Joining Wallace’s multiyear arts initiative launched in 2021, Sipp Culture will to explore how artists can serve as, and also support, community health workers to enhance the health and wellness of the rural Black community of Utica.

Utica, MS, November 20, 2023 – Mississippi Center for Cultural Production (Sipp Culture) has been selected to participate in the research-focused component of The Wallace Foundation’s ongoing arts initiative focused on arts organizations founded by, with, and for communities of color. Wallace awarded a total of $2.8 million to 11 organizations to conduct their own research on issues relevant to the well-being of arts organizations of color and the communities they serve, including: Camden FireWorks, Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco, Critical Ecology Lab, Kyoung’s Pacific Beat, Latinx Theatre Commons, Media and Data Equity Lab at Northwestern University, National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures, National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development, Silk Road Rising, and Support Oakland Artists.

Sipp Culture’s project is part of Wallace’s Field Studies program, in which arts service organizations committed to advancing communities of color collaborate with researchers on studies designed to bring depth, breadth, and perspective to the nature of the ecosystem of nonprofit arts organizations of color and their communities. 

Sipp Culture is partnering with researchers at RISE Research & Evaluation and the Center for Africana Studies at Indiana University Indianapolis to explore how artists can serve as, and also support, community health workers to enhance the health and wellness of the rural Black community of Utica. Using qualitative and community-based participatory research approaches, the team will collect and analyze oral histories of fellow Utica residents to develop culturally responsive and arts-centered health worker training approaches. 

Stay tuned for updates on this exciting project!