Grants for Nonprofits Serving Disabled in District of Columbia

Background

Mid Atlantic Tours brings the best of the performing arts to communities across the mid-Atlantic region. Presenters select from a curated roster of artists that changes annually but maintains a programmatic commitment to a diversity of performance genres, regional artist representation, and engaging with communities underserved by the arts. 

Grant Information

Presenters located in the mid-Atlantic region who engage a Mid Atlantic Tours Roster Artist during the project period receive up to 50% subsidy for the Roster Artist’s compensation (including artistic compensation, housing, per diem and travel) as well as a presenter capacity support. Presenters work directly with the Roster Artist’s Tour Manager to negotiate terms, including engagement dates and compensation. 

Once terms are confirmed between Presenter and Tour Manager, the Presenter completes a short application to Mid Atlantic Arts. Applications are not competitive, but Presenters interested in engaging a Mid Atlantic Tours Roster Artist during the project period are encouraged to confirm terms with the Artist’s Tour Manager as soon as possible as funding is limited. Final grant award distribution is determined by Mid Atlantic Arts staff in collaboration with Tour Managers.

Roster

Visit midatlanticarts.org to review the roster.

The Mid Atlantic Tours roster is curated by Mid Atlantic Arts staff with curatorial advisement from performing arts colleagues from the mid-Atlantic region. As a final step in the curatorial process, mid-Atlantic region Presenters indicate interest in prospective Roster Artists through a presenter interest survey conducted via email.

The selection process for the Mid Atlantic Tours roster prioritizes:

• Projected touring success for Roster Artists: tour feasibility & presenter interest
• Broad representation of multiple performance genres
• Broad geographic representation from artists based in different states/jurisdictions in the mid-Atlantic region
• Artists and creators who are actively engaged with diverse communities to energize the transformative power of the arts

Mid Atlantic Arts is committed to countering structural inequities based on race, gender, disability status, sexual orientation, class, age and geography through our programs.

Touring Preparation Residency

Each Mid Atlantic Tours roster artist may work with one presenter for a Touring Preparation Residency that does not include a public performance. All other guidelines and procedures for Mid Atlantic Tours engagements must be met, including the artist fee match from the presenter to the Roster Artist. The presenter is eligible for artist fee and presenter capacity support subsidies.

Suggestions for engagement activities for the preparation residency include, but are not limited to:

• extended technical residency
• work-in-process showing
• a rehearsal or demo of a prospective community engagement activity
• working with a dramaturg
• developing marketing materials
• refining a technical rider

If you are interested in partnering with a Mid Atlantic Tours Roster Artist to host the Roster Artist’s Touring Preparation Residency, reach out to the Artist’s Tour Manager.

Grant Award Details

Presenters meeting the eligibility criteria who engage a current Mid Atlantic Tours roster Artist for at least two engagement activities during the project period are eligible to receive a grant award from Mid Atlantic Arts to support the following:

• Artist compensation subsidy up to 50% of the artist compensation agreed upon between the Presenter and the Roster Artist (including artistic salary/fees, housing, per diem and travel). Minimum request: $750.00 USD;
• Other eligible expenses up to 2,000.00 USD to support direct project expenses including program staff salary, direct technical personnel fees, audience development, marketing and promotional expenses, project-specific purchases or consulting related to increasing access for disabled artists, staff, audiences or community members, technical and equipment rental expenses for virtual or in-person engagements, artist travel/lodging expenses, and/or expenses related to public health measures for in-person engagements.

NOTE: Artists must apply to Ibermúsicas for support before October 1, 2022. All presenters interested in receiving grant subsidies and forming part of selected tours must submit their online grant form by April 25, 2023. Presenters must invite artists for a public performance in addition to a community engagement activity between July 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024.

Background

Mid Atlantic Arts was established to promote and support multi-state arts programming in a region that includes Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Virginia, and West Virginia. It is one of six regional arts organizations in the United States, and works in close partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and its member state and jurisdictional arts agencies. Mid Atlantic Arts distinguishes itself through its work in international cultural exchange, model programs in performing arts touring, its knowledge and presence in the jazz field, and its support of folk and traditional arts.

