Calling all artists and creators: Knight Foundation awarding $200,000 in art grants
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The Knight Foundation is awarding grants (up to $25,000 each) and a chance for you to showcase your project at BOOM Festival 2020. They’re calling the initiative “Celebrate Charlotte Arts” — you can apply now through to June 7.
How it works: Knight Foundation Director of Arts Priya Sircar explained that the money is coming from a pool of about $200,000, and they want artists of all types from all over Charlotte to apply. From performing arts to cinema to visual arts, anyone can apply. The maximum you can receive for your project is $25,000.
Who should apply: Any artist, person, group or organization interested in creating art that can ready to show at BOOM Festival 2020. Priya told me it doesn’t matter if you’ve already started or are still in the early planning stages, if you’re hoping to win the maximum amount or only need a few hundred to finish up what you’re working on, as long as it’ll be ready to show.
What they want to see: “I would say we don’t have pre-conceived notions of what we hopes to see in regards to types of projects,” Priya said. “Through the application, what we’re actually hoping is we get a good sense of what kind of art is being created and shared today in Charlotte. What we do hope is we receive applications from a wide variety of artists, from different parts of the city, from different racial and ethnic and cultural backgrounds.”
Types of art: Priya said BOOM Festival started as more of a performing arts showcase, but now can you expect dance, spoken word, theater, music, opera, visual arts (painting, sculpture) digital art, film and other media, audio arts (sound art) or any other type of creative project or performance.
What the art director says: “We are excited about it not only because we’ve seen so much interesting work going on throughout Charlotte in arts and culture and we want to support it, but we’re also excited because built into this funding opportunity, is an opportunity share the work though BOOM Festival next year.”
How to increase your chances of winning: Priya and her team are hosting tons of free events to help you hone your pitch and improve your application. If you’re serious, go to them. And if you can’t make the dates work, reach out through their website.
Really cool fact: After talking with Priya, I was so impressed with the effort going into making sure anyone who wants to apply, can. She told me that even if English isn’t your first language, they can translate the application for you.