Feminist Center for Creative Work

What Feminist Center for Creative Work does

The Feminist Center for Creative Work is an intersectional feminist art organization founded in 2013 and based in Los Angeles, operating with 1-10 employees as a member of the Los Angeles Visual Arts (LAVA) Coalition. The LAVA Coalition is a non-hierarchical collective of 8 independent, small-to-mid-sized artist-centered 501(c)(3) organizations in Los Angeles County, each with annual operating budgets between $100K and $3M, founded organically in March 2020 during the pandemic shutdown to address shared structural challenges including fundraising competition, scarcity mindsets, and limited administrative capacity.

The organization participates in three LAVA Coalition programs: the Creative Worker Health Care Plan (targeting $900,000 for benefits coverage of all 180 full-time and part-time employees across member organizations), Capacity Building Across the Sector ($200,000 for shared HR, Finance, and Development consultants), and Economic Recovery and Sustainability ($1,350,000 in $50,000 general operating fund deposits to each member). Funds are distributed through three mechanisms — by employee scale, into a shared pool, or equally — and all donations flow through fiscal sponsor Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs (SEE), a 501(c)(3) intermediary.

The business model is community-centric collective fundraising rather than commercial revenue: the coalition aggregates member needs and approaches foundations and individual donors as a single vehicle, with $2,660,000 raised cumulatively by March 2023 from supporters including Mellon Foundation, Metabolic Studio for the Annenberg Foundation, and multiple family foundations (Krupp, Ruth, Teiger, Jerry & Terri Kohl). The organization serves BIPOC artists and diverse creative communities across Los Angeles County through member cross-promotion and audience cross-pollination, with collective decision-making through open discussion rather than formal officers or hierarchical governance. Membership is currently paused, and the healthcare plan has shifted from one-time to annually recurring.

Name

Feminist Center for Creative Work

Legal name

Los Angeles Visual Arts Coalition

Website

https://lavacoalition.art

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Feminist Center for Creative Work is an intersectional feminist art organization based in Los Angeles and a member of the LAVA Coalition, a collective of 8 small-to-mid-sized 501(c)(3) visual arts nonprofits pooling fundraising, health insurance, and shared administrative services for BIPOC artists and communities across Los Angeles County.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

akta.pro primary industry

Community Arts, Culture & Creative Placemaking Enterprises (BPAGALAO)

akta.pro secondary industry

Indigenous, Ethnic & Folk Arts/Heritage Organizations (BPAGAHAI)

Keywords

• Intersectional feminist art
• Community arts programming
• Visual arts coalition
• Non-profit arts organization
• Feminist creative programming

Headquarters

HQ city

Los Angeles

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Collective Fundraising Campaign: LAVA Coalition conducts collective fundraising campaigns to support member organizations through community-centric fundraising. Funds are distributed through three mechanisms: distribution by scale (for healthcare initiative, based on number of employees), distribution into a shared pool (for capacity building, for collective payment of services), and equal distribution (for economic recovery initiative). Fiscal sponsorship is handled by Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs (SEE), a 501(c)(3) organization that receives and deposits all funds into restricted accounts.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Feminist Center for Creative Work is an intersectional feminist art organization that provides programming and community support for artists and audiences, with a focus on BIPOC, queer, and historically marginalized creative communities. As a member of the Los Angeles Visual Arts (LAVA) Coalition, it participates in coalition-wide collective fundraising initiatives that provide health care benefits, shared consultant services, and operating fund support to member organizations.

Product overview

LAVA Coalition operates as a collective infrastructure organization rather than a technology product company. It offers three fundraising initiatives: the Creative Worker Health Care Plan (providing health care benefits for employees of member organizations), Capacity Building Across the Sector (shared consultant services in HR, Finance, and Development), and Economic Recovery and Sustainability (one-time operating fund deposits). These programs are distributed through three mechanisms: allocation by organizational scale for health care, shared pool contributions for capacity building, and equal distribution for economic recovery.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• Raised $2,660,000 in collective funding as of March 2023
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Others

• National Performance Network: National coalition of performing arts organizations that, like LAVA Coalition, pools resources and advocates collectively for member orgs. Comparable as a coalition-of-nonprofits infrastructure model, though in performing rather than visual arts.

Direct peers

• Self Help Graphics & Art: Mission-aligned East LA Chicana/o arts nonprofit with a community-based programming model and BIPOC-centered mission. Comparable in feminist-adjacent social-justice framing, scale, and LA-based operation.
• The Brick: LA contemporary visual arts organization promoting developments in contemporary culture through exhibitions, publications, and public programs; fellow LAVA Coalition member. Comparable in size, scope, and coalition participation.
• Armory Center for the Arts: Pasadena-based contemporary art exhibition and community arts education 501(c)(3) and a fellow LAVA Coalition member. Highly comparable as a small-to-mid-sized LA visual arts nonprofit serving overlapping BIPOC and community-focused missions.
• MAK Center for Art and Architecture: LA-based contemporary art and architecture nonprofit with similar scale and presenting-programming focus. Comparable as an independent small-to-mid-sized visual arts 501(c)(3) operating in Los Angeles.
• Center for Land Use Interpretation (CLUI): LA-based nonprofit exploring and understanding contemporary landscape issues; LAVA Coalition member. Comparable in scale, structure, and participation in the coalition's collective infrastructure model.
• Active Cultures: LA nonprofit dedicated to artists and foodways; LAVA Coalition member. Direct peer in mission framing around arts + community, geographic scope, and operating budget tier ($100K-$3M).
• Avenue 50 Studio: LA-based arts presentation nonprofit grounded in Chicana/o and Latina/o culture and visual arts; LAVA Coalition member. Direct peer in scale, mission, and constituency, with overlapping feminist/intersectional programmatic framing.
• Human Resources LA: LA-based performing and visual arts nonprofit supporting experimental artistic practice. Comparable in operating scale, programmatic focus on contemporary/avant-garde work, and small-staff nonprofit structure.

Broad incumbents

• A Blade of Grass: National nonprofit funding socially engaged art. Comparable in the intersection of arts + social justice mission, though operating at a national scale with a granting rather than presenting model.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Feminist Center for Creative Work