SAIC graduate student Johanna Tesfaye and faculty member Leah Gipson (MA 2010), both in the Art Therapy department, received one of these $3,000 grants to create a makespace for the School’s Black, Brown, Indigenous, and people of color community. “The group exists so you know people have your back, and you know this is a shared experience, and because we are choosing to be in this space, we make it a space that works for us,” Tesfaye said.

“What I see the Belonging and Compassion Grant doing is connecting the institutional power of SAIC with the kind of work being done by individuals close to the ground,” Mullen said. “What that means is giving power of voice to the community the work is serving. How can we identify needs unless we are asking those in need? This grant is allowing room for that kind of conversation. And that’s a creative act.”