GRANTS
American Rescue Plan (ARP) Fund for Organizations
WESTAF’s ARP is no longer accepting applications. Panels have been completed and WESTAF is thrilled to announce the 2021 grant recipients. Click here to learn more about the 2021 grantees and panelists.
With support from the National Endowment for the Arts (Arts Endowment), WESTAF will manage the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Fund for Organizations. WESTAF ARP is a competitive grant program that provides general operating support to arts and cultural organizations in the West that are most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. In alignment with Arts Endowment priorities, WESTAF ARP will focus on funding to organizations that serve and/or are led by Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) and organizations that support the independence and lifelong inclusion of people with disabilities, among others.
Awards will be made to 44 arts and culture organizations across the 13-state Western region, with at least two grants being awarded per state at an average level of $35,000 each.
WESTAF’s American Rescue Plan (ARP) Fund for Organizations application is now closed. Please contact tourwest@westaf.org with questions.
TourWest
WESTAF’s TourWest 2021-2022 grant cycle is now closed. Applications will be reviewed by a panel of industry leaders in mid-May. Please check back for updates on awarded grants in June.
Supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, TourWest provides subsidies to arts and community organizations within the 13-state WESTAF region for the presentation of touring performers and literary artists. Grant awards are $2,500 or 50% of the overall project expenses, whichever is less, and require a one-to-one cash match by the presenting organization. Projects must take place between September 1, 2021 and August 31, 2022 and must include both a public performance and an educational outreach activity. A one-time exception was made for the 2021-2022 cycle to applicants experiencing difficulties booking out-of-state artists due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Applications are reviewed by a panel of industry leaders on artistic and cultural merit, presentation of programs to underserved and/or culturally diverse audiences, quality of the outreach activities, engagement and collaboration (including block booking), and thoroughness of the project’s planning.
Grantees must clearly acknowledge support from the National Endowment for the Arts (Arts Endowment), WESTAF, and their state arts agency in programs and related promotional materials. For details, see TourWest’s Terms and Conditions.
Please contact tourwest@westaf.org with questions.
WESTAF Regional Arts Resilience Fund
In June 2020, WESTAF announced its partnership with The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation on a new relief grant to support arts organizations in the 13-state western region. The $10 million Regional Arts Resilience Fund is a first-of-its-kind relief and recovery grant to each of the six U.S. Regional Arts Organizations designed to help mitigate the financial threat to the sector caused by COVID-19 by supporting small- and mid-sized arts organizations of all artistic disciplines in rural and urban areas that are regarded by their peers as having statewide, regional, or national impact. Two panels of 20 professionals from across the western region convened in October 2020 to advise WESTAF on how to administer the regranting of the $1.7 million in funds. Thirty-nine organizations from across the region were selected with grants ranging from $30,000 to $74,000. Find more information here.
WESTAF CARES Relief Fund for Organizations
In July 2020, WESTAF announced the recipients of its Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Relief Fund for Organizations grants. Supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, this competitive grant program was established to provide general operating support to arts and cultural organizations in the West that have been adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The application for the funds opened on May 6 and closed on May 11 due to high demand.
Additional information, including a full list of awardees is available here.
