Get to Know: The Women’s Coalition for Empowerment, Inc
Many independent artists face challenges such as limited access to resources, support systems, and consistent bookings, making it extremely difficult for them to sustain their work. The Women’s Coalition for Empowerment, Inc., a WOMEN’S WAY General Operating Fund grantee*, exists to bridge the gap between art and commerce for local creatives. Read along as we talk to Shekhinah B., the Executive Director of The WCE, and learn more about how the Coalition is transforming the creative economy.
Following our commitment to equity in grant-making and in direct response to input from our community partners, WOMEN’S WAY launched the General Operating Fund in 2022 to provide unrestricted, 2-year grants to organizations primarily serving women, girls, and/or the gender-expansive community. You can learn more about the grant program here.
Tell us a bit about yourself and your organization.
My name is Shekhinah. I’m the Executive Director of the Women’s Coalition for Empowerment, Inc. We’re a micro 501C3 organization that primarily works in the arts and culture sector, providing high-quality opportunities to low-moderate income independent creatives in the Greater Philadelphia region! We partner with different arts institutions and dedicate approximately 50% of our revenues back into the pockets of independent creatives in the region. We’re improving and enhancing the creative economy one gig at a time by merging the gap between art and commerce.
What does a week as the Executive Director of The Women’s Coalition for Empowerment look like for you?
Oh, lots of Zoom meetings because we’re one of the first remote-based nonprofit entities not to have a brick-and-mortar space… So a day for me is constantly working on contracts, contacting artists, applying for funding opportunities, negotiating deals with spaces to partner with, looking for sponsors, holding sponsorship meetings, marketing on social media, and revamping the Art Economic Empowerment curriculum to make it even more dynamic and up-to-date, because, yes, there’s that step of starting the business, but then there’s that merging the gap between art and commerce where artists are like ‘okay, there have to be other ways that I can make money and not just using the talent’. [I’m] teaching [artists] how to search and secure and execute programming opportunities and grants that are available. I’m always looking for the funding that I feel best fits our needs without conflicts of interest.
