Last year, the San Francisco Guaranteed Income Pilot for Artists (SF-GIPA), powered by the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, launched a $3.4 million direct investment into artists, making unconditional $1,000 cash payments to 130 artists for 18 months. Coming soon, Creatives Rebuild New York will step up the game, making a $125 million investment in a guaranteed income pilot for over 2,000 artists across the state. This roundtable with artists and artists advocates

from YBCA and SF-GIPA, as well as Creatives Rebuild New York, will share the NEW and TRUE narratives on basic income that, alongside policy activism, will help to move us from bright-spot pilots into full-blown federal guaranteed income. You’ll hear stories, share in dynamic content about the artist experience, and learn about how the arts and cultural sector of our economy is a prime base to be organized for basic income movement building.

Aisa Villarosa, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA)

AISA VILLAROSA (she/her) is a first generation, queer Pinay activist-artist-attorney and the Senior Director of External Affairs at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Previously, she served as Associate Director of Policy and Advocacy at the Insight Center in Oakland, California, where she examined wealth and income inequality by race and gender. Aisa applies advocacy, research, design, and storytelling to break down harmful narratives undergirding the workforce and economy. A former Skadden Public Interest Fellow and licensed attorney in Michigan and California, she received her B.A. from the University of Michigan and her law degree from Wayne State University. Aisa is a painter, muralist, and instructor of AAPI civil rights history, inspired by the Bay Area’s Third World Liberation solidarity and activists who sought justice following the murder of Detroiter Vincent Chin.

Kevin Dublin, YBCA Guaranteed Income Program for Artists

Kevin Dublin is a writer of poetry, prose, scripts, and code. Currently Director of Litquake’s Elder Writing Project, he’s focused on expanding the project to primarily BIPOC-served facilities. Kevin serves on the board of Quiet Lightning, a bay area non-profit, and curates The Living Room Reading Series & Salon.  He’s author of the chapbook How to Fall in Love in San Diego (Finishing Line Press) and holds an MFA from San Diego State. He’s also developing creative writing programs for Black youth in San Francisco. Kevin believes in you and our collective power to change the world.

Maura Cuffie-Peterson,Creatives Rebuild New York

Maura Cuffie-Peterson is a facilitator, strategist, and designer. Currently, she serves as the Director of Strategic Initiatives for the Guaranteed Income program at Creatives Rebuild New York. Previously she was the Senior Program Officer for ArtPlace America from 2018 to 2021. During that time she conceived and executed the Local Control, Local Field(s) initiative, a novel approach to participatory and trust-based philanthropy. This initiative placed over $12.5M directly under the control of practitioners across the country. She has held a variety of positions in arts, culture, and organizational change. As a co-founder of the collective, the Free Breakfast Program, she participated as a Create Change Fellow with the Laundromat Project in 2015  and in the inaugural cohort for leaders of color in EmcArts’ Arts Leaders as Cultural Innovators Fellowship in 2016

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From Guaranteed Income Pilot to Policy: Artists as Activists Changing the Narrative