The Fund now is applying to its generous funders for continued support and will be able to announce future deadlines and the amount of funding available by late November 2010. The plan, at present, is to maintain the Creative Work Fund’s current geographic scope (Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Monterey, Napa, San Benito, San Francisco, San Joaquin, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano, Sonoma, and Stanislaus) and to invite projects featuring literary artists or traditional artists to submit letters in early 2011. Check back for confirmation and program details later this year.

Please do not submit letters of inquiry before new deadlines are announced.

Creative Work Fund Awards $650,000 to Northern California Artists

17 Exceptional Projects Awarded Grants for Performing and Visual Arts

The Creative Work Fund (CWF) is pleased to announce that it is awarding 17 grants totalling $650,000 to Northern California artists for the creation of new works in the fields of performing and visual arts. Featured artists are collaborating with local nonprofit community organizations on dynamic and creative projects that include dance, music, theater, sculpture, murals, interactive community art-making, and more.

“Watching new trends emerge each year in the grant proposals is fascinating,” said CWF director Frances Phillips, who has been heading the fund since its establishment in 1994. “For instance, this year a number of projects focused on food, healthy eating, and sustainability.” 

For the 2010 grant cycle, CWF reviewed projects in the visual and performing arts, with successful applicants working in highly diverse media such as digital murals, dance theater, a graphic novel, mobile sculpture, photography, orchestral composition, interdisciplinary performance installations, traditional botanical painting, and a theatrical fusion oratorio. 

Since 1994, CWF has contributed $8 million to advance art-making by Northern California artists in a variety of disciplines. Awards range from $10,000 to $40,000. Grants are highly competitive and recommended to CWF by a committee of accomplished panelists.

The 2010 CWF grant recipients hail from the Bay Area’s urban centers, extending out to Hollister and Benicia. Recipient artists are renowned in their disciplines, and have undergone a rigorous and intensely competitive review process. Click here for more...

What’s New? September 2010

Valerie Soe and New Hope Covenant Church (Media Arts, 2006)
“The Oak Park Story,” is being screened on Saturday, September 4, at 7:30 pm at Bernal Heights Outdoor Cinema, Bernal Heights Park, San Francisco. Valerie Soe’s film, developed in collaboration with community organizers at New Hope Covenant Church, tells the struggles of an unlikely group of Asian Americans, Latinos, and whites in a run-down apartment complex in East Oakland, who won a landmark housing settlement from their landlord and transformed their living conditions.

Jennifer Kroot and Legion of Graduate Students of the San Francisco Art Institute (Media Arts, 2006)
The Rafael Film Center in Marin County will screen It Came from Kuchar, Jennifer Kroot’s collaboration with current and previous students of filmmaker George Kuchar, on September 12, at 6:30 pm. Jennifer Kroot writes, “George Kuchar will attend this screening with his brand new video diary. He will host a Q&A with me after the screening…so it should be loads of fun.” For Rafael Film Center information, visit: http://www.cafilm.org/rfc/films/1423.html.

Rob Keller and Nimbus Arts (Visual Arts, 2007)
In July, artist Rob Keller rolled out the EMoViTO—the Enormous Mobile Vintage Trailer Observatory, which features an enclosed floor-to-ceiling beehive that is home to 30,000 bees. The transformed trailer is parked in a grove at the Connolly Ranch Education Center in Napa or at Nimbus Arts in St Helena. Keller’s mobile beehive, three years in the making, is doing double-duty as an art installation and education center.

Keller’s collaborating organization, Nimbus Arts, is offering several distinctive beekeeping workshops for children, teens, and adults this fall, including BEE-3, Tuesdays September 28 through October 19, 6:30-8:30 pm. Check the Nimbus Arts Summer Class Schedule for details at www.nimbusarts.org.

On September 25 and 26 the mobile honeybee observatory will travel to Ukiah for Solfest at the Redwood Empire Fairgrounds. Keller writes, “Solfest is the perfect venue for my converted 1966 26-foot Airstream showing off the secret life of bees—by way of an 8 foot high two-sided observation hive.” For further information, visit: http://solfest.org.

Wan-Chao Chang and Gadung Kasturi Balinese Dance and Music (Traditional Arts, 2009)
Wan-Chao Chang, Gadung Kasturi Balinese Dance and Music, HEI GU Chinese Percussion Ensemble, and Midiyanto will premire Keep Her Safe, Please! Jakarta 1998 on October 16 (8:00 pm) and 17 (1:00 pm) at the Cowell Theater, Fort Mason Center, in San Francisco. The new work is inspired by the conflicts in Indonesia in 1998 and the universal struggles of immigrants. For more information, visit: https://sites.google.com/site/keephersafeplease/.

Kate Connell and Oscar Melara with the San Francisco Public Library (Visual Arts, 2007)
Artists Kate Connell and Oscar Melara have been collaborating with their neighbors in the Portola District and with staff of the new Portola Branch of the San Francisco Public Library to create “Crossing the Street.” The artists have announced a project launch date of October 2, 2010. Watch for details to come.

Techung and Door Dog Music Productions (Traditional Arts, 2009)
“The Ritual Project,” featuring a collaboration among Tibetan artist Techung and other master musicians from Central Asia, Europe, and the United States, is the centerpiece for Door Dog Music Production’s annual World Music Festival, November 19-21 at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, 3200 California Street. For further information, visit www.sfworldmusicfestival.org. Tickets may be ordered by calling 415-292-1233.