Increased public and private funding to artists of color, arts nonprofits, and creative businesses led by people of color
Increased policies in public and private institutions that work effectively to close racial disparities
Increased democratic engagement among communities of color
What We Fund: We fund up to three nonprofit arts and culture organizations per year that embody all three approaches of the Radical Imagination for Racial Justice strategy: Create (The organization works with its community to imagine and practice racially just systems and structures.), Clarify (The organization has programs in place to translate ideas and learning from projects into knowledge products that can be consumed by broader audiences.), and Connect (The organization has systems and programs in place to connect this knowledge to opportunities for structural change.)–on a local scale within the United States, including on tribal lands and in U.S. territories. This funding initiative is intended to be temporary and catalytic so that we have the capacity to support as many organizations as possible over time.
Accepting letters of intent: No
What We Fund: We fund nonprofit arts organizations and intermediaries that have the capacity to make direct, sizable grants to individual artists, artist collectives, and small arts organizations of color for community-based collaborative projects that imagine and practice the racially just systems and structures of the future.
Accepting letters of intent: No
What We Fund: We support nonprofit and for-profit immersive-technology platforms (including, but not limited to, extended reality, virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality, and artificial intelligence) that are led by and are for people of color. We support artists, culture-bearers, designers, and media-makers of color who pursue immersive technology as an artistic medium to practice and imagine a racially just future. We also support partners prepared to engage in regulatory/policy opportunities that would reduce or eliminate racial bias in these technologies. We also invest in a small number of distribution platforms that focus on the distribution of works by artists of color and can reimagine the value propositions and wealth-building opportunities for artists of color working in these mediums.
Accepting letters of intent: No
You can see all grants given under our Create strategy below.
And explore other Thriving Cultures grants in our database.
|
Year Approved
|
Organization
|
Status
|
Amount
|
Duration
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 |
Designing Justice Designing Spaces
Spotlight
The purpose of the grant is general operating support. |
Active | $500,000 | 36 months |
| 2024 |
Social Science Research Council
The purpose of this grant is to provide project support for the continued implementation of the SSRC’s Just Tech Fellowship Program. |
Active | $600,000 | 36 months |
| 2024 |
Mississippi Center for Cultural Production
The purpose of this grant is general operating support. |
Active | $400,000 | 12 months |
| 2023 |
National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures
The purpose of this grant is to provide Project Support for the Catalyst for Change program to support Latinx artists in radically reimagining, co-creating, and practicing racial justice on a local scale in partnership with their communities. |
Active | $2,850,000 | 72 months |
| 2023 |
Efforts of Grace, Inc.
The purpose of this grant is for general operating support. |
Active | $1,000,000 | 36 months |
| 2023 |
NDN Collective
The purpose of this grant is general operating support. |
Active | $3,900,000 | 72 months |
| 2023 |
Design Studio for Social Intervention
The purpose of this grant is to provide general program support to DS4SI under the Thriving Cultures program’s Create “Exemplar” portfolio. |
Active | $600,000 | 36 months |
| 2023 |
Transforming Power Fund
The purpose of this grant is to provide project support to the Transforming Power Fund for their regranting initiative to invest in artists, artists collectives, and small arts organizations of color proposing projects to imagine and practice more racially just systems and structures. |
Active | $2,850,000 | 72 months |
| 2023 |
Hester Street
The purpose of this grant is to provide project support to Hester Street for their regranting initiative to invest in community-based organizations in New York City and Puerto Rico, who work to imagine and practice more environmentally and racially just systems and structures. |
Active | $2,850,000 | 72 months |
| 2022 |
Alternate ROOTS, Inc.
The purpose of this grant is to support Partners for Change, a multi-year regranting program designed to directly invest in hyperlocal, civic engagement strategies led by Southern artists of color working collaboratively with community members and organizers/researchers. Funds from the Foundation will be used to provide catalytic project grants, self-directed wellness stipends, researcher support, technical assistance, travel, and lodging accommodations, as well as program administration. |
Active | $2,850,000 | 72 months |
| 2022 |
East Bay Community Foundation
The purpose of this grant is to provide project support to the East Bay Community Foundation for their regranting initiative, in partnership with the Akonadi Foundation and the City of Oakland, CA, to invest in artists, artists collectives, and small arts organizations of color proposing projects to imagine and practice more racially just systems and structures. |
Active | $2,850,000 | 72 months |
| 2022 |
National Performance Network
The purpose of this grant is to provide project support to the National Performance Network for their “Southern Artists for Social Change” regranting initiative, investing in artists of color working with communities in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi to imagine and practice more racially just systems and structures. |
Active | $2,850,000 | 72 months |
| 2022 |
Threewalls
The purpose of this grant is to provide project support to Threewalls for their regranting initiative to invest in ALAANA-identified artists and artists collectives proposing projects to imagine and practice more racially just systems and structures. |
Active | $2,850,000 | 72 months |
| 2022 |
Allied Media Projects, Inc.
