Deadline: January 17, 2018

The Intercultural Leadership Institute (ILI) is seeking applications from established and emerging artists, culture bearers and other arts professionals in various stages of career development. The Intercultural Leadership Institute is a rigorous, year-long personal and leadership development program created out of our shared commitment to pursue cultural equity and to support artists, culture bearers and other arts professionals as change-makers in their communities.

ILI is a collaborative program of Alternate ROOTS, First Peoples Fund, National Association of Latino Arts & Cultures (NALAC) and PA’I Foundation. The effort grew out of our direct experiences as leaders of these founding cultural organizations. They seek to develop leaders specifically within the arts & culture field to adeptly respond to significant changes that impact society, politics, environment and economy. As a peer cohort, ILI intercultural leaders hone personal and professional skills to affect local, national and global communities – and promote a shift toward greater awareness, resourcing and action in the broader field of arts & culture.

Up to 30 people will be selected to participate in the Institute with 12 nominees chosen from the ILI core partners’ memberships and the remaining participants chosen from the applicant field at large. The program will be rigorous and will require commitment to attend three week-long in-person convenings as well as participation in online sessions, peer interaction and other engagement over the course of a one-year period.

Program Content

The 2018-19 ILI intensives for the second cohort will occur within the following dates:

• September 12-18, 2018
• ​January 23-29, 2019
• May 1-7, 2019

The ILI curriculum affords participants the opportunity to approach skill-building, leadership and capacity from the point of view of cultural grounding. The curriculum expands in four central directions:

• Who We Are — establishing the groundwork for learning from one another and about ourselves;
• How We Work — enhancing the skills and capacity needed to sustain our work and our cultural vision and to thrive artistically and with purpose;
• Where We Are — locating ourselves in particular places, histories and communities and in a relationship of solidarity with others;
• Why We Matter – grasping the magnitude of the tectonic social shifts happening in the U.S. and the world today as they impact artists and our communities.

The Institute will offer multiple modes of learning — presentational, visual, kinesthetic, experiential, creative and more — with the recognition that we all learn, teach and share in different ways.  ILI faculty consists of nationally recognized professionals and leaders in the arts and cultural field with core curriculum development led by the ILI partner organizations.

Benefits

All program costs including accommodation and travel will be covered for program participants by ILI and their funding partners.

Eligibility

• Open to established and emerging artists, culture bearers and other arts professionals in various stages of career development.
• At the time an application is submitted, the applicant must be an artist, culture bearer, arts professional and/or administrator.
• Successful applicants will demonstrate strong leadership potential within the field of arts and culture as well as a deep commitment to community, social change and/or cultural equity.

Application

Complete applications must be submitted online. A complete application includes an Online Profile, Narrative, Audio or Video Essay & optional Work Sample. ​​

Applications are accepted through Wednesday, January 17, 2018 at 7 p.m. EST.  Please be aware of your time zone and note that the system will not accept applications after 7 p.m. EST on January 17, 2018.

To submit an application for the 2018-19 ILI fellowship, follow these steps:

• Step 1:  Create a Submittable account or if you already have an account with Submittable, login with your username and password.  Note that Submittable requires some contact information to be provided for establishing or updating an account.  Some of this information will be requested again in the actual ILI application form once you advance to the next screen.
• Step 2:  Enter contact information and continue as the online application form will guide you through the series of prompts and questions as outlined in the Application Guidelines
• Step 3:  Type (or paste) your responses directly into the online form and upload links or documents as prompted.
• Step 4:  Click “Apply Now” to submit your complete application. You will receive an email confirmation upon submission.

If you have questions or need application support, please join an ILI Informational Call on January 8 or contact ILI at [email protected].

For more information, visit Intercultural Leadership Institute.