Approved by Phoenix City Council approved using federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding, the Office of Arts and Culture announces the Arts Career Advancement Grants program. This grant program will help support artists and arts workers who have experienced income and opportunity loss because of the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic crisis and are in the process of rebuilding their arts practice.

Guidelines are now available, including eligibility requirements, and how to register for upcoming webinars. The deadline to apply is Wednesday, October 6, 2021.

Para información en español acerca del Programa de Subvenciones para el Desarrollo Profesional en las Artes, visité www.phoenix.gov/arts/grants-program/ARPA-artistas

The Office of Arts and Culture's Public Art Program is requesting qualifications from professional artists to design perforated steel shade screens for multiple City of Phoenix bus shelters to increase shade coverage for transit users and promote a more walkable neighborhood, reducing the urban heat impact of exposed vacant lots and hard surfaces. In addition, the new bus shelters will promote a distinctive identity for communities and expand the Public Art Program's award-winning series of artist-designed shade structures.

This is an excellent opportunity for two-dimensional (2D) artists (painters, printmakers, muralists, graphic designers, weavers, fabric artists, etc.) with little to no public art experience to step outside their studios to enhance bus shelters with original artwork and provide additional shade for commuters. Arizona artists are strongly encouraged to apply. The deadline to apply is Thursday, August 26, 2021.

Access the Thursday, August 5, 2021 online workshop recording to learn more about the project with artist Mary Lucking.

Are you looking to learn more about public art not just in Phoenix but around the nation? There’s a new professional network emerging called the Public Art Exchange. 

The Public Art Exchange is an open and transparent network for artists, administrators, and others interested or involved in the public art field. The Public Art Exchange promotes inclusivity and connectivity through resources, events, and discussion forums.

The CERF+ COVID-19 Relief Grant provides $1,000 to artists working in craft disciplines who are facing dire circumstances due to food, housing, and/or medical insecurities as a result of the ongoing pandemic. The deadline to apply is Tuesday, August 31, 2021.

CERF+ broadly defines eligible artists to include those who create work using historically recognized craft materials such as clay, glass, textiles, wood, metal; as well as those whose work expands on these historical definitions through the incorporation of non-traditional materials, new technologies and experimental approaches. CERF+ is equally committed to the preservation of folk and traditional arts, as rooted in, and reflective of, the cultural life of a community. In addition, CERF+ serves artists at all stages of their careers and seeks to support people from diverse educational and cultural backgrounds. 

The Wallace Foundation is seeking eligible arts organizations of color to join a 5-year $53 million initiative focused on the link between community orientation & relevance and resilience. Selected organizations for the first cohort will receive up to $2-3 million in grant funding for their participation in the 5-year initiative.

This new funding program aims to work with cohort members to explore the question, "When facing strategic challenges, how can and do arts organizations of color leverage their experience and histories of community orientation to increase their resilience, while sustaining their relevance?" The deadline to submit letters of interest has been extended to Friday, August 20, 2021.

The Arizona Commission on the Arts announced the AZ Creative Youth Development (CYD) Investment Cohort program that invests in arts and culture organizations and programs that center youth voice across Arizona. The CYD Investment Cohort functions as a fusion of a cohort learning and project development program. The investment program will bring together a diverse cohort of young people and adult accomplices to share resources and struggles and engage with knowledge experts in the field to advance their skills as Creative Youth Development practitioners.

A component of the program is a project support stipend of $5,000 after entering a process of creating a proposal with assistance from fellow cohort participants and the Arts Commission staff.

This cohort program is designed for organizations who serve youth under the age of 24 and are already practicing Creative Youth Development. Creative Youth Development is a commitment to supporting young people’s stories, ideas, and dreams through creative expression and honoring their lived experience. The deadline to apply is Tuesday, August 31, 2021.

Passed by Congress in 2010, House Resolution 275 designates the week beginning with the second Sunday in September as National Arts in Education Week. During this week, the field of arts education joins together in communities across the country to tell the story of the impact of the transformative power of the arts in education.

1) Celebrate. Host a virtual celebration for your community, whether big or small, an existing event, or a new one.

2) Advocate. Work with your elected officials and decision-makers to share the value of the arts in education.

3) Participate. Share your story in the social media campaign, #BecauseOfArtsEd, to bring national visibility to the issue of arts education.