The Onion Foundation Arts Program seeks to connect Maine residents to arts experiences, with a focus on supporting arts-mission nonprofit organizations offering ongoing events and educational opportunities.
Donor Name: Onion Foundation
State: Maine
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 08/10/2023
Size of the Grant: $1,000 to $7,500
Details:
Arts Program Strategies
The Onion Foundation recognizes the arts’ important roles in creativity and sharing of culture and different perspectives. The arts are essential for the development of their intellect, their capacity for joy and compassion, and their feelings of connection to one another. They seek to connect Maine residents to arts experiences as audience members and as makers in order to offer opportunities for expression, learning, and inspiration.
Two strategies of Arts program are:
- Strategy 1: Increase Access to Arts Education in Maine
- The Onion Foundation supports programs that incorporate learning goals and that are led by skilled staff and teachers working from detailed plans, rather than programs that only offer casual arts activities. They hope their grantees thoughtfully include a diverse set of students and incorporate equity-based, low-barrier participation opportunities rather than limited scholarship discounts. Foundation encourages applicants to seek support for programs led by and serving historically under-resourced communities, and to offer curricula that are multicultural and do not engage in cultural appropriation.
- Strategy 2: Support Public Engagement in Maine Arts Program
- The Arts Program primarily supports arts-mission nonprofit organizations that offer ongoing events, in particular those that provide Maine residents free or low cost experiences. They give priority to programs with strong public engagement and that show meaningful consideration of the communities where they take place. When assessing proposals, they look for arts programming that includes underrepresented artists and stories, attention to marginalized audiences, and geographic diversity. The Foundation also looks for concrete plans that are guided by a curatorial or programmatic vision and led by experienced staff who are, in turn, supported by their organizations through training and other resources.
Funding Information
- Small Grant Awards: $1,000 to $7,500
- Generally, for:
- Arts organizations or projects with budgets of $50,000 or less
- Fiscally sponsored projects
- Proposals may request:
- Project support
- General operating support if the organization’s mission and all of its activities overlap with the Arts Program strategies
- Multi-year grants.
Eligibility Criteria
- To apply for and receive a grant, your organization must be a 501(c)3 public charity as designated by the IRS, operate under a fiscal sponsor that is a qualified 501(c)3 public charity, be a public education institution, or be a Maine governmental unit.
- They strongly encourage fiscally sponsored applicants to discuss their proposal ideas with a program officer before writing their application.
- The proposed work must be based in Maine and focused on benefitting Maine’s people.
- The Arts Program generally does not support:
- Capital projects (including capital campaigns, capital improvements, land purchases, or endowments)
- Scholarship funds
- Public and private schools or school districts (although they do fund non-profit organizations that partner with schools)
- Permanent public art
- Film/media production
- Publications/book projects
- Exhibitions without significant public programming.
For more information, visit Onion Foundation.
