Now in its sixth year, Live Arts Boston (LAB), created with the support and partnership of the Barr Foundation, supports Greater Boston area artists to test ideas, explore collaborations and build skills in the process of generating new, original work. The Boston Foundation invites performing artists, small performing arts organizations, bands, groups of artists, producers and presenters in the Greater Boston area to apply today.
Donor Name: The Boston Foundation
State: Massachusetts
City/Town: Selected Cities/Towns
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline (mm/dd/yyyy): 02/18/2022
Size of the Grant: $15,000
Details:
LAB provides up to $15,000 in project-specific funds to create, produce or present new performing arts work for Greater Boston audiences. In addition to funding, grantees will receive project documentation, one-on-one advising, peer networking opportunities and support for other professional development.
Funding will support work in dance, theater, music, opera, musical theater, spoken word, performance art, circus arts, traditional and folk performing arts and any multi-disciplinary combination of the above.
Program Priorities
Live Arts Boston prioritizes:
- Projects led by and uplifting the artistry and voices of Black people, indigenous people, people of color, immigrants, and new Americans
- Projects with clear artistic intention, creativity, and strength of concept
- Projects with high potential for artistic and career growth and visibility of Greater Boston area artists
- Projects centered on art forms that have had less representation, visibility, and support in Greater Boston
- Timely and compelling projects
Program Guidelines and Eligibility
Below are detailed guidelines for prospective applicants in the 2022 cycle of LAB. Please read this information carefully before beginning your application.
- All proposals must be for a single, distinct artistic event or a clearly connected series of events.
- All projects must center upon the creation, presentation or production of new work (i.e., original or interpretive work that has not previously been presented to a general audience).
- Applicants must make their projects available to Greater Boston audiences through some form of public performance or presentation (in-person, digital or livestreamed) between July 1, 2022 and June 30, 2023. The work need not be finished: public performances can include staged readings, open rehearsals, works-in-progress showings, etc.
- All artists contributing to the project must be paid, including the applicant where applicable.
- Each person or Organization may only serve as the primary applicant on one 2022 LAB application. However, you or your organization may collaborate or participate on other 2022 LAB applicants’ projects.
- Grant funds may be used to support any aspect of the project except fundraising.
- Applicants may apply for support to tour their new work. However, the project must also be shared with Greater Boston audiences during the grant year.
Live Arts Boston does not support:
- Work primarily focused on teaching arts, educational projects, or projects featuring youth participants.
- Work that is primarily focused on community creation. Projects where community engagement is part of the artist’s/artists’ practice for developing new work ARE eligible.
- Re-mountings of works that have already premiered in the Greater Boston area.
- Standalone media, visual or film projects.
Eligibility Requirements
- Prior LAB grantees are eligible to re-apply in 2022, with the exception of those who have received funding for two consecutive years. Grantees who receive LAB funding for two years in a row will be required to take a year off before re-applying. For example, a grantee who received funding in 2020 and 2021 would not be eligible to apply in 2022, but could reapply in 2023.
For Individuals: To be eligible to apply for LAB, you:
- Must be an artist or arts professional, i.e., someone who has devoted significant time and training to build a career creating, interpreting, presenting or producing works of art.
- Must be at least 18 years old.
- Can be early, mid-career, or established, but must have had at least a one-year history of creating and/or presenting professional-level work outside of an academic context.
- Must not be enrolled full-time in college or university as an undergraduate or graduate student in the 2022-2023 academic year.
- Must live, or have lived before March 2020, in one of the towns and cities listed within the Boston Foundation’s geographic catchment area.
For Groups of Artists:
- The Boston Foundation welcomes LAB applications from groups of artists and collaborators. A “collaborator” is a co-owner of a project and provides creative input.
- Groups and collaborators should apply jointly and submit a single application. It is NOT required that all collaborators or group members meet the eligibility requirements listed above for artists; however, the primary applicant must meet ALL eligibility requirements for Individuals.
Note: Unless funds are directed to a fiscal sponsor, one collaborator or group member will ultimately need to serve as the “primary applicant” and, if the project is funded, will be the person who directly receives payment and is responsible for any applicable taxes.
For Organizations: To be eligible to apply for LAB, organizational applicants must:
- Have a primary mission focused on arts and culture.
- Be a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization incorporated in the State of Massachusetts.
- Have had an annual operating budget of $250,000 or less during the organization’s most recently completed fiscal year.
- NOT have received funding through another TBF grant program within the last calendar year.
- Groups or collaborations that do not meet one or more of these criteria are welcome to apply but should apply as groups of artists (per above), and not as organizations.
For more information, visit Live Arts Boston 2022.
