The Living Heritage Foundation

Reviewed by the Sacramento Region Community Foundation

$3,192 raised by 20 donors

6% complete

$50,000 Goal

WHO WE ARE
   The Living Heritage Foundation (LHF), based in Sacramento, CA, was founded by Susheel Bibbs (see below*). OUR FOUNDATION, a 501c3 charity since 2012, fills a special niche in support of the arts and media. We invite donation partners to help us grow -- as we champion the careers and dreams of outstanding artists of any ethnicity who have already taken the time to enrich our programming with works by/about African Americans or women of note. We help those giving artists to soar even higher in their careers and dream projects.

   Many grants exist for students and young artists, but not for established professional artists -- those who are beyond regular Young Artist (YAP), Award, and scholarship programs and have little time to write large grants. As successful, perpetual contract workers, they must fund their own travel, lodging, production costs, websites, lessons and coachings, auditions, and special projects--things essential to touring careers during these times. They too need a hand, and LHF stands uniquely to give them that hand with your assistance -- a hand that enriches arts and media programming for us all.
   Last year, we offered a Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously to Maestro Michael Morgan and gave fiscal & co-sponsorships, and project-development grants. Now we are seeing the fruits of those projects in the careers we have championed -- Some will involve programming that can be performed both live and seen online;  two were celebrated in major concert venues, one in Opera News. We saw 2 of our sponsored films gain their 21st international award (combined) & continued presentation on PBS.  Now we prepare to give more for 2023. 

*Susheel Bibbs, our Founder-Artistic & Executive Director, is an award-winning classical singer and filmmaker and an Emmy-award-winning Public Broadcasting radio-TV Producer. Bibbs has won 21 recent film-festival awards and is known especially for her award-winning research and touring presentations on two unsung Black heroines (www.susheelbibbs.com, www.thehyerssisterssite.com, www.marypleasant1.com).  With this Foundation, Bibbs hopes to assist other professionals who share her passion for unique, enriching, and often underrepresented programming.

OUR BOARD

Susheel Bibbs (listed above) with our Board and esteemed advisors oversee our programs.   Board members include -- Sharleen Cooper Cohen (renowned Broadway producer & best-selling author), Iona Morris (acclaimed TV actress & recent director on the TV series Blackish), Lou Ziskind (former S.C.O.R.E. executive and an administrative expert), baritone Robert Sims, Ph.D.  (an acclaimed operatic/concert singer-producer), Linda S. Goodrich, Ph.D. (celebrated choreographer & former University arts administrator), Nedra Williams (an award-winning visual artist).  

OUR PROGRAMS
   Our programs include fiscal sponsorship, project development & travel grants, project mentoring, and special projects that support our mission. Since 2012, we have grown and met program needs with the generous assistance of donors. During Covid, LHF gave important, emergency grants to meet artists' needs along with our usual programs. In 2022, we partnered with acclaimed organizations, such as California Camerata (Sacramento) & Noontime Concerts (San Francisco), to support the dream projects that support our sponsored artists and our mission.

WHAT WE HAVE DONE

   LHF has already made an impact internationally.  In 2022, we co-presented an acclaimed concert called Majesty of the Spiritual:  Heralded by Opera News, curated by baritone Robert Sims, and presented by Noontime Concerts, this concert presented twelve internationally acclaimed operatic stars at Herbst Theater (San Francisco) in a  program of operatic concert spirituals.  Begun at Lincoln Center in 2019 as Masters of the Spiritualit will travel to Chicago and Detroit in 2023. LHF also recently helped launch the one-woman musical Jacqueline!  (on the late cellist Jacqueline du Pres), which won Toronto's Dora Award and contributed to 2 unique projects to extend the career of the renowned diva, Denyce Graves -- the Black Opera House restoration & Shared Voices projects.  In 2022, we restored & premiered a work by William Still with California Camerata in a tribute to John Lewis, and, our 3 short fiscally-sponsored films on African-American women-of-note -- Mary Pleasant (California's Mother of Civil Rights) & The Hyers Sisters (creators of the first American musical)-- won their 21st international award. Two of these films are on PBS through 2025.

   We have sent artists to audition in Europe, to sing opera in China, and to make a recording in New Zealand and brought US artists back to the States to perform at the MET, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and Spoleto Festival; we have presented international masterclasses by Simon Estes, Osceola Davis, and Gregory Lamar on Zoom -- An amazing record for a small organization. Thanks to your gifts, WE HAVE BECOME SMALL, BUT MIGHTY!!


Giving Activity

Mission

The mission of The Living Heritage Foundation (LHF) is to provide special projects as well as programs (grants, fiscal sponsorship, and mentoring) that will expand the careers of accomplished arts and media professionals who have enriched our programming with works by/about African Americans or women of note.

Needs

1. To raise $35,000 to advance our grant, co-sponsored, and special programs. We hope:

-to make 4 substantial quarterly artist grants and to continue our emergency grant program,

-to give an annual Lifetime Achievement Award,

- to publish 2 of The Hyers Sisters' original 1870-80's masterworks and a new research digest on Mary Ellen Pleasant, California's Mother of Civil Rights.

- to help edit and stream 2 online concerts of our co-sponsored works and produce two new master classes.

2. To raise $5,000:

-to produce an LHF promotional trailer &

-to upgrade our introductory Website and produce an IG site for the Foundation

-- The upgrade will allow LHF to hire a web developer and house posters, reviews, videos, and links to LHF-supported projects. This will increase their visibility online.

3. To raise $5,000 to meet our office equipment and assistance needs: Part of this will fund upgrades in software and a computer and will hire assistance, including a part-time editor-coordinator (a former, trained intern), who can help build a group of volunteers and assist in editing our videos.

4. To raise $6,000 for fees for our 2023 special efforts:

- Publishing the two Hyers' 1870's & 80's first musicals, which we have digitized, making them available to the public for the first time since their last performances in 1894

- heightening awareness of our current special projects

- Editing/indexing the definitive study on the life of Mary Pleasant, California's Mother of Civil Rights

-producing 2 new international online master classes

-supporting video on our co-sponsored programs.

5. To raise $4000 in travel-lodging funds:

-to support our presentations at key Humanities and Arts conferences

-to support travel for our special mentees so that, in a limited way, they can better interact with legendary mentors

MEETING THE NEEDS ABOVE (1-5) will require video editing, Art and Web design, and some production costs, donations, and hiring, but the gains will far outweigh the costs. For example, updating our Web site and creating a Foundation promo to display our programs effectively will aid fundraising and connect our work with our grantee/sponsoree sites. This will attract many more donations and applicants. Our old site is (www.thelivingheritsgefoundation.org )

Our expansion will require a part-time Web assistant, who will receive an hourly fee, but our work will become more effective and we will again volunteers to advance our programs.

Equity Statement

Our foundation is committed to equity and inclusion in all of our programs. Grants, mentoring, fiscal sponsorship, and special programs are available to all who qualify without regard to preference, race, or ethnicity.

Organization Data

Summary

Organization name

The Living Heritage Foundation

other names

LHF

Tax id (EIN)

45-4536603

Mission Category

Arts, Culture & Humanities

Operating Budget

$50,001 - $100,000

Organization Need

Funding: Program, Technology, Space: Office or Other, Board Members, Volunteers

Demographics Served

General population, Black/African American, Women/Female-identifying

BIPOC Leadership

Both the Executive Director & Board Chair

Counties Served

Placer, Sacramento, Yolo

Address

123 Mint Leaf Wy.
Sacramento, CA 95838

Service areas

US

Sacramento, CA, US

Phone

415-310-0529

fax

916-921-5785

Social Media