Help us Celebrate

BILLY HART

2023 Living Legacy Jazz Awardee!

Thursday, November 2, 2023 at the

Kimmel Cultural Campus in Philadelphia

Award Ceremony

&

Dessert "Bubbles and Bites" Reception

7:00-9:30pm ET

Tickets are $150 per person and include a dessert buffet and bubbles!

Get your tickets now - space is limited!

A limited number of tables are also available for purchase. To purchase tables or program ads, please contact Britt Huff at bhuff@midatlanticarts.org.

Unable to join us on November 2nd but want to make a gift in honor of Billy Hart and support the event?

Mid Atlantic Arts’ Central Appalachia Living Traditions: Folk and Traditional Arts Experiences grants fund public-facing projects and events in engaging non-profit organizations and folk and traditional artists/practitioners in ARC-designated counties of Ohio, Virginia, and West Virginia are eligible to apply for grant amounts from $1,000 to $10,000. No match is required. The majority of project activities must take place within the designated counties.  

Eligible project activities include but are not limited to hands-on learning experiences, workshops where traditional artistic practices are taught or demonstrated to the public or a group of peer practitioners, public art projects, exhibitions of folk and traditional art, a performance project or series, film/video, podcast, or archival collection or fieldwork with a significant public-facing component.  

Want to learn more? Join us for an informational webinar on Wednesday, September 22 at 2pm. Sign up here.

The deadline for applications is Friday October, 20, 2023.

Questions? Contact Joel Chapman, Program Associate, Folk and Traditional Arts, at jchapman@midatlanticarts.org. 

Photo: People dancing for the Gender-Free Square Dance Zine Release Party at the Appalachian Stringband Festival in Clifftop, West Virginia, 2023. Credit: Abby Huggins.

The Leaders of Color Fellowship (LoCF) application is now open. The LoCF is a transformative leadership development experience curated by WESTAF in order to establish multicultural leadership in the creative and cultural sector. By partnering with the other United States Regional Arts Organizations (USRAOs) the program has expanded nationwide and its mission has become a national endeavor. 

Save the Date: 2023-24 LoCF Information Session

WESTAF will host an information session on Thursday, September 21 at 6 p.m. ET to provide a brief program overview, as well as, the logistics of completing an application and a walkthrough of the LoCF’s grant management platform, GO Smart. Click here to access the Zoom session.

USArtists International Fall Deadline Approaching!

The first deadline of USAI 2023 is right around the corner - September 29, 2023. If you have an eligible international engagement happening between January 15, 2024 and June 30, 2025, you can apply at the September 29 deadline. Read the program guidelines to confirm eligibility before applying.

USArtists International® supports in-person performances by U.S. artists at engagements at international festivals and global presenting arts marketplaces outside of the United States. Performing abroad can lead to artistic growth and can expand an artist's career by providing connections with presenters, curators, and fellow artists. Grants of up to $15,000 toward eligible expenses are available across all performing arts practices and disciplines. The USAI spring deadline is March 27, 2024.

USAI Drop In Sessions Added!



Do you have questions about the USArtists International application process? Our staff is available to answer your questions during our Virtual Drop-In sessions. No prior scheduling or registration is required; join anytime during the session.

Drop-In sessions:

Tuesday, September 26th, from 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm Eastern.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84924871688

Meeting ID: 849 2487 1688

One tap mobile

+13863475053,,84924871688# US

Wednesday, September 27th, from 10:30 am - 12:00 pm Eastern.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86234943399

Meeting ID: 862 3494 3399

One tap mobile

+16465588656,,86234943399# US

Image: Los Angeles Master Chorale performs "Music to Accompany a Departure" (Funeral Music) by Heinrich Schütz, July 20, 2023 at Kollegienkirche in Salzburg, Austria. Grant Gershon, far right, conducts. Credit: Marco Borrelli.

The Alan Cooper Leadership in the Arts Award was established in 2017 to celebrate individuals who create responsive and innovative opportunities for artists, arts organizations, and audiences. Five outstanding leaders in the region have been recognized to date: Joan Myers Brown (2022); Stanford Thompson (2021); Rebecca Medrano (2020); Julia Olin (2019); and Michael L. Royce (2018).

Since the Award’s creation, Mid Atlantic Arts has grown in many ways, and we believe it is important that the Leadership Award reflect that evolution. As Mid Atlantic Arts prepares to welcome a new Executive Director, the Leadership Award has been paused in order to assess the program’s goals and alignment with the organization’s guiding principles and strategic plan, and to explore how Mid Atlantic Arts can best recognize leadership in the region. More information will be available as we move through the leadership transition process.

The 2023-2024 Folk and Traditional Arts Community Projects Grants will support 27 projects in 9 states and jurisdictions in the mid-Atlantic region! Community Projects Grants fund projects designed to support the vitality of traditional arts and cultural communities in the mid-Atlantic region.

