Vision

Athena Project envisions a world with gender equity, where women’s voices are valued and amplified in the arts, with equitable access for underserved and historically marginalized communities through inspiring programs, engaging events and impactful advocacy. WE VALUE: (in order 1. The inherent power in the artistic voices of all women and underrepresented genders 2. Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion 3. Equitable access to the arts 4. Equality in opportunities, representation, and pay 5. The creative process 6. The power of art to connect communities Athena Project recognizes that gender and identity are part of a spectrum and can be complex topics. We welcome dialogue and questions. We also wish to create a safer space for the expression and growth of all women, nonbinary, trans, intersex, genderfluid people, and people who are also members of the LGBTQIA+ community.

Goals

1. 1.Athena Project is a volunteer-run organization, with many different teams & specialty areas, some of whom are stipend-funded as project budgets allow. While we’ve always paid artists, our focus going forward is to pay backend support equitably, too. We think of volunteers as “staff” as they truly do the work that makes up the traditional staff of our organization. We couldn’t exist without them.
2. 2.Girls Create Summer Camps have served 300 campers since 2016. Last fall, we piloted 2 Artfully Minded workshops for girls/nonbinary youth to go beyond camp, building connections via creative arts learning. We offer free monthly workshops with a community partner. To grow the program, we focus on historically excluded areas lacking arts access; bring arts to communities + dismantling barriers.
3. 3.Investing in marketing, community engagement and for Fall of 2025/2026, Database Support/Management to build capacity for growth. While these activities take bandwidth, increasing visibility and community connections as well as improving backend data tracking will lead to increased revenue for Curating Art for Impact, as well as expanded reach for our organization as a whole.