About
BIPOC Arts Network and Fund, or BANF, revolutionizes the local funding landscape, breaks down silos within the arts ecosystem, and welcomes everyone to support and learn from BIPOC arts communities. We utilize equity-focused and community-participatory funding initiatives; community-informed evaluation and learning practices; and asset-based network building strategies to inform leadership, advocacy, and action.
BANF was created in a time of crisis to provide resources and networks that support the vibrant Black, Latinx, Indigenous, Asian American, Pacific Islander, Middle Eastern and other communities of color of Greater Houston in fully displaying their power, values and traditions.
Nominate Community Reviewers
BANF is seeking public nominations for Community Reviewers, or panelists, who will join the organization’s leadership to engage in a peer review process to consider grant applications. Community Reviewers may include independent artists, educators, patrons, community leaders and organizers.
Nominate yourself or someone you know below:
Programs
Crisis Relief
At its launch, BANF invested $2 million into BIPOC-founded and led organizations and fiscally-sponsored artist collectives that promote, preserve, and celebrate Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian, and other communities of color through arts and cultural programming. This one-time investment was an effort to provide direct and urgent support for Houston’s BIPOC arts ecosystem in the face of the pandemic and compounded crises.
Houston Cultural Treasures
The Greater Houston regional initiative of the Ford Foundation’s America’s Cultural Treasures will invest $5M of direct resources and technical support in the arts organizations that have anchored our communities of color and shaped Houston’s dynamic and diverse culture that we benefit from today.
Cultural Treasures Accelerator
The Cultural Treasure Accelerator (CTA) initiative catalyzes resilience and stability through a one-time opportunity fund grant and a peer network. Awardees recognized in the CTA initiative will receive a $20,000 grant and a 12-month peer network experience. Application opens April 23. Deadline is May 27.
2025 BANF Artist Awards
A one-time investment of $20,000 in 25 artists who will form an 18-month learning community to transform the artistic landscape of Greater Houston.
BANF in the News
Selected coverage of the awards featuring some of our grantees:
Leadership
Sixto Wagan
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) Arts Network and Fund
Sixto Wagan is the Executive Director for the BIPOC Arts Network and Fund. He leads BANF along with a seven-member Steering Committee and a nine-member Accountability and Advisory Council made up of a diverse group of artists, curators, scholars, organizational leaders and foundation partners, who guide goals and priorities.
Before joining BANF, Wagan was the inaugural director for the Center for Art and Social Engagement (CASE) at the University of Houston. He also led the contemporary art center, DiverseWorks, serving a multitude of capacities including artistic director, co-executive director and performing arts curator.
Steering Committee
Kevin Anderson
Founding Chief Executive Officer
The T.R.U.T.H. Project
Executive Director
Arte Público Press
Inclusion, Engagement and Training Director Stages Theatre
Executive Director, CEO
Indo-American Association Houston
Director of Education and Community Projects
Kinder Foundation
Ashley DeHoyos Sauder
Curator
DiverseWorks
Angel Harvey
Director, Programs
The Powell Foundation
Tony Diaz
Writer, Activist
and Political Analyst
Bao-Long Chu
Program Director – Arts and Parks
Houston Endowment
Deputy Executive Director
SHAPE Community Center, Inc
Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Distinguished Professor,
University of Houston
Community Consultants &
Accountability and Advisory Council
Sebastien Boncy
Photographer and Educator
Fundadora y miembro de la Colectiva Feminista Colibrí
Torrina Harris
Poet, Organizer, and Educator
Marketing & Event Rentals Coordinator
SHAPE Community Center
Writer, educator, founder of Tintero Projects
Professional Movement Artist
Kristi Rangel
Artist and Educator
Dr. Michelle Tovar
Director of Education
Buffalo Soldiers Museum
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