The Artist Grantmaker: Patton Hindle
“the board member is investing in the future of the organization and the organization is investing in the future of the board member; grow together.”
5 Questions with Patton Hindle
Executive Director, Artadia
New York, NY
Patton Hindle is a creative strategist, cultural worker, and systems change-maker. She is the Executive Director of Artadia, a nonprofit grantmaker that centers artists in their vital role in society through providing funding and professional development in 7 US cities.
Most recently, Patton was the Head of Forward Funds, Kickstarter’s first social impact program that she built and ran. She also served as the Head of Arts at Kickstarter for 5 years, working closely with artists, collectives, arts organizations, and cultural institutions around the world to help them realize creative and ambitious ideas; she still maintains her deep engagement with these communities. Additionally, Patton advises artists, for profit, and nonprofit creative organizations on business and organizational strategies.
Patton was the co-founder of Chinatown gallery yours mine & ours and the Director of Gallery and Institutional Partnerships at Artspace. She is a co-author of the second edition of How to Start and Run a Commercial Art Gallery and was a 2019 Catherine Hannah Behrend Fellow at 92Y Women inPower in New York. Patton serves as an advisor to Mellon Foundation, on the Board of Directors of The Laundromat Project, the Board of Advisors of the Arts Funders Forum, and as a mentor for New Inc.. She was raised in London and currently resides in Brooklyn, NY.
Photo credit: Yekaterina Gyadu
1. Throughout your career, you’ve worked closely with artists, collectives, arts organizations, and cultural institutions to help them realize creative and ambitious ideas. Let’s talk big picture: given your deep knowledge of the landscape, and your current role as grantseeker AND grantmaker, how would you sum up this current moment of arts funding... what are some of those ambitious ideas, perhaps relating to direct artist funding?
The field is in many ways still finding itself from the impact of the pandemic. For the first time we saw an unprecedented level of government funding for the arts & culture sector– $53bn. This support stabilized many organizations and, alongside a temporary reduction in operations, allowed many organizations to build cash reserves and capital; however, we’re now seeing a significant decline in giving from both the government (local and national) and foundations which is placing new pressures on individual giving. As we know, the largest generational wealth transfer is in progress but we lack engagement with that next generation of potential funders. So, in short, I would say the landscape is tough right now– plus toss in a presidential election and things are going to be hairy for a while.
That being said, the time is opportunistic to investigate new models of supporting artists. We know during the pandemic that many individual artists were deeply affected as they were lumped in with gig-economy workers. This meant a myriad of challenges but most importantly, difficulties in garnering basic social services such as unemployment. It is my hope that with hindsight many artists will have realized the benefits of opening business structures to support their practices (LLCs, PBCs, etc.) but I am not confident that those frameworks are being engaged.
As a direct-artist funder, Artadia, has a role to play here in education on these issues for our community. It also speaks to a need to develop other forms of fast-pace emergency funding for artists– be it through supplemental microgrant programs or even loan programs to artists. We’re very focused on how we can offer support to our community to understand these challenges before we’re in a crisis mode again.
I also think that we offer a unique opportunity to that next generation where they can see the direct impact of their funding. They are able to witness artists propel forward in their career after receiving one of our awards. Our model is also unique in that we’re a truly open call and our Awards are unrestricted– democratic equitable processes and trust-based giving are hallmarks of what younger donors look to.
2. As parts of the cultural sector seek a re-alignment of a system that has historically promoted inequity, how might arts funders and grant makers most effectively help drive this change?
First and foremost, having an open door. We’re all operating with limited resources (specifically, personnel) which has historically made this difficult. However, funders could look to offer annual open calls with a portion of their funding budget and review these proposals through a lens of equity, that way the organization (or artist) is not reliant on the “who you know” traditions of the field that have traditionally hamstrung misrepresented communities.
Additionally, funders may discover new organizations or models that are compelling for the field at-large. Their support of these ideas can offer other organizations (or artists) new ways of working and thinking. After all, the arts sector and the artists within have historically paved the way for new modes of working and most are reflecting the values of their respective communities within their ideas.
3. You serve as a board member and advisor to several organizations. As we are experiencing a generational wealth shift, board recruitment is urgently top of mind. What are some of the most successful board engagement strategies you’ve seen?
I believe it’s important for a donor or board member to grow alongside an organization. We are not static entities and our visions adapt to reflect the communities we serve. In that mode of thinking, finding an individual who may not yet be able to support an organization to the fullest financial extent is not the end all be all. As much as the board member is investing in the future of the organization, the organization is investing in the future of the board member; grow together.
My favorite folks to bring into the fold are those who are excited and engaged to learn how an organization works. So, I return back to the importance of a true working board. The next generation wants to be a part of the conversation and looked-to for counsel around decision making and strategy. Embracing these perspectives is important to the long-term growth and sustainability of an arts organization. While that doesn’t mean that the organization has to agree with these perspectives, they do need to be open to hearing them. I think of it like an artist making a new body of work, that critical feedback is helpful in spotting areas of challenge and opportunity and can cause a work to morph from one nascent idea into something perhaps utterly different but beneficial and more robust on the whole.
4. Dedicated to systems change, you believe that the cultural sector critically needs increased and better policy and advocacy: “The real answer to all of this [challenges with next gen/private funding] is to have a government that cares for and funds arts and culture. But in lieu of that, we have to rethink how we engage in private and foundational philanthropy.” Tell me more about this…
I will always lament the arts not having a cabinet seat in the US government but, as we’ve noted, that’s not likely to happen at this point. We have folks on the ground here in New York City building a policy institute and using data to inform their work on the state-of-the-field. Funders, governmental and private, cannot deny the power of data to back up assertions. Perhaps some of this is carryover from my years at the intersection of art and technology, but every organization should be working on better data analysis as it broadly supports the field and allows us to be individually responsive.
Private funding needs to embrace new models of working and I will say we’re seeing that start to take place with organizations like Good Chaos out of the Midwest as they consider programs that offer more financial resources (not just grants) and acumen to artists. Other large foundations have been experimenting with how they can support Public Benefit Corporations and L3Cs which keep mission centered ahead of profits. A colleague and friend of mine is currently building ARTPOWER, a financial wellness tool for artists, and while it is a for-profit entity (PBC) exploring new revenue models, the end goal is to directly support artists in their everyday business practices. All of these new ideas are beginning to be embraced by funders which gives credence to the evolution of the field.
5. In 2022, you wrote My Art and Tech Company Has a Four-Day Work Week. It’s Made Us More Creative, More Productive, and Much, Much Happier, discussing the work/life changes that resulted from the pandemic. You encourage arts organizations to create a more flexible and sustainable schedule, noting: “ It is time for the arts workforce to do what it does best—reimagine our world and build it how we want it to be.” Two years later, what changes have you seen and what have been the longer term benefits of these new policies?
Interestingly enough, just a few weeks ago congress held hearings on the benefits of the 4 day work week. While I think we have a long way to go as a country, it’s exciting to see the recognition, at a government level, of adaptations to our standard work week.
From a lens within the arts specifically, we have shifted to the importance of caring for our workers. What are the policies we can extend and benefits we can offer that make their lives better? It’s no secret that working within the nonprofit sector can be grueling and that the field is known for being filled with passionate people who care deeply about propelling their respective missions forward. However, just because you work within the sector does not mean you should be treated without regard. Burnout is very real and incredibly more so within the nonprofit sector. Just look at how difficult it is to hire in development at this moment.
A recognition from funders, of all kinds, that general operating support is of high importance to the health of an organization has helped to shift some of this narrative but we are still very much in progress. The reckoning of staff turnover has been real within the field and many new leaders are focusing on how to better develop the next generation of cultural leaders within their own organizations through professional development, programmatic learning, fellowships, and community building with peer entities and colleagues. All of these elements help create a more balanced and sustained method of working while also benefiting the next generation of cultural workers and organizations. I can say from my own trajectory that I was incredibly lucky to have engaged leaders and I learned much of my own managerial and leadership style from each of them. I like to think I carry a piece of every person I’ve worked for into Artadia and hope my team takes a bit of learning from me, too. As with many things, generative progress is essential.
The Path Forward interview series, an initiative of MCW Projects LLC, investigates how industry leaders are re-envisioning the future.