Creative Response Funds Available to Community Based Artists to Support Community Well-Being
Tuesday, March 21, 2023 | Arts & Cultural Affairs
Some of the 2022 Creative Response Fund (CRF) projects: Top row L to R: Metamorfosis (photo of Gustavo Boada); OWAMNI: Expanded Cinema Experience (photo of Missy Whiteman); Heart Speaks Healing Circles (photo of Teresa Ortiz, Lupe Castillo); Roots (photo of Greta Oglesby); Middle row L to R: Roots (photo of Sanford Moore); A Poem for the Southside (photo of Meyer Warren, Sydney Latimer); Bottom row L to R: HeART & Music (photo of Briauna Williams); Summer Cypher; Art for Liberation (photo of Ashembaga Jaafaru); Metamorfosis (photo of giant Alebrije). Learn more about all the remarkable 2022 CRF recipients here.
Save the dates for information sessions and application deadline.
The City of Minneapolis’ Arts & Cultural Affairs will again be offering project funding in 2023 to artist teams* in a new round of funding through the Creative Response Fund-Community Well-Being grants. Community based, Minnesota resident artists will again be invited to gather a team and apply for Creative Response Fund grants of $15,000 per project. Up to 12 projects will be awarded in 2023.
In 2020, in the wake of the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police and the subsequent community uprisings, the Arts & Cultural Affairs Department in the City of Minneapolis supported the work of local artists and designers on urgently needed community healing focused projects. Since that time, Arts & Cultural Affairs has continued to fund community healing by supporting artist led project teams, to date we have supported a total of 74 artists. Creative Response Fund projects respond to community needs and center their work in community driven cultural practices and local indigenous knowledge
Applications open: Wednesday, April 19th, 2023
Application deadline: Monday, May 15th, 2023
Information sessions will be available via Zoom on:
Tuesday, April 25th, 4:00-6:00 pm & Friday, May 5th, 3:00-5:00 pm
RSVP here to receive a link for the information session of your choice.
*For the purposes of this application, a ‘team’ constitutes of 2 or more artists, who can also be part of an informal collective
Photo: Rise Up! Cinderella! Playwright: Tanya L. Eubanks, 2021 CRF recipient.
Past projects have embedded creative healing into arts activities such as, dance, drums, songwriting, performance, improv theater; poetry; a cultural gathering in the form of a bilingual play; sound healing; cellphone filmmaking as a tool for empowerment; audio stories on healing medicines, and what it means to belong; site-specific installations, hands-on activities for youth; storytelling and film. These projects are some examples of ways that artists have collaborated with communities to define their own safe spaces for healing. Learn more about 2021CRF recipients here.
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Publisher's Note: The name, "The Office of Arts, Culture & the Creative Economy" has been updated on August 13, 2023 where it appeared within the content of this article to "Arts & Cultural Affairs" to reflect its new name as a department of the City of Minneapolis.