UPCOMING OPPORTUNITIES

The Catalyst for Change (CFC) Fellowship focuses on radical imagination as a key component of pursuing racial justice. The award is intended to catalyze community-based and artist produced visions for creative solutions to injustices. With major support from the Surdna Foundation, NALAC is supporting Latinx artists and culture workers with the potential to utilize collaborative, community informed process, combined with their artistic practice t o increase civic engagement/activism, thereby creating systemic change through artistic interventions. As a CFC Fellow, artists commit to engaging and using: Participatory Action Research (PAR) as a methodology to collaboratively work towards systemic change through relationship building, data gathering/collection, and analysis with members in their communities, and Develop an artistic project which creates the conditions required to disrupt systems of oppression.

Louisiana Contemporary, Presented by the Helis Foundation Every August the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, in connection with Whitney White Linen Night, hosts its opening reception for its annual exhibition Louisiana Contemporary, Presented by the Helis Foundation. Established in 2012, this statewide, juried exhibition promotes the contemporary art practices in the state of Louisiana, provides an exhibition space for the exposition of living artist’s work and engages a contemporary audience that recognizes the vibrant visual arts culture of Louisiana and the role of New Orleans as a rising, international art center. This year's juror is Valerie Cassel Oliver, Sydney and Frances Lewis Family Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

The National Performance Network’s Southern Artists for Social Change program provides $25,000 project grants to artists and culture bearers of color living, working, and engaging in social change in urban, rural, and tribal communities of Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi. NPN’s Southern Artists for Social Change envisions a world in which people of color living, working, and organizing for community change in the South have the power, resources, and opportunities to thrive. NPN’s mission is to contribute to a more just and equitable world by building artists’ power; advancing racial and cultural justice in the arts; fostering relationships between individuals, institutions, and communities; and working toward systems change in arts and philanthropy. Southern Artists for Social Change is part of the Surdna Foundation’s “Radical Imagination for Racial Justice” initiative, supporting civic practice projects that bring artists of color into collaboration and co-design with community partners and local residents of color around a community-defined vision. This pilot program awarded its first grants in 2020. To see the announcement of the 2020 Southern Artists for Social Change cohort and to learn about their projects, click here.

MAP’s 2022 grant cycle will provide grants of $30,000 to 85 new, live performance projects across all regions of the United States. Project funds ($25,000) may be used for creation, dependent care, personnel, practice, production, rehearsal, research, rest, residency, travel, and workshop costs. General operating funds ($5,000) are unrestricted. Open and supported application: Anyone may apply on behalf of an eligible new, live performance project that connects with MAP’s mission. The person(s) who create the application (“primary contact” in Submittable) may be an individual artist, ensemble representative, producer, manager, agent, or presenting representative. We expect that all artists have consented to their presence in the proposal, and that the primary contact will share all subsequent communications with the artist(s). MAP aims to make the application process as supported as possible, offering phone call, email, and project description support. Three-step selection process to mitigate bias: In Step 1, a cohort of 60+ artists and arts workers serving as representatives of the applicant community will complete independent assessments of each proposal. They will cast anonymous votes to advance projects into the next step. In Step 2, an Excel function will randomly draw 85 projects. In Step 3, MAP’s Board of Directors approves the selected projects. MAP staff will send notifications via email. Granting process foregrounding artists’ agency: Each grantee will receive a $25,000 grant for the creation of a new, live performance project and a $5,000 unrestricted general operating grant. The artist(s) will choose the “grant custodian” best suited to their project’s needs, and must agree to how and when the funds will be distributed. We will move the funds quickly upon completed paperwork.

The Individual Artist Career Opportunity Grant supports a milestone opportunity in an individual artist’s career that is likely to lead to substantial and significant career advancement. Grants of up to $2,000 are available to support opportunities taking place between July 1, 2022 and June 30, 2023.