This Philanthropy-Backed Initiative Gives Aspiring Critics of Color a Leg Up

Critical Minded is partnering with the New York Times to give more diverse critics access to the paper’s platform. Osugi/shutterstock

For a writer striving to be heard — to contribute ideas and research to the public conversation with the aim of influencing culture and policy — an article published in the New York Times can be pivotal. But it’s hard to get a Times editor to respond to an unsolicited query. This is true even if you have good media connections and a swanky writing degree from an Ivy League university, as I have seen. Many times.

For critics of color, breaking into the New York Times and similar outlets can be even more daunting. Journalism has a diversity problem, in part because too few people of color have contacts at top publications to pitch to (and then, perhaps like me, generally get ignored by). Also, many smart young people of color lack the financial cushion and post-materialist mindset needed to pursue a risky career in an infamously low-paid profession like journalism. Some are the first in their families to graduate college, which can create a lot of pressure to choose a stable field that’s well remunerated. But even with adequate financial resources and high risk tolerance, contacts are key.

Critical Minded, a grantmaking and learning initiative that is fiscally sponsored by Allied Media Projects, has launched a new initiative to help create contacts for cultural critics from under-represented communities. As the New York Times announced in November, Critical Minded gave a $174,000 grant to the paper to hire an editor to work with six to 10 yet-to-be-identified freelancers over the course of a year, helping them craft stories and shepherding them from idea to publication in the paper’s culture section, no previous personal connections required.

The funds for this project come out of a $1.29 million, three-year grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support Critical Minded in 2022. 

“Editors will usually go with writers they have relationships or familiarity with. This is a barrier to placement,” said Rashid Shabazz, inaugural executive director of Critical Minded, who joined the organization in March 2021. “We’re using that model of thinking about the role of the editor in helping a writer develop the skills necessary to turn out projects on deadline that reflect their ideas, translated for a publication like the New York Times and elsewhere, after that.”

Philanthropy creates connections 

This journalism initiative is part of philanthropy’s long history of investing in human capital, helping build the capacity of individuals to grow and contribute at a higher level than they’d otherwise be able to. In this case, that investment is designed to pump up the power of writers by creating the networks that aspiring cultural critics need to get published. 

Founded in 2017 by the Ford Foundation and the Nathan Cummings Foundation, Critical Minded is dedicated to supporting critics of color and BIPOC-led publications. It has an operating budget of about $2 million, and backing from major foundations including the MacArthur Foundation, the Surdna Foundation, the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund and others. 

Critical Minded typically sends about 65% to 70% of its funding back into the field, and most grants go to small, independent publications and arts organizations around the country led by or focused on BIPOC people. Grantees include an online publication called Black Girl Nerds, LatinaMedia.Co, the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, and the Times Up Foundation, which has roots in the entertainment industry and is focused on fighting gender-based discrimination, fear of sexual harassment and assault.

As mentioned above, the Critical Minded program at the New York Times draws on funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in the form of a $1.29 million grant. The initiative is well in line with the tenor of Mellon’s recent grantmaking, particularly since the foundation announced in 2020 that it would adopt a new focus on social justice throughout its work. 

Since then, under the leadership of its president, Elizabeth Alexander, the arts and humanities heavyweight has deployed funding to expand diversity and representation in higher ed, and to reimagine America’s cultural landscape with an eye toward equity, including by studying the role of monuments in the United States. Media funding has also played a role in Mellon’s recent pivot to social justice.

“A moment of intervention”

The New York Times program is Critical Minded’s first foray into supporting writers of color at a major legacy media outlet. The plan at this stage is for the New York Times to select an editor for the project and promote the opportunity to writers by reaching out to programs, networks and nonprofits with diversity-focused missions. Interested freelancers can also reach out directly to Program Manager Nick Swyter, who reportedly will pass on resumes to the soon-to-be appointed editor.

During this time, Critical Minded plans to carry on with its existing commitments to small, independent platforms and institutions, those that Shabazz sees as taking on the historic role once played by alternative weekly The Village Voice. But to help writers participate in, and ideally, lead conversations among a broader, largely white audience, not to mention land jobs at outlets with the budgets to pay decent salaries? That requires working within the system. 

The Times and Critical Minded will also seek funding for the next iteration of the program, aiming to build on its envisioned success and continue expanding the diversity of the corps of cultural critics.

Shabazz would like to see Critical Minded partner with other large papers and media outlets on similar projects in the future. “Our hope is that this pilot will be a moment of intervention to engage and elevate the conversation, and that leadership at the New York Times and other places will continue with it on their own,” he said. Shabazz points to the value of diverse voices in moments of divisiveness, like the present. “Critics have an important role in elevating the discourse and complicating conversations in ways that aren’t just binary.” 

Philanthropy is uniquely able to help with this cause, Shabazz said. “Philanthropy can be risk-taking and catalytic, investing in projects that others may see as overly risky, with low potential for success. Philanthropy can help create spaces where we can have difficult conversations and think about those voices that have not been included and include them to change systems.”