Funding supports performances, exhibitions, films, community-engaged public art, and efforts to strengthen long-term organizational success
Media Contact: Megan Wendell, The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage
mwendell@pewcenterarts.org | 267.350.4961
Online:
philadelphiasculturaltreasures.org
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PHILADELPHIA (February 26, 2024) — The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage in collaboration with The Barra Foundation, Neubauer Family Foundation, William Penn Foundation, and Wyncote Foundation announced today $1,010,000 in grants to support 39 Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC)-led organizations and artists through the Philadelphia’s Cultural Treasures (PCT) funding initiative.
The grants are designed to resource projects that position Greater Philadelphia’s BIPOC creative community for enduring success. Funded work includes performances, exhibitions, films, poetry, community-engaged public art projects, artistic archives, and organizational capacity-building efforts such as staff expansions and technology upgrades.
The grants are awarded as part of the regional component of America’s Cultural Treasures, a national initiative created by the Ford Foundation. Recognizing a persistent history of unequal access to resources among BIPOC communities—the impacts of which were further compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic—Ford partnered with local philanthropic leaders nationwide to initiate a relief effort to honor and celebrate BIPOC cultural groups, artists, and organizations.
Project grants are awarded in three amounts—$10,000, $25,000, and $50,000—to organizations with annual operating budgets of no larger than $300,000 and artists over 18 years of age who have lived and worked in Philadelphia for at least the past five years. Funded projects fall into four categories.
Creative Freedom & Expression, such as:
- Keyonna Butler’s I AM Creator/Creation, a traveling interactive exhibition of art, set design, and home decor by Black Philadelphia artists and businesses
- Chenlin Cai’s Chinatown Histories Project, a public mural honoring the Chinatown neighborhood’s legacy of self-determination and resistance to displacement, designed and painted in collaboration with residents
- Pedro Ospina’s Open Kitchen Sculpture Garden, a community-engaged project that considers the largely Latino Norris Square neighborhood’s land and cultural traditions, including events such as artmaking workshops, poetry readings, and dance classes
Creative Collaborations, such as:
- A series of concerts presented by Artístas y Músicos Latino Americanos to showcase and provide production support to emerging Philadelphia artists who identify as Latino, Latin American, Hispanic, or Latine
- A musical theater program from Arts Without Boundaries for West Philadelphia youth, who will learn and perform musical theater works and have opportunities to engage with professional performing artists
- Poetry and artmaking workshops for young girls and seniors, offered by TOMORROW’S GIRLS to foster intergenerational community building
Archives & Documentation, such as:
- An artist’s book documenting the performance work, interactive installations, research, and audience-engaged practices of dance artist and writer Tania Isaac
- An archive to preserve the seven-decade career of jazz saxophonist and composer Odean Pope
- A multimedia retrospective exhibition and catalogue created by artist Li Sumpter to survey the career of her father, visual artist and sculptor Phil Sumpter, whose work depicts Black cowboys, Negro League baseball players, and other icons
Organizational Capacity Building, such as:
- Strategic plan development at Philadelphia Asian Performing Artists, a grassroots, membership-based collective supporting people of Pan-Asian descent involved in the performing arts
- Technology upgrades for Theatre in the X, which provides West Philadelphians the opportunity to see free, professional-quality theater in their own neighborhood
- Improvements to data management and internal and external communications for Twelve Gates Arts, which showcases contemporary artists from the Southwest Asian/North African/South Asian region and its diaspora
A complete list of grant recipients is available at philadelphiasculturaltreasures.org/project-grants.
“These project grants continue Philadelphia’s Cultural Treasures’ support for BIPOC artists and institutions as they expand creative practices, preserve artistic legacies, explore new collaborations, and strengthen organizational sustainability,” said Paula Marincola, executive director of The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. “We’re gratified to be a part of this philanthropic collaboration to bolster BIPOC-led work that contributes so much vitality to the city’s cultural landscape.”
The review and award process: Project grant applications submitted to the PCT program were reviewed in two stages: first, by a large, diverse group of both local and national arts professionals who identified a shortlist of the strongest proposals, and second, by a panel of five arts professionals local to Philadelphia who convened to review proposals and make final grant awards. A list of panelists is available at philadelphiasculturaltreasures.org/project-grants.
As a collaborator in this regional initiative, The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage administered the project grant application and panel review process, which was designed based on a research and community listening effort led by Risë Wilson, an artist, community organizer, activist, strategic planner, and nonprofit consultant.
More on the funding initiative: In 2022, Philadelphia’s Cultural Treasures awarded over $6 million in multi-year general operating support for 16 cultural organizations, followed by more than $1 million in fellowships for 12 individual artists. A second round of fellowships will be given in 2024. More information on the local initiative can be found at philadelphiasculturaltreasures.org.
America’s Cultural Treasures is a national initiative created by the Ford Foundation to acknowledge and honor the diversity of artistic expression and excellence in America. It has generated more than $276 million in critical funding to more than 100 organizations across the country led by and/or serving communities of color that have made a significant impact on America’s cultural landscape, despite historically limited resources.
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About The Barra Foundation
The Barra Foundation invests in innovation to inspire change that strengthens communities in the Greater Philadelphia region. With four primary areas of interest—Arts & Culture, Education, Health and Human Services—The Barra Foundation funds organizations in these areas through either core support or risk capital to test and advance new ideas and approaches. www.barrafoundation.org
About the Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is an independent organization working to address inequality and build a future grounded in justice. For more than 85 years, it has supported visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide, guided by its mission to strengthen democratic values, reduce poverty and injustice, promote international cooperation, and advance human achievement. Today, with an endowment of $16 billion, the foundation has headquarters in New York and 10 regional offices across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. www.fordfoundation.org
About The Neubauer Family Foundation
The Neubauer Family Foundation invests in people and data-driven, evidence-based initiatives intended to achieve transformational impact. Philanthropic initiatives include strategic investments in Philadelphia’s school system, violent crime prevention, innovative leadership of arts & cultural organizations, institutions of higher learning, and advancing new opportunities for Israeli-Arabs to participate in Israel’s high prestige, high income scientific revolution.
About The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage
The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage is a multidisciplinary grant maker and hub for knowledge-sharing, funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts and dedicated to fostering a vibrant and diverse cultural community in Greater Philadelphia. The Center invests in ambitious, imaginative, and catalytic work that showcases the region’s cultural vitality and enhances public life, and it engages in an exchange of ideas concerning artistic and interpretive practice with a broad network of cultural practitioners and leaders. www.pewcenterarts.org
About the William Penn Foundation
The William Penn Foundation, founded in 1945 by Otto and Phoebe Haas, is dedicated to improving the quality of life in the Greater Philadelphia region through efforts that increase educational opportunities for children from low-income families, ensure a sustainable environment, provide inclusive and equitable public spaces and arts and culture experiences, and advance philanthropy in the Philadelphia region. www.williampennfoundation.org
About the Wyncote Foundation
The Wyncote Foundation was founded in 2009 and supports efforts that strengthen and enrich culture, community, and the natural environment. In particular, Wyncote Foundation makes grants in the areas of arts & culture, education, the environment, health & human services, and preservation. Particular areas of interest include Historic Organ Preservation, the Northwest region, Performance Arts, and Public Media & Journalism. www.wyncotefoundation.org
Media Contact: Megan Wendell, The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage
mwendell@pewcenterarts.org | 267.350.4961