The Bed-Stuy Create and Connect Fund seeds the creative ideas and civic actions of artists, cultural practitioners, community builders, organizers, and makers in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.
Donor Name: The Laundromat Project
State: New York
Neighbourhood: Bedford-Stuyvesant
Borough: Brooklyn
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 09/01/2022
Size of the Grant: $1000
Details:
The Fund will provide $1000 grants towards each funded project, for a total of 25 projects. They are looking for creative initiatives and projects that are rooted in community, foster connections, and ignite conversations and/or collaborations. In other words, they support community building amongst neighbors.
The Fund encourages you to apply if you have a new creative project or an ongoing/long-term initiative that positively impacts and engages a group, audience, or community in Bed-Stuy. They are particularly interested in projects that nurture creativity and uplifts collective recovery, and/or community wellness. Proposals can be for ideas that are virtual, in-person (with appropriate COVID-19 safety precautions in place), or some combination of both.
Eligibility Criteria
Self-organized groups or collectives (i.e. sewing club, writers group); formal organizations (i.e. block associations, tenant associations); and individuals (at least 18 years of age) living, working, or otherwise committed to and invested in Bed-Stuy are eligible to apply. Please note the legacy of place is a core value of this Fund, so proposals must be responsive to or centered within the Bed-Stuy neighborhoods and communities. They also see the allocation of this Fund as a way to help counter structural, systemic injustices in Bed-Stuy. Therefore, they will prioritize: (in no particular order)
- Proposals led by residents born and/or raised in Bed-Stuy, generational Bed-Stuy residents, and residents who have lived in Bed-Stuy for 10 or more years
- Proposals led by individuals who identify as Black, Indigenous, Native and/or People of Color
- Proposals led by individuals in the disability community, including immunocompromised individuals
- Proposals led by individuals who identify as LGBTQIA+.
Types of Eligible Projects
- Virtual workshop series focused on art-making, skill-sharing, and / or creative or cultural activities that create space for community building
- Projects / initiatives that strengthen connections to place in Bed-Stuy
- Ongoing podcasts, storytelling, or oral history projects as they relate to Bed-Stuy
- Outdoor performances or activations in local Bed-Stuy parks or community gardens including dance, theater, musical, spoken word/open-mic*
- Community and place-based projects including temporary public murals or installations, walking tours, sidewalk chalk art competitions, performances, creative scavenger hunts, community bike rides or roller skating activations, wayfinding projects*
- Virtual or socially distant gatherings for intergenerational community members including sewing or knitting clubs, writing groups, singing circles, etc.*
- Support towards arts and cultural festivals including art making at block parties or fairs*
- Mail or postal projects that encourage social connectedness
- Creative activations around mutual aid or cultural organizing
*in-person events and activities must apply appropriate COVID-19 protocols
For more information, visit The Laundromat Project.
