FAQs

We are looking for projects that: 

• Are led by AAPI women and gender-expansive people and/or have AAPI women, girls and gender-expansive people in central roles in the project’s conceptual framework, design and implementation.

• Harness the arts and social change in an integrated way.

• Make a clear case for the theory of social justice change envisioned by the project, based on the applicants’ own criteria for defining and measuring impact.

• Raise awareness and/or intervene around critical issues affecting AAPI women, girls, gender-expansive people and families, e.g., human rights, bias, injustice, gender-based violence, immigrant rights.

• Demonstrate a deep commitment to NYC-based communities.(Please note that we have made grants outside of this geographic scope to projects of exceptional merit) 

• Demonstrate a vision and plan for using the grant funds effectively and for completing the project.

• Demonstrates exceptional creativity, artistically and/or through social intervention.

• Capital or endowment campaigns

• Equipment purchase

• Support to address financial crises or shortfalls

• Purely personal works of artistic expression with little or no social justice impact

• Documentation that is primarily of cultural events

• Projects that lack a social change analysis or social justice focus

• Student productions or projects associated with a degree program and academic credit

Yes, we ask that at least one of your project leads be based in New York.

Yes, we highly encourage artists and artist-led projects to apply! However, to do so you must have a fiscal sponsor. 

Fiscal sponsorship allows individual artists and emerging arts organizations to raise funds using a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, which is often required by nonprofit funders. This is true for AWGC and our own fiscal sponsor, The Ms. Foundation. 

The New York Foundation for the Arts and Fractured Atlas are two places that offer fiscal sponsorship to artists.

Each grant is $8,000. We anticipate making 8-10 grants total, depending on how much we raise for our annual pot. 

You’ll be asked to provide:

• A short description of your project (max 50 - 75 words)

• A long description of your project (max 300 words)

• A short description of your vision for how your project will have a social impact (max 300 words)

• A description for how community members will access and/or participate (max 300 words)

• Project activities and timeline

• Project budget and organizational budget 

• Short bios or CVs of core partners

• 501(c)3 Letter from your organization or fiscal sponsor

Works samples are optional but encouraged and are ideally representative of your proposed project or of your approach of style. We can only accept samples online. 

• Digital Images: Limit to six digital images total. 

• Video/Audio: Total of five minutes of video/audio. 

• Written Sample: Submit no more than 10 - 12 pages, double spaced, 12-point font.

We make our grant announcement in late June.

Applications are reviewed by AWGC members who select a shortlist of finalists. We then encourage our broader donor community to vote via online ballot on this finalist list and make our final decision once the ballots are in. 

In the interest of fairness, If you’ve made a donation for the year you are also applying for a grant, you will not be able to vote via online ballot.