Claude L. Elliott grew up in Detroit, Michigan in a segregated, working-class neighborhood, coming of age during Civil Rights and Black Power Movements. His career transitioned from seminary to social work, to philanthropy, to curatorial, to arts administration, and to humanities. His ongoing project “Creating Space and Opportunities: DC Black Owned/Managed Art Galleries and Spaces” documents the impact of these art spaces on generation of Black artists who forged careers between the 1970s and 1990s outside of mainstream art spaces not accessible to them. The focus of the Fellowship is to develop an exhibition concept and design that addresses the vitality of these spaces as an important sector of DC’s cultural development and entrepreneurial landscape. As a cultural bearer Claude’s goal is to highlight the history of a vibrant DC Black artist community and the contributions of art spaces which attracted people to venture into culturally diverse neighborhoods.