11/12/24: Application DEADLINE for 2025 Grants

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Criteria & eligibility

PROJECT & PRESENTATION GRANTS

These $7,500 grants support ongoing or new projects that embrace unconventional or D.I.Y. values and will be presented publicly in the DC-area during the grant period (January–December 2025). Project & Presentation grants are intended to directly support artists presenting work in spaces beyond commercial galleries, museums, or established non-profit art spaces.

Eligibility and Requirements:
  • Applicants must live within the greater Washington area either in DC, Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax, Montgomery, or Prince George’s counties.
  • Applicants must be artists with a history of presenting their work in visual arts contexts/venues.
  • Projects must have a public presentation during the grant period. These public presentations can take a variety of forms, including but not limited to: in-person or virtual events, exhibitions, performances, publications, interventions, screenings, readings, round-table discussions, installations, lecture series, curated dinners, festivals, and walking tours.
  • Projects must take place in DC or in the eligible surrounding counties (Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax, Montgomery, or Prince George’s counties), or take place virtually.
  • Grantees are responsible for organizing and managing their projects as well as finding sites and venues. 
  • For each Grant Cycle, artists can choose to apply for either a Project & Presentation Grant or a Research Grant (not both) depending on which best supports your practice at this time.
  • If you are applying as a collective, one person must serve as the Lead Applicant/point person of the project and be responsible for the receipt, management, and distribution of the funds, handle all communications with WPA, and complete grant reporting.
  • This $7,500 grant can be used to pay for your time and that of your collaborators, production, space rental, material costs, etc. It can entirely fund a small-scale project or event, or contribute to the funding of a larger project with multiple sources of funding.
  • Grantees are required to submit a final report on outcomes and reflections at the end of the grant period.

Ineligible:

  • Full-time undergraduate or graduate students
  • 501(c)(3) organizations and for-profit organizations (LLC, corporations, partnerships, etc.)

Evaluative Criteria:

Successful applicants will excel in one or more of the following:

  • Artistic Impact: The project has a core idea/inquiry/theme and its presentation is experimental, imaginative, innovative, and/or unconventional, and furthers the applicant's practice in meaningful ways
  • Context & Audience: The project ideas are considerate of their context and the project engages artists/thinkers and audiences in relevant discourses and meaningful ways; and the project supports inclusivity at all stages of its development
  • Collaboration: The project engages multiple artists and thinkers in the development and presentation processes
  • Feasibility: The applicant demonstrates the ability to carry out the proposed research within the grant period
  • Accessibility: The applicant has a plan to ensure the project is accessible to all audiences (please consider ADA accessibility and COVID safety. You may also want to consider providing greater access through online and/or live-streamed options)
  • Budget: The budget is reflective of the scope of the proposed project

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RESEARCH GRANTS

These $5,000 grants are for DC-area artists to further their practices through ideation, research, and experimentation. Grant funds compensate you for your intellectual labor, support payment for other artists and thinkers for their time and contributions, and other research-related expenses.

Eligibility and Requirements:
  • Applicants must live within the greater Washington area either in DC, Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax, Montgomery, or Prince George’s counties.
  • Applicants must be artists with a history of presenting their work in visual arts contexts/venues.
  • Artists can choose to apply for either a Research Grant or Project & Presentation Grant (not both) depending on which best supports your practice at this time.
  • If you are applying as a collective, one person must serve as the Lead Applicant/point person and be responsible for the receipt, management, and distribution of the funds, handle all communications with WPA, and be responsible for grant reporting.
  • A minimum of $3,500 of the grant should be set aside as compensation for the time you will spend on research and development.
  • The remaining $1,500 can be used to pay other artists and thinkers for their time and contributions, and support other research-related expenses (travel, book, or journal purchases, workshops and classes, photocopying from archives, subscriptions, etc.).
  • Grants can be used to support new or ongoing research.
  • WPA asks that grantees prepare a 15 minute public-facing presentation of their in-process research to be given in September 2025, more information will be provided upon award.
Ineligible:
  • Full-time undergraduate or graduate student
  • 501(c)(3) organizations and for-profit organizations (LLC, corporations, partnerships, etc.)

Evaluative Criteria:

Successful applicants will excel in one or more of the following:

  • Artistic Impact: The inquiry is experimental, imaginative, innovative, or unconventional, and furthers the applicant's practice in meaningful ways
  • Context & Collaboration: The research is considerate of its context; it engages with other artists/thinkers in relevant discourses; and reflects values of collaboration, experimentation, and inclusivity
  • Feasibility: The applicant demonstrates the ability to carry out the proposed research within the grant period