Folk and Tradition Arts Community Projects Grants for 2023-2024 include Delaware-based Indigenous beadwork and tanning; West African and Afro-Caribbean drumming and song; cultural traditions of Rwandan communities in Virginia and West Virginia; African-American quilting and storytelling; Black and Latinx LGBTQ+ House Ballroom; and Balinese Gamelan music in Buffalo, NY. These projects promise to support the vitality of traditional arts in their respective communities and beyond, while facilitating cross-cultural understanding. Full descriptions for all of projects is available here!

For more program information, please click here. Guidelines for the 2024-2025 Folk and Traditional Arts Community Projects Grants will be posted in early spring 2024.

Image: Jug Face by Jim McDowell, to be presented at Bottle Works-Ethnic Arts Center.

Credit: Courtesy of the artist.

Mid Atlantic Arts, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts is thrilled to announce 41 engagements in 15 states through the 2023-2024 Performing Arts Global Exchange (PAGE) touring program.

Open to presenters nationwide, PAGE is an annually curated roster of international performing artists selected to tour to communities across the United States. Each year, a selection of performing artists from a new region are featured. The program provides fee support directly to nonprofit presenters programming artists from the roster, and presenters host both public performances and community engagements in achieving the program’s goals of cultural exchange and understanding. The 2023 - 2024 roster features artists based in South Korea.

You can read more about the artists featured on the roster and the communities they will visit here. Congratulations to all of the grantees!

Image: Seo Jungmin. Credit: Courtesy of the artist.

Mid Atlantic Arts is thrilled to welcome Shannon Daut as the first National Director of the US Regional Arts Organization Collective.  

Shannon brings extensive experience to her new role, having held executive leadership positions at Regional, State, and Local Arts Agencies for over twenty years. Throughout her career, she has been a driving force in reshaping the roles of arts agencies in state policy and cultural advancement.

As National Director, Shannon will work alongside the leaders of each Regional Arts Organization to carry out the US RAO Collective’s work to activate and operate national arts initiatives; encourage and support collaboration across regions, states, and communities; and maximize the coordination of public and private resources invested in arts programs.

Welcome, Shannon!

Opportunity Quick Links

• New England Foundation for the Arts invites applications for its National Theater Project (NTP) Creation and Touring Grant program. The program supports the creation/development and U.S. touring of new artist-led, devised, ensemble theater works that demonstrate excellence as defined by the artists’ practice. Ensembles must have nonprofit status or a contract with a nonprofit fiscal agent. All projects must have one committed, United States-based development partner relationship. Deadline: September 27, 2023.

• Cleveland Foundation invites applications for the Equity in the Arts Fund. The fund seeks to strengthen and build the capacity of organizations that promote the arts and cultures of communities of color and to provide meaningful creative opportunities for artists of color. Through the fund, grants ranging from $5,000 to $30,000 will be awarded to organizations that are led by people of color and serve, engage in, and promote the arts and cultures—both traditional and new—of communities of African, Latinx, Asian, Pacific Islander, Indigenous and Middle Eastern descent. Deadline: October 2, 2023.

• The Getty Foundation invites applications for the Getty Scholar Grants program, through which residencies at the Getty Center or Getty Villa will be awarded to researchers for efforts to advance the knowledge of the arts and humanities and producing cutting-edge scholarship that contributes to the understanding and preservation of cultural heritage. Scholar Grant applicants should have received a PhD before September 1, 2020. Applicants from associated fields who do not hold a PhD but have commensurate professional experience will also be considered. Deadline: October 2, 2023.

• Monument Lab invites applications for its Re: Generation initiative, which supports teams of two or more individuals working together to create a new or expand an existing public-facing project, with each selected team receiving a total of $100,000 in unrestricted funding towards their commemorative campaign or project. For the 2024 round of Re: Generation, the organization emphasizes selecting projects with creative representation and interpretation of erased, suppressed, or threatened stories and histories. Deadline: October 2, 2023.

• YoungArts invites applications for its 2024 National Arts Competition. Accomplished artists between the ages of 15 and 18 (or in grades 10 through 12) are encouraged to apply for a financial award of up to $10,000 as well as professional development programs, skills-building workshops, artist residencies, and cultural partnerships to help artists advance their careers and their professional networks. Students must demonstrate excellence in classical music, dance, design, film, jazz, photography, theater, visual arts, voice, or writing. Deadline: October 13, 2023.

Image: Penn Live Arts at the University of Pittsburgh Executive & Artistic Director Christopher Gruits moderates an artist discussion with members of Rennie Harris Puremovement in the Annenberg Center lobby. Credit: Courtesy Penn Live Arts staff.