S8E3: Maxwell Anderson

Maxwell Anderson is the president of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation and Community Partnership.

Souls Grown Deep, which documents, preserves, and promotes the artwork of African American artists from the South such as Thornton Dial, Lonnie Holley, and the quiltmakers of Gee’s Bend, Alabama.

Museums have celebrated the work of these artists in exhibitions, Anderson says, but that wasn’t sufficient to integrate them into the story of American art. And although the foundation could give away artwork

I proposed to the board that we embark on a gift purchase program. Because to me, having boards and directors commit to purchasing at a 50% discount in value works of art from this collection would put their head in the game. Gifts of works of art sometimes can be overlooked. They can become seen as something that’s accepted and not dealt with directly. But if you’re putting money down on the table, you’re likelier to have a literal investment.

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By Jessica Helfand & Ellen McGirt

Jessica Helfand, a founding editor of Design Observer, is an award-winning graphic designer and writer and a former contributing editor and columnist for Print, Communications Arts and Eye magazines. A member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale and a recent laureate of the Art Director’s Hall of Fame, Helfand received her B.A. and her M.F.A. from Yale University where she has taught since 1994.

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Ellen McGirt is an author, podcaster, speaker, community builder, and award-winning business journalist. She is the editor-in-chief of Design Observer, a media company that has maintained the same clear vision for more than two decades: to expand the definition of design in service of a better world. Ellen established the inclusive leadership beat at Fortune in 2016 with raceAhead, an award-winning newsletter on race, culture, and business. The Fortune, Time, Money, and Fast Company alumna has published over twenty magazine cover stories throughout her twenty-year career, exploring the people and ideas changing business for good. Ask her about fly fishing if you get the chance.