ArtTable’s Impact Initiatives

Since 1980, ArtTable has been working to advance the professional leadership of women and nonbinary professionals in the visual arts. Through various programs, we educate and inform members and the public about significant developments and issues in the visual arts, support dialogue, and promote the evolving leadership role of women and nonbinary arts leaders.

Fellowship Program

ArtTable’s fellowship program began in 2000 to address the marked lack of diversity in arts employment.  This impactful program provides quality real work experiences and mentorship to women and nonbinary emerging professionals from backgrounds generally underrepresented in the visual arts field. During the paid, five-to-eight-week summer program, the fellows will work closely with established leaders in the field to gain exposure to various professional activities at leading museums and art organizations. Fellows also receive one-on-one mentoring from leading professionals who are ArtTable members and are specialized in their areas of interest.

Career Development RoundTable

ArtTable’s Career Roundtable, one of our longest-standing and most impactful career mentoring programs, influences the career paths of more than 1,700 students and emerging professionals. The program, a nationwide event held over two days each Fall, is designed to give emerging leaders in arts administration, art business, museum studies, art history, curatorial studies, and arts internships an opportunity to meet with professional women and nonbinary professionals in the visual arts to discuss career opportunities.

DEIA Efforts

ArtTable recognizes the imperative to center diversity, equity, inclusion, and access in our work. As an organization that has been around for over 40 years, a certain amount of structural reorganization must occur to align ourselves with these ideals. To ensure tangible change, the organization has outlined an action plan that includes professional consultation, educational seminars, and developing programs that reach a more diverse audience. With your help, we hope to continue to grow ArtTable’s leadership, programming, and membership to ensure diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility within the organization and the art world.

Pay Equity

In 2022, ArtTable began partnering with Columbia Sociology Professor Dr. Gillian Gualtieri to conduct a survey that would help gain a deeper understanding of how systems of gender inequality shape compensation, career experiences, and outcomes for professionals in the arts. This data is being used to improve current statistics around pay equity for arts professionals in an attempt to shed light on the inequities in our field with never-before-gathered research. In addition to our survey and its succeeding analytical report, ArtTable hosts free public programs on pay equity to engage the community in dialogue and, ultimately, catalyze change from within.

Affiliate Level Membership

Inclusive of these efforts, we strive to grow our membership base to include greater socio-economic and age diversity. In 2021, ArtTable introduced a subsidized membership level. This affiliate level allows women and nonbinary art professionals with less than five years of experience to participate as members for only $85 per year. The Impact Initiatives Fund subsidizes this membership for 100s of arts professionals.