The purpose of this grant is general operating support. |
Active | $500,000 | 36 months |
| 2022 |
The Village of Arts and Humanities
The purpose of this grant is general operating support. |
Active | $750,000 | 36 months |
| 2022 |
Cooperative Community of New West Jackson
The purpose of this grant is general program support to Cooperative Community of New West Jackson. |
Active | $900,000 | 36 months |
| 2022 |
Sweet Water Foundation
The purpose of this grant is general operating support. |
Active | $1,200,000 | 36 months |
| 2022 |
AI for the People, Inc.
The purpose of this grant is general operating support. |
Active | $400,000 | 24 months |
| 2022 |
The Laundromat Project, Inc
The purpose of this grant is general operating support. |
Active | $300,000 | 23 months |
| 2022 |
Crenshaw Dairy Mart
The purpose of this grant is to provide general program support to Crenshaw Dairy Mart. |
Closed | $300,000 | 12 months |
| 2022 |
GRX Immersive Labs
The purpose of this grant is to provide general program support to GRX Immersive Labs as it works to expand its infrastructure, develop immersive technology and educational programming to empower creators from marginalized communities. |
Active | $750,000 | 36 months |
| 2022 |
Cooperative Community of New West Jackson
The purpose of this grant is general program support to Cooperative Community of New West Jackson. |
Closed | $50,000 | 12 months |
| 2021 |
Social Science Research Council
The purpose of this grant is to provide project support for the launch and implementation of SSRC’s Just Tech Fellowship Program. |
Active | $750,000 | 36 months |
| 2021 |
Designing Justice Designing Spaces
Spotlight
The purpose of this grant is for general operating support. |
Closed | $1,000,000 | 36 months |
| 2021 |
Crux
The purpose of this grant is general program support to Crux, a small black-owned creative business, in growing in its self-sufficiency and scale. |
Closed | $150,000 | 12 months |
"The Just Tech fellows are acting on the urgent need to create technology that serves the public interest, and not just the interests of powerful elites. We need to do a better job supporting the people who care for humanity. So, all fellows will…
By Drew Adams A Boston-area regranting initiative might provide one blueprint for future arts funding, if not for equitable grantmaking more generally. The city of Boston has partnered with the Massachusetts College of Art and Design…
Our cultural institutions shape how we view the world, and Javier Torres-Campos, the Director of the Thriving Cultures Program at the Surdna Foundation, is doing his part to help shape those cultural institutions for the better. Javier doesn’t…
If there was ever a moment for cultural strategy and investment in Black, Indigenous, and artists of color, it is now. Amid a global pandemic and a national uprising against systemic racism, we are witnessing the power of artists, cultural…
How can we meet this moment? We must begin by solving the crisis of imagination. In this Stanford Social Innovation Review article, Deanna Van Buren, co-founder and design director of Designing Justice + Designing Spaces, and F. Javier…
Surdna’s Artist Regranting Initiative Will Support up to 260 Projects in Communities Across the Nation over Three Years The Surdna Foundation announced today a nearly $13 million commitment to support artists of color working to advance racial…
The Surdna Foundation is pleased to announce its hire of Robert Smith III as Program Officer of the Thriving Cultures program. Robert will help guide the implementation of the Thriving Cultures’ refined strategy, Radical Imagination for Racial…
Helicon Collaborative recently released Not Just Money: Equity Issues in Cultural Philanthropy, a research study conducted with funding from the Surdna Foundation. The study continues Helicon's examination of inequities in arts funding in the…
The University of Pennsylvania’s Social Impact of the Arts Project released a report yesterday entitled, “Culture and Social Wellbeing in New York City.” The two-year research project studied the economic, education, environment, public…
You can see all grants given under our Create strategy below.
And explore other Thriving Cultures grants in our database.
|
Year Approved
|
Organization
|
Status
|
Amount
|
Duration
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 |
Designing Justice Designing Spaces
Spotlight
The purpose of the grant is general operating support. |
Active | $500,000 | 36 months |
| 2024 |
Social Science Research Council
The purpose of this grant is to provide project support for the continued implementation of the SSRC’s Just Tech Fellowship Program. |
Active | $600,000 | 36 months |
| 2024 |
Mississippi Center for Cultural Production
The purpose of this grant is general operating support. |
Active | $400,000 | 12 months |
| 2023 |
National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures
The purpose of this grant is to provide Project Support for the Catalyst for Change program to support Latinx artists in radically reimagining, co-creating, and practicing racial justice on a local scale in partnership with their communities. |
Active | $2,850,000 | 72 months |
| 2023 |
Efforts of Grace, Inc.
