Our Exploratory, Visionary Ideas Strategy launched with three initiatives: Inclusive Public Art, an All For NC Fellowship and the Government Alliance on Race and Equity’s (GARE) efforts in North Carolina. Our work in the Exploratory, Visionary Ideas Strategy will evolve each year. (In 2020, ZSR anticipates the launch of a new project within our Exploratory, Visionary Ideas Strategy, so please stay tuned!)

ZSR believes that art can open the door to conversations that lead to a deeper understanding of our common bonds as North Carolinians. During the Foundation’s recent, yearlong listening and learning tour, it was evident that legacies of racism and segregation were pervasive in many communities we visited, but are not discussed often in public unless there is a major issue involving race. Combined with the historic and recent controversies regarding public art, monuments and race, the Foundation wanted to explore how art could serve as a starting place for people to engage in important—even difficult and courageous—conversations about their community’s past, present and future. This initiative aims to include historically marginalized people in the decision-making processes about art in public places and is intended to spark healthy dialogue. Therefore, the community engagement aspect of the projects we have funded through this initiative is just as important as the art itself.

Below is more information about ZSR’s Inclusive Public Art grantees. These ten projects were each awarded $45,000 in May 2019 to share stories of diversity, equality, inclusion and equity as they relate to the people and places of North Carolina, especially those whose stories are often untold or under told.

Fellows will implement their project work plans through Fall 2020 and ZSR will document and share more about the work of each over the coming year. In the Fall and Winter of 2020, the Foundation will take time to reflect on and tweak the Fellowship in preparation for the launch of its second round of applications in 2021. ZSR expects to fund three cohorts of Fellows over the course of five years, with up to five Fellows selected for each cohort.

ZSR is supporting the Government Alliance on Race and Equity (GARE) to work with select local jurisdictions in North Carolina that desire to develop and deepen their racial equity lens. GARE is a national project of Race Forward, and ZSR’s grant of $180,000 in April 2018 has supported its work in North Carolina.

GARE plans to continue and expand its work with local governments in North Carolina through the creation of a learning cohort. In addition, ZSR is providing funding to support Race Forward’s national conference in 2020, which will be held in Raleigh, North Carolina.