Art.coop is a network of artists and groups who make the Solidarity Economy irresistible.
Our Vision
Artists who are fed up with the current system are connected and know their power. There is a hub where artists get money, ideas, and tools to strengthen their communities. Art.coop is part of the movement to remember future art worlds with community-control at the core.
Our Mission
We are working for a future in which artists closest to the pain of an extractive economy know their power and use it to dismantle the current system. We resource a community of artists committed to building the art worlds we want. Art.coop is located in the U.S. but is rooted in the international Solidarity Economy movement.
Who Are We
Art.coop is a collective that exists to grow an arts/culture movement rooted in solidarity by centering artists and cultural workers making systems-change irresistible. In 2021, we launched with a report and held Study-into-Action with 105 cultural innovators and collaborated with Grantmakers in the Arts for our Move the Money Series. Listen to our podcast and take free online courses. Find us on IG or Twitter.
We provide resources and events for grantmakers working on economic justice in the arts.
Solidarity Not Charity: A Rapid Report 
This report, commissioned by Grantmakers in the Arts, is about the ways that arts and culture grantmakers can engage in systems-change work. The cultural sector is actively seeking alternatives to business-as-usual to create economic and racial justice in the sector and beyond. Grantmakers can play a role in the transformation of the sector by following the lead of Black, Indigenous, People of Color, disabled, queer, trans, and working class creatives who are innovating models for self-determination and community wealth. For specific suggestions, see the full report.
Introduction to the Solidarity Economy
We provide artists working on economic justice with resources, money, ideas, and tools.
Podcast
We produced a a pilot season podcast about the Solidarity Economy and the artists and culture workers who are building it in their communities.
Listen to the podcast here.
Courses
Creatives around the world are working together, placing people and the planet over profit to create thriving homes, businesses, investments, and creative work. You can too.
Take our online courses for free right here.
If you would like to learn about the solidarity economy right now, we suggest that everyone reads these texts and attends Economics for Emancipation.
The cultural economy we want already exists — and can be strengthened with intention.
Solidarity Economy & Culture
Here are a few examples of arts and culture groups and initiatives in the Solidarity Economy. As shown throughout the report, all networks and infrastructure in the Solidarity Economy—regardless of their emphasis on arts and culture—will support artists and culture-bearers. See the list below and add yourself to these examples.
Land and Housing
Community Land Trusts: Community Arts Stabilization Trust, Oakland CLT, Cooper Square Community Land Trust
Cooperative Housing: East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative*, Greene Street Artists, Emeryville Artists Co-op
Cooperative Co-working Space: The Artist Co-op, Soft Surplus, Prime Produce
Cooperative Venue: Tianguis de la Raza_, U Street Music Hall (closed), Network of Ensemble Theaters
Cooperative Store / Gallery: Dutch Alley Artists Co-op, A.I.R Gallery, Ujamaa Collective, ARTZ (Ancestral Rich Treasures of Zuni) Cooperative, Qualla Arts & Crafts,_ Art Center Cooperative, Aarhus Makers, Ulična galerija
Cooperative Studios: Talking Dolls, Adaept
Cooperative Recording Spaces: Live Musicians Co-op
Cooperative Darkrooms: Lone Star Darkroom, Bushwick Community Darkroom, Clay Art Pottery Co-op
Cohousing and Intentional Communities: Convent Arts Community, MilePost 5
Cooperative Co-working, Retreat, Residency, or Landback Network: ZEAL, Activation Residency, Flux Factory, The Weavers Project, Soul Fire Farm, Yo Mama’s House, Black [Space Residency, Land Relationships Super Collective_
_ = majority BIPOC membership
Work and Labor
Worker Cooperatives, News and Media: Cafeteria Radio, Means TV, Media Reparations, Associated Press, Devil Strip, Discourse Blog
Worker Cooperatives, Architectural Design and Construction: Earth-Bound Building_, Oxbow Design Build
Worker Cooperatives, Craft: Adams & Chittenden Scientific Glass, and so many more, including over 300 craft cooperatives.
