Strategic direction
Curatorial framework, coordination between nodes, institutional operation and coherence of the global platform.
Governance
Institutional, fiscal and ethical architecture to protect trust.
The governance of Exodus & Resilience is built in phases, in proportion to the institutional maturity of the platform. This section describes the current architecture, local oversight mechanisms by node and the conditional milestones that will activate the next governance phases.
Institutional framework
Governance for cultural and social infrastructure
Exodus & Resilience combines strategic direction, territorial execution, local institutional oversight and fiscal traceability to sustain a verifiable platform across four territorial nodes in development: New York, Barcelona, Caracas and Acarigua.
Territorial oversight
Accredited institutional counterparts support local execution and the operational anchoring of each program.
Fiscal traceability
Differentiated mechanisms by jurisdiction to separate fund reception, execution, reporting and public accountability.
Curatorial independence
Governance protects the selection of artists, works, archives, narratives and mediation processes from external pressure or interests unrelated to the cultural purpose.
Cultural rights
The institutional structure is oriented toward guaranteeing access, participation, dignified representation and public recognition for migrant and territorial communities.
Situated knowledge
Each node produces evidence from its own territory. The platform consolidates learning without erasing the local specificity of each context.
A three-level complementary architecture
Exodus & Resilience operates under an institutional architecture articulated across three complementary levels. The strategic direction of the ecosystem corresponds to a coordinating entity registered in the United States. The execution of each territorial program corresponds to a local host or implementing entity with accredited institutional experience in its jurisdiction. The channeling of tax-deductible donations in the United States for programs outside New York operates through fiscal sponsorship with Fractured Atlas, a 501(c)(3) organization recognized by the IRS, effective since June 2025.
The New York program is executed through a formalized institutional alliance with the Venezuelan American Endowment for the Arts (VAEA), a 501(c)(3) organization. The Acarigua program is executed through a formalized institutional alliance with the Fundación Museo de Arte Acarigua-Araure, a Venezuelan regional cultural institution. The Barcelona and Caracas programs are in the design phase and open institutional conversations with local partners.
Strategic direction of the ecosystem
The strategic direction of the ecosystem and the operation of exodusandresilience.org correspond to a coordinating entity registered in the United States. This entity does not directly receive tax-deductible donations; donations are channeled through the mechanisms described in this document.
New York program
The New York program is executed through a formalized institutional alliance with the Venezuelan American Endowment for the Arts (VAEA), a 501(c)(3) organization based in New York. VAEA acts as host entity for the program and as the only entity authorized to receive tax-deductible donations designated for this node.
Acarigua program
The Acarigua program is executed through a formalized institutional alliance with the Fundación Museo de Arte Acarigua-Araure, a Venezuelan regional cultural institution with accredited experience in exhibitions, public programs, training and community articulation. The foundation acts as implementing entity for the program in its local jurisdiction.
Barcelona and Caracas programs
The Barcelona and Caracas programs are in the design phase. The identification and formalization of local partner institutions in each territory will take place when the institutional, operational and funding conditions required for responsible activation are met.
Fiscal sponsorship
To channel tax-deductible donations in the United States designated for the Barcelona, Caracas and Acarigua programs, Exodus & Resilience operates under a fiscal sponsorship agreement signed with Fractured Atlas, a 501(c)(3) organization, effective since June 2025.
Institutional submissions and conversations
Exodus & Resilience may maintain conversations, applications or submissions with cultural, philanthropic and institutional actors as part of its development process. These processes are not presented as confirmed funding, approved partnerships or executed programs unless formal confirmation and public authorization exist.
Principle of prudence: no application, call, conversation or institutional submission should be presented as granted funding, approved partnership or executed program until formal confirmation and the corresponding public authorization exist.
Founder and curatorial direction
Omar Bustillos Palis
Founder and Curatorial Director
Exodus & Resilience emerges from a documented diasporic experience. Its founder, Omar Bustillos Palis, Venezuela, 1975, migrated to Barcelona in 2003, where he has resided since then.
Since then, he has developed a personal and intellectual trajectory articulated around three axes that today constitute the curatorial framework of the platform: art as a language for processing memory, migration as a structural contemporary condition, and culture as infrastructure for social cohesion.
In the founding phase, curatorial and strategic direction remains unified in the figure of the Founder in order to protect the conceptual coherence of the ecosystem, the methodological framework and the independence of the platform. This unified structure corresponds to the founding phase and will be reviewed in later governance phases, as new mechanisms of oversight, external audit and advisory governance are activated.
As Curatorial Director, he retains the intellectual authorship of the curatorial framework of Exodus & Resilience and supervises the coherence of its application across the four territorial nodes. As Founder, he safeguards the strategic independence of the platform and its non-partisan character.
The initial concentration of strategic direction and curatorial authorship is understood as a measure of founding coherence, not as a permanent model. The transition toward advisory structures, external audit and expanded oversight is part of the phased governance model.
Oversight by territorial node
Exodus & Resilience operates under a distributed governance model: unified strategic direction and local institutional oversight according to the maturity of each territorial node. This architecture ensures strategic coherence while securing verifiable anchoring in each territory.
Territorial oversight does not mechanically replicate the same model in every country. Each node requires a situated reading of its risks, opportunities, partners, communities, legal frameworks and operational capacity.
New York
Executed through a formalized institutional alliance with the Venezuelan American Endowment for the Arts (VAEA), a 501(c)(3) organization.
