William Penn Foundation’s 2020 Grants Program – United States

Deadline: 11-Sep-20

Applicants are now invited to submit applications for the William Penn Foundation’s 2020 Grants Program.

To enhance the vitality and vibrancy of the Greater Philadelphia region, the William Penn Foundation is committed to increasing high-quality, educational opportunities for economically disadvantaged students; supporting arts, culture and the development of accessible and vibrant public spaces; and protecting the Delaware River watershed.

They work with partners in Greater Philadelphia to identify ways to make arts and culture accessible to everyone, help ensure the creative sector is sustainable for the long term, and support the development of vibrant public spaces that are widely accessible.

Funding Information

The amount of grant proposals is above $110,000.

Program Areas

Increasing Arts Education
- The William Penn Foundation works to provide opportunities for Philadelphia students to experience arts learning.
- They seek to fund arts education programs working as partners in Philadelphia schools, and that focus on the three areas of interest of the Foundation:
  - Expanding Students’ World Views: Greater Understanding of Cultures and Experiences
  - Building Students’ Skill and Interest in the Arts: A Next Generation for Philadelphia’s Art and Cultural Community
  - Strengthening Students’ Socioemotional Learning: Increased Interpersonal and Intra-Personal Skills
  - Preference is given to programs working with students in the 4^th grade or younger, offered in Philadelphia schools with a high percentage of students from low-income families and a dearth of resources to provide arts education.
  - The William Penn Foundation’s funding is not intended to replace existing arts teachers in Philadelphia schools, but rather to support their important work.
Investing in Great Public Spaces
- The William Penn Foundation works to support equitable access to great public spaces.
- They believe that great public spaces strengthen communities. They are places in which they spend time with family, friends, and neighbors. They can also promote health through physical activity, help children learn through play, enhance appreciation of the natural environment, and offer platforms for cultural expression.
- Great public spaces come in many forms, including parks, libraries, recreation centers, trails, waterways, community gardens, community centers, plazas and play areas.
- William Penn Foundation seek to fund public space efforts that value:
  - Enriching Experiences: members of the public, especially children and elders, experience the space in ways that promote wellbeing and joy.
  - Meaningful Community and Stakeholder Involvement: local knowledge, expertise, and interests are respected through engagement, partnership, and co-creation.
  - Inclusion: public spaces strive for social and racial inclusivity, e.g., through age-friendly design, multi-lingual communication, culturally-relevant programming, transportation access, and marketing.
  - Civic & Natural Context: public spaces reflect their local community and/or natural context, e.g., through public art, ecological restoration, or other connections to area histories.
  - Quality Design & Materials: quality design and materials contribute to positive community identity, ensure durability and longevity, and contribute to environmental sustainability.
  - Resilience: stewardship and maintenance are priorities, not afterthoughts.
New Audiences/New Places
- The New Audiences/New Places grant making program funds artistic projects that engage new audiences through the use of public, civic, and community spaces as platforms for cultural performances and public art, supporting work that enriches community life and fosters creative expression throughout the city.
- The William Penn Foundation believes in the intrinsic value of art and its ability to enhance the quality of life, inspire creativity, and enlarge worldviews and perspectives. The principal aim of the New Audiences/New Places effort is to increase resident and visitor engagement with dynamic, high quality public art by funding organizations to create art in places outside of their traditional venues and that reaches new audiences or deepens communities of constituencies.
- This strategy is intended to primarily provide funding support to professional arts and culture organizations operating outside their traditional venues. The William Penn Foundation supports a diverse range of high quality art projects in a wide range of public, civic, and community spaces with the over-arching expectation that the works will be highly available to the public. Specifically, the Foundation funds projects that have the ability to:
  - Engage audiences outside of traditional performance and exhibition venues, especially in community based settings where a diversity of people come together.
  - Promote new opportunities for residents throughout the city to engage in high quality cultural experiences.
  - Foster relationships between cultural organizations and neighborhoods, helping organizations reach audiences and communities that are new to them and/or the arts.
  - Expand the understanding of how enhanced engagement, active dialog, extended programming, or multiple points of access provide new audiences with cultural opportunities.
  - All aspects of project development and execution, including planning, design, civic engagement, and implementation, are eligible for funding through New Audiences/New Places.
  - Projects that are permanent, temporary, or seasonal in nature and in any discipline (e.g., performing arts, visual arts, media arts, literary/humanities, multi-discipline, etc.) are eligible for consideration.
Core Support for Arts and Cultural Organizations
- To ensure that arts organizations have flexibility to support operations, they provide general operating funds to organizations that create inclusive cultural and civic opportunities that develop a sense of belonging to communities and places as well contribute to creating a rich, creative cultural landscape for the region.
- The William Penn Foundation awards up to three-year Core Support grants to arts and cultural organizations that meet criteria of artistic and organizational strength. Grants are awarded in unrestricted funds to give grantees the flexibility to meet their unique needs. Funding may be used toward any purpose that advances the mission of the organization, as determined by the grantee organization.