A Spectrum of Change: Why Is An Art Foundation Tackling Mass Incarceration?
In addition to supporting artists in the many fields in which Rauschenberg worked, the foundation has taken the lead in the evolving and red-hot field of "artist as activist" philanthropy, launching its Artist as Activist program in 2012.
A growing number of foundations, including A Blade of Grass, the Surdna Foundation, the Shelly and Donald Rubin Foundation, and the Ford Foundation, are working this same terrain, sharing Rauschenberg's vision that the arts can be a powerful vehicle for social change.
The Rauschenberg Foundation, meanwhile, has become more laser-focused in its approach. Last year, it announced its Artist as Activist program would focus solely on projects that "address the intersections between race, class and mass incarceration." By focusing on a specific issue, the foundation differentiated itself from a growing space filled with funders concerned with the broader connections between art and social activism. …