With five colleagues from across the country, Adam Erickson and Irfana Jetha Noorani recently launched Vital Little Plans —an artist collective and giving circle that supports equitable, creative and vital plans that are arts-driven and community-led for neighborhoods and places. Adam and Irfana are two graduates of Philanthropy Together's Launchpad For You program, and with their leadership team, they worked to define their circle's mission and values.

Vital Little Plans is grounded in the belief that artist communities can lead systemic change. During my session at the 2020 ArtPlace Summit “Giving Circles: We Can All Be Philanthropists”, Adam, who is also a member of the ArtPlace America leadership team, emphasized the importance of giving in the artist community. Artists are on the front lines of driving community change. By investing in small, artist-led collaboratives, we can leverage their efforts to affect long-term social change driven by and for communities.

One of my favorite moments from the summit was when Vital Little Plans met and exceeded its fundraising goal — while Adam was in the middle of presenting! Clearly, his message resonated with the audience.

Read the full article about the 2020 ArtPlace Summit and Vital Little Plans' launch by Sara Lomelin on Medium.