Mission

Mid Atlantic Arts nurtures and funds the creation and presentation of diverse artistic expression and connects people to meaningful arts experiences within our region and beyond.

Vision

Mid Atlantic Arts envisions a future in which artists and creators are actively engaged with diverse communities to energize the transformative power of the arts.

Iber Exchange Grant Program

Mid Atlantic Arts believes in the power of the arts to promote a greater understanding of other cultures. Iber Exchange is a grant program designed to increase availability of international music programming throughout the Mid Atlantic region and to promote a greater understanding of other cultures through the performing arts. Iber Exchange provides fee support grants to nonprofit presenters located in the mid-Atlantic region that contract artists as part of the Iber Exchange program in collaboration with the Ibermúsicas organization.

Mid Atlantic Arts recognizes that international touring is most cost-effective for presenters and artists when multiple presenters collaborate to bring an artist to various communities in one trip. This program offers the opportunity for both presenters and artists to receive funding to facilitate collaborative cultural exchange.

About Ibermúsicas

Ibermúsicas is a nongovernmental organization dedicated to supporting the diversity and growth of the Iberoamerican music sector. Members include Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Spain, and Uruguay. Ibermúsicas provides grants to support the mobility and development of musicians in their member countries.

How it Works

This initiative is a partnership grant program featuring cross-cultural collaboration between artists and presenters.

• Artist Selection: 
  • Artists must be based in Ibermúsicas’ member countries to apply for funding and meet eligibility criteria.
  • Nonprofit presenters in mid-Atlantic Arts’ region interested in inviting an international music ensemble or solo musician should provide a letter of invitation to the artist so that artists can apply directly to Ibermúsicas.
  • Artists selected following panel review will receive grant support directly from Ibermúsicas to defray visa costs.
• Presenter Grant Support:
  • Nonprofit mid-Atlantic presenters who provided letters of invitation to these artists when they applied to Ibermúsicas will be eligible for grant support from Mid Atlantic Arts for up to 50% of the negotiated artist fee.
  • Grants will generally range between $2,000 - $8,000 per presenter.

Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation Grant

The Foundation will consider requests to support museums, cultural and performing arts programs; schools and hospitals; educational, skills-training and other programs for youth, seniors, and persons with disabilities; environmental and wildlife protection activities; and other community-based organizations and programs.

The Foundation seeks to be responsive to community issues and needs. Our process is highly competitive and is open to new projects and new organizations. The following summary, Examples of our Grant-Making, is offered to help guide applicants. While this is not intended to be an exhaustive description and may, as appropriate, change over time, we hope that the following will suggest the kind of meaningful work in which the Foundation is seeking to invest.

Generally, the Foundation looks to support work that improves the lives of DC-area residents, with a particular emphasis on vulnerable and underserved individuals. We encourage organizations that provide comprehensive services and work towards systemic change, which addresses all levels of, and all who are affected by, the issue. The goal is that all in the region become self-sufficient and lead healthy, fulfilling lives. We search for nonprofits that also employ effective partnering and show cultural competence in engaging effectively with communities and people of various cultures and socio-economic backgrounds. On occasion, the Foundation invests directly in strengthening the nonprofit sector by helping current grantees to build organizational capacity and by supporting advocacy and other efforts.

Grants are made in five program areas:

Arts and Humanities

 Our giving in the Arts and Humanities includes theater, dance, music, visual arts, film and other multidisciplinary art forms, as well as organizations that promote the humanities. We focus on nonprofits that have deep, meaningful impact and can demonstrate the depth and breadth of their local initiatives. The Foundation examines how access to the Arts and Humanities for diverse populations is created and how unique opportunities are provided for all ages to engage. In addition to more traditional approaches, we believe in the power of the Arts and Humanities to be innovative and create social change.

Community Services

Community Development: The Foundation’s Community Development grant-making includes affordable housing production and preservation, homeless services, transitional and permanent supportive housing, foreclosure and eviction prevention, community economic development and wealth building, and civic engagement

Children, Youth and Families: The Foundation’s Children, Youth and Families portfolio includes out-of-school time programs, youth development and academic enrichment in schools, as well as programs for homeless youth or those in the foster care and juvenile justice systems.