The purpose of this grant is for general operating support. |
Active | $1,000,000 | 36 months |
| 2023 |
NDN Collective
The purpose of this grant is general operating support. |
Active | $3,900,000 | 72 months |
| 2023 |
Design Studio for Social Intervention
The purpose of this grant is to provide general program support to DS4SI under the Thriving Cultures program’s Create “Exemplar” portfolio. |
Active | $600,000 | 36 months |
| 2023 |
Transforming Power Fund
The purpose of this grant is to provide project support to the Transforming Power Fund for their regranting initiative to invest in artists, artists collectives, and small arts organizations of color proposing projects to imagine and practice more racially just systems and structures. |
Active | $2,850,000 | 72 months |
| 2023 |
Hester Street
The purpose of this grant is to provide project support to Hester Street for their regranting initiative to invest in community-based organizations in New York City and Puerto Rico, who work to imagine and practice more environmentally and racially just systems and structures. |
Active | $2,850,000 | 72 months |
| 2022 |
Alternate ROOTS, Inc.
The purpose of this grant is to support Partners for Change, a multi-year regranting program designed to directly invest in hyperlocal, civic engagement strategies led by Southern artists of color working collaboratively with community members and organizers/researchers. Funds from the Foundation will be used to provide catalytic project grants, self-directed wellness stipends, researcher support, technical assistance, travel, and lodging accommodations, as well as program administration. |
Active | $2,850,000 | 72 months |
| 2022 |
East Bay Community Foundation
The purpose of this grant is to provide project support to the East Bay Community Foundation for their regranting initiative, in partnership with the Akonadi Foundation and the City of Oakland, CA, to invest in artists, artists collectives, and small arts organizations of color proposing projects to imagine and practice more racially just systems and structures. |
Active | $2,850,000 | 72 months |
| 2022 |
National Performance Network
The purpose of this grant is to provide project support to the National Performance Network for their “Southern Artists for Social Change” regranting initiative, investing in artists of color working with communities in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi to imagine and practice more racially just systems and structures. |
Active | $2,850,000 | 72 months |
| 2022 |
Threewalls
The purpose of this grant is to provide project support to Threewalls for their regranting initiative to invest in ALAANA-identified artists and artists collectives proposing projects to imagine and practice more racially just systems and structures. |
Active | $2,850,000 | 72 months |
| 2022 |
Allied Media Projects, Inc.
The purpose of this grant is general operating support. |
Active | $500,000 | 36 months |
| 2022 |
The Village of Arts and Humanities
The purpose of this grant is general operating support. |
Active | $750,000 | 36 months |
| 2022 |
Cooperative Community of New West Jackson
The purpose of this grant is general program support to Cooperative Community of New West Jackson. |
Active | $900,000 | 36 months |
| 2022 |
Sweet Water Foundation
The purpose of this grant is general operating support. |
Active | $1,200,000 | 36 months |
| 2022 |
AI for the People, Inc.
The purpose of this grant is general operating support. |
Active | $400,000 | 24 months |
| 2022 |
The Laundromat Project, Inc
The purpose of this grant is general operating support. |
Active | $300,000 | 23 months |
| 2022 |
Crenshaw Dairy Mart
The purpose of this grant is to provide general program support to Crenshaw Dairy Mart. |
Closed | $300,000 | 12 months |
| 2022 |
GRX Immersive Labs
The purpose of this grant is to provide general program support to GRX Immersive Labs as it works to expand its infrastructure, develop immersive technology and educational programming to empower creators from marginalized communities. |
Active | $750,000 | 36 months |
| 2022 |
Cooperative Community of New West Jackson
The purpose of this grant is general program support to Cooperative Community of New West Jackson. |
Closed | $50,000 | 12 months |
| 2021 |
Social Science Research Council
The purpose of this grant is to provide project support for the launch and implementation of SSRC’s Just Tech Fellowship Program. |
Active | $750,000 | 36 months |
| 2021 |
Designing Justice Designing Spaces
Spotlight
The purpose of this grant is for general operating support. |
Closed | $1,000,000 | 36 months |
| 2021 |
Crux
The purpose of this grant is general program support to Crux, a small black-owned creative business, in growing in its self-sufficiency and scale. |
Closed | $150,000 | 12 months |