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.