Posted on August 12, 2020 | Hanh Le, Weissberg Foundation
Dear colleagues,
The arts enhance our humanity, stir us to action, and connect us to each other, playing a critical role in activism, movement building, and social change. Because of that, the Weissberg Foundation is thrilled to join the Greater Washington Community Foundation, The Morris & Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, and several other funders to launch the $1 million Arts Forward Fund to support arts and culture organizations in the DC region as they make essential shifts needed to continue their work during the COVID-19 pandemic and engage in the movement for racial justice.
Arts Forward Fund will make grants ranging from $10,000 to $50,000 to support capacity-building, training, and innovation. The application deadline is August 27, 2020, and grant decisions will be made on or before September 21. More details and the call for applications are available here.
Who Should Apply
The Fund will prioritize arts and culture organizations that serve Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color, and organizations with limited access to philanthropic capital. It will also prioritize requests that address longstanding racial inequities in organizations, in the arts and culture field, and in the broader community.
Arts and culture organizations with annual revenue of less than $10 million in their most recently completed fiscal year are eligible to apply, provided they serve the District of Columbia, Montgomery and Prince George’s counties in Maryland, and Arlington and Fairfax counties and the cities of Alexandria, Falls Church, and Fairfax in Virginia.
Please consider applying and/or sharing this opportunity with others who you think should!
Information Sessions
The Arts Forward Fund is hosting two information sessions to provide a brief overview of the Fund and its priorities and an opportunity to get answers to your questions about the recently announced call for applications:
Friday, August 14, 2020, 1:30-2:30 P.M. REGISTER HERE.
Thursday, August 20, 2020, 11:30 A.M. TO 12:30 P.M. REGISTER HERE.
Additional Contributions
Understanding the needs of the region’s arts and culture organizations are well beyond the $1 million already committed, we are still actively fundraising for this initiative. If you would like to make a contribution, please visit here for how best to do so.
In partnership,
Hanh Le
Executive Director