The Sachs Program statement on the Palestine Writes Literature Festival
September 14, 2023
The Sachs Program for Arts Innovation would like to clarify our role regarding the upcoming Palestine Writes Literature Festival, scheduled for September 22–24, 2023.
In our 2022-2023 grant cycle, The Sachs Program supported two arts-centered festival components through a Community Partnerships Grant awarded to the Wolf Humanities Center at the University of Pennsylvania.
The two programs supported by the Sachs Program grant were as follows:
- A panel of mural and graffiti artists
- An exhibit of art and photography
We acknowledge the concerns raised over some of the speakers invited to participate in unrelated festival programs. We will not comment directly on this programming as we did not fund it.
The Sachs Program supports projects that reflect our priorities for grantmaking and align with our mission. We condemn all forms of discrimination. Equity, inclusivity, belonging, and antiracism are core values of our program, and we strive to center those values in all that we do.
Sachs Program Mission Statement
The Sachs Program for Arts Innovation’s mission is to support and inspire creative practice and practitioners across the University of Pennsylvania—in all twelve schools, in the university’s artistic and cultural centers, and through the many partnerships and collaborations that connect Penn to the world at large.
We support a vibrant, creative community and wish to ensure that our community members are valued and supported in the ways necessary to thrive. Diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism are central to our goals as a program and our priorities for grantmaking.
We aim to bolster marginalized peoples and elevate historically silenced voices. We also seek to support artists and practitioners creating work that grapples with current issues and ideas relevant to our time, as well as contextualizing scholarly and historical research in topical ideas and innovative approaches to practice and pedagogy.
Experimentation is a core value of The Sachs Program, as is collaboration within and across disciplinary and institutional boundaries. We are committed to a holistic approach to enriching the arts at Penn, investing in schools and centers and creative practitioners, and contributing to collective efforts for the growth and expansion of arts-driven activities and spaces.
The Sachs Program is committed to cultivating meaningful partnerships between Penn and its surrounding communities and encouraging non-hierarchical artistic and intellectual exchange. The Sachs Program does not place greater value on one art form over another but aims to support a range of innovative and experimental practices across disciplines, departments, centers, creative groups, and peoples.