Deadline: 20-Feb-2025
The Connecticut Community Foundation launches Arts and Culture Grant Program to prioritize efforts that address disparity and increase access to culturally responsive art experiences, led by BIPOC artists.
Arts and culture play important roles in education, economic development, and general quality of life. Research shows a correlation between arts-based learning and enhanced student achievement, noting how the arts stimulate learning and improve overall academic performance. The arts are also an important part of Connecticut’s economy and more importantly, can serve as a bridge between cultures.
Approaches
- The approach focuses on:
- Increasing access to quality creative arts programs, with a focus on addressing existing disparities.
- Nourishing community arts efforts and refreshing expectations for larger legacy institutions, exploring how traditional entities can serve and partner with diverse communities in non-traditional ways.
Efforts they support
- Participatory arts programs in various media (visual, theater, music, dance, writing, etc.) that create inclusive and supportive conditions for individuals of diverse backgrounds, ages, genders and cultures, and provide ways of making deeper connections to community life.
- Opportunities to create/showcase work and collaborate with others. This may also include integration of arts and community-building activities, or outreach to and inclusion of traditionally underrepresented audiences.
- Work to support/develop artists and efforts to build a supportive and thriving arts sector, welcoming to both current and new/non-traditional artists.
- Support for artists and organizations in forging creative efforts to uplift residents and inspire community & economic development.
Funding Information
- The average amount is between $5,000 and $15,000.
Eligibility Criteria
- They support 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations and organizations with a fiscal sponsor who support communities living in 21 towns within Greater Waterbury and Litchfield Hills.
- In order to apply for funding, an organization must:
- Be a not-for-profit organization recognized under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, or a municipal entity seeking a grant for public purposes. Organizations may also have a nonprofit fiscal sponsor, if they do not have their own nonprofit status.
- Have a board, representative of the community, of which a majority is neither employees nor relatives of employees.
- Possess a Nonprofit Registration to Solicit Funds (or exemption, if appropriate) from the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection.
- They encourage requests that:
- Provide services or support to the communities located within the 21-town service area
- Support system change and advocacy efforts
- Include support for core nonprofit operations such as staff time, overhead and evaluation
- Support organizations led by Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC)
Ineligibility Criteria
- They do not fund:
- Requests for political or religious purposes
- Requests for capital expenditures on buildings not owned by a nonprofit
For more information, visit Connecticut Community Foundation.