Creative Work Fund, a San Francisco-based nonprofit, is offering
$650,000 in grants to artists and organizations in 14 Northern
California counties, including San Benito County.
Interested artists can also participate in a webinar to find out
more about the application process Jan. 31, at 6 p.m., Feb. 10, at
noon, or Feb. 17, at 5 p.m.
The grants are available for collaborative projects featuring
literary or traditional artists. Letters of inquiry are due March
4, at 5 p.m. From the $650,000, CWF will offer grants that range in
size from $10,000 to $40,000.
Creative Work Fund, a San Francisco-based nonprofit, is offering $650,000 in grants to artists and organizations in 14 Northern California counties, including San Benito County.
Interested artists can also participate in a webinar to find out more about the application process Jan. 31, at 6 p.m., Feb. 10, at noon, or Feb. 17, at 5 p.m.
The grants are available for collaborative projects featuring literary or traditional artists. Letters of inquiry are due March 4, at 5 p.m. From the $650,000, CWF will offer grants that range in size from $10,000 to $40,000.
“Over the years, we have been encouraged by the scope and variety of creative new projects that have brought artists together with local organizations for projects that have greatly enhanced their communities,” said Frances Phillips, the CWF program director.
The projects may culminate in any form, but the project team must feature a lead artist with a strong track record as either a literary or traditional artist.
Literary artists are those with experience writing poetry, spoken word poetry, fiction or creative nonfiction. It does not include those who write criticism, journalism or for education purposes. Playwrights may apply with performing artists in a future year.
Traditional artists create in art forms that are learned as part of the cultural heritage of a group of people whose members share a common ethnic heritage, language, religion, occupation or region. These expressions are deeply rooted in and reflective of the community’s shared standards of beauty, values or life experiences. Traditional arts are often learned orally or by emulation, and can be passed down from generation to generation. Traditional artists may excel as individual artists, work as a group or work collectively. They may produce works in a variety of forms – oral traditions, performances, crafts, multi-disciplinary works and others. Some examples include African American quilting, Hawaiian hula, Japanese joinery, klezmer music, Mexican folklorico dance, Mexican papier mache sculpture, Native American basketweaving, Romani brass band music, Tibetan dance and music, Tongan tapa cloth making and more.
The CWF grant program emphasizes the creation of new work, not anthologies or productions of work already published or developed. However, traditional artists need not innovate within their art forms, but may deepen their practice through research, interaction with other artists or by working with community members.
To be eligible to apply, the principal collaborating artists and organizations must live or be located in Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Monterey, Napa, San Benito, San Francisco, San Joaquin, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano, Sonoma or Stanislaus, and have been there for at least two years.
Letters of inquiry are due March 4. From there, Creative Work Fund will invite 50 detailed proposals from those who submitted letters, due by May 6. Completed applications, from those who are invited, are due July 17. The grant awards will be announced Oct. 17. Grants are highly competitive and recommended to CWF by a committee of accomplished panelists.
To sign up for one of the webinars, visit the Foundation Center’s online calendar, at http://grantspace.org/Classroom/Training-Calendar.
Since 1994, CWF has contributed $8 million to advance art-making by California artists in a variety of disciplines, with a focus on genuine, creative partnership between artists in a variety of disciplines. It is a program of the Walter and Elise Haas Fund that is supported by grants from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the James Irvine Foundation.
