From 1999-2006, Esther was the Director of Film/Video and Performing Arts for the Creative Capital Foundation, and was one of the principal architects of their innovative grant-making system. Her close collaboration nationally with funders and artists and her annual adjudication of thousands of grant proposals led her to question whether traditional grantmaking was the only way to support the culture sector in America. 

Recognizing the crucial role that financial literacy, home ownership, and small business skills played in the lives of economically stable artists, Esther became convinced that asset building and financial literacy should be vital components of a new support system for the arts. 

This led to the creation of ArtHome, which Esther founded in 2007 as an independent non-profit (now incorporated as an operating program of ArtBuilt).

ArtHome helped artists and their communities build assets and equity through financial literacy, credit access, home ownership and micro-enterprise support. ArtHome’s programs were supported by funders as diverse and esteemed as The Rockefeller Foundation, Leveraging Investments in Creativity/Ford Foundation, ArtPlace, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

In 2016, ArtHome merged with Artopolis Development to create ArtBuilt.

Robinson is also an award-winning filmmaker and producer. Her critically acclaimed directorial debut A Walk into the Sea: Danny Williams and The Warhol Factory took top prizes at The Berlin, Tribeca and Chicago film festivals. It is currently scheduled to be re-released digitally in 2024. Recent producer titles include (among others): The Velvet Underground by Todd Haynes, the Academy Award Nominated film Strong Island by Yance Ford, and the PBS/POV broadcast Through The Night by Loira Limbal.  Additionally, She is also an active board member of Women Make Movies and a mom to Otis who is an all-things-motor and skateboarding obsessed middle-schooler.

Guy has spent over 25 years supporting the Arts in New York, nationally and internationally.

As a founding director of NYC non-profit The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts (EFA), he engineered and administered groundbreaking programs aimed at creating stability and self-sufficiency for individual working artists.

From 1991 to 2004, he built and directed EFA’s Grants for Individuals in the Visual Arts (GIVA) program, an international cash grant award for working artists of exceptional merit.

He also oversaw the acquisition, design and development of EFA’s flagship studio center, an 87,000 square foot artist workspace complex providing one hundred and ten subsidized workspaces to NYC-based professional artists, as well as a fine-art printmaking facility and a gallery space.

Guy was responsible for every phase of the Studio Center project, from initial concept to full tenancy, including design and architectural liaison, engineering and mechanical systems/contractor selection, and marketing feasibility; he also acted as general contractor for the conversion of the former garment factory building which houses the Studio Center complex.

He designed and ran the Studio Center’s artist selection/tenancy administration program, and his eleven years’ experience managing the center on a day-to-day basis leaves him uniquely situated to deal with all
aspects of artists’ space needs.

In 2009, Guy left EFA to pursue his vision of supporting creative sector workers through real-estate initiatives as Executive Director of Artopolis Development. In 2016, Artopolis Development merged with ArtHome to create ArtBuilt.

Trained in England as a fine-art painter and fine woodworker, Guy has deep connections within the world of artisanal craftsmanship, and has for many years operated a small business specializing fine furniture and bespoke carpentry.

This background underpins ArtBuilt Brooklyn’s mandate to create aggregated workspace for artists and artisans, synergizing the creative energies of both sectors.

Crys Yin is an artist based in New York. She makes paintings, drawings and sculptures, and has exhibited both nationally and internationally. Yin began working with ArtBuilt in 2021 as a Community Outreach Coordinator and officially joined the team in 2023 as a Strategic Projects and Community Specialist. She has a longstanding connection to ArtBuilt’s homebase in Sunset Park, Brooklyn – as a resident, a studio tenant, and a community organizer with South Brooklyn Mutual Aid. Yin also assists in the ArtBuilt Brooklyn studios operations, including admin and design.

See Change is a financial coaching & advocacy community for creators of color with a mission to help creatives, artists, activists, entrepreneurs, and educators create a financial legacy.

Entertainment Community Fund / Housing Development Corporation was created to develop new affordable housing for the performing arts and entertainment community. They bring together educational programming, advocacy, marketing and real estate development with the goal of increasing access to affordable housing opportunities for our constituents.

New York Mortgage Coalition is a nonprofit collaboration of financial institutions and community housing agencies focused on expanding the opportunity for responsible and sustainable homeownership to minority, and low and moderate income individuals and families in the five boroughs of New York City, as well as the surrounding counties of Nassau, Suffolk, Dutchess, Orange, Rockland, and Westchester.
 
NYMC supports its neighborhood-based nonprofit members in their pre-purchase counseling, post-purchase education, and financial literacy programs. Coalition members provide the public with access to the tools to achieve the dream of homeownership including information on competitive, fixed-rate loans, closing cost grants, and down payment assistance. NYMC also supports its member agencies who play a leading role in preserving homeownership offering informational workshops and one-on-one counseling to troubled homeowners through foreclosure prevention programs.

The Kensington Cultural Council is a neighborhood alliance of artists and organizations who are coordinating and promoting a year-long calendar of programming, sharing resources and trainings, and activating Avenue C Plaza as a cultural hub in one of the most diverse immigrant communities in New York City. The council brings together cultural groups serving the immigrant community and supports collaborative programming, marketing, and capacity building in Kensington, Brooklyn. The council includes Arts & Democracy, Bangladesh Institute of Performing Arts (BIPA), Casa Cultural, The Singing Winds, NOCD-NY and partners regularly with ArtBuilt. 

Casa Cultural strives to celebrate their heritage, culture, lore and conserve its history while working with their community to foster an appreciation of its relevance. Casa Cultural hopes to build an understanding and appreciation of the many cultures within the Latin American community by sharing our story and traditions through poetry, music, storytelling and folk art.

Rev. Dr. Charles Butler of Harlem Congregations for Community Improvement has more than 18 years of experience in case management, job development, management of social service programs and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Marketing/Business Administration, a Master of Arts degree in Counseling Education, Master of Divinity in Urban Theology and a Doctorate in Ministry and Spiritual Formation. As VP of Equitable Development, Rev. Butler manages HCCI's homebuyer education seminar, provides housing counseling and counsels small businesses and sits on numerous boards related to economic empowerment.

South Brooklyn Mutual Aid (SBKMA) is a mutual aid group based in Sunset Park with over 1,000+ volunteers. They organize together to support their neighbors in Sunset Park, Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst, and surrounding areas. To date, they've provided over 70,000+ free grocery deliveries through their mass distribution program, neighbors to neighbors food delivery program, and partnerships with local organizations and schools. With their warehouse at ArtBuilt Brooklyn, they also organize additional projects from back to school support, free community stores, baby boxes and diapers, homeless outreach, and more. They believe in solidarity not charity.