Mission statement

Our mission is to promote software learning within the arts, artistic learning within technology-related fields, and to celebrate the diverse communities that make these fields vibrant, liberatory, and innovative. Our goal is to support people of all backgrounds in learning how to program and make creative work with code, especially those who might not otherwise have access to tools and resources. We also believe that some of the most radical futures and innovative technologies are being built by communities that have been pushed to the margins by dominant tech. We hope to support those who have been marginalized by technology in continued self-determination by providing time, space, and resources.

We work toward our goals by developing and distributing a group of related software projects, which includes Processing (Java), p5.js (JavaScript), and Processing Android, and by facilitating partnerships and collaborations with allied organizations and individuals to build a more diverse community around software and the arts.

The Processing Foundation is specifically invested in expanding the communities of technology and the arts to support those who have not had equal access because of their race, gender, class, sexuality, immigration/documentation status, age, geographical location, and disability.

Every year, we support and sponsor programs that nurture diverse communities and their projects. Our programs include:

• A Fellowship and Teaching Fellowship Program that funds exploratory, creative, and technical research
• An Advocacy Program that partners with organizations for projects
• Public events that provide platforms for collaboration between our contributors, such as panels and talks that spread the word about the need for equity in these fields
• Summer programs to support emerging coders throughout the world

We also mentor and support new contributors to our software projects each year, which has helped sustain and start new initiatives within our various projects.

At our core is the philosophy and politics of FLOSS (Free, Libre, Open Source Software). We see software as a medium, and a means for thinking and making. We believe that learning to program is not only about acquiring a certain skill set, but also about developing a creative and exploratory process. We believe software, and the tools to learn it, should be accessible to everyone.