Philadelphia’s Cultural Treasures Project Grants are designed to resource creative or capacity-building projects that position Philadelphia BIPOC artists and BIPOC-led institutions for enduring success.
Donor Name: Philadelphia’s Cultural Treasures
State: Pennsylvania
City: Philadelphia
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 10/26/2023
Size of the Grant: $10,000, $25,000, and $50,000
Details:
The purpose of the PCT program overall—across all three of its grant opportunities—is to begin to redress some of the systemic racism that Philadelphia-based, BIPOC artists and institutions have endured, including barriers to accessing capital.
PCT Project Grants are open to two groups:
- independent BIPOC artists over 18 years of age who have based their careers in Philadelphia for at least the past 5 years.
- fiscally sponsored art projects/artist collectives/organizations that are BIPOC-led; have been based in Philadelphia for at least the past five years; and have annual operating budgets no larger than $300,000.
Categories Open to Artists
- Category 1: Creative Freedom & Experimentation
- The spirit of this grant category is to offer creative autonomy for you as a BIPOC artist or culture bearer that does not depend on a commission from an institution, fellowship, or some other external source. There is room to collaborate with an organization if desired, but it is not required. Such projects come in many forms but as examples, possible projects might include:
- Creating new work intended for public display, engagement, or some other public offering • Creating new work for commercial sale
- Gap-funding for an existing, public-facing project that has not been presented at scale
- Hiring a Studio Assistant or Studio Manager to free up time spent away from your craft
- Category 2: Archives & Documentation
- The spirit of this grant category is to protect your legacy by making sure your work is preserved through high quality documentation that allows it to be shared broadly now and with future generations. Such projects come in many forms but as examples, possible projects might include:
- Securing an agreement with relevant institution(s) to receive your archives and/or art collection (now or in the future)
- Digitizing a collection of your work or placing items in archival storage
- Cataloguing items in a database
- Working with an archivist to develop and/or implement an archival plan
- Hiring relevant vendors to create high-quality work samples
- Updating or developing an online presence, including hiring relevant vendors (e.g. web designer, photographer, videographer, editor, copyeditor)
- Creating or managing social media channels, including content creation
- The spirit of this grant category is to protect your legacy by making sure your work is preserved through high quality documentation that allows it to be shared broadly now and with future generations. Such projects come in many forms but as examples, possible projects might include:
Categories Open to Organizations/Projects/Collectives
- Category 1: Creative Collaborations
- The spirit of this grant category is to enable you as a BIPOC-led organization or artist collective to initiate mutually beneficial collaborations with BIPOC artists and culture bearers. Such projects come in many forms but as examples, possible projects might include:
- Creating new work intended for public display, engagement, or other public offering
- Creating new work for commercial sale (where artist collaborators receive a portion of proceeds)
- Gap-funding for an existing collaborative project that has not been presented yet
- Hiring interim staff to support this creative collaboration
- The spirit of this grant category is to enable you as a BIPOC-led organization or artist collective to initiate mutually beneficial collaborations with BIPOC artists and culture bearers. Such projects come in many forms but as examples, possible projects might include:
- Category 2: Organizational Capacity Building
- The spirit of this grant category is to offer you as a BIPOC-led organization or artist collective support for projects that strengthen your operations and administration. Such projects come in many forms but as examples, possible projects might include:
- Fundraising and revenue/business planning activities, including hiring a grant writer
- Projects related to improving marketing and communications
- Training and professional development activities
- Investing in new technology (hardware or software) that supports programming or day to day operations
- The spirit of this grant category is to offer you as a BIPOC-led organization or artist collective support for projects that strengthen your operations and administration. Such projects come in many forms but as examples, possible projects might include:
The PCT Project Grants program does not place any specific restrictions on the kind of artmaking you practice. Some examples of eligible genres include but are not limited to:
- Architecture and Design
- Archiving and archival work
- Craft
- Choreography
- Folk and Traditional Arts (including storytelling, drumming, dance, and textiles)
- Literature (including fiction, nonfiction, and poetry)
- Media (including film, screenwriting, video, audio, radio, and web-based work)
- Music Composition
- Playwriting and Theater
- Public Art, Performance Art, and Public Engagement
- Socially Engaged Art
- Visual Art
Funding Information
PCT project grants will be administered in the following flat amounts: $10,000, $25,000, and $50,000.
- $10,000 is intended for modest sized projects like improving work samples or mounting a short series of workshops.
- $25,000 might cover the costs of hiring a part-time studio assistant; overhauling a website; or rehearsals for a performing arts piece.
- $50,000 can facilitate an archival project that requires professional support and addresses many archival objects; or generate new work for a large-scale venue; or support post-production costs for a film.
Eligibility Criteria
PCT Project Grants are therefore open to individual BIPOC artists with a track record of working in Philadelphia’s cultural community for at least five years, as well as and fiscally sponsored projects/organizations/artist collectives that are BIPOC-led with a history of the same.
In addition to satisfying these demographic criteria, eligible applicants are the following:
- Independent BIPOC artists, or
- Artist collectives where the majority of members are BIPOC, or
- Fiscally sponsored organizations/projects that are both BIPOC-led and -serving with annual operating budgets no greater than $300,000.
- Have a track record of working in Philadelphia’s cultural community for at least five years.
- NOT students
- NOT full-time faculty at universities and colleges
- NOT Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs)
- NOT a recipient of a PCT General Operating Support grant
- NOT a 2022 PCT Fellow who received $135,000. ($120,000 + $15,000 in retirement savings.)
- NOT current employees of any of the PCT funding partners: The Barra Foundation, Neubauer Family Foundation, The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, The Pew Charitable Trusts, William Penn Foundation or Wyncote Foundation. Not members of such employees’ households, or people closely related to such employees through blood, marriage, or domestic partnership are similarly ineligible.
For more information, visit Philadelphia’s Cultural Treasures.
