Creative Capital Grant For Artists – Creative Capital is a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to funding talented artists and innovative artworks and promoting diversity. Every eligible candidate receives assistance up to $50,000 in direct project funding, mentorship, advisory services and community-building opportunities. Since its inception in 1999, the foundation has committed deeply to diversity in all its forms, geographic regions, artistic disciplines and artist identities.
The grants are awarded through a democratic, open-call, national, and external review process. The funding is unrestricted and can be used on any expense related to the creation of the project, including supplies, staffing, software, computers, childcare, studio repairs, mental healthcare, healthcare, research, travel and more. This guide will throw light on Creative Capital Grants for artists, the benefits and how you can qualify for them.
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Highlights of this Post
What Is Creative Capital?
Creative Capital is a nonprofit organization that aims to fund artists in the creation of groundbreaking New York to foster sustainable artistic careers and amplify the impact of their work. The organization was founded in 1999 and pioneered a transformative grant-making model to financially assist individual artists with infrastructure as well as scaffolding support.
The pioneering efforts of the organization have impacted artists and the art ecosystem as a whole. The creative capital model of philanthropy has inspired many nonprofit organizations to invest in the sustainable and long-term careers of artists.
Around 75% of the recent awardees are indigenous, black, and artists of color that represent a wide range of artistic disciplines, age groups and regions. The awardees have received honors including 19 MacArthur Genius fellowships, 127 Guggenheim Fellowships, 1 Booker Prize, 30 nominations and 3 Academy Awards.
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What Are The Different Artist Grants Provided By Creative Capital?
Creative Capital administers programs that support artists and writers and enrich the cultural landscape. Following the grants available to media artists, and arts writers including Asian, Black, Latin and Indigenous creators.
Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant
The Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Grant supports established and emerging writers who belong to the contemporary visual art field and assists them with a grant award in the range between $15,000 to $50,000 in three different categories- writing, books and articles. Writers have to meet certain eligibility criteria and publishing requirements to qualify for the grant.
Kickstarter x Creative Capital x Skoll Foundation Creator Fund
Kickstarter foundation and Creative Capital have collaborated to launch this program worth $500,000 that supports projects by the Black, and Latin and Indigenous creators on the crowdfunding platform.
The funds are awarded on an ongoing basis to eligible creators with active projects across Kickstarter categories like art comics and illustration, film design and tech, games, food and craft, publishing and music.
Hewlett 50 Arts Commissions
Creative Capital has collaborated with the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation to administer the fifth and final round of the foundation unit 50 Arts Commission to support media arts.
The Hewlett Foundation in 2022 awarded nearly 10 grants each worth $150,000 to Bay Area nonprofit organizations to help artists in developing major new performance-based projects that focused on the use of emerging media technologies.
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How Much Assistance Is Provided through Creative Capital | Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant Program?
The Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant supports established and emerging writers who write contemporary visual art. The funding agencies Creative Capital Foundation and the grant award range between $15,000 to $50,000 in three different categories: articles, short-for-writing and books.
The grants help in supporting projects that address the general and specialized art audiences starting from magazines, short reviews, and newspapers to in-depth scholarly studies. This program supports art writing and artists that engage criticism through an interdisciplinary method and experiments with literary styles. So long the writer can meet the eligibility criteria as well as the publishing requirements they are eligible to receive assistance through this grant program.
To be eligible for the Capital Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant program arts writers must be:
- An individual
- An artist art historian curator writer or journalist in an outside field who is engaged strongly with the contemporary visual arts
- Must be at least 25 years older by first October of the application year
- Must be a citizen of the United States or permanent resident of the United States or holder of a 0-1 visa if your application advances to the final round and you have to submit current documentation
- Must apply for a project about contemporary visual art.
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What Are The Different Grants Provided By Creative Capital?
Following is the list of grants that are covered by Creative Capital:
Performing Arts
Performing Arts include dance, theater, new theatrical work, playwriting, opera, music, jazz, socially engaged and/ or sustainable farming art-based practices, singing etc.
Visual Arts
Creative Capital provides grants in the field of visual art including sculpture, painting, photography, drawing, design, architecture, multimedia, installation, performance art, video art new genres, socially engaged craft and/or sustainable visual art-based practices
Literature
Creative Capital provides awards in the field of literature that includes poetry, nonfiction, fiction, graphic novels, and socially engaged and or sustainable literature-based practices.
Technology
The organization provides grants in the field of technology like augmented reality or virtual reality, data visualization, bio art, software, hardware, internet art, digital media, and socially engaged and or sustainable technology-based practices.
