Joyce Awards Increase Support for Arts and Cultural Organizations in Response to COVID-19

Upper Midwest Organizations Can Earn $75,000 Grants with $25,000 Reserved for BIPOC Artists

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Jul 22, 2020, 13:30 ET

CHICAGO, July 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Joyce Foundation announced today that the 2021 Joyce Awards will increase its individual grant amount to $75,000, in recognition of the ongoing critical work of artists of color, and the challenges faced by artists and arts and cultural organizations as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Joyce Awards supports artists of color in major Great Lakes cities, aiming to strengthen cross-cultural understanding by bringing diverse audiences together.

The Joyce Awards is increasing individual grants in 2021 to $75,000 given the challenges BIPOC artists and arts and cultural organizations in the Upper Midwest are facing during the pandemic. Applications are due Sept. 14, 2020 and will be awarded in April 2021. Interested applicants can attend a free webinar on Aug. 5, 2020 at 1:00 p.m. (CT) to hear from past winners and learn how to apply.

Although applications for the 2021 awards have been active since the spring, the foundation will simplify and shorten the process moving forward to better serve a community that has been shaken by the pandemic. Applications are due Sept. 14, 2020 and will be awarded in April 2021. Applicants can apply by visiting the Joyce Foundation web site here.

In addition, $25,000 of the $75,000 grant will be allocated to the commissioned artist, recognizing the value of their role to produce collaborative new works. The foundation is planning to invest around $300,000 in overall Joyce Award grants in 2021 to arts and cultural organizations based in Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Cleveland and Milwaukee.

Interested applicants can join a live webinar on Aug. 5, 2020 at 1:00pm (CT) to learn how to apply and hear from past winners on how the grant program has supported their mission. Attendees can register here.

"The Joyce Awards are in the 17th year of celebrating diverse artistic talent and engaging communities in the Great Lakes region. The voices of these artists and communities have never been more important to the direction of our society," said Ellen Alberding, president of the Joyce Foundation. "At the same time, many important arts and cultural organizations are grappling with, and have been destabilized by, the economic fallout of the current pandemic. By increasing the amount of the Joyce Awards we hope to help elevate artist voices and, together with our other grants to the arts, help the sector remain strong."

To date, the Joyce Awards have granted $3.7 million to commission 69 new works connecting artists with cultural organizations throughout the Great Lakes region. The award is used to support BIPOC artists in the creation and production of a new work and provides the commissioning organization the resources needed to engage potential audiences, new partners and their larger communities.

About The Joyce Foundation
The Joyce Foundation is a nonpartisan, private foundation that invests in public policies and strategies to advance racial equity and economic mobility for the next generation in the Great Lakes region. The foundation supports policy research, development, and advocacy in five areas: Education & Economic Mobility, Environment, Gun Violence Prevention & Justice Reform, Democracy, and Culture.