In a recent interview with Philanthropy News Digest, Moukhtar Kocache, an independent civil-society and philanthropy consultant, explains that is it often difficult for social-justice-oriented art projects to obtain foundation funding. This is because social-justice funders tend to view art as “little more than a messaging or branding tool,” while arts funders view social-justice work as outside their remit.
These difficulties notwithstanding, Kocache believes that art has a crucial role to play in social justice: “the diverse activities that fall under the rubric of ‘art’ … help communities to heal, feel proud, build social cohesion, create new narratives, and mobilize for or against an issue.” He predicts that “with time, foundations will become more versed in both the arts and social justice traditions, and that that will lead to more knowledge and a greater willingness to experiment among funders on either side of the funding divide we are talking about.”
What kinds of advantages—and constraints—does philanthropic funding confer on social-justice-oriented art? Can such art contribute to concrete political change? If so, how?