Sixty provides fiscal sponsorship to a handful of projects and partners as a way to advocate for and support the projects, ideas, and dreams of people within our communities. Fiscal sponsorship offers a way for them to leverage Sixty’s tax-exempt status and receive grants and donations towards their goals, and with the administrative and creative support of the Sixty team.
We see our fiscal sponsorship program as one of the many ways that we advocate for our communities by widening their possibilities for financial support while honoring the often informal and ephemeral nature of artist-led collectives, projects, and initiatives–many of which are at the heart of cultural work in the Midwest.
We are not accepting inquiries at this time.
When we are accepting inquiries, we review them on a rolling basis. We also limit the number of projects we support through fiscal sponsorship at any one time.
If you’re interested in learning more, contact us at info@sixtyinchesfromcenter.org.
Our Fiscally Sponsored Partners
The Blackivists
Sixty currently serves as the fiscal sponsor of The Blackivists, a collective of trained Black archivists who prioritize Black cultural heritage preservation and memory work. In 2020, we worked with them to launch Diamond in the Back: Excavating Chicago’s Cultural and Material Heritage, a two-year collaboration that uplifts non-extractive models for community archiving done by, about, and for Chicago’s Black communities–a project that redistributes funds and places them in the hands of the artists and cultural caretakers who know these histories best. Our relationship with The Blackivists started in with Sixty serving as a publishing platform where they could share their writing and offer archivist advice to our communities. We’ve also co-hosted archiving workshops such as Archiving 101 with Skyla Hearn and Make It Last Forever: A Digital Preservation Workshop with Zakiya Collier of Shift Collective. Click here for more about their work, services, and the founding members…
Conduit: A Midwestern Black Visual Art Preservation Initiative
Sixty serves as a fiscal sponsor Conduit, which seeks to form a coalition that will devise culturally informed models for preserving and documenting regional Black artistic production housed outside of traditional collecting institutions. Conduit was created by curator, conservationist, and art consultant Leslie Guy and brings together scholars, preservation professionals, artists, and community members from the Midwest to build together and discuss the most pressing issues of the art preservation fields. Though years in the making, Conduit kicked off this year with the inaugural gathering that took place in Chicago in April 2023 with several more to come. In addition to serving as a fiscal sponsor for Conduit, Sixty also plans to be a creative partner through editorial and programmatic collaborations in the future.
For the Birds Trapped in Airports
Sixty serves as a fiscal sponsor for the publishing studio For the Birds Trapped in Airports (FTBTIA). For the Birds Trapped in Airports supports artists who are committed to growth in their careers and to the care and well-being of their peers. FTBTIA uses a collective model where all published authors share collective book profits, partnerships, and resources with one another. Publishing within their studio is structurally designed to foster long-term care and mutual support systems between the artists they work with. In addition to our fiscal sponsorship relationship, Sixty has collaborated with FTBTIA on many creative projects, including the recent publication Case Studies in Collaboration: The Chicago Archives + Artists Project and the zine series Something To Look Forward To.
Half Letter Press
Sixty serves as a fiscal sponsor for Half Letter Press to support their publishing efforts and the essential work they do to distribute critical texts and book projects by artists, organizers, and writers we deeply admire–founders Marc Fischer and Brett Bloom included. Half Letter Press is a publishing imprint and online store initiated by Temporary Services and was created to publish and distribute book and booklet length works by Brett, Marc, and others. For over a decade, we’ve been fans of the distinct rotation of books that they offer, their deep commitment to supporting experimental and niche projects, and their love of special collections, books, and archives. Although we don’t serve as a creative partner with Half Letter Press at this time, Marc Fischer was a 2018 Chicago Archives + Artists Project artist-in-residence. Visit their website to learn more about them and browse their publications…