Are you an artist who has experience engaging community members to make creative work together?
You may not formally call yourself a teaching artist but if your creative projects include working with a community in ways that engage them as active art-makers, consider applying for the Bartol/Marrazzo Teaching Artist Micro-Grant.
Teaching artists are not limited to teaching a workshop or working with kids. Below are just a few examples of the kinds of creative work a teaching artist may do. These are not the only examples, and we look forward to considering projects that present examples like the ones below, or other innovative ways artists and communities can create together. We are also supporting professional development, equipment or materials that will strengthen your teaching artist practice.
Examples:
- An artist uses their artistic/creative talents to help community members create their own art, for example, working with veterans to write poetry or helping residents of a shelter create a mural.
- An artist (with the buy-in of community members) creates their own work based on community stories or experiences, for example to illuminate a story or issue from that community in a way that is respectful and authentic.
- An artist runs a program for community members to learn a particular creative skill, for example, teaching girls about fashion design or music recording.
- A teaching artists invests in technical equipment or materials to be able to teach virtually in ongoing programs.
The micro-grant application is open to most all recognized and exploratory art forms that may include:
Acting | Animation | Creative Writing | Dance | Digital Art | Fabric and Textile | Fashion Design | Film | Furniture Making | Graphic Design/Illustration | Installation | Interactive Design | Jazz | Mixed Media | Multimedia | Music Performance (Vocal, Instrumental, MC) | Music Production (includes songwriting, Deejaying, engineering) | Musical Theater | Painting | Performance Art | Photography | Playwriting | Podcast | Poetry/Prose | Printmaking | Puppetry | Scenic Design | Screen Printing | Spoken Word | Storytelling | Theater | Visual Art | Writing
This grant program does not support culinary arts or horticulture.
The application process is open only to artists who live in the specified counties and for a project that will take place in the City of Philadelphia. This means the teaching artists’ mailing address for their personal residence, business office or performance space must be located in Philadelphia, Chester, Montgomery or Delaware counties and specified on the application. If you live/work outside of the specified county areas, but your project/creative work takes place in Philadelphia, you may still choose to apply and offer further detail in your application. Note: The grant review committee may choose to give priority consideration to artists’ whose primary residence and creative work is in Philadelphia.
No. If an organization has received a Bartol Foundation grant that will use Bartol funds to support all or part of your teaching artist project, you cannot also apply for a Bartol Foundation Teaching Artist micro-grant. We suggest applying for a micro-grant with a different organization or host partner. You also cannot apply if you are a staff member of a Bartol funded organization and are asking for a project with that organization. You can request a project for your individual teaching artist practice.
A letter of support comes from an organization or venue that you are working with or whose support you have in order to pursue or complete your project. If you are applying for a community-focused micro-grant, an artist should show some connection to successfully work within the community with an established organization or venue (i.e. “host site”). The letter would come from a main contact person at the organization or venue who is familiar with your project OR who is directly involved. The letter would confirm that you will be working on your project with the organization or at the venue, a brief sentence on what you will be doing and the span of time you will be working on the project. The letter should be signed and dated by this main contact person. There is a place on the online grant application to upload a copy of your letter which can be a copy of an email to you or a screenshot of an email or letter. This is an optional part of the application.
We will still accept applications from applicants enrolled in college-level classes for six (6) credit hours or less. Applicant may be asked to specify enrollment details. The committee will take this information into consideration on all grants.
Yes, if the applicant is the lead, initiator, manager, or founder of the project. You should focus the application answers on how this grant would impact you as an individual teaching artist in completing your community arts project or teaching artist practice. The Bartol Foundation micro-grant is meant to serve as a crucial catalyst to advance your project and practice , especially within the next 3 months.
No. The funding must be used to support your work as a teaching artist on a specific project as outlined. You can use grant funds for things like materials, space, transportation or services. You can also provide a stipend for yourself but this should not be the entire budget.
Grants are all about specificity, so the more specific you can be the better (“please look at page 2, paragraph 3” or “please view video starting at 3:22 until 4:56”). You can upload a cover page with directions plus the link you want us to view. We will only consider the specified information submitted when making a decision about the grant.
Yes. Bartol/Marrazzo TA Micro-Grants were created in direct response to local teaching artists’ need to receive funds in a timelier manner to complete the project described in their application. We are looking to support teaching artists who will make immediate use of the funding and make significant progress or complete a project. Applicants can apply for funding to support a part of an ongoing or long-term project, but the Bartol/Marrazzo TA Micro-Grant funds must be used within three months of receiving grant funds, and artists should include details of how a micro-grant would help the overall project momentum.