Deadline: 3-May-21
The Seattle Foundation is seeking applications for Creative Equity Fund to support both arts and cultural groups and other community-based organizations located within King County that are by, for, and about people of color and which use arts- and culture-based strategies to work toward racial justice.
This current round of funding will focus on supporting organizations most directly impacted by structural racism and colonization—those that are led by Black and Indigenous people.
The Creative Equity Fund is taking a targeted approach to address these funding disparities and piloting a new strategy to create a cohort of Black and Indigenous-led organizations based in King County that funders can support and learn from over the next two years.
Arts and culture are powerful tools for engaging community in collective change – igniting civil discourse, inspiring action, and helping us imagine and advocate for a just world. As referenced in Arts Fund’s recent Social Impact of the Arts study, arts advance positive and equitable outcomes in several impact areas, including youth development, health and wellness, and neighborhood vitality.
Arts and culture also help us tackle one of our most pressing challenges: the effects of structural racism.
Focus Areas
The Creative Equity Fund is focused on supporting arts and culture-based strategies to build racial justice. Organizations selected may be doing work in some or all of these areas:
- Infusing arts and culture into community organizing, policy, and advocacy work.
- Developing intentional relationships between Black and Indigenous organizations, initiatives, and communities in King County.
- Telling the story of structural racism related to one or more pressing issues affecting our community. This may include intersections with other forms of oppression.
- Engaging people in experiences that imagine a just and liberated world.
- Growing community power in the face of a current or impending racial injustice.
Funding Information
- For 2021-2022, Creative Equity Fund will direct a total of $600,000 to support community-based organizations in King County using arts and culture to advance their work toward racial justice.
Eligibility Criteria
In order to be eligible for a grant from the Creative Equity Fund, your organization must meet the requirements below:
- be based in King County
- be an established 501(c)(3) charitable organization or be fiscally sponsored by a 501(c)(3) charitable organization
- have at least two thirds leadership from Black and/or Indigenous people on your staff. If you’re a volunteer-led organization, have leadership that is at least two thirds Black and/or Indigenous.
- Have at least 25% Black and/or Indigenous people on your board of directors.
- Applicant organization is actively working to dismantle structural racism and build racial justice
For more information, visit https://www.seattlefoundation.org/Blog/Articles/2021/03/decolonizing-philanthropy-through-arts-and-culture