Artist Resources, Grants for Artists, Creative Projects, Making Money for Artists

Fractured Atlas is no stranger to change. Over the past two plus decades of working as a nonprofit arts service organization, Fractured Atlas has embraced the inevitable ebbs and flows of what it means to be part of a living, breathing arts ecosystem. Today, we’re excited to share some transitions that are underway at the board level. In October, Board Chair Russell Willis Taylor completed her service and the Fractured Atlas Board selected Andrew Taylor to help steward the organization’s next chapter. We talked with them about what the work has meant, field-wide trends on board relations, and the fluid shape of organizational resiliency.

As we close out our summer and head into fall, we are entering a new phase at Fractured Atlas.

As an organization, Fractured Atlas understands that change is not only inevitable, it’s often a good thing. This past year has required all of us to deeply rethink how we work, how we communicate, and how we can better align our skills and our vision in service of what matters. While we acknowledge the deep losses we as individuals and as a whole sector have faced, we also embrace the chance to plan for and create a more equitable future.

This is the final of four posts. Each tackles a piece of the elephant that is the recent Fractured Atlas move to a four-person “Chiefs Executive.”

The Board of Fractured Atlas strongly condemns the structures of racism and bias that perpetuate inequities in the lives of people of color in communities across our country. Today we are reminded once again of the far-reaching and malignant impacts on the health, safety and economic opportunity of Black Americans. We re-commit now to eliminating structures of bias and oppression in our work. As we work to increase the economic, political, and social power of artists and creatives we join with others who see creative expression as part of a just society.

This is the third of four posts. Each tackles a piece of the elephant that is the recent Fractured Atlas move to a four-person “Chiefs Executive.”

This is the second of four posts. Each tackles a piece of the elephant that is the recent Fractured Atlas move to a four-person “Chiefs Executive.”

This is the first of four posts: post #4 is co-authored with our Board Chair, Russell Willis Taylor. Each tackles a piece of the elephant that is the recent Fractured Atlas move to a four-person “Chiefs Executive.”

As of January 1, 2020, Fractured Atlas has no physical headquarters, no home office, no official shared workspace whatsoever. As you can read elsewhere, the organization (for which I’m honored to serve on the board) decided not to renew its lease on its long-standing Manhattan office, instead embracing an entirely “virtual” workforce.

Since we embarked on our new leadership journey, I (in my role as Chair of the Fractured Atlas Board) have been asked a number of times “Why take the risk?” As Fractured Atlas is in the risk business with regard to innovation and services for our members, the better question to me is why not take the risk – it's what we do. This brief post is an outline of the benefits thus far, as well as an honest admission about what we still haven’t figured out. (My fellow board member Chris Mackie will be writing on the detailed list of what we have yet to resolve and design – this will be a quick pass in anticipation of his contribution which is coming soon.)