The Uhuru Arts Foundation · Est. 2005
Freedom calls for creativity.
And a place to grow.
We liberate creativity so people who want to be free can define freedom for themselves, their communities, and their world.
UHURU MEANS FREEDOM.
Twenty-one years of creative practice.
A new chapter of collective possibility.
The Art of Freedom
We were the art
we wanted to see.
That is why we began as Living Art. We see art in how we learn, how we relate, how we organize, and what we make together. A life can be a work of art. So can a community.
Creative Liberation Practice™ carries that conviction into performance, education, and culture-making.
Practice
The Practice of Living Art
Breath, attention, voice, and movement: bringing the artist’s practice into everyday life.
Education
The Uhuru Institute
Our version of the un-school: a place for whole human beings to learn by creating.
Learning
Performance Literature Workshops
Making meaning through text and performance, from youth workshops to professional learning.
Culture
Cultural Transformation
Original works and creative inquiry that question inherited narratives and make room for other possibilities.
The founding campaign · November 23–December 31, 2026
Give the work
ground to build on.
Our first need is reliable funding for the Foundation itself. Recurring gifts help cover the cost of keeping the work going. A founding gift can also help establish the first reserve for the Power Reclamation Fund.
Your support helps build TUAF’s operating capacity, develop the Seshet Juris-Consortium, and establish the Power Reclamation Fund’s founding reserve for Black women and girls.
$40,000
Year-end campaign goal
21
Founding Circle places
One for each year of our history
Dec 31
2026 campaign close
What your support makes possible
The ground. The capacity.
The possibility.
01
A foundation
that can carry the work.
Operating capacity
Reliable bookkeeping, insurance, registrations, and the systems that support responsible stewardship. Recurring gifts help give the work continuity.
02
The Power
Reclamation Fund
In formation · Building the founding reserve
Capital and institutional architecture for Black women and Black girls. This campaign builds the reserve toward a first cohort, with program delivery tied to funding and readiness milestones.
03
The Seshet
Juris-Consortium
In formation · Educational resources in development
An initiative exploring legal education, community self-advocacy, and approaches to resolving conflict grounded in truth, balance, reciprocity, and collective responsibility.
Find your place in the next chapter
There is more than
one way to stand with us.
01 / Keep the work growing
Become a
recurring supporter.
Ankh · Threshold Circle · $10/month
Djed · Pillar Circle · $25/month
Torus · Field Circle · $84/month or $1,000/year
Seed of Life · Community Circle · $167/month or $2,000/year
Choose general support, the Power Reclamation Fund, or the Seshet Juris-Consortium.
Membership is a giving program and carries no vote in TUAF’s governance. Monthly and annual options have different annual totals. Choose your gift designation at checkout.
02 / Establish the beginning
Join the
Founding Circle.
Twenty-one Founding Circle places. A gift of $1,000–$5,000 by December 31, 2026.
Choose at checkout: half to operating ground and half to the Fund’s reserve, or direct the full gift to either purpose.
03 / Make room for the future
Give in a way
that fits your life.
A one-time gift. A conversation about giving through your donor-advised fund. An intention to include TUAF in your legacy.
Let’s find the appropriate route for your support.
Our history · Our evidence
Twenty-one years.
Always becoming.
Founded in 2005 as Living Art, NFP, TUAF grows from a practice of making culture together: breath, text, voice, performance, and the possibility that opens when people create.
2005 / CHICAGO
Living Art, NFP incorporates in Illinois on March 15. The Joy Arts Society takes shape that summer.
2008–2015 / LEARNING THROUGH MAKING
Performance Literature Workshops bring oratory, poetry, and performance into Chicago community and school settings, including the 2015 Hope Institute Learning Academy student showcase.
2017–2019 / NASHVILLE
The work expands in Nashville, including programming through OZ Arts and writing and creativity workshops at Cheekwood.
2025 / BECOMING UHURU
The board approves the name The Uhuru Arts Foundation. Uhuru means freedom, and we engage The Art of Freedom.
2026 / THE NEXT CHAPTER
The founding campaign builds operating capacity and resources for new initiatives.
A clear account of the work
Know what
you are helping build.
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Gifts are welcome now. The public campaign runs November 23–December 31, 2026. The Power Reclamation Fund and the Seshet Juris-Consortium are in formation. This page does not announce open grant applications, participant enrollment, or legal representation.
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TUAF first establishes its operating ground. The Fund’s reserve then needs to cover the first cohort’s full formation window before that cohort begins. We will report progress as milestones are reached.
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Ankh supporters receive the quarterly Uhuru letter and member convenings. Djed supporters also participate in the annual member circle advising Fund priorities. Torus supporters receive founders’ briefings twice a year; Seed of Life includes benefits for two.
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Visit Support the Work to choose a giving level and continue to Stripe’s secure checkout. Monthly and annual options recur at the interval selected.
November 23–December 31, 2026
Help the next chapter
take root.
Bring your conviction. Bring your questions.
There is a place for you in what comes next.