Worker Cooperatives, Fashion: Custom Collaborative,_ Friends of Light
Worker Cooperatives, Printmaking: Cards by Dé, Story 2 Designs, JustSeeds, Radix Media
Worker Cooperatives, Graphic Design: Story2Designs,* Surplus Plus_, TESA, Partner & Partners
Worker Cooperatives, Film + VR + Tech + Audio + Video Games: CRUX, Emma, The Sound Co-op, MOXI, Meerkat Media_, GlorySociety, Agaric*
Worker Cooperatives, Beauty: Mirror Beauty Cooperative, Brown Beauty Co-op, Salon Cooperative
Worker Cooperatives, , Music, Dance, Theatre: Ujima Theatre Company, Obvious Agency, Rhythm Conspiracy_, The Team, the COOP
Worker Cooperatives, Orchestra: Pro Arte Orchestra of Boston, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra
Multi-stakeholder Cooperatives: Happy Family Night Market
Producer Cooperatives: 200 Million Artisans, Justseeds
Time Banking: Metasofa Arts Community, Kolanut Collaborative
Mutual Aid: NDN Collective, Sol Collective
Barter Systems and Non-Monetary Exchange: O+ Festival
_ = majority BIPOC membership
Money and Finance
Participatory Budgeting: Runway, Participatory Budgeting Project
Credit Unions: Actors Federal Credit Union
Community currencies: Circles, Tandas
CDFIs: The Working World, SeedCommons, First People’s Fund, Oweesta Corporation
Community Loan Fund: Boston Ujima Project, Black Farmer Fund
Solidarity Philanthropy and Grantmaking: Center for Economic Democracy, The Weavers Project, AmbitioUS, NDNCollective, Intercultural Leadership Institute
Democratic Loan Funds and Grants: Boston Ujima Project, NDN Collective, Runway, First People’s Fund, Black Artist Fund*, Seed Commons, Common Future (* = majority BIPOC membership)
Cooperative Billing and Accounting: Freelancer Guilded*, ArtsPool, Open Collective (* = majority BIPOC membership)
Cooperative Insurance: Guilded, Open Collective Foundation, ArtsPool ( = majority BIPOC membership)
Cooperative Marketing: 200 Million Artisans*, BlacSpace Cooperative* (* = majority BIPOC membership)
Patronage Cooperatives: Ampled, Resonate, Catalytic Sound
Unions and Guilds: Screen Actors Guild/American Federation of Television and Radio Actors, Freelancers Union, Art Guild of Tellico Village
UBI / UBA / GBI: Creatives Rebuild New York, Springboard for the Arts UBI, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts UBI
Energy and Utilities
Community Solar: Soulardarity
Community Broadband: Institute for Local Self Reliance’s MuniNetworks
Energy Democracy: Uprose Brooklyn
Food and Farming
Community Gardens: All community gardens!
Community Supported Agriculture: All CSAs!
Food and Farm Co-ops: Soul Fire Farm, Double Edge Theatre, Cooperative Food Empowerment Directive (CoFED), Acres of Ancestry
Community Fridges: All Community fridges!
Media & Technology
Worker-Owned News Media: Media Reparations, Associated Press, Devil Strip
Community Radio: KOJH 104.7 FM (Mutual Musicians Foundation)
Platform Cooperatives: CRUX, Guilded, Ampled, and internationally Stocksy in Canada, Smart in Belgium, Arctic Co-ops in Canada, and Doc Servizi in Italy
Solutions Journalism: Solutions Journalism Network
Open Source: Mozilla, Wikipedia
Copyleft: Creative Commons
Cooperative and Collective Study Groups: Repaired Nations,* GEEX, Anti- capitalism for Artists, Architecture Beyond Capitalism, Dark Study, Dark Matter University, Dark Laboratory,_ Artists Dismantling Capitalism, Cooperation Humboldt, School of Art, Culture, and Resistance, Arts, Culture, and Care in the Solidarity Economy Working Group_, TradeSchool.coop (closed), and so many more
_ = majority BIPOC membership
Contact Us
Let's connect!
- Marina Lopez, Co-Organizer
- Sruti Suryanarayanan, Co-Organizer
- Caroline Woolard, Co-Organizer
- Nati Linares, Co-Organizer
- Ebony Gustave, Co-Organizer
- Robin Bean Crane, Co-Organizer
Social Media
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Art.coop is a fiscally sponsored project of Movement Strategy Center. Support comes from individual contributors like you as well as the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Kenneth Rainin Foundation, the S urdna Foundation, Builders Vision, and the Mellon Foundation.
This is a website for Art.coop which exists to grow the Solidarity Economy movement by centering creatives making systems-change. Report design by Surplus+ (Shea Fitzpatrick and Lucy Siyao Liu), and website by Cole Krumbholz, Julian Boilen, and Or Zubalsky.