According to Artmarket.com, 2023 was the most dynamic year in the history of the global art market. In the year ending December 31, 2023, over one million works of art in all media were put up for auction.
With three-quarters of a million individual transactions, the number of works sold set a record, an increase of 5% over the previous year.
Women artists were a key component for this growth. As Artmarket.com explains, they are finally being given the recognition and the place in the market they deserve. In particular, interest in, and appreciation for the women artists of the 20th Century have increased significantly.
While most of this growth is due to the recognition of talent, there has been a conscious effort by key market players to recalibrate these works in terms both of their historical significance as well as their monetary value. One deliberate decision has been to include a larger number of their works in sales catalogues which has increased women’s visibility in the market and improved basic awareness of their work.
The resulting increase in sales provide strong proof that deliberate policies are effective. The number of transactions of works of art by women has doubled in the past five years; the quantity has tripled in ten years.
In 2023, the number of works by women artists sold at auction climbed to an historic peak, indicating that the dynamic trend is far from over.
To read the entire press release, use this link: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/artprice-by-artmarketcom-28th-annual-report–the-art-market-in-2023-a-new-record-number-of-artworks-sold-at-auction-biggest-national-marketplace-the-usa-female-artists-showed-spectacular-growth-302082968.html?twclid=2s69tsc97j5wdjo0oryjj5ga8
One: Three Youth-Led Research Projects You Can Implement Too
The Alliance For Girls (AFG) is “a powerful community-driven alliance of girl-serving organizations and leaders” with a goal of ensuring that every girl has the opportunities to thrive that she deserves.
AFG believes that research, when properly conducted, makes communities of color the leaders and experts of their own stories. The inclusion of new voices and perspectives gives the research results greater depth, specificity, and insight.
That is why AFG’s approach is more than just research; it’s about upending knowledge creation by placing the experiences and voices of girls and gender-expansive youth of color at the center of the new knowledge.
With this in mind, the next step of AFG’s mission is to expand the “liberatory and participatory research capacity.”
As Linda Lu, Co-Executive Director for AFG, explains, “We know our members and community are interested in expanding their own capacities to do great participatory research as well. Participatory research has been done for a long time, long before us, but we have taken great lengths and care to figure out accessible and applied ways to facilitate and work with your communities so you all can design and implement these same participatory practices”.
Lu provides three examples of participatory research projects that AFG has just completed.
- AFG conducted an evaluation of Oakland’s Restorative Diversion Program. AFG facilitated a critical piece of the project that ensured the perspective of those most impacted by the program were used to inform the results.
- FamilySpace United Way of Greater Cleveland Youth Evaluation Framework. Family Space, a family-centered program, collaborated with AFG to design a family-led framework for assessing and training lead members of the FamilySpace organization.
- Why We Lead by Girls Leadership. Girls Leadership published their report on the underrepresentation of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) and gender expansive youth. AFG provided a youth-participatory process for the study.
Two: $17.5M to close the digital gender divide
According to a new World Economic Forum report, it will take about 134 years to reach gender parity.
To accelerate positive change, Global nonprofit Accion announced the launch of the Accion Digital Transformation Fund (ADTx). The goal of the $152.5 million fund is to enable financial institutions to meet the needs of small businesses that are currently excluded from the financial system.
By providing growth capital and strategic support for digital transformation, the fund will support banks and finance companies around the world to connect millions of small businesses, especially those run by women, to the digital economy.
In pursuit of this goal, Accion is investing $17.5m in Indonesian microfinance provider Amartha. The objective is to construct a complete range of financial tools to connect more women to the digital economy. The tools can then propel even the smallest toko in the farthest reaches of the archipelago.
It is estimated that 90% of micro entrepreneurs in Southeast Asia struggle to access the financial services needed to keep their doors open, and rural women are further behind. Amartha has developed the digital financial infrastructure that connects microbusinesses in Tier 2 and 3 cities outside of the main island of Java.
To date, Amartha has disbursed more than $1.6 billion to over 2.5 million women-led businesses across Indonesia. This latest investment aims to close the financing gap even further.
Since 1961, Accion has helped build more than 230 financial service providers serving low-income clients in 75 countries, reaching more than 350 million people.
