The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts is expanding its Regional Regranting Program to Cleveland and Denver where it will be administered by the non-profit arts organizations SPACES and RedLine respectively. At the same time, Baltimore’s program, The Grit Fund (TGF), will come back on line after a one-year hiatus under the new administration of Baltimore Arts Realty Corp (BARCO). With the addition of these three sites to its roster of 11 others across the country, the Regional Regranting Program will be poised to distribute $1.4 million to organizations for approximately $840,000 in yearly grants for grassroots artist-driven projects across 14 cities/states.
In addition to money for grants, each regranting organization will receive significant funding for program administration and outreach. SPACES’ Satellite Fund will offer ten $6,000 project-based grants to artists in Cuyahoga County; info sessions and the application deadline will be scheduled for spring 2019. RedLine’s INSITE Fund will award 10-15 grants of up to $5,000 each to artists and arts collectives in the Denver Metro area; info sessions will begin in January for a summer 2019 application deadline. BARCO’s Grit Fund will provide 9-12 awards of up to $7,000 each for Baltimore-based projects; applications will open in February with info sessions to take place through March 2019.
Established in 2007, the Regional Regranting Program has awarded $6.4 million in grants to organizations, which has resulted in $3.6 million in direct support of 848 artist projects to date. With the expansion, regranting organizations will be located in Albuquerque, Baltimore, Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Houston, Kansas City, Miami, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Portland (OR), Portland (ME), and San Francisco. The program aims to support under-the radar projects that engage with the public. Recent examples include “Ambergris,” a multimedia installation on Portland, Maine’s Fish Exchange that explores opiate addiction in the commercial fishing industry and “Wak’ó Mujeres Phụ nữ Womxn Mural,” a collaborative mural and digital project that celebrates the daily lives of Kansan women of color.
“Informal experimental artistic practice comprises the majority of visual arts activity in this country, yet is often overlooked and lacks existing mechanisms for funding, which tend to favor high profile exhibitions at large institutions. We are confident that the expansion of the program and the reinstatement of The Grit Fund will introduce many new innovative and public-facing artist projects into the grassroots arts communities of Baltimore, Cleveland, and Denver,” said Joel Wachs, President, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.
“SPACES is thrilled to work with The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts on the Satellite Fund, to support the numerous kinds of artistic practices taking place in Cuyahoga County. Aligned with our mission of supporting artists who explore and experiment, the Satellite Fund will take into consideration the plurality of expression by individual visual artists, collectives, and unincorporated artist-driven initiatives working to strengthen the culture in this region,” said Christina Vassallo, Executive Director, SPACES.
Louise Martorano, Executive Director, RedLine, spoke about the importance of the funding for the Denver arts community, “The INSITE Fund will significantly add to Denver’s creative ecosystem and infrastructure by supporting artist-driven projects that sit outside the “norm” of arts experiences and lead to expanded audiences. At RedLine, this fund supports our continuous effort to remove barriers that exist between artists and funding opportunities and thus between artists ideas and making those ideas possible.”
“We are thrilled to be able to bring the Grit Fund back to Baltimore where it has played a vital role in funding artist-led projects that have been excluded from traditional funding sources. The fund provides an important resource for artists to develop collaborative and public-facing artwork that builds on Baltimore’s national reputation as a center for transformative art that is community-based,” said Amy Bonitz, President & CEO of Baltimore Arts Realty Corporation.
The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts: warholfoundation.org
Baltimore Arts Realty Corp (BARCO): baltimoreartsrealty.com/#grit-fund
RedLine: redlineart.org/insite-fund
SPACES: spacesgallery.org
