The National Performance Network’s Take Notice Fund provides project grants to artists of color living and working in Louisiana.
Donor Name: National Performance Network
State: Louisiana
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: (mm/dd/yyyy) 09/30/2024
Size of the Grant: $1000 to $10,000
Grant Duration: Less than 1 Year
Details:
The Take Notice Fund honors BIPOC artists living and working in Louisiana, providing funding to advance their artistic practices.
NPN is committed to building visibility and resources for artists living and working outside large art centers whose bodies of work contribute to this country’s discourse about racial equity and cultural preservation.
The grant program awards 30 artists and culture bearers each year through a competitive application process. Grant funds are unrestricted and intended to support an artist’s creative practice and/or wellbeing.
Eligible disciplines include:

Dance: Choreographers and dance-makers creating new original work in any dance genre (ballet, modern, hip hop, experimental, etc.)
Music: Composers and sound artists creating new original work in any musical genre (chamber, experimental, jazz, etc.)
Theater/performance art/spoken word: Primary creators of devised work, performance or spoken word artists creating original work, and playwrights
Film/media: Filmmakers and video, digital production, and new media artists (web-based, computational, virtual, interactive, data and/or technology-driven, etc.)
Literature: Fiction writers, creative nonfiction writers, poets, and playwrights
Visual arts: Visual artists in any discipline (including public art, social practice art, and graffiti/street art)
Black Masking Indians: Culture bearers who create beaded, sequined, and feathered suits to honor the Masking tradition, currently hold a position in a New Orleans–based Masking tribe, and celebrate on Mardi Gras, St. Joseph’s Day, and Super Sunday.
Other folk/traditional artists and culture bearers: A member of a community who practices their community’s artistic or creative expressions by creating new original work. Knowledge of these arts or skills is most often passed from person to person within the cultural group, and the art expresses the community’s values or aesthetics.

Funding Information

The grant amount is $5,000 to support the artist’s creative practice and wellbeing (e.g., artistic projects, materials, residencies, professional development, artists’ fees, cost of living, etc.)
Funds will be distributed in December 2024 for projects/activities taking place between December 31, 2024–November 30, 2025.

Eligibility Criteria
The Take Notice Fund is open to all BIPOC artists/collectives and culture bearers, at any career stage, who are primary residents of the state of Louisiana. 

Applicants must meet NPN’s definition of generative artist or culture-bearer, defined as those currently active in conceiving and creating new original work. They cannot support artists whose work focuses on the interpretation, performance, development, or production of the creative work of others.  
Artists must identify as Black, Indigenous, and/or people of color (BIPOC).
Applicants must be Louisiana residents for at least five consecutive years at the time of the application and throughout the grant period.
Artists at any career stage may apply, but must be at least 18 years of age at the time of application
Individual artists, as well as ensembles/collectives/collaboratives, may apply. For ensembles/collectives/collaboratives to apply, a majority of artists within the collective must meet all eligibility criteria independently. The group must have a demonstrated history of creating new work collectively and submit a single application, with funds shared equally. Artists may apply either as individuals or as collective members. Members of a collective may not apply for the same project individually.

For more information, visit NPN.