From Grassroots to Grasstops: How One Nonprofit is Ensuring Opportunities for Delaware’s Black and Brown Creatives

Delaware has been an arts and culture hub for more than a decade. With its playhouses, festivals, and live events, the First State has no shortage of offerings for those wanting to enjoy the arts.

Unfortunately, Black and Brown artists make up for less than 30% percent of these entities throughout the state.  And this is only as it pertains to nonprofit arts makers. 

When we look at for-profit arts and culture freelancers or creative entrepreneurs, the gaps are even more prevalent.

Despite entrepreneurship being one of the most viable vehicles for generational wealth building, for-profit arts-based businesses aren’t given the same support as their traditional counterparts in Delaware.  When you couple that with the national crisis Black and Brown business owners face, as it pertains to capital acquisition and access to an advanced network of supporters, the chances of success for a small, arts-based business in Delaware owned by a Black or Brown entrepreneur begins to look bleak. 

Enter: the (DCCE). 

DCCE is a local initiative of the nationally-serving, Delaware-based nonprofit organization, .  

For the last year, the group has worked diligently with community partners, elected officials, and key stakeholders throughout the First State to build support for its commercial artists and creative entrepreneurs.  

In addition to working overtime to help centralize communications, mobilize commercial arts workers, and develop digital asset binders and online databases to showcase the benefits of bringing creative projects to Delaware, the group has also been committed to closing the state’s racial achievement, wealth, and network gaps in the arts and culture sector.

With funds from the , the , , and others, BIPOC artist-entrepreneurs from Delaware were given the opportunity to participate in a free 10-week training program that connected them to information, community resources, professional connections, and capital needed to stabilize and grow their businesses. 

But it doesn’t stop there. 

One of the Collective’s major goals is to influence the development of policies and practices related to commercial arts and culture throughout the state. 

Simple tweaks to existing legislation would increase equitable access to grants for individual artists, make creative entrepreneurs eligible for EDGE Grant applications, and recognize creative enterprises as the job creators and economic drivers they are. 

Additionally, doing these things with an equity lens will ensure that Black and Brown artists and artist-entrepreneurs are afforded equal access to these opportunities. 

With such changes on the books, BIPOC residents – especially those in Delaware’s more than 23% African American population – will no longer have to rely solely on nonprofit programs like the Pete du Pont Freedom Foundation’s (E3), Christiana Cultural Center’s (FECIIP), or RFC’s . 

Instead, with streamlined policies and practices in play, these innovators can maximize their roles as high-potential revenue generators with immense positive social impact. It’s a very possible, and very necessary, outcome for the First State. 

And the Collective is here to help every step of the way. 

Are you a BIPOC artist living in Delaware or the surrounding area? Want to know more about what’s being done to support you and your work? Interested in supporting our cause? , , or today. Your gift is tax-deductible.

Delaware Collective for Creative Economy is a local initiative of Reel Families for Change (RFC). Akima A. Brown serves as its principal promoter alongside her role as RFC’s founder. Akima is an award-winning filmmaker and acclaimed equity advocate. She has overseen creative placemaking campaigns in various states and serves on several boards and advisory councils related to the arts as sustainable economic drivers. Akima resides in Kent County, Delaware with her family.