Artwork by Tei Kay @tk_digitalsoul

Flint is home to many talented female artists who are striving to research their own practice and contribute positively to our community's cultural landscape. However, there is currently no grant program specifically designed to support these artists. This lack of funding disproportionately affects women who represent the majority population in Flint.

As an artist and a woman, I have personally experienced the lack of support and respect for female artists in Flint, Michigan. Recently, my work was misappropriated by a graduate student at a local Higher Education institution. This incident not only violated my rights as an artist but also silenced the voices of 7 Black women and 3 underrepresented white women who were part of our collective. In 2022, I funded ten female artists including the graduate student that misappropriated our work with $250 each. She took private conversations about access without consent and used it to apply for graduate funding for 5,000 (20 times the amount I was able to give). 

We are asking for less than half of the available funding with a 1:1 match for female artists going forward. There are no funding opportunities specifically for female artists in the City of Flint. Please sign our petition!

No names will be published but we need your support. The ten women who have been silenced have consistent practices that range from visual arts, spoken word, gospel, theater, animal husbandry, textile + baking arts, urban farming, entrepreneurship, and community organizing. Many of these women have multiple practices. I can only imagine how these women would be nourished with this kind of support. Please nourish these women with your support.

We are asking UM-Flint to correct this mistake by giving $5,000 to each of the Nourish artists in the collective, and match graduate art research funds to community artists going forward. 

According to data from National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), while women make up over half of all professional-level jobs in arts-related fields nationwide, they receive less than half as much funding as their male counterparts do. This disparity is even more pronounced among minority women artists.

It's time we change this narrative in Flint by establishing direct arts funding specifically for female artists that allows them to research their own practice without fear or hindrance.

We call on local government officials and philanthropic organizations within our city to create such a program that will empower female artists, promote diversity within our art scene, and foster a culture where every artist's work is respected and valued.

Please sign this petition if you believe that all artists should be given equal opportunities regardless of gender or race!