The Brown Family and
"Apolitical" Art's Conflict of Interest

According to Forbes, the Brown family has an estimated collective worth of $16.5 billion — as they own approximately 50% of the company.

The Augusta Brown Holland Philanthropic Foundation is a private foundation located in Louisville, KY that made 85 grants last year. Its grantees include the Community Foundation of Louisville Inc. Its trustees are Augusta Brown Holland, John Gill Holland Jr., and Owsley Brown III.

Those grants included $250,000 to The Portland Museum. Additional grants from Brown family members include another $1,000,000.

Some quick math for perspective: One billion is one thousand million. If you or I had $16,500 dollars and donated $1.25 to the Portland Museum, it would be the same percentage of our respective wealth as listed above.

The Portland Investment Initiative was founded 10 years ago with the intention of enhancing the neighborhood in west Louisville through real estate investment. Gill Holland said the group has tried to make a positive community impact in Portland.

Louisville Metro Council-member Donna Purvis, who represents the Portland neighborhood, declined an interview because Portland Investment Initiative hasn't shared project details with her. 

Gentrification usually leads to negative impacts such as forced displacement, a fostering of discriminatory behavior by people in power, and a focus on spaces that exclude low-income individuals and people of color.

In addition to displacement due to rising property values and coercive techniques, low-income individuals and people of color also can face exclusion from the newly planned spaces in the gentrifying location. Common in gentrification efforts is the urban planning shift from “fostering community formation” to “investing the city with money and consumption-oriented spaces that resemble suburban shopping malls that exclude low-income and people of color.” Instead of community integration, there is selective development and enforcement of distinction between different areas.

The purpose of Outsider Art Museum and Gallery, according to the people behind it, is to “elevate voices that may be marginalized by society.” Director and co-founder Alex Huninghake was recruited by business owner and developer Gill Holland to run Outsider.

There is no ground for any creative to be apolitical in this current environment. Artists in every medium and at every level must make a conscious choice to either engage in abolishing these systems or to support them. The Brown/Holland philanthropic industrial complex has exerted undue influence over the city of Louisville for years and has only enriched itself at the expense of the communities noted above.

It’s time to choose.