Acarigua
Executed through a formalized institutional alliance with the Fundación Museo de Arte Acarigua-Araure, a Venezuelan regional cultural institution.
Barcelona
Program in design, open to dialogue with accredited local cultural institutions.
Caracas
Program in design, in articulation with local cultural and community partners.
International advisory council
Exodus & Resilience foresees the constitution of an international Advisory Board with independent profiles in contemporary art, international philanthropy, cultural rights, education, migration, archive and impact evaluation.
The Advisory Board will not have executive responsibility. Its role will be to accompany institutional, ethical and strategic decisions, and its composition will be published only when each member has provided explicit written authorization.
Advisory Board composition pending public confirmation.
The Advisory Board will be formally constituted upon reaching Phase 3 of phased governance, once the platform operates sustainably in at least two nodes. Candidate profiles are evaluated throughout Phase 2.
A model proportional to institutional maturity
Exodus & Resilience applies a phased governance model, proportional to institutional maturity and the volume of funds managed. This gradualism ensures that each oversight mechanism is incorporated with the resources required to operate at the level of rigor the platform demands.
Founding phase, in progress
Curatorial and strategic direction unified in the figure of the Founder. Curatorial framework published for the four nodes. Six-stage methodology documented. Fiscal sponsorship agreement signed. Two formalized institutional alliances (New York and Acarigua). Documentary traceability of decisions and funds.
Institutional consolidation
Activated once the institutional, operational and funding conditions for sustained implementation are met. Incorporation of external financial review or audit mechanisms appropriate to the scale of funds managed and the requirements of funders or fiscal sponsors. Publication of the first annual institutional report with the corresponding level of verification. Operational activation of the committed node or nodes.
Governed expansion
Activated upon reaching sustained operation in at least two nodes. Constitution of an international Advisory Board with independent profiles in contemporary art, international philanthropy, cultural rights and impact evaluation. Biennial renewal by rotation.
These milestones are conditional, not calendar-based. The timeline will be publicly updated in this section as each milestone is met.
Public documentation
We publish key institutional documents in accessible web format. Each document identifies its status, version and institutional purpose.
The documents below are framework pages designed to communicate the organization’s standards without presenting unverified data as final. They will be updated progressively as legal structure, governance roles, financial information and reporting cycles are formally confirmed.
- Report Institutional Report
- Report Impact Indicators
- Document Governance Overview
- Document Code of Ethics
- Document Donor Transparency Statement
- Document Safeguarding Policy
These documents are in the process of validation and signature. Definitive, dated and signed versions will be published as downloadable PDFs when they are formally approved and available. Base texts are available upon request at contact@exodusandresilience.org.
Institutional ethics framework
Exodus & Resilience does not accept funds whose origin, conditions or effects are incompatible with its Code of Ethics, curatorial independence or the dignity of the communities with which it works. The evaluation of each potential funding source is carried out according to ethical, reputational and strategic criteria before accepting any commitment.
We maintain explicit policies on conflict of interest, fund acceptance, participant protection, responsible use of imagery, community rights, safeguarding and partner relations.
- Conflict of interest. Identification and management of relationships that may compromise institutional decisions.
- Fund acceptance. Criteria to evaluate the ethical, reputational and strategic compatibility of donors or partners.
- Safeguarding. Protection of participants, especially minors and people in vulnerable situations.
- Use of imagery. Informed consent and protection of dignity, privacy and context.
- Curatorial independence. Protection of artistic, educational and community decisions from external pressure.
Institutional ethics is not understood as a decorative document, but as an operating criterion: it affects who funds, who decides, how communities are represented, which images are published, what data is collected and how results are explained.
Support mechanisms by program
Donations to the New York program. Donations designated for the Exodus & Resilience New York program are channeled exclusively through the Venezuelan American Endowment for the Arts (VAEA), an IRS-recognized 501(c)(3) organization. Contributions from U.S. tax residents are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. As a 501(c)(3), VAEA is subject to public IRS reporting and applicable nonprofit governance standards, which adds an additional layer of institutional traceability to the use of funds designated for this node.
Donations to the Barcelona, Caracas and Acarigua programs. Donations designated for the Barcelona, Caracas and Acarigua programs are channeled through the fiscal sponsorship agreement signed with Fractured Atlas, a 501(c)(3) organization, effective since June 2025. For U.S. tax residents, contributions may be tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. For donors in other jurisdictions, contributions may also be channeled through Fractured Atlas, but the contribution may not generate a tax deduction in their jurisdiction; it remains an appropriate mechanism for philanthropic, corporate or reputational alliances that do not seek a direct tax return. For European or local donors who prefer to articulate support directly with accredited entities in each territory, an alternative mechanism is documented upon closing the corresponding agreement.
Each donor, company or institution should consult its own legal, tax or financial advisors before making a contribution. The information published on this website is institutional and informational in nature.
How we respond to partners, donors and communities
Accountability is not limited to publishing positive results. It includes methodological limitations, learnings, corrections, process documentation and explanation of how resources are used.
Each territorial program should generate local evidence. The institutional platform consolidates the global reading and publishes aggregated learnings.
Every impact claim must be published with its methodological source. Program indicators will be published as each node enters execution, accompanied by their source and verification methodology.
The platform is currently in its documented founding phase. Before reporting program outcomes, the priority is to build the institutional architecture required to make impact verifiable, traceable and sustainable.
Institutional trust is built with evidence.
Our governance is designed to sustain cultural and social infrastructure, protect communities and provide traceability for partners, donors, participants and publics.