The Kenneth Rainin Foundation invites Letters of Inquiry (LOIs) for our New & Experimental (NEW) Program from January 4 to February 1, 2019. This program offers grants of $5,000 – $30,000 for small and mid-size arts organizations. These awards enable Bay Area artists to produce timely, visionary works that advance their artistic practice and push the boundaries of dance and theater. See previous NEW Program grantees.

Earlier this year, the Arts Program unveiled the results of a two-year strategic review to assess artists’ changing practices and ways to more deeply support artists. Consequently, we made changes to the NEW program that we hope will strengthen our grantees’ creative practices and their work in communities. Our intention with this shift is to reinforce the value of artists’ labor, without which our work is irrelevant.

NEW Program Updates
Two-thirds of the grant funds must be designated to the collaborating artists and their direct expenses. Artists need to be compensated for their significant investments of time and skills required by this work.
One-third of the grant funds are unrestricted for the applicant organization and may be directed to project expenses, general operating needs, etc. We acknowledge that organizations play a vital role in fostering our artistic communities and are often in the position of piecing together funding from various sources. It is in response to this need for flexibility that this work often requires that we have decided to make the remaining one-third of grant funds unrestricted.
The grant period will expand to 24 months. This is an acknowledgment that projects are complex, require substantial amounts of time for development, and are likely to change from the point of conception to execution.

Pre-Application Workshops
Learn about the Rainin Foundation’s NEW Program from our Arts Program staff.

San Francisco Workshop
Monday, January 14, 5:30 – 6:30 PM
Root Division

Oakland Workshop
Thursday, January 24, 12 – 1:00 PM
Pro Arts Gallery