Request for Proposals: Creative Equations Fund
Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC) is thrilled to announce the Creative Equations Fund, our new investment strategy dedicated to arts for social justice. The fund diversifies our flagship grantmaking practice and impact with $10,000 cash awards, commissioning opportunities, and capacity-building resources for Brooklyn artists boldly activating their creativity for a more just and joyful Brooklyn.
This fund leverages BAC’s 40+ years of funding expertise to support hyper-local, community-engaged artists, arts organizations, cultural entrepreneurs, and researchers who have dedicated their creativity to solving social problems. This deepened commitment to art-based social justice is driven by our values around justice, equity, and sustainability and inspired by artists’ work, peer-funded models, as well as a grassroots legacy of intersectional community empowerment. We acknowledge other leaders in the field who inform and embolden us by their own work including the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute, The Free Black Women’s Library, TransLash, The Laundromat Project, Ifetayo Cultural Arts Academy, Open Society Institute, The Rubin Foundation, and Arts for Justice Fund, among others.
The Creative Equations Fund initiative enhances artists ability to successfully confront important social issues as well as accelerate the borough’s civic imagination by investing in capacity-building for artists, arts organizations, and arts businesses in pursuit of a more equitable and sustainable Brooklyn. By widening the availability of private sources of funding to artists and small arts organizations, we will also aid in the establishment of new and ongoing meaningful partnerships, fresh opportunities, and increased access to resources. Simultaneously, the Creative Equations Fund increases cultural equity, augments civic engagement, and strengthens sustainability through connectivity via community collaboration and social innovation.
The Creative Equations Fund is made possible through the support of our lead funder, The Howard Gilman Foundation as well as Mertz Gilmore Foundation, Hopestreet, and New American Economy. With their support, this fund will target the following categories of artists:
Individual performing arts and performing arts organizations that have a social practice, funded by The Howard Gilman Foundation, which is providing $250,000 each year, for two years
Cultural Heritage dance practitioners working in immigration, preservation, innovation, or research, funded by Mertz Gilmore Foundation, which is providing $50,000 each year, for two years
Arts-based social ventures, funded by Hopestreet, with an investment of $60,000
Immigrant artists for Commissioning project, funded by New American Economy
Grants from the Creative Equations Fund may be used for general operating support, project support, or a combination of the two. Brooklyn-based artists, small arts organizations, cultural entrepreneurs, and cultural researchers dedicated to social justice are welcome to apply. Applications will open on June 28, 2021, with a deadline of September 17, 2021. Twenty-seven individuals and small organizations will receive grants of $10,000 each. In addition to funds, we will offer capacity-building and peer-to-peer sharing opportunities supported by Hopestreet and commissioned opportunities from New American Economy.
IMPORTANT DATES
Guidelines Released – July 2021
Applications Open – July 2021
Application Deadline - September 2021
Grantees Announced - January 2022
Stay up to date with important information regarding the Creative Equations Fund on our grants webpage.
“We anticipate with great excitement the many aspects in which this new initiative will transform and strengthen BAC’s ability to champion artists in all the extraordinary ways they work, supply them with access to a multiplicity of resources, and generate an enhanced support network for our dynamic community. We are beyond honored and grateful to work with our generous partners The Howard Gilman Foundation, Mertz Gilmore Foundation, Hopestreet, and New American Economy on this important new endeavor.”
— Charlotte A. Cohen, Executive Director, Brooklyn Arts Council
“The Creative Equations Fund is a significant milestone in the evolution of BAC’s grantmaking. It elevates BAC’s core tenet, our deep trust of artists, and mobilizes our belief that art innovates society.”
— Desiree Gordon, Programs and Strategy Director and designer of the Creative Equations Fund, Brooklyn Arts Council
ABOUT THE HOWARD GILMAN FOUNDATION
Howard Gilman believed in the power of the arts to transform lives. The Howard Gilman Foundation honors his legacy by supporting the most robust, innovative, and promising performing arts organizations in New York City.
“An exciting aspect of the Creative Equations Fund is that it will greatly expand the reach of the Foundation’s investments in the performing arts ecosystem of Brooklyn. We are proud to partner with Brooklyn Arts Council to provide support to artists who are deeply engaged in their communities and are at the forefront of pushing creative boundaries.”
— Laura Aden Packer, Executive Director, The Howard Gilman Foundation
ABOUT MERTZ GILMORE FOUNDATION
In all areas of its funding—Democracy, Climate Change, New York City Communities, and Dance—the Foundation seeks to lift up the voices of marginalized people and their allies in seeking racial, economic, environmental, and gender justice as crucial components of maintaining vibrant communities and a sustainable environment.
"The regrant partnership between Mertz Gilmore Foundation and Brooklyn Arts Council responds to protect the most vulnerable segments of the city’s dance sector – small companies, independent artists, and immigrant collectives. BAC is dialed into the needs of these groups, which represent a majority of New York City’s dance field and reflect the City’s diversity. The initiative lifts-up the Council and the artists whose loss of work, over the past year, has stripped them of purpose, income, and community.”
— Leah Krauss, Senior Program Officer, Mertz Gilmore Foundation
ABOUT HOPESTREET
Hopestreet is a New York City based real estate investment group dedicated to opportunistic investment and development throughout New York City.
"We are delighted to be a part of this initiative by the Brooklyn Arts Council as a way to further encourage local artists to continue to produce creative work. We hope that this continues to invigorate the community and inspire others to find new ways to further express and translate their thoughts and feelings into beautiful pieces of art.”
— Sha Sinour, Partner, Hopestreet
ABOUT NEW AMERICAN ECONOMY
New American Economy is a bipartisan research and advocacy organization fighting for smart federal, state, and local immigration policies that help grow our economy and create jobs for all Americans.
“We’re thrilled for the opportunity to partner with Brooklyn Arts Council to launch this new pilot program. As we’ve seen, art is a powerful tool for building empathy, creating connection and highlighting our shared humanity. BAC will help us support a wide range of immigrant and refugee artists that are part of the vibrant New York City community. We can’t wait to see the creative ways these artists will interpret our powerful research.”
— Katherine Steinberg, Director of Content Strategy, New American Economy
Cover Image: Reggie Wilson / Fist and Heel Performance Group, 2019. Photo by Christopher Duggan courtesy Jacob's Pillow. Fist and Heel Performance Group is a Brooklyn Arts Council 2020 Local Arts Support grantee.