Film/ Moving Image
The organization provides grants in film or moving image that include experimental film, animation, short film, documentary film, socially engaged, narrative film and/ or sustainable film or moving image-based practices.
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How Has Creative Capital Helped Artists To Date?
Creative Capital was established in 1999 as a nonprofit 501 © (3) public charity after the National Endowment for the Arts ended the majority of its grant program for individual artists. The organization was created with the primary aim of funding the innovative new work of individual artists or direct financial assistance.
The organization brings together financial assistance for individual artists along with a combination of mentorship, workshops and networking opportunities so that artists can become self-sufficient in the long run and attain career success.
To date, Creative Capital has awarded $50 million to individual eligible artists since its founding more than 20 years ago. The organization is also inspiring countless nonprofit organizations to help individual artists through the transformative grant-making model.
What Are The Eligibility Criteria To Receive Grants For Artists From Creative Capital?
The eligibility criteria to receive grants for artists from Creative Capital are as follows:
- Applicants must be citizens of the United States, permanent legal residents or 0- 1 visa holder
- They must be at least 25 years or above in age to apply for assistance
- Must not apply to the Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant program in the same year while applying for creative capital grants
- Applicants must not be enrolled in a degree-granting program
- They must not be a full-time student
- Applicants must be working artists with a minimum of five years of professional artistic practice
- Must make sure they have not received the Creative Capital award previously
- Must not be a collaborator or applicant on more than one proposed project of the organization per year.
Creative Capital Foundation invites artists to submit their application proposals and then the experts will review the project proposal of each candidate and select a candidate that aligns with its goal.
Following is the list of projects that are not eligible for receiving Creative Capital awards.
- Project that wants to fund the ongoing operation of their existing business
- Project whose primary aim is promotional
- Project that will be completed before January 2025
- Curation or documentation of existing work
Creative Capital invites national, regional and international experts in various disciplines to serve in the application review procedure. The external reviewers are provided honoraria for their expertise and time. The external reviewer names are confidential until the awards are announced.
How To Apply For Creative Capital Grants For Artists?
Creative Capital Foundation is committed to innovative and groundbreaking ideas that challenge what art can be. Creative Capital awardees are those who have socially impactful ideas embedded in different artistic forms and practices.
The foundation invites artists to propose original, experimental, and bold projects in the field of performing arts, visual arts, technology, film or moving image, and literature, and socially engaged in multi-disciplinary forms that push boundaries formally and or thematically.
The organization invites artists to choose a primary discipline for their proposal based on which foundation experts will review the project proposal and select qualified candidates with the understanding that radical art is often by nature multi-disciplinary, interdisciplinary or anti-disciplinary.
The foundation enables artists to choose specific disciplinary categories so that they could choose how they wanted to frame the discussion around their artwork so that experts could evaluate their project proposal accordingly. Let’s break the application cycle of Creative Capital in the following rounds.
ROUND 1: Tell out your idea. Letter of Inquiry (LOI)
In this round you have to name your project title, one-line project definition (maximum 25 words), project explanation (maximum 250 words), resume, and artist website (if credible).
You are also required to respond to the following questions as well.
- How does your project shift in an ethical and creative strategy to content and form? Kindly be as particular as you can within 150 words.
- What influences your work as an artist? Explain your work in context for better evaluation. How is your current project impacted by your past work? Provide examples that may include other artists’ works, art movements, cultural origin, science, philosophy, and work that exceeds arts. This must be explained within 150 words.
- How do you expect your project to impact different fields such as political, environmental, communal, civic, intellectual, artistic, and social? Interpret your strategy to get your desired outcome within 100 words.
- Name your targeted audience and communities. Explain your ideas to reach them within 100 words.
- Explain how your project can stimulate your professional and artistic progress. How can this project become a turning point in your career? Define in 100 words.
Creative Capital offers award recipients scaffolding and support services in addition to financing (such as superior consultations, conferences, retreats, alumni configuration, and workshops). How do you expect our non-monetary relief to assist you in achieving your project’s motives and your long-term artistic and professional growth? Explain in 100 words.
ROUND 2: Project Details
- 1 page explaining the details of the project’s funding.
- 1 page illustrating the timeline of the project.
- 5 still images and 5 minutes of video as work samples.
ROUND 3: Final Review By The Panel
Finalists must submit proof of their eligibility. Project that wins an award will have a direct connection to one of the 17 UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and Project Drawdown 100 Ways to Reverse Global Warming will have the opportunity to have the “Way” or the icon of that UN Sustainable Development goal attached to their project on the Creative Capital website in effort to advance the global dialogue around these critical issues impacting the future of our communities, our planet, and beyond.
