First Grants Awarded Through Refined Creative Communities Program

After two years of research and reflection, along with a refocusing and refinement of our Creative Communities grantmaking, we are pleased to announce the first round of grants awarded funding through our refined program. From organizations focused on serving specific neighborhoods, to organizations impacting the region at a broader scale, these arts and culture nonprofits are all aligned with and help advance Creative Communities’ commitment to centering racial equity and economic inclusion in our grantmaking to ensure that Philadelphians and other residents of the region benefit from inclusive, equitable, and high-quality arts, culture, and public spaces.

As Creative Communities works toward the above goal, we are making grants through five new funding strategies centering diversity and equity through our Arts and Culture and Public Space funding areas. In the April Board meeting, three of these strategies brought forward requests for funding (please note: the public space grant review process was sequenced for future board meetings, with multiple requests for funding going to the Foundation’s July board meeting):

• Arts and Culture Hubs: The general operations of arts and culture organizations to produce high-quality arts and culture programs and activities informed by diverse staff, boards, and audiences that build community, regional vibrancy, and achieve goals of racial and economic inclusion.
• Arts Education: In-school partnerships, grades K-6, and community-based arts training, grades 7-12, that provide an entry to the arts for young people and help develop skills that reflect the cultural diversity of our communities as well as students’ own cultural and racial identities.
• Arts Presentation and Art Making: High-quality arts and culture projects or programs that emphasize diverse and culturally relevant work produced in an inclusive and equitable way.

As you will see in the list of recently awarded funding, in addition to grants throughout Philadelphia, there are projects in Camden, NJ, others that reach people from across the region, and projects that are mobile and quite literally drive around the city. There are multiple artistic disciplines represented, with varied approaches and models for working in and with communities. There are arts education programs that work in partnership with schools and ones that welcome young people to their sites after school. It is a broad array of projects, programs, and organizations that we know will reflect, amplify, excite, educate, and engage the many beneficiaries the work will reach.

We encourage all new and returning grant seekers to visit our website and familiarize themselves with the refined program, strategies, and application process. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out – we are here to provide support and guidance. The Creative Communities team is excited to continue our work with racial equity and economic inclusion at the core of our grantmaking and look forward to seeing these 15 grantees bring benefits and positive impacts to people in our region.