January 10, 2000 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Creative Capital, a new fund to support emerging artists, announced its first round of grant winners today —
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Awards Made by New Arts Fund
75 people whose work ranges from a hip-hop dance based on Romeo and Juliet to a Web site that uses video-streaming technology to tell the stories of women who work in high-technology industries in South Asia.
The fund was created by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, in New York, which persuaded 27 grant makers to contribute a total of $5-million to the project. Citing the strong support from foundations and an applicant pool that was double the size expected, Creative Capital’s leaders say they are hopeful that they can raise another $50-million for an endowment that would allow Creative Capital to exist permanently.
Creative Capital’s first round of grants to the 75 artists totaled $563,700. The grants range in size from $3,200 to $20,000, with an average of about $7,500.
The new fund has also set aside $356,219 to provide additional support over coming years to the 75 artists, for a total commitment of $919,919, or an average of $12,266 per artist. To obtain more money, the artists will be expected to demonstrate that they still need financial support.
The artists are also required to return a portion of any profits they earn through works created with a Creative Capital grant. The money will be put into a fund to support future fellowships to other artists.
Creative Capital also plans to provide additional services, such as helping artists to market their work and secure additional financing from other sources.
The Warhol Foundation started Creative Capital last spring in an effort to help individual artists. Such artists have faced especially hard times since 1996 when Congress voted to forbid the National Endowment for the Arts from supporting such artists (The Chronicle, May 6).
The awards announced today were made in the areas of media, performance, visual arts, and “emerging fields,” which includes various works that use computers and other technology as a medium.
A panel of arts experts selected the 75 artists from a pool of 1,807 applicants hailing from 46 states.
Creative Capital will limit the next round of applications to only two of the four fields, in order to limit the organizational challenges posed by a projected increase in applications.
Archibald Gillies, president of the Warhol fund, said he was thrilled with the first set of grantees, and added that he wishes that the fund could do more. “You wish that you could do this not just for 75 artists, but 75,000 artists,” he said.