The applications will be reviewed by external reviewers who are scholars, curators, artists, past awardees, and experts in the field. The final recommendations for the awards are reviewed and then ratified by the Board.
What Are The Different Artist Services Provided For Grantees By Creative Capital?
Since its founding Creative Capital has become a leading provider of professional development services, educational programs and artist services to the artist communities throughout the country. The foundation believes in transformative grant-making that provides artists with funding opportunities and long-term professional development to help artists build successful careers.
The organization invests in robust artist services for their grantees. The following are the artist services that you can get apart from financial assistance if you become eligible for Creative Capital awards.
Industry Connections
Creative Capital fosters the professional introduction of four new eligible grantees so that they can talk to industry professionals about their practice and project.
Meeting with industry leaders in performing arts, visual arts, technology, moving images and literature will help artists to move their Creative Capital projects forward. The organization has experts from more than 350 major commissioning institutions, residences, foundations and publications throughout the country.
Peer Mentorship
Creative Capital encourages artists to connect with artists from previous years through a peer mentoring session. By boosting peer mentorship the organization provides an excellent opportunity for the grantees to discuss their practice, projects, and career trajectories And develop personal relationships.
Professional Consultations
Apart from meeting with industry leaders about their practices and projects the foundation enables artists to get professional consultation that can help them in making sustainable careers.
Following are the main areas where the foundation helps artists
- Legal: Topics comprise business structuring or entity types, copyright, contracts, clearance, estate planning, fair use, trust and wills, licensing and intellectual property.
- Financial: Topics comprise budgeting and cash flow, fundraising strategy, debt management and credit repair, financial literacy and financial health, investing, grant writing, managing multiple income sources, investment, real estate purchasing, savings, contingency fund planning, retirement, and tax planning.
- Planning and Management: Topics comprise archiving and career documentation, business models for cross-sector growth for instance creative structuring, value propositions, non-traditional financing and partnership, free speech rights for instance fair use, copyright, removal of artwork and public art for instance proposal, working with municipalities, time management, right and clearance, publishing etc.
- Advising Multi Session Grant: awardees meet advising consultants who are experts in working in collaboration with artists over a series of sessions for several months and help them navigate challenges, increase their confidence, negotiate and secure opportunities, make decisions, improve work-life balance and time management, develop plans based on individual goals etc.
- Communications: The topics comprise audience development, marketing strategy, community partnering and outreach, promotional strategy, messaging and branding, social media strategy, public speaking, website building etc.
Regional Artists Gatherings And Events
Creative Capital invites grantees regularly to participate in artist events and gatherings and showcase their extraordinary talents as well as projects in the community. This inspired donors to support their work.
The organization recognizes that artists need more professional skills and funding to build thriving careers in the art industry. Artists need communities of supporters, collaborators and creatives. The artist gatherings and events encouraged by the foundation help in creating long-lasting bonds, relationships and networks with cultural experts, producers and potential funders of current and future projects.
Who Funds Creative Capital?
Every year Creative Capital receives 4000+ exciting project proposals from numerous artists throughout the country. The foundation provides artist-led workshops as well as educational programs to qualified Creative Capital awardees for low cost or free to all artists.
The professional development workshops and program serve nearly 30,000 artists and are growing in number with each passing day. Without an endowment, the foundation relies entirely on institutional grants as well as individual donations to administer the services and awards to thousands of deserving artists who can benefit from their work.
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Conclusion
Creative Capital provides grants to eligible artists of up to $50,000 that support the creation of groundbreaking new projects. The application process requires candidates to answer 6 short questions and provide proof of documents as well the organization is committed to funding and supporting formally and conceptually interesting, challenging, never-before-seen and risk-taking projects. If you think your project can meet the eligibility criteria then you can receive grants for your artwork. You can read above the eligibility criteria, the application procedure and the programs to get started.
Learn more about assistance programs and grants at the Get Government Grants’ section today. Our resources will help you to find the right type of support based on your financial needs and requirements.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are Creative Capital Grants?
Creative Capital Grant mainly works with individual artists for a period of three to seven years. The organization also offers a total grant amount of $95,000 for each project and it is divided into two main categories: direct funding and career development.
What is the main aim of Creative Capital Grants?
The aim of Creative Capital Grants is to help black, indigenous, Asian and Latino people of all ages, religions and abilities. However, the selection procedure is quite tough as only 50 artists are selected among 4000 applicants every year.
Am I eligible for Creative Capital Grants?
Yes, there are some eligibility requirements that you need to fulfill to qualify for the Creative Capital Grant. First of all you need to be a U.S Citizen and must be 25 years of age or more. But remember you cannot be enrolled as a full time student