Statement in Support of Black Lives Matter 
& Commitments

Friday, June 5, 2020


The Board and staff of Amplify Arts have taken some time to listen, process, and meditate on the upsetting events over the last few days. They have reminded us of the unfortunate reality that systematic racial oppression has woven itself into every fiber of American life. We are grieving alongside the community, as we mourn James Scurlock, George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and too many others to name. We wholeheartedly condemn the systemic and institutional racism that has wounded our neighbors, our friends, and our community. As an all white staff and predominantly white board of directors, we acknowledge our privilege and role in oppression, and are committed to being allies to our Black neighbors today and always. Here’s how we are working to do better: 

Organizationally Speaking - We’re taking an introspective look at how we operate as an organization; from hiring practices, to the make-up of our board, to the way we source vendors and partners. We recognize the need to move beyond just diversity and inclusion and instead focus on equity, addressing the symptoms and causes of oppression and advocating for long-term solutions.

  • A third of our board of directors identify as people of color. We commit to increasing the diversity of our board by actively and intentionally recruiting BIPOC, disabled, LGBTQ2SIA+, and other marginalized communities that reflect who we serve.

  • We commit to equitable hiring practices for all future hires, so that qualified* candidates of color are not excluded based on our unconscious biases and/or outdated hiring models. *Qualified: taken in the broadest sense of the term, not based on formal education.

  • We commit to providing more resources towards staff and board professional development, specifically for substantive equity, diversity, and inclusion training. 

  • We commit to prioritize and actively seek out contracts with BIPOC-owned companies, through the creation of a Vendor Policy, to be voted on at our next board meeting. July 28, 2020 Update: Click here to view a PDF of our new Vendor Policy

  • This summer our staff and board will meet to craft a new strategic plan. We will be taking a critical look at what we as individuals and as an organization are doing to intentionally and unintentionally uphold white supremacy, and put in place new policies to rectify/dismantle those practices.

Awarding Grants to Artists - Grants for artists of all disciplines is a cornerstone of Amplify’s mission. Black art matters. The unfortunate reality is that traditional grant application, evaluation, and selection processes are imperfect, biased, and subjective, and that those biases have historically privileged white artists. Since the inception of our grants program in 2016, only 16% of our grantees have been Black. 

  • We commit to providing more direct financial support to local Black artists, Indigenous artists, and artists of color.

  • We commit to continuing to designate annual grant funds specifically for artists who self-identify as a member of a community or communities that have historically faced discrimination or been denied access to institutional support based on race, national origin, disability, sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity. 

  • We commit to deepening our collaborations with local and regional partners, especially those in grantmaking like Mid-America Arts Alliance and Nebraska Arts Council, to identify new strategies to create more equitable grantmaking decisions.

  • We commit to begin providing access to computers for application submission, translating grant applications to Spanish (initially, with continued evaluation of other languages), and assembling selection panels inclusive of Black, Brown, and Indigenous people working in cultural fields, advocacy, community organizing, etc. As always, panelists will be paid. 

Promoting Progress in the Arts - In recent years we have expanded our mission to include a focus on working at the systems level within the arts sector, the main goal being to break down barriers to success for local artists. We know that Black artists, Indigenous artists, and artists of color face countless more barriers in the art world. 

  • In our role as a backbone, unifying organization, we commit to framing all sector-wide projects or initiatives through an equity and racial justice lens, and encourage our partners to do the same. 

  • We also commit to seeking out training for staff to facilitate these conversations in a safe and appropriate way.


This list is not complete, and we will continue to identify further actions to take beyond those mentioned here. 

We stand with the artists in Omaha who are using their platform to advocate for change. Contact us if you need support, and we will do our best to provide it, or connect you to resources. 

We encourage our fellow arts organizations to be specific and intentional about actions they are taking to work toward racial justice and practice anti-racism, both internally and in public programming. We also look forward to learning from peers in this regard. 

White friends, donors, supporters: We hope you will continue to step up and support 1. Black artists, 2. Black-led organizations, and 3. Organizations that have demonstrated their commitment to justice.

#BlackLivesMatter #JamesScurlock

We welcome feedback and dialogue. Please share other resources with us. Email: info@amplifyarts.org



Additional Resources: