Courtesy of Imagina Communications

Sixteen local organizations are receiving $25,000 each from the Cultural Treasure Accelerator to build resilience and long-term stability for their organization.

The Cultural Treasure Accelerator is an initiative aiming to highlight and support organizations led by black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC). The initiative provides an organization with the grant and a 12-month peer network as they continue to grow their organization.

Sixto Wagan is the Project Director for the BIPOC Arts Network and Fund, the organization that created the initiative. He said grant recipients were chosen based on the diverse communities they serve and their three-year visions for the future.

“We can help them define their own vision for a future and make sure they are connected to other organizations, to build a thriving BIPOC arts ecosystem,” he said.

The initiative is part of a nationwide effort started by the Ford Foundation in 2020 known as America’s Cultural Treasures. Funding from the national initiative has trickled down to the Houston Endowment and the BIPOC Arts Network and Fund after economists and fundraising experts predicted a drop in charitable giving during the pandemic.

One grant recipient, Walter Hull, is planning to start a new organization.

“Our goal is to serve as a cultural catalyst and sanctuary for black artists and all things black art in Houston,” he said. “Our mission is to establish a cultural arts, history, and performance complex to showcase honor, and celebrate black Houston’s rich artistic and cultural heritage.”

Hull is also the Executive Director of Urban Souls Dance Company, a modern dance company that started nearly twenty years ago to tell the stories of racial equity, healing and justice. He said he and others in his organization are also hoping to build a website for the Black Arts Movement.

“When people come and visit Houston, and they’re looking for black arts and culture, then they’re able to look at our calendar of events and be able to see what is going on with black arts in Houston,” he said.

Other benefiting organizations include: the Freedmen’s Town Conservancy, which has been working to protect Freedmen’s Town in the Fourth Ward; Jazz Houston, which has been teaching younger generations and providing performance opportunities around jazz; and Segundo Barrio Children’s Chorus, which is Houston’s first and only Spanish-language and bilingual children’s choir.

“So many of these organizations have been treasures of their community,” Wagan said. “Have been vital components of their geographic, their neighborhoods … and because they’re focused on doing the work, and focused on making things happen. It’s important for us to be able to celebrate their stories and support them as we hope that more of Houston and more of the region and more of the nation actually gets to recognize all of the great work that’s happening here in the city.”