FiA -- The Next Act
Hello Friends of FAIR in the Arts,
Building on the community created over the past four years, we’re expanding the ways FAIR artists can find one another, share their work, build professional connections, reach new audiences, and participate in the larger cultural conversation.
As the new Interim Director of FAIR in the Arts, I’d like to introduce myself and, more importantly, invite you to become part of what comes next.
My name is Karen Howes. Most of my professional life has been spent in the theatre as a multi-award-winning playwright, artistic director, lyricist, and educator. I hold an MFA in Writing for the Performing Arts and have taught at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, written television programming for PBS, and developed series pilots for studios. I’ve also spent much of my life creating work outside conventional professional lanes, which has given me an appreciation for how important it is for independent artists to find one another.
I’m honored to step into this role with the goal of leading FiA to become a go-to community for independent, free-thinking artists: a place to find collaborators and audiences, exchange ideas, promote one another’s work, and build the professional relationships that allow serious art to flourish.
Over the coming months, that will mean more opportunities to connect: live conversations and gatherings, a directory through which artists can find and collaborate with one another, greater promotion of members’ work, and a calendar highlighting FiA performances, exhibitions, publications, screenings, readings and events. I hope that means I’ll meet many of you through email, across a Zoom room, or, even better, in person.
But the larger ambition, the bigger picture, goes beyond networking and promotion. FiA can provide a vehicle through which artists become active participants in shaping culture. For too long, much of the contemporary arts world has encouraged artists to think of themselves through categories that are political, demographic, and ideological before thinking of themselves as artists. We are changing that.
We believe artists should be free to follow an idea wherever it leads; to create characters who refuse to behave according to political expectations; to ask uncomfortable questions; to risk offending an audience; to pursue beauty, humor, complexity, truth, and excellence without first determining whether the result conforms to the prevailing cultural script.
That freedom comes with responsibility. If artists want a culture in which intellectual independence and artistic courage are valued, we cannot simply wait for institutions to create it for us. We have to become its builders.
That means cultivating artists who are willing not only to create independently, but to become leaders within their disciplines: starting companies and publications, producing work, mentoring younger artists, creating new venues, supporting one another’s projects, and opening doors for artists whose work deserves to be seen.
Our ambition for FAIR in the Arts is therefore not simply to provide refuge from an arts culture that is ideologically narrow, or that determines the value of an artist’s work by the immutable characteristics of its artist. It is to help build something better.
I’m deeply grateful to Monica Harris for her genuine enthusiasm for FAIR in the Arts and her support for where we plan to take it. I’m especially grateful to the artists and supporters who built the community over the past four years and gave us something worth expanding.
This first newsletter is an invitation: Tell us what you’re creating. Tell us about your upcoming performances, exhibitions, publications and events. Tell us what you need professionally, and what expertise, opportunities or connections you might be able to offer another artist. Tell us what you think FAIR in the Arts should become.
Below is a preview of what we’re building, what we’re talking about, and where we hope to go in the remainder of 2026 and beyond. Welcome to the next act.
Warmly,
Karen
Interim Director, FAIR in the Arts
FiA Goals and Vision:
Building a path for a stronger artistic community
Launch a Member Spotlight Calendar through which FiA members can share screenings, performances, openings, book tours, speeches, and any event that highlights your work as an artist. We want to know what you’re doing. Send information to Arts@fairforall.org. In the subject line, write Calendar Submission - the month
Connect FAIR Chapter Leaders with FAIR Artists in each state to provide more streamlined connections between local artists and local resources, audiences, and supporters.
Launch a weekly Artist Stories series introducing members to one another and the larger FAIR community. We’ll begin with FAIR’s 2026 Artist Grant recipients through the end of the year, then expand the series to feature artists throughout the FiA community.
Publish FAIR Artists Directory online with member-only access to assist artists with FAIR-friendly resources and collaborators.
Launch a Fundraising initiative to provide Artist Grants for our 2027 cycle and to build FAIR-aligned support for our artists’ projects. We are looking to form a committee of artists, producers and friends of the arts who can help us write grants, create presentations, and seek donor-based funding sources.
Increase our Social Media presence. We want to be out there. Too many independent artists have spent years measuring their words or keeping their heads down for fear that an unfashionable opinion might cost them professionally. FiA wants to help create an arts culture in which artists can be artists without first passing an ideological or identity test. Look for us on Substack Notes, X, and Instagram -- and help us spread the word by sharing our Substack and encouraging other artists to join.
FiA Events and Gatherings:
Getting together with like-minded artists and supporting each other’s work
FiA will host monthly Zoom gatherings where we can meet one another discuss successes, challenges, industry news, and strategies for elevating individual artists, and FAIR-aligned thinking while rebuilding every aspect of the arts. Our first meet-up will be October 21 at 7PM ET; then every third Wednesday of the month. Stay tuned for a Zoom link. I hope you will join us.
We encourage local in-person gatherings. A deep thank you to Julie Eicher Aguilar for organizing a meet and greet on September 12th at the Virgin Hotel in Nashville. Over 20 artists gathered to informally discuss work, life, and dreams. It was exciting to see so many enthusiastic creators in one place. If you want to announce an upcoming In-person meeting or tell us about one you had, send an email to Arts@fairforall.org In the subject line write Local Meet-up.
FiA Member News:
Staying Connected! Read about what other FAIR artists are doing
FAIR Artist Grant recipient Mary Poindexter McLaughlin received over 250 submissions for DEAR US: One-Acts to Bridge the Divide, her new short-play project designed to put varied viewpoints on the same stage and encourage open-hearted listening and dialogue across differences. The winning plays and finalists were announced on September 20th; performances are on October 25th & 26th in Tarpon Springs, Florida.
FAIR Artist Grant recipient Kimberley Tait celebrated the launch of Dogstar Press, her new independent publishing company dedicated to “beautiful, sincere, 100% human fiction.” The press champions fiction created by human writers in an increasingly AI-driven publishing environment. https://www.dogstar.press/
Unspeakable podcast host Meghan Daum sat down with Kimberley Tait to discuss Tait’s recently published novel, Bright Stars, September 11, and the cultural transition from what Daum describes as the “Before Times.”
Robert Cooperman, artistic director of Stage Right Theatrics and a FAIR Artist Grant recipient, has launched the podcast For the Rest of Us, a program devoted to the arts, their influence on American culture, and the role traditionally minded artists can play in shaping that culture. The program airs on Saturday at 11 AM on 95.9 FM in Columbus, Ohio — and here, where you can also get past episodes.
Reaching Out:
Helping us build a network
We want to know what you know, what you hear, what you see, and what you’re doing. Send news, events, opinions, successes, and challenges to arts@fairforall.org . In the subject line write - News for FiA Newsletter
FiA is building a resource directory of studios, performance spaces, bookstores, galleries, venues and other arts resources where independent artists can work, participate and connect. We also hope to partner with venues willing to offer FiA members reduced ticket prices or other benefits. Know a place we should include? Send it our way.
Your generous support enables us to continue developing resources, strengthening our artist network, and advocating for open, viewpoint-diverse arts communities. Please consider supporting FiA today and asking others to do the same.