To read the full press release:
https://www.accion.org/news/accion-digital-transformation-fund-invests-in-amartha
To visit the Accion website, use the link below:
Three: Ms. Foundation for Women Announces Three New Board Members
The Ms. Foundation for Women announced the appointments of Kathy Ko Chin, CEO of Jasper Inclusion Advisors, Mary Kathryn Nagle, attorney and playwright, and Dr. Renée T. White, provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs of The New School to its Board of Directors. These dedicated feminists bring significant expertise within philanthropy, Indigenous law, public health, academia and the arts.
“It is an honor to welcome these three powerful leaders to our board during a time when our work to fight for gender and racial equity is as important as ever,” said Teresa C. Younger, President, and CEO of Ms. Foundation for Women.
The New Members:
Kathy Ko Chin Currently CEO of Jasper Inclusion Advisors, advises on philanthropic and policy strategy and provides nonprofit executive mentoring, focusing on women of color leaders.
Mary Kathryn Nagle is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation. She is an attorney whose work focuses on the restoration of tribal sovereignty and the inherent right of Indian Nations to protect their women and children from domestic violence and sexual assault.
Dr. Renée T. White Currently serves as provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs of The New School and a professor of sociology at The New School for Social Research.
To read the complete press release which includes an expanded CV for the new directors, please follow this link:
Four: Recap of Southern Black Girls and Women’s Consortium 2024 Black Girls Dream Conference
The 2024 Black Girls Dream Conference welcomed more than 1300 attendees to a safe space full of love, fun and sisterhood while providing an experience that inspired, empowered, and cultivated the dreams of southern Black girls, gender-expansive youth and Black women of all ages.
The theme of the conference was “Afrofuturism: Intelligence, Innovation, Investment.” The Conference hosted a series of dynamic, interactive workshops led by inspiring speakers as well as impactful conversations centering on topics like health and mental wellness, social justice, and financial literacy.
All these activities were designed to explore the expanding range of the Black experience through deeper conversations and connections that can help guide and build radical futures for Black girls and women.
The conference connected directly to Southern Black Girls’ vision to provide an immersive space where Black girls and women can explore different pieces of who they are, what they love and what brings them joy.
By including impactful voices and special programming, the 2024 Black Girls Dream Conference encouraged a creative movement where culture, technology and innovation intersect to create an experience to advance the future of Black identity, agency and liberation.
The conference would like to extend thanks to partners and sponsors such as the Ludacris Foundation.
Five: We Know How to Win
Allison Fine has words of wisdom, encouragement, and admonition. The full column can be found on her Substack page, but here are some highlights and main points:
In 2016, it was unimaginable that we could lose. Now we know that it’s possible. And in 2022, we didn’t think we could win a ballot initiative for abortion rights in Kansas. We did handily, in part because we’ve learned how to organize politically in every state.
…We have won every statewide election in purple states since 2017, and now we’re going to use the same get-out-the-vote techniques to do it again.
…We cannot afford to be discouraged. Let’s take a deep breath and get back to work.
The stakes of this election remain simple and clear: …One side believes that politicians should decide what medical treatments women should be allowed to have; the other side believes women and their doctors should decide. One side believes the church should run the state; the other believes in separation of church and state. See, it’s not that complicated.
Here [is one]…thing to keep in mind: Women of all political persuasions have been voting overwhelmingly to support and protect our right to choose our own futures, and we will do so again in November.
Here are the reasons we are going to win:
- Abortion is on the ballot everywhere. Eight states have abortion on the ballot. In each case, there was an overwhelming number of signatures collected to ensure it…
- Independent and Republican women are voting for decency and freedom…
- All politics is local. I have a MAGA-lite Congressman, Mike Lawler. Ridiculous, right!? My job is to work my ass off to make sure that Mondaire Jones gets elected and help re-take the house…
Here are a few things you can do today to support reproductive rights:
- Sign up with your statewide abortion coalition.
- Become an abortion whisperer. You know five people who are either despairing or turning out right now. Remind them that no one has actually voted yet. Tell them that each of us has a chance to express our outrage at Republican efforts to strip women of our rights in November. Show them the polling on abortion rights when they show you what Politico is shouting today.
- Buy from Every. Body. Brands for repro support: Every. Body. Brands.
