This artist-centric grant program—designed to support approximately 50 tours each year—is made possible with funds from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation with additional support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Donor Name: South Arts
State: All States
County: All Counties
U.S. Territories: American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline (mm/dd/yyyy): Ongoing
Grant Size: $5,000 to $15,000
Details:
The program is intended to support artists within a career level spectrum from emerging/mid-career to more established; and, Jazz Road acknowledges that measures of consistent commercial success, visibility, and touring profiles are often based on perceptions, and therefore, are relative. The program also believes that artists deserve to be paid equitably for their work. How an artist and presenter establish the value of the artist’s fee when negotiating an engagement is also relative, and often results in a difference. This program aims to close that gap as much as possible, and allow artists to pay themselves equitably when venues are unable to do so.
Key components of Jazz Road Tours:
- An artist may submit an application for a small (three-to-six site) tour comprised of connected (contiguous) dates at an array of venue types anywhere in the U.S and its territories.
- An Offer Letter for each tour site is required as part of the grant application, which includes what they will pay the artist(s). Ideally, many presenters will pay the equitable fee, or will work with the artist for a fee reduction, with the gap covered by the grant. Some tour presenters, especially those in the most underserved or rural communities or those new to jazz, may not be able to pay as much or in rare cases, at all, and are not required to, as the grant will provide the equitable artist fee.
- Jazz Road also will prioritize applications that include engagements in rural areas or that reach typically underserved communities, especially those that lack opportunities to present live jazz.
- Applicants that make a strong case for how the tour is impacting their careers in new ways are more competitive. Jazz Road also believes that through a logical route of tour dates, the artists will experience the continuity and momentum of repeat engagements, solidify developing music, and establish band identity/sound through working with the same personnel over the course of the tour.
Funding Information
Grant amounts generally range from $5,000 to $15,000.
Eligibility Criteria
Only individual artists (as an individual, an artist-led nonprofit organization, or an artist-led corporation) may apply to this program. An eligible artist is:
- A professional jazz artist, working solo or working with a composer-led or collective jazz ensemble which consists of 2-10 musicians;
- Age 18 or over and not currently a full-time student;
- Based in the U.S. or its territories, and is a U.S. citizen or permanent resident (non-residents may participate in a tour, but not be paid with Jazz Road Tours funds)
For more information, visit South Arts.
