What We Fund

The Foundation works to provide opportunities for Philadelphia students to experience arts learning.

We seek to fund arts education programs working as partners in Philadelphia schools, and that focus on the three areas of interest of the Foundation:

• Expanding Students’ World Views: Greater Understanding of Cultures and Experiences
• Building Students’ Skill and Interest in the Arts: A Next Generation for Philadelphia’s Art and Cultural Community
• Strengthening Students’ Socioemotional Learning: Increased Interpersonal and Intra-Personal Skills

Preference is given to programs working with students in the 4^th grade or younger, offered in Philadelphia schools with a high percentage of students from low-income families and a dearth of resources to provide arts education.

The Foundation’s funding is not intended to replace existing arts teachers in Philadelphia schools, but rather to support their important work.

What We Do Not Fund

•  Nonprofits that are not direct providers of professional arts education programming.
•  Support directly to early child care providers, elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools.
•  Scholarships for individuals.
•  Individual teaching artists.
•  For-profit arts education providers.
•  Arts organizations without professional teaching artists on staff.
•  Organizations without a recent history of at least two consecutive years of programming in partnership with a Philadelphia school.
•  Arts education programming in which the majority of participants are not from low-income families and are not residents of the city of Philadelphia.

Types of Funding Available

Implementation

The Foundation will consider funding for the direct provision of arts education to Philadelphia students in any type of school (e.g., Public District, Public Charter, Parochial, or Independent), as long as the program is primarily serving children from low-income households. Funding may include staffing costs, materials, and other required resources. Programs can be offered during the academic day or during out-of-school time, as long as equal access is provided to all students and transportation is not a barrier for student participation. Programs may provide either art instruction or opportunities to be exposed to an artistic discipline or art form, provided there is sustained engagement in the work rather than a single moment of exposure.

Planning

Planning efforts to scale or deepen high-quality arts education programs, or implementation of a comprehensive plan to deepen the impact, increase the scale, and/or improve the sustainability of a high-quality arts education program that is seeking to impact one of the above areas of interest for the Foundation (i.e., expanding a student’s worldview, building interest in the arts, or strengthening socioemotional learning). Funding may include staff time, expert consultants, and other required resources.

Evaluating Proposals and Grants

How do we select grantees?

Programs are selected and evaluated utilizing the following criteria:

• Quality of the arts education program (i.e., proficient teaching artists, appropriate materials/art-making supplies, well-designed program model, etc.).
• Demonstration of successful partnership with at least two Philadelphia schools comprised of students from our target population of young people from low-income families, during two consecutive years.
• Preference is given to programs that provide arts education programming in more than two Philadelphia schools.
• Arts education providers from outside the region will be considered if they can provide a clear and demonstrated understanding of working with schools in Philadelphia and a track record of success in urban schools.
• A willingness to participate in the learning communities and evaluation of the Foundation’s Arts Education funding strategy.

Application Process

Organizations that meet the eligibility requirements may apply through a two-step process.

Step 1: Submit an Inquiry Form (please e-mail Hillary Murray to request a link for the Arts Education Inquiry Form)

Submit an Inquiry Form that outlines the proposed funding request, in narrative and budget form, as well as background information on the organization and the arts education program. As part of the Inquiry Form review process, the Foundation may conduct a site visit to gain firsthand understanding of the arts education program. An observation tool is used during site visits to ensure programs are being assessed against the same set of criteria for a high-quality program; that tool is available upon request. The projects and organizations with the greatest potential will be invited to submit a full proposal.

Step 2: Submit a full proposal

Upon invitation, submit a full proposal. Applicants invited to submit a full proposal will receive instructions that outline the submission details and requirements of the proposal.

Please note that submission of an Inquiry Form does not guarantee a request for a full proposal or grant funding.

Before requesting an Inquiry Form from the Foundation, please make sure to review all of our program guidelines to confirm that your proposed work aligns with the Foundation's strategic priorities.

Download Sample Inquiry Form

Introduction

The Foundation works to support equitable access to great public spaces.

We believe that great public spaces strengthen communities. They are places in which we spend time with family, friends, and neighbors. They can also promote health through physical activity, help children learn through play, enhance appreciation of the natural environment, and offer platforms for cultural expression.

Great public spaces come in many forms, including parks, libraries, recreation centers, trails, waterways, community gardens, community centers, plazas and play areas.

We seek to fund public space efforts that value:

1. Enriching Experiences: members of the public, especially children and elders, experience the space in ways that promote wellbeing and joy.
2. Meaningful Community and Stakeholder Involvement: local knowledge, expertise, and interests are respected through engagement, partnership, and co-creation.
3. Inclusion: public spaces strive for social and racial inclusivity, e.g., through age-friendly design, multi-lingual communication, culturally-relevant programming, transportation access, and marketing.
4. Civic & Natural Context: public spaces reflect their local community and/or natural context, e.g., through public art, ecological restoration, or other connections to area histories.
5. Quality Design & Materials: quality design and materials contribute to positive community identity, ensure durability and longevity, and contribute to environmental sustainability.
6. Resilience: stewardship and maintenance are priorities, not afterthoughts.

