Arts in Society Grantees Announced for 2021/2022 Grant Cycle

Grantees have been announced for the 2021 Arts in Society grant program. After reviewing over 220 applications, this year’s panel has selected 22 Colorado artists and organizations to receive a total of $450,000 in funding in 2021. Denver Arts & Venues contributed $100,000 to this fund.

The Arts in Society grant program supports the integration of arts and culture into multiple disciplines critical to the health and well-being of Coloradans. The program funds collaborations across Colorado that bring together artists with professionals from a wide variety of non-arts sectors to positively impact social justice and community welfare through community-based initiatives.

"The strength of applications received this year through Arts in Society is further evidence that the arts have played a crucial role in sustaining communities across the state over these past two difficult years, and that it will continue to do so as we rebuild and recover from the devastation of COVID-19. Coloradans from across the state are utilizing the arts in innovative ways to build community connections, maintain traditions, and stimulate their economies. CCI is proud to upport all of the selected projects, and we are especially excited for the large number of exceptional rural projects that we were able to fund this year." -Margaret Hunt, Director, Colorado Creative Industries

Over the last 5 years, the Arts In Society grant program has provided over $2.9M in support to projects that engage arts organizations and artists as partners in illuminating and finding solutions to a wide array of civic and social challenges faced by Colorado communities. As of December 2021, a total $450,000 has been disbursed to grantees across Colorado with project grants ranging from $7,500 – $30,000. In addition to project funding, grantees engage in grantee cohort learning communities, professional development and statewide networking opportunities.

In response to the COVID-19 public health crises, Arts in Society will continue to support grantees by providing flexible project timelines, peer-to-peer and peer-to-funder support, alongside additional pandemic-specific resources as they adapt their work to this evolving situation. Project timelines range between 1 to 2 years and will take place between December 2021- December 2023. 

"It is Bonfils-Stanton Foundation's distinct pleasure to provide support for Arts in Society once again this year. The programs and projects selected clearly demonstrate the critical role the arts, artists and cultural organizations play in facilitating healing, connection, learning and joy in communities across the state. Congratulations to the 2021 grantees.” - Chrissy Deal, Director, Livingston Fellowship Program, Arts & Social Change Grantmaking of Bonfils-Stanton
Foundation.

Arts in Society is administered by RedLine Contemporary Art Center and is funded by a collaborative of private and public foundations and government partners. For the 2021/2022 grant cycle, the funder collaborative includes: the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation, Colorado Creative Industries, The Colorado Health Foundation, and Denver Arts & Venues. To learn more about the history of this program, previously funded projects and partners, please visit www.artsinsociety.org.

Meet the 2021 Cohort of Arts in Society Grant Recipients

Vocal Coalition
Black Music Matters: The Glorious Return
Denver, Colorado
VOCO Youth Choir's 4th annual Black Music Matters concert will pair youth from across the Denver Metro Area with local Black artists to tell the story of the Black experience from Africa to Colorado through music.

History Colorado - Fort Garland Museum and Cultural Center
Buffalo Soldier Interpretation at Fort Garland Museum and Cultural Center
Fort Garland, Colorado
The Fort Garland Museum and Cultural Center will host an artist residency for Chip Thomas, aka jetsonorama, to research, along with other artists and community partners the history, impact, and legacy of the Buffalo Soldiers.

Access Gallery
Combatting Social Isolation and Creating Economic Opportunity for People with Disabilities through Facilitated Painting
Denver, Colorado
Combatting Social Isolation, Disrupting Negative Stereotypes, and Creating Economic Opportunity for People with significant disabilities.

Creative Nations Center and Collective
Creative Nations Indigenous Art Market and Art Collecting Outreach in Colorado 2022
Boulder, Colorado
In 2022, the Creative Nations Collective will reach out to the Ute Mountain Ute and Southern Ute reservations to announce a call for art and make a summer road trip to meet the artists and collect their art for display and sale at the second annual Creative Nations Indigenous Peoples Day Arts Market & Festival at the Dairy Arts Center in Boulder in October.

Chicano/a Murals of Colorado Project
Digitizing and Cultivating Colorado’s Chicano/a/x Murals
Denver, Colorado
Digitizing and Cultivating Colorado’s Chicano/a/x Murals project will develop Chicano/a Mural of Colorado Project's capacity as an education resource by supporting the teaching of local BIPOC histories, contemporary social issues confronting communities of color, and situating familial and personal lived experiences into both national and international historical narratives.

Su Teatro
Drama vs. Trauma
Denver, Colorado
Drama vs. Trauma examines generational trauma through the lens of Su Teatro productions and offers storytelling and community based mental health resources as a means to healing.

Youth Employment Academy: Arts Street@YEA
Edible Artscapes Youth Initiative
Denver, Colorado
Arts Street@YEA will work with Denver youth and artists to learn the principles of permaculture design and create a regenerative urban farming installation with integrated artistic elements in an under-resourced neighborhood.

Mt. Rose Health Center Palliative Care and Hospice
El Arte de Nuestros Abuelos (The Art of Our Grandparents)
Huerfano County, Colorado
El Arte de Nuestros Abuelos will honor and highlight the many gifts of the elders in Huerfano County, realizing that beyond the traditional definition of art, the art of living may include such things as tamale or jelly making!

