In wake of COVID-19, businesses, individuals and institutions have stepped up to support artists and creatives financially. We've been put on to a few grants you should apply for, ranging from funding for creative projects to personal needs. Here are a few to look into. Be sure to APPLY!!
Amount: $900
Deadline: September 15, 2020
Educational Level: Any
About:
Across history, art has led, documented, and reflected social change.
Nearly every major protest or revolution is remembered through its art, often with a single photograph or illustration coming to define the moment for generations to come.
Examples include:
May 68 protests in France
The Burning Monk in the Vietnam War
Banksy’s Flower Thrower in Jerusalem
Human Rights Salute by Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Olympics
As the Black Lives Matter movement fights for change, it is important to support the artists and artwork that document the protest, elevating and furthering the cause. This grant is for a Black student who is furthering a protest or social change through any form of visual art.
Amount: $900
Deadline: August 31, 2020
Educational Level: Undergraduate, Graduate
About:
Art reflects the culture of the times across every dimension. The famous works of Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling, Picasso’s Guernica, and Shepard Fairey’s Hope are visual narratives of science, religion, war, and politics respectively. To learn about new cultures, we visit their artwork and architecture and learn through the eyes of artists. However, as with the examples listed above, we are disproportionately learning through the eyes of white artists. Williams College recently conducted a study on the diversity of artist collections in US museums and revealed 85% of the artists are white, while only 1.2% are Black.
Black artists aren’t only underrepresented throughout history. Today, 8% of visual artists are Black, while only 4% of art graduates are Black. Art, as we know it, does not provide comprehensive cultural narrative until it includes more Black artists. This grant is for a Black student pursuing an undergraduate or graduate degree in studio and/or visual arts.
Black Creative Endeavors Grant
Amount: $3,000
Deadline: July 31, 2020
About:
"We are committing $15,000 USD in funding to Black-led initiatives: $3,000 USD will be disbursed to five creators to support their creative endeavors. This includes but is not limited to, projects or initiatives in design, architecture, fashion, music, visual arts, community arts, writing, photography, and film or other. In addition, we are offering our resources and serveries to grand recipients, if desired.
Grant submissions are open to US and international candidates. You can submit your proposal to team@somthingspecialstudios.com by July 31. Please include your Category in the subject line of the email submission. We will reply to all submissions by August 14. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to DM us for e-mail team@sothingspecialstudios.com"
Amount: $500
Deadline: July 12, 2020
About:
In response to the immense toll of the combined forces of COVID-19, recent racial unrest, and the intense economic instability currently facing many BIPOC communities, Burnaway will award ten grants of $500 ($5,000 total) to Black, Indigenous, and other artists of color in the South. You can contribute to this fund here. BIPOC artists living and working in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia are eligible to apply for this grant. While all BIPOC artists in our coverage region are invited to apply, special consideration will be given to Black and Indigenous artists. Applications are due by 11:59 pm EDT on Sunday, July 12. Grantees will be notified by Wednesday, July 15.
Eligibility
Applicants must have been living in AL, AR, FL, GA, KY, LA, MS, NC, SC, PR, TN, VA, or WV for at least six months.
Applicants must maintain an active art practice. Burnaway understands contemporary art to exist across a range of disciplines but will not prioritize applicants working in contexts more traditionally understood as performing arts (theater, music, dance), literary arts, or filmmaking.
Applicants must identify as BIPOC, defined as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. For this particular grant, priority will be given to Black and Indigenous artists, but all artists of color in the South are welcome to apply.
Grantees will be selected based on financial need and the potential impact of the grant in their lives and art practices.
This is a one-time grant offered as part of our statement of solidarity published in June 2020. Additional grants may released during this cycle but are not guaranteed. Email any questions about the Southern BIPOC Artist Fund to logan@burnaway.org.
Amount: $500
Deadline: July 17, 2020
About:
In order to respond properly to the great need of artists and arts connected organizations in the age of COVID-19, MAC is releasing an expanded version of the current Mini grant program to “rapidly respond” to the needs of the arts field in Mississippi.
Rapid Response Minigrants will function similarly to MAC’s Minigrant program but will differ in their expansion of eligible uses and the 100% payout available to successful grantees upon grant contract receipt.
The Rapid Response Mini grant program supports established and emerging professional artists based in Mississippi by providing funds to assist then with professional training, promotional efforts, purchase of expendable supplies and, in light of COVID-19, to adapt their artistic work in an online setting.
Applicants may apply for up to $500 and does not require a cash match from the artist. Rapid Response Mini grants are NOT reimbursement based and will be paid out to successful grantees upon receipt of their grant contract documents.
Priority will be given to those individuals who had to cancel their FY20 MAC grants as well as to individuals with disabilities, veterans, those residing in MAC’s identified undeserved counties and those in extremely rural or high-poverty counties. Artists who are applying for the first time are strongly encouraged to consult the resources available on this website such as the Frequently Asked Questions page and to contact a MAC program director to discuss whether or not their project would be eligible for funding before submitting an application.
Rapid Response Applications will be accepted beginning on July 6, 2020. DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION IS 11:59 p.m. on July 17th.
Applicants will be notified by late August 2020. Please note: All applications will be received online through MAC’s eGRANT system.
Eligible Projects
Who May Apply
You may apply for an Artist Mini grant if you are:
• A professional artist producing work of high artistic quality. Individuals are considered to be professional artists if they:
◦ earn at least part of their annual income in their artistic work,
◦ consider their artistic endeavors as a career,
◦ maintain a high level of artistic quality, and
◦ make a significant time investment in their artistic disciplines through practice, performance or production
• More than 18 years of age
• Not a full-time student; and
• A permanent, legal resident of Mississippi at the time of application and throughout the grant period. Applicants may be required to show proof of residence (such as driver’s license, proof of domicile, homestead, utility bills).
For questions about the Minigrant program, or to determine if your project is eligible to receive funding, contact one of the following MAC Program Staff members, based on your artistic discipline:
Visual Arts and Fine Art Crafts, Wilburn Smith, 601.359.6030, wsmith@arts.ms.gov
Performing Arts, Leslie Barker, lbarker@arts.ms.gov
Literary Arts, Kristen Brandt, kbrandt@arts.ms.gov
Folk and Traditional & Film/Media Arts, Maria Zeringue, mzeringue@arts.ms.gov
Please note: Due to COVID-19, many of the MAC staff is working remotely. Please send an email inquiry to one of the addresses listed above for a more immediate response.
This is all we have for now. If you come across any resources or grants for artists and creatives in Mississippi tag us (@sipptalk on all platforms)! Email us (hello@sipptalk.com) Let us know. We'll help spread the word. We got us. That's that #SippTalk