The Foundation has authorized its Regional Re-granting Program partners to re-allocate their annual $100,000 grants designated for this program to establish and administer COVID-19 emergency relief funds in their communities. Grants made through these funds will assist artists whose income has been impacted by the pandemic and can be used to help cover basic expenses such as food, rent, medical costs, and childcare.
“The Warhol Foundation is committed to working at both the national and regional level to provide support for artists at this critical moment. With the help of our Regional Re-granting network, we are able to directly address the emergency-related needs of artists in cities where the level of on-the-ground, self-organized artistic activity is highest,” states Joel Wachs, President of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.
The Foundation’s Regional Re-granting program supports the creation of independent, non-traditional, public-facing artists’ projects by partnering with leading cultural institutions in communities across the country. It was designed to serve the sizeable population of informal, non-incorporated artist collectives and independent organizers whose work often falls outside the reach of typical funding sources. Working at the edges of commonly recognized contemporary practice, these artists operate in precarious financial conditions in the best of times and have been seriously destabilized by current closures, postponements, job cancellations and countless other restrictions on work and movement that characterize this moment.
Re-granting programs currently exist in sixteen cities: Albuquerque, Baltimore, Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Houston, Kansas City, Miami, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Portland (ME), Portland (OR), Saint Louis, San Francisco, and Washington DC. In the thirteen years since it was established, the Foundation has made nearly $10 million dollars in grants to its partners who have funded well over a thousand projects.
Rachel Bers, Program Director, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, says “Our re-granting partners have intimate knowledge of and regular contact with vulnerable artist populations in their communities; they possess the skills, the systems, and the strong relationships necessary to carry out this program efficiently, effectively and with heart. We are grateful for their unparalleled responsiveness and leadership at this time – and always.”
The sixteen Regional Re-granting Program partners are as follows:
Albuquerque
516 Arts – Fulcrum Fund
Baltimore
Baltimore Arts Realty Corporation – GRIT Fund
Chicago
Threewalls & Gallery 400- Propeller Fund
Cleveland
SPACES – The Satellite Fund
Denver
Redline Contemporary Art Center – INSITE Fund
Houston
Aurora Picture Show, DiverseWorks, & Project Row Houses – The Idea Fund
Kansas City
Charlotte Street Foundation & Spencer Museum of Art – Rocket Grants
Miami
Locust Projects – WaveMaker Grants
Minneaopolis
Midway Contemporary Art – Visual Arts Fund
New Orleans
Antenna & Ashé Cultural Arts Center – Platforms Fund
Philadelphia
Temple Contemporary – The Velocity Fund
Portland, ME
SPACE Gallery – The Kindling Fund
Portland, OR
Portland Institute for Contemporary Art – Precipice Fund
Saint Louis
The Luminary – Futures Fund
San Francisco
Southern Exposure – Alternative Exposure
Washington DC
Washington Project for the Arts – Wherewithal Grants
The Foundation is confident that its re-granting partners will establish and administer these emergency grants with the spirit of generosity and thoughtfulness that has characterized their individual programs all along, and has made the national re-granting program a meaningful, responsive support structure for artists.