WPA teams up with the Andy Warhol Foundation to start new grant program for DC-area artists
Updated note from April 2, 2020: In March 2020, The Warhol Foundation authorized its re-granting partners to re-allocate their $100,000 grants to create and administer COVID-19 emergency relief funds in their communities. WPA has responded to this by providing two separate opportunities: Recovery Grants and Research Grants.
January 29, 2020 (Washington, DC)—Washington Project for the Arts (WPA) is thrilled to announce the launch of a new funding source for public-facing alternative and experimental visual art projects inside the nation's Beltway: Wherewithal Grants. Generously funded with a $200,000, two-year grant from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts as part of its regional regranting program, Wherewithal Grants are intended to both sustain and stimulate artist-organized culture and ensure that DIY and visual art practices continue to be valued in the DC region.
Grants provide project-based support to unaffiliated and under-recognized DC-area artists for projects in non-traditional venues. Projects can include performances or performance festivals, workshops, publications, installations, exhibitions, screening, etc. All applications are reviewed and awards are decided by a panel of arts professionals from around the country. WPA anticipates giving away $60,000 per year in the form of ten to fifteen grants, ranging from $2,500 to $7,500 each. The balance will provide administrative support.
Wherewithal Grants furthers WPA’s commitment to supporting artist-organized projects. WPA holds intentional space for artists to convene, collaborate, and create projects that elevate their visions and voices as critical thinkers, idea generators, and organizers, providing artists with funding and administrative support along the way. WPA’s program model addresses the complex challenges faced by artists and cultural producers in the DC region today—rising rents, widespread displacement, and wholesale demographic change—and is focused on helping artists remain in the DC area as WPA believes that a thriving arts community is essential to the enduring health of our society.
The first round of grants will be announced in December 2020 for projects occurring during the 2021 calendar year. Information sessions will be held in the late spring 2020, and the application will open in July 2020 with a September 2020 deadline. Further information will be posted on the wherewithalgrants.org website in the coming months and @wherewithalgrants on Instagram.
Questions?
Potential applicants can contact Nathalie von Veh at nvonveh@wpadc.org.
About the Warhol Regional Regranting Program
Established in 1987 in accordance with Andy Warhol’s will, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts’ mission is the advancement of the visual arts. The primary focus of its grant making activity is to support the creation, presentation, and documentation of contemporary visual art, particularly work that is experimental, under-recognized, or challenging in nature. The foundation’s Regional Regranting Program, launched in 2007, aims to support vibrant, under-the-radar artistic activity by partnering with leading cultural institutions in communities across the country. The program allows the Warhol Foundation to reach the sizable population of informal, non-incorporated artist collectives and to support their alternative gathering spaces, publications, websites, events, and other projects. The regranting programs are facilitated by 516 Arts in Albuquerque; Baltimore Arts Realty Corporation in Baltimore; Gallery 400 and Three Walls in Chicago; DiverseWorks, Aurora Picture Show, and Project Row Houses in Houston; Charlotte Street Foundation and Spencer Museum in Kansas City; Locust Projects in Miami; Midway Contemporary Art in Minneapolis; Antenna and Ashe’ Cultural Fund in New Orleans; Portland Institute of Contemporary Art in Portland (OR); Spaces Gallery in Portland (ME), Southern Exposure in San Francisco, and now Washington Project for the Arts in Washington, DC.
About Washington Project for the Arts (WPA)
Founded in 1975, WPA supports experimental artist-driven research, production, and exchange. We value artists as public intellectuals, critical thinkers, idea generators, and organizers, and believe that through collaboration and partnership, artists can shape the meaningful discourses of our time.
In 2016, WPA became the first arts organization between New York and Miami to become W.A.G.E.-certified, meaning that WPA is one of a handful of entities nationwide that pays artists according to W.A.G.E.’s minimum payment standards. In 2017, we elected artists to our board of directors, and invited artists to begin setting the agenda for our program activities. In 2018, this new artist-driven approach was officially adopted in the form of a new mission statement. The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts recognized the change with a $80,000, two-year grant in support of this new direction. Two years later, they have stepped up their investment in local arts organizations and artists by partnering with WPA on Wherewithal Grants.
Date
January 29, 2020
