Dorchester Art Project, currently located at 1452 Dorchester Ave., is a local, worker-owned cooperative focusing on equity and inclusion in the art world.

The project was originally created by a group of college students nearly 15 years ago, where it was known as the Howard Art Project. After many of the founding members left, it was turned into the Dorchester Art Project, which was led by a nonprofit organization focused on BIPOC artists and the Dorchester community. Since then, DAP has been led by six community organizers who decided this project was something worth saving.

Director of Operations Robert Kelley-Morgan explains the purpose of their newfound mission. “We’re trying to formulate it and make sure it’s sustainable to build, empower, and develop artists in Boston moving forward while doing it cooperatively together,” he said.

Kelley-Morgan brings more than a decade of experience in arts management and creative entrepreneurship to his role. He has worked as an artist manager and producer for over 12 years, collaborating with photographers, musicians, models, and other creatives. His connection to art, he said, is rooted in its ability to communicate across differences.

“Art is a big part of culture and creativity,” he said. “It can deliver a message without even having the language. You can look at a mural or hear a song and see it completely differently depending on where you’re at in life. I think that’s a beautiful thing.”

Kelley-Morgan works alongside five other members in the cooperative: co-owners Lina M. Cañon, Stephen Lafume, Adrián Roberto Román, Amyas Bolden-McKnight, and HAAWWS.

Though the collective currently operates out of a single office, the team is looking to expand to other Boston neighborhoods and serve a larger audience. “Whereas previous iterations of Dorchester Art Project kind of revolved around the space, our mission is the thing, and our space will encompass the mission,” Kelley-Morgan said. “So we’re looking for a space that matches our mission, rather than allowing our space to dictate it.”

At the heart of that mission is cultivating the next generation of BIPOC artists and thought leaders. Through partnerships, events, and educational programming, DAP collaborates with over one hundred artists across Boston. The team helps creatives access the tools, spaces, and networks needed to grow their craft independently.

“Whether it be authors, writers, songwriters, singers, producers, visual artists, painters, or photographers, we’re trying to service and help and develop them in any way we can,” he said. “We want to paint the city physically and mentally, to really develop and showcase the diversity of Boston and how deep those roots go.”

DAP operates under a sociocratic decision-making model, meaning every major choice is made collectively. Before taking on new projects or artists, the team evaluates whether each opportunity aligns with their values and long-term goals.

“We don’t want dependency to be a thing,” Kelley-Morgan said. “We want artists to gain their own legs in the community.”

Community, he said, isn’t something DAP has to manufacture. It’s something that already exists within its members. Many of the cooperative’s leaders live in or near Dorchester and have long histories of organizing, performing, and working locally.

“We’re not outsiders looking to engage,” he said. “We’re inside, building outward.”

Still, keeping an arts organization alive in Boston poses challenges. Affordable creative space is increasingly rare, and DAP’s leaders face the reality of navigating what Kelley-Morgan calls “a racist real estate landscape.” Financial sustainability is an ongoing concern, though the team has found creative ways to adapt.

Funding comes from a mix of grants, sponsorships, and agency work, such as murals, pop-up events, and cultural activations. The cooperative also receives support from city initiatives like the Boston Cultural Investment Grant. Recently, DAP joined Jaylen Brown’s BXCHANGE accelerator, a program designed to strengthen BIPOC-led small businesses and build what Kelley-Morgan calls “a new Black Wall Street in Boston.”

For Kelley-Morgan, what keeps him motivated is seeing the impact of DAP’s work in real time. The growth of the artists they support and the ripple effects across the city’s creative scene.

“The mission is just so inspiring,” he said. “Seeing the artists we help grow and go on to do their own thing, it’s like, why wouldn’t we keep going? This city deserves that.”

As for what’s next, the vision is clear. Kelley-Morgan sees the Dorchester Art Project becoming a cornerstone of Boston’s cultural ecosystem and a model for artist-led ownership everywhere.

“I see it being a big contributor to arts and culture in the city,” he said. “But also a pathway for artists to understand what ownership in the art sector looks like. And that’s not just locally, that’s globally.”