Halcyon, a D.C. nonprofit that has traditionally supported entrepreneurs and artists, is doubling down on half of that mission — and stepping back from the other.
The 5-year-old organization, which has cultivated an identity as an engine for social impact startups, has ended its arts programming after “a period of research and reflection to determine what the best path forward would be for that work,” Halcyon co-founder and CEO Kate Goodall wrote in a Dec. 30 letter to the community.
Halcyon paused two core programs in December 2020: its Arts Lab residential fellowship, which has supported dozens of artists since Halcyon’s 2017 spinout from the S&R Foundation; and its By The People festival, a visual arts and dialogue festival that debuted in 2018 and Halcyon says brought in more than 50,000 visitors and $5 million in economic impact during its two-year life span.
Now, about a year later, “we will not be resuming those programs,” Goodall wrote. “We urge you to support artists and organizations who were involved in that program — the arts have been hit hard by this pandemic, and make no mistake, the challenge of funding arts programming loomed large in this decision.”
Departure from the arts
Up to the end of 2021, Halcyon’s arts fellows continued receiving subsidized studio space at the former Fillmore School building “as we sought to create as lengthy and smooth a transition as possible,” Goodall said. That building, which S&R co-founders Sachiko Kuno and Ryuji Ueno purchased for $16.5 million in 2015, was designed as a hub for the foundation’s arts residency program.
Now Halcyon is turning that building at 35th and S streets NW back to S&R, which declined to comment for this story about plans for the space.
S&R started as a quiet, private foundation in 2000, the brainchild of Kuno and Ueno, then-married co-founders of Maryland biotech Sucampo Pharmaceuticals. It evolved in subsequent years to support artists and scientists and incubate social impact ventures — before that term was widely used — including through the Halcyon incubator, which launched in 2014. The foundation garnered attention beyond the nation's capital for its philanthropy and community involvement, and its founders made news locally with some big real estate purchases: Kuno and Ueno own Halcyon's headquarters, known as Halcyon House, at 3400 Prospect St. NW and the Evermay mansion, also in Georgetown, in addition to Fillmore School.
Kuno remains on Halcyon’s board, though she stepped down as board chair in October. Metz Investments LP founder Martha Metz succeeds her in that capacity.
All in on entrepreneurship
The decision to nix the artists' program comes as Halcyon both broadens and deepens its work with startup founders, including its flagship residency incubator. Additionally, the nonprofit has added a series of other programs to that roster: supporting Black women founders alongside Black Girl Ventures, working with female tech entrepreneurs from Bahrain with Amazon Web Services, partnering with CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield’s Healthworx to support health care ventures and bolstering underrepresented founders running companies in the District’s opportunity zones.
On deck for 2022: breaking further into the Middle East and North Africa, running a cohort from sub-Saharan Africa and more, Goodall said in her letter.
“Our shift to focus completely on early-stage entrepreneurs, rather than continue to have a double-sided mission, was less about deficit" than it was about effecting the most change, she wrote, "where a doubling of focus could yield an exponential return in impact.” The group's startup initiatives served twice as many entrepreneurs during 2021 than in prior years, she said.
The organization’s departure from the arts also signals its intent to push more impact investing and support more women and people of color. That work, now spearheaded by Dahna Goldstein, entails running angel investor network Halcyon Angels, a microloan fund with Kimsey Foundation and another investment vehicle that Halcyon said it can’t yet disclose because of Securities and Exchange Commission regulations. That undisclosed fund has already backed OxiWear and Hubly Surgical, as the Washington Business Journal previously reported.
Since its founding, Halcyon reports that 258 fellows have participated in its programs, and 156 of its alumni ventures have raised more than $180 million in combined capital.