What We Fund

• Public space initiatives which directly serve low or moderate income communities OR which serve citywide populations and are of significant civic importance to Philadelphia or Camden.
• Initiatives that seek to strengthen the local public space sector, e.g., network building, peer-learning, communications, and other efforts focused on system and sector-wide impact.
• Meaningful community engagement and community partnership development.
• Capital projects, including:
  • Design
  • Materials
  • Construction
• Pilots or proof-of-concept efforts, including those related to programming or the development of a new revenue source.
• Efforts that seek to remove barriers to equitable access, such as transportation network and connectivity enhancements, language access, communications, or marketing.
• Research, planning and evaluation.
• One-time organizational capacity-building for public space stewards in the form of:
  • Strategic/business planning
  • Organizational restructuring
  • Alliance/merger facilitation
  • Training, professional development
  • Key staff recruitment
• Public space efforts that also advance the Foundation’s Arts & Culture, Watershed Protection and Great Learning strategies are desirable, though not required.

What We Do Not Fund

• Projects that do not demonstrate clear alignment with the Great Public Spaces strategy, especially related to community involvement and partnerships;
• Projects that do not demonstrate credible, realistic, reasonable work plans and budgets;
• Spaces located outside of Philadelphia and Camden;
• Spaces that are not publicly accessible;
• Spaces that are privately owned or primarily profit-seeking;
• Athletic leagues;
• Streetscape or corridor beautification projects;
• Public or private memorials;
• Projects that represent a new, unfunded burden on City resources;
• Routine maintenance or ongoing operational support.

Funding will not be considered to any organization that discriminates on the basis of race, ethnicity, creed, gender, or sexual orientation in policy or practice.

READ MORE ABOUT HOW TO APPLY

Introduction

The New Audiences/New Places grant making program funds artistic projects that engage new audiences through the use of public, civic, and community spaces as platforms for cultural performances and public art, supporting work that enriches community life and fosters creative expression throughout the city.

The Foundation believes in the intrinsic value of art and its ability to enhance the quality of life, inspire creativity, and enlarge worldviews and perspectives. The principal aim of the New Audiences/New Places effort is to increase resident and visitor engagement with dynamic, high quality public art by funding organizations to create art in places outside of their traditional venues and that reaches new audiences or deepens communities of constituencies. 

What We Fund

This strategy is intended to primarily provide funding support to professional arts and culture organizations operating outside their traditional venues. The Foundation supports a diverse range of high quality art projects in a wide range of public, civic, and community spaces with the over-arching expectation that the works will be highly available to the public. Specifically, the Foundation funds projects that have the ability to:

• Engage audiences outside of traditional performance and exhibition venues, especially in community based settings where a diversity of people come together.
• Promote new opportunities for residents throughout the city to engage in high quality cultural experiences.
• Foster relationships between cultural organizations and neighborhoods, helping organizations reach audiences and communities that are new to them and/or the arts.
• Expand the understanding of how enhanced engagement, active dialog, extended programming, or multiple points of access provide new audiences with cultural opportunities.

All aspects of project development and execution, including planning, design, civic engagement, and implementation, are eligible for funding through New Audiences/New Places.

Projects that are permanent, temporary, or seasonal in nature and in any discipline (e.g., performing arts, visual arts, media arts, literary/humanities, multi-discipline, etc.) are eligible for consideration.

Project Requirements

• Work must reflect high artistic quality and artistic merit.
• Work must be self-presented.
• Projects must be located in the City of Philadelphia. [When an organization seeking funding through New Audiences/New Places is located outside of the City of Philadelphia, it should have strong understanding of local community and knowledge of working in Philadelphia.]
• Work must be available to and targeted for an audience that is new to the organization, to the art being programmed, or to the arts in general. Proposals must include a detailed plan for communications, marketing, and outreach to the intended audience. Applicants will be required to articulate the thinking behind the selected location, describing how that space can reach the intended audience, how it fits the project being planned and how audiences will be engaged by that space.
• Work must occur outside of the presenting organization's traditional venue and in a public or community space.
• Preference will be given to works that can be executed within three years; however, all projects must be completed with 5 years.
• Projects may be permanent or temporary, and in any discipline (e.g., performing arts, visual arts, media arts, literary/humanities, multi-discipline, etc.).
• In cases where the project will require ongoing maintenance or some form of continuing stewardship, those needs must be addressed in the proposal.
• When involving partnerships, projects must demonstrate close collaboration between artists, arts organizations, local community partners, and, when appropriate, directly with residents.
• Evidence of organizational capacity to execute within the planned timeline/budget.

