The Leeway Transformation Award (LTA) provides unrestricted annual awards of $15,000 to women, trans, and gender nonconforming artists and cultural producers living in Greater Philadelphia who create art for social change and have done so for the past five years or more, demonstrating a long-term commitment to social change work.
Donor Name: Leeway Foundation
State: Pennsylvania
County: Bucks County (PA), Chester County (PA), Delaware County (PA), Montgomery County (PA), Philadelphia County (PA)
Type of Grant: Awards and Prizes
Deadline: 05/15/2024
Size of the Grant: $10,000 to $100,000
Grant Duration: Less than 1 Year
Details:
The award is unrestricted (it is not project-based) and open to artists and cultural producers working in any medium, including traditional and nontraditional as well as multimedia and experimental forms.
Leeway supports artists and cultural producers involved in art for social change that positively affects and engages communities and audiences. Creating social change must be integral to the ideas, beliefs, and goals that are woven throughout your art and your process of creating and sharing your art.
Impact of Art with Vision
Art for social change is art with a vision and an intentional analysis. It is an artistic or creative cultural practice that may operate in traditional or nontraditional mediums, modes, or disciplines. Art with a vision impacts people in many ways. It can:
- Raise consciousness
- Alter how they think about themselves, their society, or their culture
- Create a vision of a more just world
- Be a tool or strategy for organizing and movement building
- Preserve or reclaim traditional cultural practices using your artistic practice as a form of resistance or empowerment
- Create space for expression and build a sense of community
- Challenge racism, classism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, ageism, ableism, or other oppressions
- Question mainstream culture and beliefs
- Shift or transform the perception of power and/or privilege and the dynamics associated with justice, equality, and/or accountability
- Value healing justice practices focused on strengthening communities, not just individuals
- Engage and utilize a reciprocal process — where there is teaching and learning simultaneously and the consent for engagement is mutual, as is the benefit for yourself as an artist and the community you are engaging
Artistic Disciplines
- Crafts and Textiles
- Book art Costume design, Crocheting Doll making , Fashion design, Furniture making Knitting, Puppetry, Quilting, Scenic design, Sex toys, Weaving
- Media Arts
- Animation, Audio, Film, Interactive design, Multimedia, New media, Podcast , Video, Web-based work
- Performance
- Acting, Dance, Movement, Musical theater, Oral history, Performance art Spoken word, Theater
- Folk Arts
- Capoeira, Culinary art, Hair braiding, Heritage gardening, Storytelling, Traditional dance, Traditional music
- Literary Arts
- Creative nonfction, Creative writing, Playwriting, Poetry, Prose, Short stories
- Music
- Composition, Deejaying, Hip-hop, Instrumental performance, Jazz Opera, Producing, Rapping, Singing, Songwriting, Vocal performance
- Visual Arts
- Cartoon/comic illustration, Digital art, Drawing, Graphic design, Illustration, Installation, Mixed media, Murals, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, Screenprinting, Sculpture
Award Period
The 2024 Leeway Transformation Award period is from January 2025 to December 2025.
Eligibility Criteria
- Transformation Award applicants may apply and receive the Art and Change Grant in the same year.
- Transformation Award applicants may not apply for the Media Artist + Activist Residency in the same year.
- If you receive a Transformation Award, you may not apply for the Art and Change Grant and/or the Media Artist + Activist Residency during your award year.
- You are eligible to apply if you:
- Have lived for the past two years or more in Bucks, Camden, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, or Philadelphia County
- Are at least 18 years old
- Identify as a woman and/or trans person
- Have been creating art for social change for the past five years or more
For more information, visit Leeway Foundation.
