CASE STUDY
Community Foundation
of Western Massachusetts
VALLEYCREATES
From Grantee to Co-Creator: Catalyzing an Arts Ecosystem
Challenge
In 2021, I was an artist applying for a $1,000 ValleyCreates grant from the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts (CFWM). By 2024, I was a paid Community Advisor participating in decisions distributing $3.2M. By 2025, CFWM invited me to represent our model at a statewide foundation leadership convening—the only artist in our delegation among foundation executives from 8 participating community foundations.
The challenge: Most foundations say they support artists. Few give artists paid seats at the table deciding where millions flow. Fewer still prove the model works at scale.
CFWM took a risk: What happens when you elevate artists from recipients to advisors? What transformation becomes possible when the people closest to the work hold institutional power? Could this model scale beyond one foundation's experiment?
Solutions
Between 2021–2024, three consecutive ValleyCreates grants ($9,000 total) catalyzed exhibitions of my work at the United Nations and 5 additional venues, $12,050 in competitive grants from 4 national funders, 6,650+ documented viewers across 18 months, and media coverage including WWLP TV, WHMP Radio, and a commissioned documentary.
Direct artist grants aren't charity—they're venture capital. Small investments in artists with strategic vision create exponential returns in community impact, institutional credibility, and cultural transformation.
In 2024, Senior Program Officer Nicole Bourdon—who has guided ValleyCreates since its 2017 inception—invited me to join as Community Advisor. Working alongside Nicole since the role's creation in 2018, founding advisors Rosemary Tracy Woods, Kent Alexander, Matthew Glassman, and Vanessa Pabón-Hernandez built the program's framework.
Today, Vanessa continues with Andrae Green, Irene 'I-SHEA' Shaikly, and me. Led by Nicole and Program Officer Stephanie Reyes, we shape not just who receives funding, but how much flows where—grant amounts, program allocations, strategic priorities.
Since July 2024, I've participated in grant decisions distributing $167,500 to 51 individual artists and $3.2M to 109 nonprofits—reviewing applications, offering recommendations, and collaboratively shaping cohorts. I served as featured speaker at 2 of 3 major fundraisers supporting CFWM's $5M endowment campaign and advocated successfully for grant increases of 150% and 25%.
I wasn't hired despite being an artist—I was hired because I'm an artist who understands both sides. I know what $1,500 means to a struggling creator and how institutions think because I've navigated them successfully. That dual fluency is what foundations need but rarely access.
To spread the word, I maintain an ongoing list of artists across Western Massachusetts and personally contact each when grant rounds open—not mass emails, direct outreach. Artists who'd never heard of CFWM are now applying and getting funded.
In January 2025, I gathered 20+ ValleyCreates grantees in Springfield—strategically choosing Hampden County with the region's largest artist population and highest concentration of artists of color. Over a catered meal, artists who often work alone in studios shared their practices and connected in-person—suddenly having names, faces, shared struggles.
I also joined Andrae and Vanessa at a cohort excursion to the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA), hosted by Assets for Artists. Fifteen artists presented their work to the group—projecting images and speaking about their practice—learning to articulate their vision while making it visible to potential collaborators. The strategy worked: smaller working groups and co-mentoring relationships now continue independently.
ValleyCreates isn't just funding—it's a comprehensive ecosystem. Presented in partnership with Assets for Artists, the program combines grants with cohort learning, 1:1 coaching, community building, and professional development workshops, ensuring artists have both resources and support to build sustainable, values-driven careers.
Real infrastructure is trusted community members who know the landscape, speak the language, and personally recruit talent that would otherwise never surface.
To sustain ValleyCreates beyond the initial support from a major national arts funder, CFWM launched a $5M endowment campaign and selected me as featured speaker at 2 of 3 major fundraisers. I stood before donors not as recipient but as equal stakeholder reshaping Western Massachusetts' creative ecosystem. To date, they've raised $2M—40% of the goal in 18 months.
When artists and development professionals work together—artists speaking with lived authority about systemic change alongside institutional credibility—the message becomes more compelling than either could achieve alone.
Results
Since 2018, ValleyCreates has supported 140+ artists through 181 grants totaling $358,500 and 88 arts organizations totaling $3.6M. The 10% flowing to artists—combined with artists holding paid advisory roles—creates access that never existed. The $5M endowment, already 40% funded, will sustain this model permanently.
As Community Advisor since July 2024, I've participated in grant decisions distributing $167,500 to 51 artists and $3.2M to 109 nonprofits. I advocated successfully for grant increases of 150% and 25% and recruited dozens of new artists who'd never accessed foundation funding. I was invited by CFWM to a statewide foundation leadership convening as the only artist on our delegation—representing CFWM as the only Creative Commonwealth (CCW) foundation with both direct artist grants AND paid artist advisors.
I once saw CFWM as inaccessible to artists—all resources, but no pathways in. Now I help decide where millions go, while artists across the region who'd never accessed foundation support are applying, getting funded, and building careers.
That perception shift—from exclusion to championship—is what systemic change looks like.
This is strategy that flows.
Impact
$3.2M
Recommended to 109 arts nonprofits as Advisor
$167,500
Recommended to 51 individual artists as Advisor
150% & 25%
Grant increases through collaborative advocacy
Featured
Speaker at 2 of 3 major fundraisers
1 of 8
CCW foundations giving artists both grants and decision-making power
Only artist
On CFWM delegation to statewide foundation leadership convening
“I was hesitant to apply again after being denied. But thanks to Mark’s encouragement, I took another shot. This grant gave me an opportunity to give back to my community in a real way and led to one of my best exhibitions yet.”
— Kahli Hernandez, Artist, ValleyCreates Grantee