What We Do Not Fund

The following types of organizations are ineligible:

• Battlefields/forts/military
• Churches, synagogues, or other religious institutions
• Government agencies
• Presses or publications
• K-12 Schools
• Organizations that are not professional nonprofit arts or cultural organizations must apply to the Foundation as part of a partnership with an artistic team
• For arts organizations, organizations that do not regularly engage and pay artists
• Community arts organizations whose programming does not include any arts production/presentation
• Rehabilitation or arts therapy
• Hospitals
• Video/recording/online organizations
• Arts education organizations (youth or adult)
• Organizations that do not have an audit, financial review, or compilation

The following types of projects are ineligible:

• Projects outside of the City of Philadelphia
• Public or private memorials
• Film projects that are in final stages and seeking only finishing funds, post-production, and/or audience engagement support
• Arts education projects (arts education organizations may be eligible for funding under the Foundation's Arts Education program)
• Projects presented by a presenting organization

Evaluating Proposals and Grants

How do we select grantees?

An internal review team reviews all submissions and makes recommendations for funding to the full board of the Foundation. Each application is reviewed on its own merits, but in the context of the applicant pool. We fund organizations that demonstrate high quality programming and management, a track record of successful project implementation and financial and management capacity to complete the proposed project. In addition, we consider the following criteria as part of the selection process:

• An ongoing and demonstrated commitment to excellence, innovation, and audiences.
• Strength of staff and board leadership and evidence of organizational capacity to carry out the proposed work.
• A history of planning and disciplined implementation.
• Demonstrated understanding of the audience served and how art identified will reach that audience.
• Deep experience in promoting artistic/civic/social engagement.

However, it should be noted that not all applicant organizations that meet the eligibility criteria will be recommended for funding because the Foundation receives many more applications than it is able to support.

Organizations that otherwise meet the eligibility requirements but currently have a Core Support for Arts and Culture Organizations grant should check with the Creative Communities staff before applying.

How do we measure success?

• Agreed-upon outcomes will be determined by the applicant organization in collaboration with the Foundation during the full proposal review.
• Outcomes will be specific to the organization based on mission, the proposed project, and other key factors.

Application Process

Organizations that meet the eligibility requirements may apply through a two-step process.

Step 1: Submit an Inquiry Form (please e-mail Hillary Murray to request a link for the New Audiences/New Places Inquiry Form)

Submit an Inquiry Form, a project budget, an audit or financial review for the most recently completed fiscal year, and operating budgets spanning the fiscal years to be covered by the requested grant. An applicable strategic, business, and/or financial plan should be submitted, if available. Please do not submit work samples unless requested by the Foundation.

An internal review team will review the Inquiry Forms to determine eligibility and competitiveness given the applicant pool. Based upon this assessment, full proposals will be invited for the most promising applications.

Step 2: Submit a full proposal

Upon invitation, the applicant will submit a full proposal and standard Foundation submission documents. There may be additional materials requested based on the Inquiry Form review. Please do not submit work samples unless requested by the Foundation. During the proposal review, outcomes of the grant will be finalized by the applicant in collaboration with the Foundation.

The following table is provided to help eligible applicants understand the schedule:

Frequently Asked Questions

• Q: Do you only review New Audiences/New Places proposals at the Foundation’s July Board meeting?
  A: We typically review all New Audiences/New Places proposals at the July board meeting. However, we do occasionally review certain proposals at the Foundation’s April or November Board meetings if the July schedule falls outside of a particular project’s time frame. Any applicants interested in bringing projects to the April or November Board meetings must seek prior approval from program staff to allow for adjustments to be made to proposal submission deadlines. These potential adjustments to the proposal schedule do not affect the LOI process; LOIs are due by the above LOI deadline. 
• Q: Can we apply for funding through New Audiences/New Places if we already have a Core Support for Arts and Cultural Organizations or Arts Education grant?
  A: Yes, however, you should check with a program staff person before submitting because the Foundation does limit the amount of total aggregate support it provides to a single organization in a given year.
• Q: What does “public, civic, and community space” mean? Can you provide examples?
  A: Examples of public, civic, and community spaces include parks, squares, plazas, trails, streets, libraries, recreation and community centers.
• Q: What are “new" places?
  A: Public, civic, and community places outside of your organization’s traditional venue(s) and/or places not normally used for the production and presentation of art.
• Q: Who are “new” audiences?
  A: Audiences in the City of Philadelphia who have less exposure to the arts, who are new to your organization, the project’s art form, or the arts in general.
• Q: Is there a preferred project type?
  A: Projects may be permanent or temporary, and in any discipline (e.g., public art, performing arts, visual arts, media arts, literary/humanities, multi-discipline, etc.).
• Q: Are all project costs eligible, including both planning and implementation?
  A: Yes, all costs associated with project development and project implementation are eligible.
• Q: Can/should I contact a staff member of the Creative Communities Team before submitting an LOI?
  A: Prior contact with a William Penn Foundation Program staff member is not required.
• Q: Should we submit work samples?
  A: Work samples will be requested if they are needed.

Download Sample Inquiry Form