOIR:

DONATE NOW

Images from the BFCF Family Gathering at Salish Lodge, courtesy of the organization.

You can learn more about the work of the Black Future Co-op Fund at: https://blackfuturewa.org/

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Andrea Caupain-Sanderson (she/her/hers) is the interim managing director of the Black Future Co-op Fund, and a founding architect. She leads the Fund in service of the mission to ignite Black generational wealth, health, and well-being across Washington.

Andrea is also the co-founder and co-executive director of Ile Kimoyo, a multicultural collaborative of nonprofit leaders of color who unite through healing and advocacy to generate shared abundance in communities throughout Washington state.

For more than 25 years, Andrea has worked to advance racial equity and economic mobility for people across Washington state. As an immigrant to this country at the age of 12 and a single mother at 19, Andrea knows how it feels to be marginalized and struggling to make ends meet. Throughout her career, Andrea has translated her lived experience, coupled with her determination, to forge solutions to systemic barriers to opportunity.