Justice: Access, Violence Prevention, Reentry: The Foundation invests in organizations and programs that help increase access to justice for low-income individuals.

Education

The Foundation’s Education docket invests in learning from cradle to career. It includes schools that provide early childhood education, kindergarten through twelfth-grade instruction and undergraduate and graduate institutions. The Foundation also looks for models that provide comprehensive services to help students improve academic success and future employment outcomes. This may include charter and private schools, college access programs, groups focusing on teacher and school leader training, as well as certain supportive scholarship programs. In addition, the Foundation invests in adult basic education, literacy programs and preparation and testing for the General Equivalency Diploma.

The Foundation’s grants related to workforce development largely reflect two types of organizations: those that focus on a specific field and help individuals on a career pathway or those that concentrate on broader job- and career-readiness.

Environment

The Foundation strives to preserve the region’s resources and raise awareness so that individuals can enjoy healthy and fulfilling lives in a clean environment. Through our grant-making, we support groups that are concerned with our natural environment’s past, present and future. To help restore and protect our region’s natural resources, we have focused on local parks, the Anacostia and Potomac rivers, and the Chesapeake Bay watershed. We have also funded programs that create future stewards. Through such education and outreach efforts, the public becomes more aware of the dangers of an unhealthy environment — including pesticides and toxins — and better understands the need to protect open natural spaces.

Health

Our giving in Health and Wellness supports integrated healthcare and prevention efforts and broad collaborations, to ensure that all DC metropolitan residents live longer, healthier lives. We strive to bridge the worlds of health and healthcare through a broad range of investments. These may include support for community-based nonprofit health centers and coalitions of healthcare providers, in order to increase access to coordinated, high-quality medical, dental and mental health services for our region’s low-income and most vulnerable residents.

We also look for models that keep people healthy in the first place. Support may go towards increasing access to nutritious, affordable food; creating opportunities for better health in our neighborhoods, homes, schools and workplaces; and decreasing the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the DC metropolitan region.

To address disparities among our region’s most vulnerable populations, the Foundation also funds nonprofits that provide community-based, culturally competent, comprehensive services to children, older adults and disabled individuals. Our hope is that every metropolitan Washington resident can actively participate in a robust community life and maintain independent living for as long as possible.

Funding Opportunity

Wallace is seeking expressions of interest from groups of organizations that are working together to promote youth development, are seeking financial support to strengthen their work and can help us determine new directions for our Learning and Enrichment programs.

We seek not individual organizations, but groups of organizations working together in formal or informal partnerships to support adolescent youth development. We could fund, for example, a partnership between a school district, the community’s office of health and human services and an out-of-school time intermediary to work with community partners to support unhoused adolescent youth’s physical, mental and educational needs. Each group of organizations selected will receive grants averaging $200,000 for a year of work, as well as access to other supports such as peer learning and technical assistance.

Wallace has three goals for this effort:

• To support innovative partnerships that serve youth and strengthen the communities in which they reside;
• To learn about those partnerships’ strengths, challenges, and opportunities for improvement; and
• To use what we learn during this period – which we are referring to as an exploratory phase – to inform the design of future Wallace initiatives.

What Participation Entails

This one-year, exploratory phase is intended to support and strengthen collaborative strategies communities are using to promote youth development, help Wallace learn more about those strategies and inform Wallace’s future efforts in the area. In particular, we are looking to fund projects over the course of one year that are an element of a broader strategy or effort that would play out over a longer period of time.

Participants will use Wallace support to implement or improve their work, reflect on their progress and identify the resources they need to meet their objectives. Independent researchers, youth development experts and Wallace staff will study the work to help us learn more about the kinds of partnerships that exist, the goals they hope to achieve, the strategies they employ to achieve them, the barriers they confront and the supports they need to make progress. Researchers will share their findings with Wallace and the partnerships selected to participate in the exploratory phase.

We intend to use lessons we learn from this exploratory phase to help design our next initiative in learning and enrichment, which will likely span five to seven years. That initiative will, we hope, produce further insights and evidence that could benefit the broader youth development sector.

We therefore ask grantees to commit to:

• One year of participation by a team that includes representatives from each of the organizations partnering to implement the funded strategy;
• Work with a research team that will study the work by convening focus groups, conducting interviews and/or administering surveys; and
• Host researchers, consultants and/or Wallace staffers for site visits.

