2025 Creative Exchange Cohort/Capacity Building Grant Program Application
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2025 Creative Exchange Cohort/Capacity Building Grant Program
Individual artists are essential to a vibrant arts and culture ecosystem, but developing a successful creative career has unique challenges. That's why the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod is offering the Creative Exchange Capacity Building Grant Program, a 4-month cohort program providing Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket artists with the entrepreneurial support they need to grow and thrive in the cultural sector.
The ultimate goal of this program is to increase the long-term financial resiliency and business success of these artists.
Through the Capacity-Building Grant Program, artists will have access to:
- $1,000 working capital grant (received at completion of the artist's written plan)
- Support in creating a required written plan outlining the artist's business/career goals and action steps with the help of mentors.
- Two (2) small group business coaching sessions with a mentor
- Priority sign-up for any Arts Foundation webinar made available to Cape Cod and the Islands artists
- Workshop: "Plan the Work, Work the Plan."
- Workshop: “Taxes for Artists, Freelancers and Creative Businesses” with Hannah Cole
- Workshop: "Write a Killer Press Release" with Chris Kazarian
- Workshop: "How to Write and Speak About Your Work" with Pete Hocking
- Other workshops determined by needs of cohort
- Access to a community cohort of creative peers
- An opportunity to showcase their work in a public setting organized by the AFCC. Not mandatory
Who is eligible for this program:
- Artists of all mediums: visual arts, writing, film, dance, music/sound, theater, performance, social practice, etc.
- Artists that reside on Cape Cod (Barnstable County), Nantucket (Nantucket County), and Martha’s Vineyard (Dukes County).
- Artists who have reliable transportation and stable housing.
Not eligible:
- Students (full-time) that are enrolled in a program are NOT eligible for this program.
- Artists who reside outside of Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard.
- Artists who have previously been in the Capacity Building Grant Program.
This program promotes equal opportunity and seeks diversity in its applicants and participants. Those who have never received an artist grant are especially encouraged to apply.
Selection Criteria:
Fifteen individual artists will be selected for the 2025 cohort. Applications will be assessed based on the following:
- History of creative work (whether emerging or seasoned).
- Community impact. Does your work involve community engagement and/or is your work informed by the community, place, geography?
- Our program gives special priority to artists with limited access to resources. This might mean artists who are low-to-moderate income or have little savings or access to generational wealth. This might also mean an artist who lives in a rural or other under-resourced community with fewer financial or artistic opportunities, or an artist who holds an identity which has been historically undervalued or marginalized.
Timeline:
- September 30, 2024: Online application opens
- November 15, 2024: Online application closes
- November / December 2024: Review applications & select cohort
- January 2025: Cohort onboarded
- January 2025 - April 2025: Cohort workshops & meetups
- End of April 2025: Graduation/program completion/grant money released
Each participant will be required to complete a basic plan that outlines their creative business goals for the coming one to two years. After submitting this written plan and completing this Capacity Building program, grantees shall receive payment of their working capital grant of $1,000.
What to consider before starting application process:
How would you benefit from this opportunity?
- Please describe how you think you can benefit from the Capacity Building Grant Program, including possible artist-business workshop(s), one-on-one coaching, and mini-grant to help you execute your goals for your creative practice.
- What stabilization and/or growth opportunities are you pursuing as an artist, and what types of investment(s) do you envision making to achieve that?
- Why is now an important time in your career as an artist for you to take advantage of this program's business & personal finance training?
Community Connections
- Be able to briefly explain how your creative practice has engaged (or hopes to engage in the future) with communities on Cape Cod, Nantucket, or Martha’s Vineyard. How does your creative practice strengthen these communities and vice versa?