Stewart Wilson, creator of Personaland, in a Motion Capture suit (for CGI) Stewart Wilson is creator of “Personaland,” an online global community that is dedicated to supporting artists of all media. “Personaland” is hosted by “the Personas,” a collection of over 31,000 individual digital sculptures designed by Stewart. He was inspired to create “Personaland” through a chance meeting at Artwell with game designer, Kwame Antwi. Using 21st century digital technologies, “the Personas” have come alive in their world and can interact with an international community.

by Nicola Carpenter, Associate Director, People Operations at Fractured Atlas At Fractured Atlas, we really love sharing many of the inner workings around how our organization works. By sharing the things that work (or don’t) for us, we hope to help out in making the sector, as a whole, stronger. A few years ago, we shared our How We Work site so that anyone could see how we work at Fractured Atlas. We’ve also shared how our use of OKRs increases transparency, alignment, and accountability (that post even included a free template). We’ve shared updates on our Anti-Racism, Anti-Oppression journey, why we have race-based caucusing, and so many other things.

Are you an artist or creative looking to execute a project or take your work to the next level? Has someone told you that you or your arts organization should be fiscally sponsored? Are you curious about “physical sponsorship”?

by Molaundo Jones, Social Media Specialist at Fractured Atlas A group photo of members of NACHMO Sharyn Korey and Anna Brown Massey are the founders of NACHMO (National Choreography Month), an annual choreography challenge that spurs choreographers, dancers, and movement enthusiasts across the US to create new dance work each January. NACHMO has been a fiscally-sponsored project of Fractured Atlas for 5 years. While their programming is primarily based out of New York, NACHMO has hubs in cities including Boston, Chicago, Kansas City, Lafayette, New Jersey, Pittsburgh, San Diego, and Washington, DC. In 2019, NACHMO also went international, with their first NACHMO community outside of the USA in Australia.

by Aisha Jordan, Program Associate at Fractured Atlas This will be our final regular grant deadline post until the fall. For all opportunities, please visit the website of each funding organization for application instructions and complete guidelines. Have a great summer! Center for Cultural Innovation is accepting applications for The Investing in Artists grants program. Description: The Investing in Artists grants program was established by the Center for Cultural Innovation (CCI) in 2007 to enhance the working lives and strengthen the creative support system for California artists working in all disciplines. Since that time, with the support of The James Irvine Foundation and The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, CCI has awarded over $2 million to 270 diverse artists working in various disciplines across the state.

by Molaundo Jones, Social Media Specialist at Fractured Atlas Nicole DeMaio and members of Black Sheep Contemporary Ensemble Nicole DeMaio is the founder of Black Sheep Contemporary Ensemble, a collaborative project dedicated to performing music by living or recently deceased composers throughout the Greater Boston Area for a variety of audiences. The ensemble accomplishes this through their Four Core Goals: Perform, Collaborate, Commission, and Educate. Over the past four years, the ensemble has worked with visual artists, dancers and choreographers to create new works. Black Sheep Contemporary Ensemble has been a Fractured Atlas member since July 2017.

Applying a Lovingkindness Lens by Tim Cynova, Chief Operating Officer at Fractured Atlas Remember when it seemed like everyone was trying to achieve “work-life” balance? More recently, perhaps in a nod to the challenges of balancing “work” and “life” in an always-connected world, or maybe because for those searching for meaning and purpose in their activities there’s not always a bright line distinction between “work” and “life,” the phrase has shifted to “bringing our whole selves to work.”

Note: The librarian’s last name is Reading. How awesome is that?! (Also note, my mom saved everything.) Around Memorial Day each year when my sister and I were kids, our parents would take us to the McCollough Branch of the Evansville Public Library. It was that annual rite of passage — the summer reading challenge! We’d select a hefty stack of books, and then hope to God come Labor Day we’d have read enough of them to earn that sweet certificate for a free scoop of Baskin Robbins ice cream.

by Lauren Lattimore, Program Associate at Fractured Atlas The Syndicate is a fiscally-sponsored project who has been successful at using our program to advance their mission. We talked to Megan Paradis Hanley of The Syndicate for our monthly “Meet the Project” interview series. They shared some project developments and how their work has impacted the communities that they serve.

by Nicola Carpenter, Associate Director, People Operations at Fractured Atlas Full team photo from All Hands 2019 At Fractured Atlas, about half of our team work fully distributed so we started having full staff events 6 years ago when we realized that there are conversations and activities that are better to do in person. We originally called these week long events “OkTECHberfest” but changed to “All Hands” last year. Through these years, we’ve found ways of creating an event that supports our organizational shared purpose.