If participants request them, we may also offer access to peer learning opportunities and consultants who can provide technical assistance. We expect to have a better sense of offerings and activities once we have selected grantees for the exploratory phase and learned more about their needs. ​

Projects

We anticipate that projects might include:

• Professional development to adults serving youth
• Human resources strategies to recruit, train, and retain high-quality instructors
• Comprehensive cross-sector planning that includes stakeholder engagement
• Mapping existing youth service offerings
• Engaging the broader community
• Giving young people a greater say in programming
• Managing finances and/or mapping of existing funding streams, and
• Planning for continuous improvement, through, for example, identification of required data sources, roll out of a data system, and staff training.

Demographic Information

Wallace is interested in exploring projects that serve adolescents who are facing systemic challenges or who are impacted by structural factors that make it difficult to thrive. For example, this may mean that a young person who is:

• Living in a high-poverty community
• Unhoused
• Systems-involved (e.g., juvenile justice or foster care)
• LBGTQ+
• An English-language learner
• A migrant or an immigrant
• Dealing with a learning difference or a physical, mental or behavioral disability
• And/or others, as identified by communities

About

The DC Oral History Collaborative (DCOHC) documents, preserves, and celebrates the lived experiences of all Washington, DC residents and communities through oral history. The Collaborative accomplishes this by providing training, mentorship, resources, programs, and funding to current and aspiring oral historians.

Grant Opportunity

This grant opportunity funds community organizations and individuals to produce public humanities projects from EXISTING oral history collections in the archives. Potential projects may focus on neighborhoods, social organizations, political history, labor, faith-based groups, cultural trends, historic events, or other themes that draw on one or more collections of oral histories. All projects must be thematically focused on Washington, DC and must benefit the residents of Washington, DC. Potential projects may include: exhibitions, performances, listening stations, written research, film/video, curricula for K-12 and higher education, websites, and computer applications based on and directly using existing oral history collections. Selected partners will work with staff from the DC Oral History Collaborative throughout their projects.

Funding Scope

This grant funds individuals, community groups, and nonprofits which propose projects that bring existing oral history interviews about Washington, DC’s life, history and culture out of libraries, archives, and personal collections, and into the public view. Proposals must identify which oral history collections will be used, where they are located, how those oral history interviews will be accessed, which audience(s) the project will reach, and which theme, focus, or research question they aim to illuminate.

This grant funds proposals which:

• Clearly indicate which EXISTING oral history interviews will be used to create the public project, where they can be found, and how they will be accessed;
• Do NOT propose creating a new oral history project for use in an interpretive work;
• Demonstrate a deep understanding of the subject matter to be explored and the expected primary audience for the project;
• Describe, in detail, how audiences or users will engage with the proposed public project or event; and
• List an advisor or team member who is knowledgeable about the proposed subject matter.

About

The DC Oral History Collaborative (DCOHC) documents, preserves, and celebrates the lived experiences of all Washington, DC residents and communities through oral history. The Collaborative accomplishes this by providing training, mentorship, resources, programs, and funding to current and aspiring oral historians.

Grant Opportunity

Help us preserve the unique stories of Washington, DC residents! This grant opportunity funds community organizations and individuals (“partners”) to conduct oral history projects. Potential projects may focus on: neighborhoods, social organizations, political history, labor, faith-based groups, cultural trends, historic events, or other themes that lend themselves to oral history as a tool for research and preservation. Selected partners are considered members of the Collaborative and will be required to attend a three-session Oral History training workshop and will work in conjunction with staff and consultants throughout the course of their projects.

This opportunity is part of the Humanities Grant Program supported with funding from the District of Columbia Government through the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.

Funding Scope

This grant funds individuals, community groups, and nonprofits which propose projects that explore Washington, DC’s life, history, and culture through interviews with the people who have lived it. Projects should have a theme, focus, or research question they aim to illuminate and must commit to interviewing at least five people.

