Initiatives
We expand support for individual artists through partnerships with foundations, philanthropists, and other field leaders.
Experienced in providing resources to artists across disciplines and geographies, we work closely with our partners to conduct research, design programs, and administer funds in response to their mission and the needs of artists.
Services
To inquire about our services, please contact initiatives@unitedstatesartists.org.
We conduct research including landscape studies and evaluation assessments to develop additional systems of support and expand resources for artists.
We design fellowships, residencies, and other programs, including publications and convenings, to spotlight artists and build networks of support between them and the field.
We administer funds and manage nomination, application, and panel processes. We are able to provide flexible award disbursement options tailored to each recipient’s needs.
Projects
Artist Relief
Academy of American Poets, Artadia, Creative Capital, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, MAP Fund, National YoungArts Foundation
Artist Relief was organized by a coalition of seven national arts grantmakers to support artists during the COVID-19 crisis by offering emergency relief grants and informational resources. In total, Artist Relief distributed close to $23.4 million in emergency grants to 4,682 artists over fifteen months. Artist Relief operated thirteen cycles of funding from April 2020 to June 2021 that supported artists with $5,000 emergency relief grants. In addition, Artist Relief worked with Americans for the Arts and Yancey Consulting on research efforts to allow us to better identify and address the needs of artists, and independent creative workers, moving forward.
Disability Futures
Ford Foundation, Mellon Foundation
Disability Futures is aimed at increasing the visibility of disabled creative practitioners across disciplines and geography and amplifying their voices individually and collectively. Over the course of the initiative, Disability Futures will award sixty fellows with unrestricted funding of $50,000 each. The fund supports twenty disabled creative practitioners each cycle whose work advances the country’s cultural landscape across disciplines, including art, film, and journalism. The initiative was born out of a year-long research study that interviewed dozens of disabled artists and creative practitioners across the country.
Knight Arts + Tech Fellowship
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
The Knight Arts + Tech Fellowship supports artists working with innovative approaches to technology and new media in Knight cities and beyond. Fellows receive unrestricted awards of $50,000 each to support their practice and are featured in an accompanying online publication, Shift Space, which explores new media landscapes and seeks to build a network of practitioners in the field.
Maxwell/Hanrahan Awards in Craft
Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation
The Maxwell/Hanrahan Awards in Craft recognize artists and craftspeople committed to material mastery and exploration with practices encompassing the stewardship of living cultural traditions, unique insight in material study, and/or the advancement of craft at the intersection of other fields including technology and science. Each cycle, five Awardees receive unrestricted prizes of $100,000 each.
The Rainin Fellowship
Kenneth Rainin Foundation
The Rainin Fellowship was established to recognize and celebrate Bay Area artists working in dance, film, public space, and theater, who push the boundaries of creative expression, anchor local communities, and advance the field. The fellowship awards four artists annually with unrestricted grants of $100,000 each, as well as supplemental support tailored to address each fellow’s specific needs and goals, including financial planning, communications and marketing help, and legal services.