Creative Capital
/OVERVIEW: Creative Capital was originally founded in order to "reinvent cultural philanthropy" by applying the principles of venture capital to arts funding. It supports up to 50 individual artists a year in all forms of media with project grants and other resources.
IP TAKE: Creative Capital prioritizes innovation in the artists and projects it supports. Taking an entrepreneurial long-view of its funding, support often goes beyond just funding worthy recipients. It invests in the long term by forming ongoing relationships with the projects it supports.
This transparent funder has a comprehensive grants database showcasing details about the artists and projects it has invested in. It is also a very accessible funder, as all its grants have an open application process. The application process opens in March and goes through several rounds before the recipients are announced the following January, so this is a grant that will require a lot of commitment and patience to secure. This funder only awards about 50 artist grants a year.
PROFILE: Creative Capital was founded in 1999 by Archibald Gillies, then president of the Andy Warhol Foundation, after the National Endowment for the Arts stopped offering grants to individual artists. The foundation’s mission is to “champion artistic freedom of expression, to be at the forefront of discovering and fostering the creation of radical art, and to build a wild and wondrous artist-centered community.” It seeks to inspire “a deep connection and commitment to artists” and help “those working in all creative disciplines realize their visions and build sustainable practices.” It offers grants in five main areas: visual arts, performing arts, literature, film/video (also known as "Moving Image"), and technology. All grants are awarded to individual artists, not organizations.
Since its inception, Creative Capital has supported over 700 individual artists with nearly $50 million in funding, professional development opportunities, expert consulting, and artist retreats and gatherings. Each grant recipient receives a three- to seven-year commitment that involves a high level of engagement between Creative Capital and the artist for that period. The foundation also offers Professional Development workshops that helps grantees hone their skills in fundraising, public relations, strategic planning, and marketing.
Grants for Arts & Culture
Creative Capital’s Open Grants “seek to amplify the voices of artists working in all creative disciplines and catalyze connections to help them realize their visions and build sustainable practices.” It awards project grants of up to $50,000 to 50 artists per year working in visual arts, performing arts, film, technology, and literature.
Its grants for “technology” support advancements in “augmented reality/virtual reality, bio art, data visualization, hardware, software, digital media, internet art, and socially engaged and/or sustainable technology-based practices.”
Creative Capital offers a range of Artist Services for grantees, including industry networking, peer mentorship, professional consultation for legal, financial, and communication assistance.
It sponsors community building events, artists gatherings, and retreats, such as the Creative Capital Carnival, an exhibition event for grantees to showcase their works in progress.
In addition to its project grants, Creative Capital also maintains several long-term Partnership Grants.
Grants for Music, Theater, and Dance
Creative Capital’s project grants support the performing arts with funding for projects in “dance, theater (new theatrical work, playwriting), jazz, music, opera, singing, and socially engaged and/or sustainable performing arts-based practices.”
Grants for Visual Arts
Creative Capital’s visual arts support grants include funding for “painting, sculpture, drawing, photography, architecture, design, multimedia, installation, video art, performance art, new genres, craft, and socially engaged, and/or sustainable visual art-based practices.” It also supports the visual arts through the Arts Writers Grant Program, which awards grants to writers whose work "addresses contemporary visual art," particularly those who write directly about and promote contemporary works of visual art.
Grants for Film
Film grants include support for “experimental film, short film, animation, documentary film, narrative film, and socially engaged and/or sustainable film/moving image-based practices.” The competition for Creative Capital is also among the top tier of talent. For example, among past recipients, Deborah Stratman's work has been featured at the Museum of Modern Art, Cam Archer's film Wild Tigers I Have Known was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award, and Nina Menkes work has been screened at a number of film festivals, including Sundance and the Toronto Film Festival.
Grants for Creative Writing
Creative Capital funding for literature supports “poetry, fiction, nonfiction, graphic novels, and socially engaged and/or sustainable literature-based practices.” It also supports writers through the Arts Writers Grant Program in partnership with the Andy Warhol Foundation. This program supports writers whose work "addresses contemporary visual art," particularly those who write directly about and promote contemporary works of visual art.
Important Grant Details:
Grantees each receive $50,000 in project funding, which may be drawn down over a multi-year period, in addition to various networking, consultation, and other resources. Grantseekers may review the foundation’s Past Grants for more information on the kinds of artistic projects it supports.
Creative Capital’s accepts applications for individual artist grants in one grant cycle per year.
The deadline for letters of inquiry generally falls in the beginning of April. Applicants who progress to round two are notified in June and asked to submit an itemized budget, timeline, and work samples. Select applications will advance to Final Review in September. The final announcement is usually made the following January.
To be eligible, the artist must be a U.S. Citizen over the age of 25 with at least 5 years of professional artistic practice.
Applicants are asked to name the primary discipline of their proposed project “based on which experts are most suited and qualified to review the project proposal.”
An artist may not be an applicant or collaborator on more than one project in one grant cycle.
Creative Capital will not fund promotional projects, business operating expenses, curation or documentation of existing work, or projects that will be completed before the end of the grant cycle.
Grantseekers may contact the foundation at awards@creative-capital.org for any inquiries or assistance. Creative Capital prefers not to be contacted by phone.
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