When Rihanna launched the Clara Lionel Foundation (CLF) in 2012, it soon became known for its strong support of disaster relief and climate resilience in her native Barbados. But this summer, CLF took a different kind of swing. In August, the foundation announced a partnership with the Mellon Foundation to fund The Ripple Effect, a multi-year initiative to strengthen Caribbean arts and culture. The program, part of Clara Lionel’s newer arts and culture focus area, will support organizations like Fresh Milk Barbados, Operation Triple Threat and Pinelands Creative Workshop with grants, fellowships and infrastructure. The effort won’t just be about underwriting performances – it’ll also aim to help artists build careers rooted in place.
It’s the kind of move that shows how far CLF has come. What began with a focus on disaster preparedness has steadily expanded into women’s entrepreneurship, health access and climate resilience. The COVID pandemic saw CLF channel millions toward health systems and vulnerable communities. Along the way, Rihanna’s philanthropy has become increasingly structural in its approach, focusing on seeding long-term change. Its work on climate justice has tied Caribbean disaster response to global advocacy – this, along with her global platform and growing fortune, is why we named Rihanna to our Philanthropy’s Most Powerful People Under 40 list.
And now, with Mellon, CLF is partnering with one of the country’s biggest arts funders to put Caribbean creativity on the world stage while investing in the local ecosystems that allow it to thrive. Here are a few other things to know about CLF’s new partnership with Mellon and what we might expect going forward.
How Rihanna’s foundation has evolved
A nine-time Grammy winner, Rihanna began with chart-topping hits like 2007’s “Umbrella,” and went on to build a business empire worth an estimated $1.4 billion, including through Fenty Beauty’s inclusive makeup line. But behind the scenes, the superstar has also built a serious foundation, one that has evolved significantly since her grandmother died from cancer complications in 2012, sparking Rihanna’s initial $516,000 contribution to start the Clara Lionel Foundation.
That year, the musician established an oncology center at Barbados’ main hospital to expand cancer screening and treatment. By 2019, CLF had begun prioritizing emergency preparedness. Grantmaking jumped to more than $33 million in 2020 as the nonprofit provided much-needed pandemic relief and backed racial justice efforts. “I’m particularly impressed by the foundation’s innovation. We’re able to address real needs on the ground, and I’m glad how quickly we’re able to do upstream work to get funds out of the door so that they’re meaningful and relevant,” Jessie Schutt-Aine told me in 2020. At the time, Schutte-Aine, who came to the foundation with a global health background, was a CLF board member. Now she serves as executive director.
Today, the foundation focuses on five key pillars: climate solutions, women’s entrepreneurship, arts and culture, health access and equity, and youth. Along with these new buckets, the foundation has also added new staff including Black Feminist Fund co-founder Amina Doherty, who oversees programs and impact.
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The Clara Lionel Foundation’s partnership with Mellon
CLF’s work with the Mellon Foundation represents the latest example of its evolution. Together, the two foundations announced they will fund “artist-led initiatives” to protect that Caribbean culture “while inspiring new narratives and opportunities internationally,” according to a Mellon press release.
Backed by the two foundations, The Ripple Effect launched with a new public exhibition in Bridgetown, Barbados, which ran through August 30 at Caribbean Brushstrokes. Curated by arts organization Fresh Milk Barbados, the show featured works by participants in the Fresh Milk/Clara Lionel Foundation Artistic Fellowship, a contemporary visual arts fellowship program. Inaugural fellows included Simone Asia, Russell Watson, Anna Gibson and Ronald Williams, all from Barbados.
“Barbados is who I am. It will always be at the heart of the Clara Lionel Foundation, and nothing makes me more proud than amplifying Caribbean voices on a global stage,” Rihanna said in an Instagram post. “I’m incredibly thankful to the Mellon Foundation for sharing this vision with us by showcasing these incredible artists who are creating work that moves people to think differently.”
For CLF, the move toward more arts giving represents an expansion into another critical but underfunded area. For Mellon, the partnership ventures into somewhat novel territory, since it mostly focuses on the U.S. But the grantmaker does have a modest footprint in the Caribbean, with a funding initiative focused on arts and culture in Puerto Rico. The nation’s largest arts and humanities funder has spent decades underwriting cultural life across the United States, with a particular focus in recent years on equity, access and overlooked histories.
Mellon’s $500 million Monuments Project has aimed to reimagine the nation’s commemorative landscape to tell more inclusive stories. Other initiatives have advanced Latino art in museums, backed artists and cultural leaders along the U.S.–Mexico borderlands, and built institutional capacity at historically Black colleges and universities. Mellon has also provided major support to groups like BlackStar Projects and the Asian Arts Initiative, helping historically under-resourced artists and organizations thrive. This year, the foundation extended a $15 million lifeline to humanities councils affected by cuts at the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Celebrity philanthropy keys in on cultural infrastructure
Where older models of celebrity philanthropy often relied on benefit concerts or one-off grants, today’s high-profile givers from the world of entertainment are increasingly betting on cultural infrastructure, building platforms that last beyond the glitzy galas. Consider Alicia Keys’ work through Keep a Child Alive, or Beyoncé’s BeyGOOD Foundation backing Black-owned businesses and cultural hubs. CLF’s Mellon partnership is cut from the same cloth, in this case making a long-term investment that allows local creativity to endure.
Barbados has long punched above its weight culturally, but its artists often lack the institutional support enjoyed by their peers, say, in New York or London. By partnering with Mellon, CLF is bridging that gap, showing how Caribbean talent can be both rooted locally and scaled globally.
“Thirteen years after CLF’s founding, our partnership with the Mellon Foundation represents a full-circle moment – amplifying the voices and talents that have always been part of our organization’s DNA, starting right here in Barbados,” Schutt-Aine said. “This partnership honors CLF’s beginnings while leveraging our years of proven community-led impact across the Caribbean and beyond.”
