NEH Challenge Grants

NEH challenge grants are capacity-building grants, intended to help institutions and organizations secure long-term improvements in and support for their humanities programs and resources. Grants may be used to establish or enhance endowments or spend-down funds (that is, funds that are invested, with both the income and the principal being expended over a defined period of years) that generate expendable earnings to support ongoing program activities. Grantees may also use funds for one-time capital expenditures (such as construction and renovation, purchase of equipment, and acquisitions) that bring long-term benefits to the institution and to the humanities more broadly.

Amount: Varies

Date due: May 4, 2011

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French-American Jazz Exchange

A partnership of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, the French-American Cultural Exchange, and the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, the French-American Jazz Exchange is designed to foster the creative and professional development of jazz artists from France and the United States. FAJE supports projects jointly conceived by French and American professional jazz artists that encourage artistic exploration, foster intercultural dialogue, and contribute to the dynamism of the art form. The program will support activities that may result in the creation of new work, establishment of new creative and professional partnerships, and development of new audiences for the participating artists. Projects may include jazz artists in France and the United States working together or investigating forms other than jazz with artists who work in different music genres.

To be eligible, a project must consist of a lead partner from one country working with a collaborating partner from the other country. Lead and collaborating partners may be either individual artists or ensembles (not to exceed five musicians). Ensembles may represent an established group or musicians brought together specifically for the proposed project. Projects can include artists working together for the first time or those who have a prior working relationship.

Amount: $25,000

Date due: May 31, 2011

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Etant donnés: The French-American Fund for the Performing Arts Offers Funding for French and American Theater Programs

Etant donnés offers financial support in the form of grants to American nonprofit institutions producing or presenting theater projects (tours, residencies, translations) either of contemporary French playwrights or with French theater professionals (directors, actors, stage-designers, etc.). New productions of classical repertory are only eligible if they involve collaboration with a French director/playwright/other professionals.

Amount: The amount of a grant request cannot exceed 50 percent of the total budget for the project and/or $25,000.

Date due: February 1, 2011

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Ford Family Foundation Visual Arts Program Funds Opportunity Grants for Oregon Artists

The Oregon Arts Commission has announced an agreement with the Ford Family Foundation Visual Arts Program to manage new Opportunity Grants to be reviewed in conjunction with the commission's Career Opportunity Grants.

The Ford Family Foundation is offering additional resources to Oregon visual artists who face unanticipated circumstances and for whom the grants could help significantly advance the creation, production, or exhibition of their work. The new grants are a component of the foundation's Visual Arts Program, which seeks to accelerate an enhanced quality of artistic endeavor and bodies of work by mid-career Oregon visual artists, and to improve Oregon's visual arts ecology.

Amount: $7,500

Date due: February 14, 2011; May 16, 2011

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Bellagio Center Residency Program

Through conferences and residencies, the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Center in northern Italy brings together people of diverse expertise and backgrounds in a thought-provoking, collegial environment that helps to promote impact on a wide range of world issues.

The center's residency program allows for one month of disciplined work, uninterrupted by the professional and personal demands of daily life, in a diverse and stimulating community of fellow residents. Residents include an international cohort of scholars, scientists, journalists, writers, artists, non-governmental organization practitioners, and policy makers. In addition to time for writing, creativity, and reflection during the day, building new connections and collegial interaction with other residents is an integral dimension of the Bellagio experience. Meals and informal presentations of residents' work afford an opportunity for dynamic discussion and engagement with each other.

Residencies typically last four weeks, and spouses/life partners may accompany residents. Team residencies for small groups of two to four are also available; practitioners (i.e., not artists or scholars based at universities) may opt for two two-week residency periods.

DUE DATE: December 1, 2010

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PGE Foundation Grants supporting Arts & Culture

The PGE Foundation is committed to improving the quality of life in Oregon by awarding grants in the areas of education, healthy families, and arts and culture. In the education category, the Foundation supports a wide range of programs, from preschool through college. In the healthy families category, the focus is on organizations that work to promote services in all areas of health, including hunger, mental health, homelessness, domestic violence, health care, etc. In the arts and culture category, the Foundation strives to educate all ages through the support of arts curriculum development as well as a variety of cultural performances.

Amount: $2,500 - $10,000

Date due: The remaining 2010 deadlines for letters of inquiry are July 13 and November 16.

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MetLife "Meet the Composer" Competition

Administered by Meet the Composer, the MetLife Creative Connections program provides support for American composers to participate in public activities related to specific performances of their original music. By supporting the composer's interaction with audiences, performers, arts organizations, and local communities, the program aims to increase public awareness and enhance the creative artist's role in society.

The program is open to U.S. composers and U.S-based sponsoring organizations. Applications are submitted by the sponsoring organization (a presenter, ensemble, dance company, etc.) requesting support for one or more composers (up to six). Grants are awarded to support the composer's participation fee for outreach activities.

There are no limits or restrictions on the style or genre of music to be performed or presented.

Amount: $250 - $5000

Date due: June 1, 2010

For more information, click here.