The Getty Foundation has awarded an additional $1.8 million to its Black Visual Arts Archives initiative, bringing total funding to $4.5 million across 20 awards. The program supports institutions in processing, digitizing, preserving, and activating archival collections related to Black artists and arts organizations in the US. Grantees include Afro Charities, the Auburn Avenue Research Library, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Charles H. Wright Museum, Morgan State University, the South Side Community Art Center, the University of Chicago’s South Side Home Movie Project, and the David C. Driskell Center. Notable discoveries include footage of the original Wall of Respect mural from the South Side Home Movie Project.
This funding matters because it addresses the systematic erasure of Black history from public institutions and government websites by making Black visual arts archives accessible to the public. The initiative connects archivists, scholars, and institutions, empowering them to preserve and share stories that mainstream media and archives have historically neglected. As federal funding landscapes shift, this sustained support helps mission-driven organizations sustain their work and push back against the loss of public funding for Black history and culture.