2022 IU Foundation’s Black Philanthropy Circle Grants

In October 2022, IU Auditorium will welcome Soweto Gospel Choir to the Indiana University Bloomington campus for a residency designed to explore and empower African traditions through a public performance and engaging community programs. With their exemplary artistry for which they are widely revered, Soweto Gospel Choir will transform the IU Auditorium stage into a cultural destination for nearly 2,000 audience members. In keeping with IU Auditorium’s strong tradition of providing educational outreach programming, the company will also engage with IU Bloomington students and faculty through the African American Arts Institute and additional arts and humanities programs through masterclasses, workshops, and discussions.

The Kelley Africa Week is a 5-day event occurring in October 2022. The goal of the event is to create an awareness about businesses in Africa, the opportunities, and potential challenges of doing business in Africa, the emerging business trends in Africa, and the role of Africa and African business students in the global business world. The event will focus on 3 different categories which includes Educational (business talks, African business pitch competition), Afro social (African cultural display, dance class and fashion exhibition) and Alumni networking and speaker series. The event will feature renowned business leaders both in Africa and the United States, small business owners and entrepreneurs in Africa and the United States in collaboration with other professional clubs at Kelley School of Business.

This program is focused on IU Cinema showcasing the work of Maya Cade, a nationally recognized archivist and programmer of Black film. Maya’s programming residency combines public film education around Black film and student mentorship in a ten-film, month-long public program.

The project aims to build community among Black educators through the regular interactions with those studying to be teachers, those currently in the classroom, and high school students considering future teaching careers. By helping Black students complete their School of Education academic program in four years and connecting undergraduates with local schools in culturally engaging programming, the project will strengthen accessibility and retention for Black educators.

The Black Women Faculty Community project aims to support and retain Black women faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences. The initiative focuses on three specific needs of Black faculty at predominantly white institutions: respect, community, and being one’s “authentic self.” It proposes to engage these needs via the creation of an intentional, comprehensive, and accountable networking and support community. Central to this community will be an emphasis on shared challenges, a focus on the needs and goals of the group, and the cultivation and strengthening of community member relationships and interconnectedness.

Onyxfest is Indianapolis' first and only theater festival dedicated to the stories of Black playwrights, known as a soulful Mosaic of Black Life on Stage. This festival seeks to utilize the power of the Black Arts to engage the community and encourage narratives that affirm Black life.

The Student Engagement in Sickle Cell Research program will allow IU medical students to further sickle cell research with expert IU faculty as their mentors. With a focus on recruiting underrepresented students, funding will provide much-needed support for students to experience research and enhance the sickle cell disease efforts underway at IU.

The IU Indianapolis Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion aims to foster a space for marginalized people to share in community and to trigger critical conversations on race, gender, class, sexuality, etc., and the intersections thereof. This series seeks to host multiple black speakers for the Diversity Series to engage different sects of the community than those who are normally accessible through more traditional education practices.

This event was developed with the purpose of intentionally and explicitly inviting the Black community in the Richmond, IN area to learn more about the IU East School of Nursing and Health Sciences. The intention is to both strengthen the school’s existing relationship with the Richmond NAACP chapter and to recruit black prospective students in accordance with the school’s mission of contributing to the diversity of the local nursing workforce.

This initiative will develop interprofessional healthcare career exploration and programming showcasing opportunities for diverse students in grades 8-12 and enhance relationships through external partnerships as an opportunity to support the health career pathways in Fort Wayne and northeastern Indiana to a diverse student population.

The goal of this project is to expose African American students to the historical impact of the African Diaspora. We will foster personhood, a sense of place, and agency by offering a program relevant to the African American experience. This will bolster IU South Bend’s retention of African American students.