Darius Daughtry, Founder, Art Prevails Project
Darius V. Daughtry is the founder of Art Prevails Project, a nonprofit based in South Florida with a mission to strengthen communities - particularly those that are underserved and historically disadvantaged - by investing in people through literary and performing arts. On May 9th, he joined Greater Sum Advisory Board member Kimberlee Nicole Smith & Executive Director Anna Taylor to present at the PEAK Grantmaking Conference on “Supporting Early Stage & Grassroots Nonprofits.”
Taylor said about the session, “Darius is the first person I thought of to bring a founder’s perspective to this discussion. He’s brought together an amazing collective of artists, expanded their reach through live performance and virtual engagements, and built a sterling reputation in his community and with arts funders. The philanthropy sector can do better when it comes to forming connections with organizations like Art Prevails Project, and it is part of Greater Sum’s mission to build those bridges.”
Art Prevails Project was founded in 2015, but its seeds were planted many years ago. As a child, Daughtry experienced the powerful impact that the arts can have on a person and community. He began using poetry as a vehicle for self-expression, and later also dabbled in acting. Those two art forms help lift him and drive him towards college and beyond, and he decided to find ways to impact communities through the gift of art.
After college, Daughtry worked with multiple nonprofit organizations as a teaching artist. After a stint in the corporate sector, he became a public school educator. He witnessed that many schools, specifically, those in Black, brown and under-resourced communities, did not provide robust access to the creative arts, much less the greater communities that housed these schools.
Daughtry founded Art Prevails Project to bridge that gap and give as many people as possible the opportunity to create, learn and experience the arts. Setting up a nonprofit was no walk in the park. He knew that this initiative would require grants and donations to be viable, so he decided early on to register Art Prevails Project as a 501(c)3 organization in order to get greater access to funds.
Other early challenges included access to resources such as space and a strong and supportive network of people. Starting out, those were few and far between. Daughtry worked hard to build authentic relationships and expand his network throughout the area. It was through these relationships that he was informed about opportunities for funding or space, and able to widen the opportunities for Art Prevails Project. He brought together a couple of former students, whom he had mentored over the years and trusted, to form a Collective. As they began to work more in the community, they began to attract others who wanted to engage and support. Usually, they would begin as volunteers and after showing a requisite amount of dedication and ability, would undergo some training in the Art Prevails Project aesthetics and pedagogy. They would then be asked to shadow Collective members before becoming involved in a more robust capacity.
One of the issues a nonprofit often has to contend with is how it should make decisions about its programing so that it achieves its mission, while squaring with its resource constraints. Art Prevails Project’s first three programs each spoke to one of its foundational pillars – Education, Performance and Community Engagement. Over the years, more programs and offerings have been added. Today, Art Prevails Project facilitates creative arts, poetry and performance workshops/classes to students, curates artist showcases in public spaces, stages its own original theater productions, runs community-centered writing workshops, produces a podcast, operates an in-school writing residency program, and more. Daughtry says that many of the decisions to add more services came from conversations with the communities they serve. If the communities asked for a program, he would to figure out a way to provide it, leveraging his network and relationships to procure funding for additional programs.
His conviction stems from his artistic roots and philosophy. He shares, “Everything is poetry to me. By poetry, I mean the ability to feel, assess and express, and do so with care, compassion and passion. So, whether it is developing programs for companies or schools, dealing directly with community members or helping craft a theatrical production, my senses are always open to what’s going on around me and how other people are experiencing it as well. Then, it’s my job to assess the feelings and needs and create programs and projects that speak to them.”
While Daughtry is able to lean on the talented and responsible members of the Collective, and on his Board which is supportive, he is currently the only full-time staff member. This leaves almost all of the decision-making and final responsibility on his shoulders. Furthermore, his passion to provide more services to address the needs of the community often means putting in long hours on the job. As the organization looks to strengthen its capacity and sustain its programing, he is currently working to get additional staff to support its work. When asked what is one piece of advice he would give to other nonprofit founders, he says, “Make yourself take time off. It’s so easy to be all in and work all of the time. In the blink of an eye, four years have passed and you still haven’t taken a vacation. Be sure to make time for yourself.”
Want to learn more? Visit https://www.artprevailsproject.org/ or follow them at https://www.instagram.com/artprevailsproject/
written by TGS volunteer Mindy Ong