FARM-TO-SPACESHIP
FARM-TO-SPACESHIP x SAN LUIS EXPERIENCE ACCELERATOR
San Luis, Colorado
Embedding artist-driven experiences in local businesses to produce unique offerings that are both exciting to customers and good for the community.

University of Colorado Colorado Springs - Galleries of Contemporary Art
Gregg Deal Exhibitions & Public Event
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Gregg Deal, contemporary Indigenous artist/activist and member of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe, will realize an artistic residency with UCCS Galleries of Contemporary Art (GOCA) August through November 2022, with plans for a major public sculpture and a solo exhibition at the Ent Center for the Arts, as well as an artistic performance and concert public events at the site of his monumental mural in downtown Colorado Springs.

New Cottage Arts
Refuge Arts: group music and art experiences for immigrant and refugee women
and girls
Denver, Colorado
Through yearlong, weekly group music and art experiences including choir, percussion ensemble and mural design, Refuge Arts provides safe and creative spaces for immigrant and refugee women and girls to maintain community and social bonding, culminating in a final interactive musical and visual art presentation.

Northwest Colorado Health
Rural Youth Resiliency Through Music
Craig, Hayden, and Oak Creek, Colorado
As a crosscutting initiative between music and community health, this project seeks to disrupt the marginalization of underserved populations through trusted spaces and creative expression, while building resiliency skills via bi-lingual youth resiliency music groups for youth aged 6-21 in rural Northwest Colorado.

Sound Affects
Sound Affects
Fort Collins, Greeley, Loveland, Longmont, Boulder, Denver, Colorado
Sound Affects music programming is an evolving platform that connects professional musicians with individuals living in senior care facilities. Through live performance, one-on-one residencies, and advocacy, Sound Affects serves isolated populations who cannot access the benefits of music in the ways that they wish.

Japanese Arts Network
Stories of Solidarity: The JA Experience in Five Points
Denver, Colorado
Stories of Solidarity: The JA Experience in Five Points is a collaborative multidisciplinary audio/visual/public art storytelling and neighborhood mapping project which shares the narratives about the Japanese diaspora and other communities of color in Denver's historic Five Points neighborhood. Stories of Solidarity will explore a history of shared oppression and encourage the interrogation of internal biases while also lifting up stories of resilience, growth, and evolution.

El Sistema Colorado
The Artists Mentorship Project
Denver, Colorado
El Sistema Colorado harnesses the joy of music and ignites the potential in our future leaders through an immersive youth music education program that transcends socioeconomic barriers.

Helanius J. Wilkins
The Conversation Series: Stitching the Geopolitical Quilt to Re-Body Belonging
Pueblo, Colorado
Helanius J. Wilkins’ work, The Conversation Series: Stitching the Geopolitical Quilt to Re-Body Belonging, is an ongoing and always shifting dance-quilt, confronting and celebrating heritage, resiliency, justice, and hope. This multi-outcome work includes multimedia performances and facilitated discourse with community members to inform the performances.

Tri-Town Arts
Tri-Town Arts: Uniting Rural Youth and Building Community Through Art in Lincoln County
Genoa, Hugo and Limon, Colorado
Three arts-based organizations in the Lincoln County communities of Genoa (World’s Wonder View Tower/Historic Sentinel Building), Hugo (The Garage) and Limon (The Old Schoolhouse) will unite to develop and launch an effort to unite rural youth and build community through art, ultimately establishing a placemaking and storytelling project that will knit together communities and lives in rural Lincoln County.

The Red Road Project
Urban Indians: an accurate representation of American Indians living in Colorado 
Denver and Statewide, Colorado
The Red Road Project objective is to redirect the narrative of 21st century Native America through visual storytelling.

Mt. Carmel Veterans Service Center
Veteran Art Exhibition: Bringing Awareness to Veterans’ Behavioral Health
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Mt. Carmel provides a safety net of employment, behavioral health, and case management resources to support military and veteran families on their journey toward healthy civilian lives, and we will employ a Veteran Art Exhibition featuring art created by Mt. Carmel's art therapy clients to bring awareness to veterans' behavioral health issues.

Age-Friendly Huerfano/Las Animas
WOVE, A Fiber Happening
Walsenburg, Colorado
WOVE, A Fiber Happening, serves as a catalyst for creating Age-Friendly Communities in Rural Southern Colorado.

Colorado TINTS (Theater in Non-Traditional Spaces)
Write In to Act Out (WI2AO) with The Community Equity Coalition
Salida, Colorado
"Write in to Act Out with Community Equity Coalition" is a 10-month project facilitated by Colorado TINTS (theater in non-traditional spaces) that uses creative arts to address issues of social justice and inequality in rural Colorado.

Elsewhere Studios
Youth-led Murals Celebrating Diversity
Delta County, Colorado
Bringing organizations that collectively focus on art, youth, health, and social justice, Elsewhere Studios will be organizing youth-led murals around Delta county that celebrate diversity in the community.+