At Artist Communities Alliance (ACA), we don’t have a mission statement. We have a mission question: How can ACA unite the people who power artist residencies and inspire the field?

Artist residencies have always been more than just places to make work. They are communities: spaces where artists and organizations grow together through shared risk, care, and transformation.

Artist residencies can be life-changing for artists and the organizations that host them. At Artist Communities Alliance (ACA), we know that meaningful placements don’t happen by chance — they’re built through trust, shared values, and sustained support.

Since launching its strategic plan in 2021, Artist Communities Alliance has centered the concept of equitable capacity: the organizational muscle needed to enact equity across all areas of practice.

In March of 2023 ACA received a $3 million grant from the Mellon Foundation, its biggest and most transformative grant to date.