Deadline: 24-May-21
Are you doing the necessary work of imagining a more just version of what is possible in their public spaces – during this extended time of physical distancing, and also on the other side of the pandemic? Are you dreaming up public art that can help us see, feel, experience and imagine spatial justice now, while they are still on this collective journey towards realizing more just futures for their public spaces and public culture? If yes If yes, then apply for the Collective Imagination for Spatial Justice grants Program.
Collective Imagination for Spatial Justice grants support teams of artists, creative’s, culture bearers, cultural organizers, and/or community-based collaborators to do the important work of imagining public art that fosters and contributes to more just futures for their public spaces and public culture. The work of imagination is a journey. Project deliverables are not expected or required to begin this journey.
Priority Areas
- Assemble your Collective Imagination Team
- Priority will be given to teams that are:
- Share in NEFA’s values and commitment to the work of dismantling the legacies of racism, anti-Blackness, and white supremacy culture.
- Are led or co-led by artists, particularly BIPOC artists. The path to dismantling the legacies of racism and white supremacy culture includes centering BIPOC (Black Indigenous People of Color)-led creative exploration and expression in public spaces.
- Are rooted in community and/or demonstrate deep relationship to place – particularly rural places and/or places where folks are experiencing/have experienced displacement.
- Are built on trust and accountability. Artists are collaborators and co-conspirators on this journey, not saviors.
- Priority will be given to teams that are:
- Know where you are starting and why. Be as specific as possible
- Priority will be given to teams that focus on:
- The intersectionality of spatial justice and racial justice
- Disrupting harmful historic narratives that uphold social and structural inequities
- Decolonizing and/or indigenizing public spaces
- Honoring the integrity of the people, places, stories, and ideas – past, present, and future- engaged in the process
- Priority will be given to teams that focus on:
Funding Information
- Collective Imagination for Spatial Justice grants range from $2,000-5,000.
Eligibility Criteria
- Lead Applicant must be a Massachusetts-based artist, creative, culture bearer, cultural organizer, and/or community-based collective or organization.
- Lead applicant may be individuals, fiscally sponsored collectives, and 501c3 organizations.
- Individual applicants and payees must be 18+ years old.
- Organizations/Collectives applying may be a 501c3, fiscally sponsored, or a collective of individuals.
- Note: Collective Imagination for Spatial Justice grants are taxable income to individual recipients and reportable to the IRS. All grantees will receive a 1099 from NEFA.
- The Collective Imagination Team must include 1-4 additional collaborators: artists, creative’s, culture bearers, cultural organizers, and/or community-based collectives or organizations.
- Recognizing the intersectionality of artists’ identities, we ask that artist(s) are among your Collective Imagination Team either as the lead applicant or as additional collaborator(s).
- Additional collaborators may be based outside of Massachusetts.
- Interest and commitment to the work of collective imagination!
- Commitment to imagining public art that fosters and/or contributes to a more racially and spatially just versions of what is possible in their public spaces.
Not Eligible
- Lead applicant is not based in Massachusetts.
- Project-specific funding requests. Collective Imagination Grants intend to strengthen collaborations and support this necessary work of collectively imagining together, before diving into creating impactful, accountable public art. If you have a specific project that you are ready to implement, please consider applying for a Public Art for Spatial Justice Grant.
- Current Collective Imagination for Spatial Justice grantee (lead applicant) who has not completed their respective grantee report.
Note: If you are applying for a Collective Imagination for Spatial Justice and a Public Art for Spatial Justice grant in the same grant round, each application will be reviewed independent of each other and funding is not guaranteed (i.e. you may be funded for one but not the other).
For more information, visit https://www.nefa.org/ImagineSpatialJustice