Hewlett Foundation Invites Applications for Second Year of Its $8 Million Arts Initiative

MENLO PARK, Calif., Jan. 9, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation announced today that applications are now open for the 2018 round of its Hewlett 50 Arts Commissions, an $8 million commissioning initiative that is the largest of its kind in the United States.  Reflecting the foundation's longstanding commitment to the performing arts in the San Francisco Bay Area, 10 local nonprofit organizations will receive grants of $150,000 each to commission significant new works of theater, spoken word and musical theater and premiere them in the Bay Area. Applications for this year's awards are due by April 20.

"The Hewlett 50 Arts Commissions are a celebration of our founders' belief in the power of the arts to transform lives and enrich communities," said Larry Kramer, president of the Hewlett Foundation. "This year's awards will support the creation of important new theater and spoken word that will help audiences here in the Bay Area and around the world better understand themselves and connect with their neighbors through the shared experience of a performance."

Applicants for the 2018 awards must be nonprofit organizations with 501(c)(3) public charity status located in the San Francisco Bay Area, but they do not need to be focused on the arts as part of their primary mission. The Hewlett Foundation encourages nonprofits working on diverse issues and those that serve disadvantaged or historically marginalized communities to apply.

Since 1967, the Hewlett Foundation has made more than $335 million in grants to arts organizations. Launched in January 2017 to celebrate the foundation's 50th anniversary, the Hewlett 50 Arts Commissions awards 10 grants to local nonprofits annually to commission world-class artists and partner with them to achieve their shared artistic vision. The remaining three years of the initiative will focus on dance, traditional arts, and film, ending in 2021. The new works created with this year's awards will premiere in Bay Area communities over the next three years.

For information about the 2018 grant application process, please visit www.hewlett.org/about50commissions.

About the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation is a nonpartisan, private charitable foundation that advances ideas and supports institutions to promote a better world. For more than 50 years, the foundation has supported efforts to advance education for all, preserve the environment, improve lives and livelihoods in developing countries, promote the health and economic well-being of women, support vibrant performing arts, strengthen Bay Area communities, and make the philanthropy sector more effective.

Media contacts: Laura Gigounas, Kati Stadum, Gabrielle Farrell at Glodow Nead Communications, 415.394.6500 or [email protected].

SOURCE William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

Related Links

http://www.hewlett.org