The new horizon of creative leadership requires new competencies, skills and sensitivities that are adaptive, engaging and relevant. This program aims to introduce an alternative model for professional development that balances traditional structure with increased creativity and experimentation. Over the course of nine months, THE FELLOWSHIP is designed to enrich and expand the professional skill-sets of emerging and mid-level leaders working in the Bay Area’s arts and culture field.
Principles of networked learning inform the design of the EAP Fellowship program. This model is intended to promote inquiry-based learning that is both empowering and flexible, as it adjusts and aligns to address each Fellow’s specific aims. Fellows should be self-starters, interested in building cross-sector relationships and willing to take an active role in the learning process. From the start, Fellows will work with EAP Leadership to identify specific learning goals and methods for achieving those goals. Milestones, collective expectations and personal benchmarks will then be developed collaboratively.
Leadership members will support Fellows by connecting them to ideas, materials, expertise and human resources (e.g., speakers, mentors and/or consultants). They will also coordinate individual goal setting and project timelines, moderate discussions, facilitate problem-solving sessions and supply overall guidance throughout the program.
Fellowship Alumni
Round I Cohort (2010-11)
Round II Cohort (2011-12)
Round III Cohort (2012-13)
Round IV Cohort (2013-14)
Round V Cohort (2014-15)
Round VI Cohort (2015-16)
Round VII Cohort (2016-17)
Round VIII Cohort (2017-18)
Round IX Cohort (2018-19)
Round X Cohort (2019-20)
Round XI Cohort (2021-22)
Round XII Cohort (2023)
Meet the 2023 Cohort
Public Programs
Rooted Recipes Project x Radical Joy (2019, Thuy Tran, Cohort IX Alum)
Art Working Spirituality: Positionality & Intersectionality—A conversation on contemporary activations of indigenous and ancestral knowledge (2018, Angela Mictlanxochitl Anderson Guerrero, Cohort V Alum)
Follow Your Lead – A Workshop (2018, Cristina Ibarra, Cohort V Alum)
Thorough+Fare: Cultivating Connections, Arts Sustainability, and Cultural Equity Over a Shared Meal (2017, Regenerative Practice & Cultural Equity Fellows, Cohort VII)
THE FELLOWSHIP expands the skill-sets of emerging and mid-level arts and culture workers through a nine-month personal and professional development curriculum. Through participation in this interactive learning cohort you will build relationships across sector, discipline, and role within the Bay Area’s arts and culture field.
WHO is a Culture Worker or Arts Administrator? You work in the field of arts and culture, that may be as a teaching artist, a gallerists, curator, non profit organization staff member (who manages or produces arts programming), you may be an independent media maker who publishes or produces events, you might be a community artists who runs your own or another artists programs. You make it possible for folks in your community or beyond to have access to creative and cultural experiences. This program is not intended for individual artists looking to focus on their own individual art practice.
To get an idea of the past program, take a look at our 2017 sample BROCHURE
Beginning in 2021, we are shifting the format of the fellowship to incorporate intergenerational work and to better fit the realities of our new world, especially as we continue to navigate the global pandemic. The cohort will meet for shorter sessions more often, and we will focus each year on one of our four Affinity Topics: Cultural Equity, Creative City, Regenerative Practices, and Arts & Capital.
We will continue to center our Equity Framework and Practices and empower art workers with invaluable tools and skills for leadership in the arts & culture field as we work towards an arts industry that is equitable for all people, is a valued and sustainable career sector, and honors the individual arts worker as a creative and whole person.
Cohort XI (2021–2022)
This year, we focus on Cultural Equity and invite emerging and experienced arts workers to apply to join a cohort of individuals aligned with EAP’s mission and values, who find themselves doing regular equity/EDI work in any capacity.
Jumping off from our Emergence 2021 session: Wellness Tactics for EDI Work, an intimate cohort will gather, share, and support each other to discuss our experiences, share tactics for coping and resilience, and map out tools and skills we might need to develop to keep going. This cohort is for equity advocates, workers, and all who find themselves in these spaces doing work—at any experience-level. By the end of the program, we hope you’ll feel seen, supported, and have made connections with people you can call! The program centers BIPOC experience and needs; allies are also welcome and will focus on ways to mitigate damage and strengthen healthy collaboration.
What are our objectives?
- For Arts & Culture Workers who are Experienced in Equity Work/Organizing/Leadership: To have a space for emotional support and wellness during this work, to engage in peer problem-solving, to create opportunities for individuals to develop and try out their own curriculum. To continue leadership development through centering decolonized leadership practices in arts and culture.
- For Arts & Culture Workers who are Emerging into Equity Work/Organizing/Leadership: To deepen learning around Equity and EDI work (i.e., particularly tools, strategies, language, etc.) as it relates to arts and culture, receive mentorship from those experienced in this work, and to have a space to practice facilitation and curriculum development. To begin leadership development through centering decolonized leadership practices in arts and culture.
- For EAP: To support the professional development and empowerment of our network of arts and culture workers and leaders through training in EAP’s Equity Framework, cultural protocols, methodologies, and curriculum
- For the Community: To work toward an arts industry that is equitable for all people, is a valued and sustainable career sector, and honors the individual arts worker as a creative and whole person.
- For the Field: A network of EDI workers and cultural leaders who are thoughtful, critical, have shared language and practices, and who will get the work done! To reduce harms that are created by hiring EDI consultants and facilitators who don’t understand the field or the experiences of BIPOC individuals and communities.