The Waterers

The Waterers are disruptors of philanthropy that stemmed out of Local Control, Local Fields, an initiative of ArtPlace America, a people-powered process led by grassroots Assemblies in six geographies that shaped the use of a funding pool to further strengthen their local creative place-tending field of practice. The Waterers are the entrusted fund stewards of the Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and the 23 Native Nations geographic region Assembly. Our Assembly centers Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) creatives as leaders. Our gift-making strategy attends to the nuance and complexities of this region. By the end of 2021 we redistributed $2.76 million through three separate initiatives, funding BIPOC artists, culture bearers, and organizations across the hills, lakes, prairies, woods and 23 Native Nations, as colonized into 3 states by scores of treaties. We believe in investing in small, local, and the non-colonial. Racing Magpie is where we chose to house this work to build our capacity to collectively lead and steward this fund.