(Portland, OR) – Western Arts Alliance (WAA), the Portland-based performing arts service organization, has announced the launch of a new grant opportunity for Native artists – the Advancing Indigenous Performance (AIP) Artists Travel Assistance Fund – and is accepting applications beginning Monday, November 18, 2018 through December 7, 2018.
Advancing Indigenous Performance (AIP) is a national program to create new touring and presentation opportunities for Indigenous performing artists, made possible by lead funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation with additional support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Native Arts & Cultures Foundation. AIP invests in building the professional capacities of Indigenous artists as it works to break down barriers in the performing arts.
The Artists Travel Assistance Fund provides subsidies for eligible performing artists through the reimbursement of travel costs associated with activities intended to prepare them for the touring of their work, including professional conferences, relationship development meetings with presenting organizations, and opportunities for showcasing their work. Reimbursable costs may include travel, accommodations, per diem, and other travel-associated expenses, up to a limit of $1,500 for individual artist domestic travel, $2,500 for individual artist international travel and $4,000 for a group or ensemble travel. The online application portal for the AIP Travel Assistance Fund may be accessed by following the link, https://westarts.secure-platform.com/a/solicitations/home/1 or through the WAA website. Inquiries regarding the Artists Travel Assistance Fund may be addressed to AIP Program Manager Ed Bourgeois.
AIP also works to educate arts presenters and touring professionals about the cultural origins and work of Indigenous artists and builds strategies for integrating them into mainstream presenting and touring models. An Indigenous Artist Touring Fund provides fee support to presenting organizations which engage Indigenous performing artists.
For more information or to sign up for the Advancing Indigenous Performance email list, please visit: https://westarts.org/advancing-indigenous-performance.
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Western Arts Alliance (WAA) is a membership organization of touring and performing arts professionals engaged in promoting and presenting the performing arts. Established in 1967, WAA’s programs and services advance innovation, creative partnerships, personal connection, and the business of the performing arts.
The Western Arts Alliance Annual Conference draws over 800 attendees with a focus on discovery and connection. WAA’s conference brings together authoritative speakers and programs; professional development sessions; showcase performances; networking opportunities and social events to support the presentation of the performing arts. WAA provides access to contacts and information on more than 3,000 artists and attractions and 200 presenting organizations across the West. Collectively, WAA’s presenting venues and programs, offer more than 3,000 performances every year.
About The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
Founded in 1969. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation endeavors to strengthen, promote, and, where necessary, defend the contributions of the humanities and the arts to human flourishing and to the well-being of diverse and democratic societies. To this end, it supports exemplary institutions of higher education and culture as they renew and provide access to an invaluable heritage of ambitious, path-breaking work. Additional information is available at mellon.org.
About the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
The mission of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF) is to improve the quality of people's lives through grants supporting the performing arts, environmental conservation, medical research and child well-being, and through preservation of the cultural and environmental legacy of Doris Duke's properties. The Arts Program of DDCF focuses its support on contemporary dance, jazz and theater artists, and the organizations that nurture, present and produce them. For more information, please visit www.ddcf.org.
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent federal agency that funds, promotes, and strengthens the creative capacity of our communities by providing all Americans with diverse opportunities for arts participation.
Native Arts and Cultures Foundation
The Native Arts and Cultures Foundation’s mission is to promote the revitalization, appreciation, and perpetuation of American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian arts and cultures through grantmaking, convening, and advocacy. To learn more about the NACF’s work— upholding our values through arts and cultures, visit www.nativeartsandcultures.org.