My experience with the Van Lier studio residency is a case in point. Created through the estate of Edward and Sally Van Lier, the Van Lier fellowships were funneled into the New York Community Trust with a clear donor mandate: to support young professional artists from historically underrepresented populations in New York City. Emerging, mid-career, late-career: the art world tosses these categories around as if they were neutral descriptors. Van Lier represents the most rigid model: capped at 30, identity-targeted, and bound to donor intent. If the art world is serious about equity (as it often claims to be), it has to learn from that.