The Creation Fund supports the creation of new artistic work that advances racial and cultural justice and results in live experiential exchange between artists and community.
Donor Name: National Performance Network
State: All States
County: All Counties
Territory: Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 05/23/2022
Size of the Grant: $12,000
Grant Duration: 3 years
Details:
The fund provides a framework for relationships to develop, over time, among diverse artists, arts organizations, and communities. Through the investment of commissioning funds from arts organizations and NPN direct subsidies, each project is eligible for multi-level support.
Phase I Creation
- Relationships are central to the Creation Fund, which supports new work in early stages.
- Artists apply for the Creation Fund with a team consisting of at least two arts organizations (co-commissioners) led by a NPN National Partner.
- Each commissioner contributes a $2,000–$3,000 cash match and agrees to present the work once it has been created.
- NPN matches these funds so that every Creation Fund artist receives a minimum of $12,000 of project funding.
- The structure of the Creation Fund increases organizations’ capacities to commission work, deepens relationships, and is a tool for leveraging other local and national funding.
Grant Period
- For projects premiering between Jan 1, 2023 and Dec 31, 2025
Eligibility Criteria
Artistic projects must be in the early stages of creation, to be presented between January 1, 2023 and December 31, 2025. They recognize timelines may shift due to the ongoing pandemic.
- Artists who have received a Creation Fund after May 1, 2019 and/or have another Creation Fund in progress are not eligible.
- Projects that advance racial and/or cultural justice.
- Projects must culminate in an in-person, virtual, or hybrid exchange between the Creation Fund artist and each co-commissioner’s community.
- Artists/companies based in the US and its territories or Mexico are eligible to apply.
- NPN Partners may only participate as lead commissioner on one project per Creation Fund cycle, however they can participate as a co-commissioner on any number of projects.
- At least two co-commissioners (one of which is an NPN Partner) in different communities (at least 100 miles apart) must be confirmed at the time of application.
- If the artist is a company member, staff member, or resident artist of one of the co-commissioning organizations, three co-commissioners (instead of two) must be identified (in different communities) to ensure visibility for artists beyond their home base.
- Each co-commissioner has the capacity to meet the co-commissioner requirements, including paying out a cash match of $2,000–$3,000 to NPN by June 1, 2024 and presenting the work, through a paid public engagement, within three years. (Artist fees for the public engagement are the full responsibility of the co commissioner and should be paid to the artist in addition to co-commissioning fees.)
- Artists and co-commissioners must credit NPN and co-commissioners for the life of the work in all marketing and promotional materials.
- In alignment with NPN’s commitment to creating an arts sector rooted in justice, they are committed to ensuring spaces, structures, and processes free of racism, transphobia, homophobia, ableism, misogyny, classism, or other bias. Their expectation is that all artists and co-commissioners receiving NPN support will honor this ethic.
What Funds Can Be Used For
- Unrestricted funds can be used for a variety of needs such as artist fees, collaborator fees, to pay basic life needs such as housing and food, research and development, materials, technical support, and/or anything else an artist may need to create a work. Funds cannot be used to present the work once it is complete.
Presentation fees are the responsibility of the co-commissioners.
For more information, visit NPN.