The final product for each project will be a set of well documented recordings accompanied by: interview descriptions, narrator biographical statements, transcripts, legal release forms, time-stamped indexes, metadata forms, and narrator photographs necessary for inclusion in the DC Public Library’s Special Collections. A required training session will elaborate on suitable best practices regarding documentation and transcription among other topics. Either audio or video recordings are acceptable. The legal release form signed by each interviewee will assign copyright to the DC Public Library, however the interviewee will retain non-exclusive rights to copy, use, and publish their oral history in part or in full during their lifetime.

This grant funds proposals which:

• Will clearly identify the research question driving the oral history inquiry, with the question going beyond the importance of collecting and archiving stories (e.g. “What stories about community gardening are important to preserve?” becomes “How did the practice of community gardening change or evolve as gentrification took hold in Washington?”);
• Will demonstrate a deep understanding of the subject matter to be explored and a connectedness to relevant communities that will lend itself to the recruitment of narrators (interviewees);
• Will not propose collecting oral histories that have already been recorded and archived; and
• Will show that the narrators to be interviewed and their communities will be substantively engaged in the project's development.

Award Amount

The maximum award amount for the DCOHC grant is $8,000. Applicants may request an additional $5,000 to translate their oral history transcripts into a second language.

About

The DC Oral History Collaborative (DCOHC) documents, preserves, and celebrates the lived experiences of all Washington, DC residents and communities through oral history. The Collaborative accomplishes this by providing training, mentorship, resources, programs, and funding to current and aspiring oral historians.

Grant Opportunity

Help us create exciting public humanities programs for the people of Washington, DC! This grant opportunity funds the creation of innovative interpretations of humanities scholarship for public audiences. Applicants are encouraged to think creatively about how they engage the public. Potential projects can include, but are not limited to documentary films, planning or executing an event or performance, publications and curricula, tours and exhibits, websites and other digital humanities projects; and archives.

This opportunity is part of the Humanities Grant Program supported with funding from the District of Columbia Government through the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.

Funding Scope

Visions – Projects & Events funds innovative interpretations of the humanities for public audiences. This includes support for ongoing programs or limited-time activities. All projects must incorporate relevant humanities scholarship into the stories that they tell and have an advisor or partner who is knowledgeable about the relevant field or subject matter.

Prospective projects must:

• be informed by one or more of the humanities disciplines;
• have an advisor or team member who is knowledgeable about the proposed subject matter;
• demonstrate a connection to Washington, DC;
• be innovative, unique, and of strong educational interest to a wide public audience; and
• be publicly accessible.

Project examples include:

• Neighborhood organizations partnering with local experts to create walking tours that explore the various layers of a community;
• Conferences focusing on the connection between national issues and their impacts on DC residents;
• Humanities organizations holding space for dialogue around civic engagement;
• Educational organizations creating an exhibition with a humanities theme as it relates to DC residents;
• Documentary films that tell a humanities story about Washington, DC;
  • Documentary films will be showcased in a HumanitiesDC sponsored film festival and be made available for non-commercial, educational use.
• Planning or execution of an event, conference, festival, or other gathering;
  • Events, conferences, festivals, or other gatherings should promote DC-focused humanities topics for the public.
  • They should create networking opportunities for humanities professionals, a platform for scholars and local experts, and/or a space for people wanting to explore a humanities-based topic or area of interest.
  • Additionally, they must be open to the public and include some portion of free or affordable programming.
• Development of humanities-focused publications and curricula;
• The development or enhancement of archives, websites and other digital humanities projects.

About

The DC Oral History Collaborative (DCOHC) documents, preserves, and celebrates the lived experiences of all Washington, DC residents and communities through oral history. The Collaborative accomplishes this by providing training, mentorship, resources, programs, and funding to current and aspiring oral historians.

Grant Opportunity

This grant opportunity provides general operating support funding to humanities-focused organizations that work primarily with young people ages 11 to 19. Funding doesn’t have to be spent on a specific program, but rather can be put towards general operations. We are interested in organizations that use the humanities as a tool to help young people explore issues that they identify as important to themselves and their communities.

This opportunity is part of the Humanities Grant Program supported with funding from the District of Columbia Government through the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.

Funding Scope

This general operating support grant can be used for any purpose identified by the applicant. Applicants do not have to identify a specific project but will be asked how they expect to use the grant funds.