Leeann Wallett

Program Officer, Ambitious @Center For Cultural Innovation

AmbitioUS is an initiative of CCI to act as an experimental arm of the philanthropic sector. AmbitioUS is a set of activities to enact a new, values-based economic ecosystem; to afford ownership among those who have been excluded by conventional systems of for-profit and nonprofit support; to center on artists and cultural work that root enabling financial systems; and to act in common cause with others to help artists and all those who share their challenging gig conditions of low wages, unpredictable income, high debt, few assets, and little credit.The time-limited pooled fund (no more than 10 years; through 2028) designed to- Shift capital, power, and ownership to cultural communities under threat- Experiment with aggregating artists’ collective power- Shift funder behavior in the direction of strategic change- Long-Term Vision: Structures that enact a national cultural identity of diversity and mutualismAmbitioUS response invests in:>> Economic Trailblazers who are building economic models that are based on relationships, well-being, & their stewardship; not exclusively economic growth.>> Experiments that support artists’ collective ownership of assets (intellectual property, physical assets, political voice).