About MAIA

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MAIA is an arts and social justice organisation, based in the West Midlands, UK and working worldwide.

We believe that artists have the capacity, talent, imagination and boldness to transform the world. So we connect community-rooted artists with resources and design infrastructure to support the possibilities for change.

 
 
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There is a transformative power to art.
Art can teach us about the systems of the world as they are, while helping us to imagine radical possibilities for the future. Without the imagination to see the radical,
we can’t create it.
— Amahra Spence

Our vision is a world where artists are seen as powerful decision-makers in how structures and systems work, and where the manifestations of systemic change are recognised as art.  

Our mission is to redefine what it means to be an artist, challenge who gets to make their dreams real, and invest in the transformative possibilities of the Black imagination.  

Our projects serve artists that the system doesn’t serve by designing and developing spaces, redistributing resources, and providing creative programming. Our work is done in community and informed by our four core values of joy, care, access, and justice.

 
 

Our name, MAIA, derives from Ancient Greek and Latin origins related to ‘nurturing’ and it’s in this context we both create work and foster leadership within our ecosystem of artists.


LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR TEAM, history, FOCUS AREAS & values