The Sustainable Arts Foundation is offering awards of up to $6,000 (US) to writers and artists with children. The money can be used for costs such as child care, workspaces, new equipment, research and travel.  *****NOTE:  This opportunity requires an application fee.******

The Sustainable Arts Foundation was founded in 2010 with the aim of encouraging parents to continue pursuing their creative passion, and to rekindle it in those who may have let it slide.

There are two funding rounds each year, and typically a total of ten grants are made in each round: five Sustainable Arts Foundation Awards valued at $6000 each and five Sustainable Arts Foundation Promise Awards valued at $2000.

To be eligible to apply for a grant you must have at least one child under the age of 18.  Applicants can be based anywhere in the world and there are no citizenship restrictions.  Applicants are advised that for the upcoming funding round the organisers are committed to offering half of its awards to applicants of colour.

Writers may apply in one of the following categories:

• Fiction
• Creative Nonfiction
• Poetry
• Long Form Journalism
• Playwriting
• Picture Books
• Early and Middle Grade Fiction
• Young Adult Fiction
• Graphic Novel

Visual artists may apply in one of the following categories:

• Painting
• Sculpture
• Drawing/Illustration
• Printmaking
• Mixed-media
• Photography
• Installation

At this time the process is not accepting applications in the performing arts, film/video/tv (including screenplays), music, jewelry, pottery, and other crafts.

They seek to reward excellence. Your portfolio–which may (but need not) allude to your parenting–will assist us in evaluating your work. We’re also interested in hearing what your plans are, and how this award might assist you in attaining your goals.

SUBMISSION INFORMATION

The application is very straightforward, and consists of 3 major parts:

Contact information
Very basic stuff. They need your contact information so we can keep you posted on the status of your application.

Personal and artistic information
This is your chance to tell who you are as a person, an artist, and a parent. They’ve organized this into a few sections:

• Who I Am: Biography
  Please tell about yourself. Remember that the Sustainable Arts Foundation’s unique trait is to focus on artists and writers who are also parents. If it’s relevant, they’d like to hear how your family life inspires or challenges your artistic career.
• What I Do: Artist Statement
  Please give a concise description of your work and goals as an artist.
• What I’ve Done: Curriculum Vitae
  They’d like to know about the public presentation of your work. Please paste (or attach on the next screen) your current CV or resume, noting especially, if applicable, any grants, awards, or fellowships, plus your exhibitions or publications.
• What I’d Like to Do: How I Would Use this Award
  If you have specific needs that would be met by this award — child care, workspace, new equipment, research, travel — please outline them here. If you have a budget for a specific project, let them know. The more they know about you and your work, the easier it is to envision how this award would succeed.

Portfolio
Please supply samples of recent work. While you’re welcome to include or make reference to older works, please know that they’re particularly interested in the work you’ve produced since having children.

Submission Guidelines for Writers

• Writers: 25 pages maximum. You may submit a single long sample or multiple shorter samples.
• Poets: 10 poems, not to exceed 25 pages total
• All writing samples must be written in English
• PDF format only, please. No Microsoft Word documents.
• Please “blind” your attachments (no name or contact information on your attachments)

Submission Guidelines for Visual Artists

• 10-20 images
• There is a field available for you to note the details of your work. Please limit your annotation to the following: date, medium, dimensions, and whether or not the work has been exhibited.
• Use highest resolution (we want to see your work at its best). Each individual image should be less than 5MB.
• If the works have titles, please use the appropriate field on the application, and also note any additional description of the work (date created, dimensions, medium, etc.)
• If the work has been published or exhibited, please note that as well.

Application fee
Please note: starting in our Fall 2015 round, our application fee will be $15 instead of $10. As always, 100% of this fee goes to jurors, who are also fellow parent artists and writers themselves. This increase is in recognition of the incredible amount of time and energy they put into this process.Our fee remains a modest one ($15), but we’re aware that many of you are applying for multiple awards and grants and we know these fees add up.  By charging this fee, we can insure that at least two jurors will review each application.

HOW TO APPLY

Visit the application website and click the online application link.  Please review all information on the website before applying.

Questions?  Visit http://www.sustainableartsfoundation.org/contact/ and fill in the form.