Call for Artists: Creative Response Funds Available for Community-Based Artists to Support Community Well Being

Thursday, May 3, 2021 | The Office of Arts, Culture & the Creative Economy

Photo by Pierre Ware. Harvest Feast by Sayge Carroll and Keegan Xavi.

Call for Artists: Creative Response Funds Available for Community-Based Artists to Support Community Well Being

The Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy invites applications for the Creative Response Fund-Community Well-Being grant opportunity. Community based artists in Minnesota are invited to gather a team and apply for Creative Response Fund grants of up to $15,000 per project, 13 projects will be awarded in 2021.

In 2020, in the wake of the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police and the subsequent community uprisings, the Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy (ACCE) in the City of Minneapolis repurposed resources provided by the Kresge Foundation in order to support the work of local artists and designers on urgently needed community healing focused projects. ACCE funded 10 project teams and supported  a total of 63 artists. The funded projects ranged in nature from pop-up healing and beauty stations, filmed performances projected onto damaged and destroyed spaces, painted murals that share native medicinal knowledge, community healing through artmaking, and engagement events involving storytelling and deep dialogue.( Learn more about the 2020 projects here)

ACCE is pleased to continue to offer Creative Response Funding to Minnesota resident community-based artists working teams in 2021 for projects that provide creative healing and support to Minneapolis communities who continue to be directly impacted and affected by the stress and trauma of the past year.  Along with the lasting effects of the pandemic, communities are coping with the trial and conviction of Derek Chauvin, the upcoming trials of three other former Minneapolis police officers, the killing of Daunte Wright, and news of continued police violence in other states. 

These projects are intended to provide creative healing and support to communities directly impacted and affected by the trauma, stress and violence caused as a result of the long and painful history of police brutality disproportionately experienced by Black communities for generations. These grant dollars are also intended to recognize the often-unpaid labor of artists as they respond to multiple health and racism emergencies and mobilize their creative resources to address community needs.

Apply Here. (This deadline has passed).

Funding Amount: $15,000.00

Application Deadline: June 30th, 2021 at 11:59pm CST. (earliest project start date is August 1, 2021)

Interested in Applying or Have Questions?

Interested applicants can join a zoom meeting on Wednesday June 16 from 10am to 11am and Wednesday June 23 from 3:00 to 4:00pm.

The Creative Response Fund is a project of Creative CityMaking. Funding is provided by The Kresge Foundation.