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Application

Applications are now closed. Subscribe to our newsletter to keep up with our 2024 cohort announcment, recent grantee news, and the 2025 Ignite Fund application.

Application Process

Applications for Ignite Fund grants will include:

Helpful Documents

For more details about application guidelines, eligibility, and requirements, please read below.

Overview

The Ignite Fund will provide ten $6,000 grants for community centered, public-facing visual arts projects that represent experimental, unconventional, and accessible practices by Chicago-area artists and artist-led collectives.

The Ignite Fund prioritizes projects that are:

  1. Rooted in the visual arts in form and content
  2. Collaborative
  3. Inclusive of one’s community, or others, in process, creation, and presentation
  4. Based in the Chicago metropolitan area
  5. Accessible for all members of the intended audience

Timeline

Eligibility

Who can apply for Ignite Fund grants?

Individual artists and artist-led collectives (up to 6 people) are eligible to apply for Ignite Fund grants. Throughout the application process, individual applicants and the main contact for an artist-led collective will be referred to as the “Lead Applicant”.

If you are applying as an individual artist, note that Ignite Fund grants are not intended to support the creation of new independent work or an individual’s ongoing practice, but are intended to support an opportunity to produce one-time public-facing art projects that are collaborative and community focused.

If applying as an artist-led collective, your group can be either long-standing or formed specifically for this opportunity. Each collective must identify one individual as the Lead Applicant to serve as the primary contact (*).

All Lead Applicants must meet the following criteria:

(*) If you are applying as an artist-led collective, the Lead Applicant is the person designated by your group to be responsible for: the receipt, management, and distribution of the funds; handling all communications with Ignite Fund; and completing all necessary grant reporting.

What types of projects are eligible?

Here are some examples of past projects funded through the Ignite Fund:

For a full list of previously funded projects, visit our Grantees page.

What type of projects will NOT be funded?

Info Sessions

We invite and encourage all applicants to join us for an information session to learn more about the program, application, and selection process. This is a valuable opportunity to ask questions before you apply.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email with information about joining the meeting.

Office Hours:

Artists interested in applying for the Ignite Fund can meet individually with Ignite Fund staff (on Google Meet) to discuss specific questions about the application. Meeting times are limited. Artists are encouraged to attend or view a recording of an info session prior to registering for an Office Hours meeting.

Follow this link to register for a time between April 25th and May 18, 2024. RSVP Here

Selection Process

Proposals to the Ignite Fund are reviewed by a panel of jurors made up of three artists and/or professionals currently working in the arts and culture field, including one representative of another Regranting Program of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

Jurors will consider each eligible applicant based on the criteria below.

Selection Criteria:

Successful applicants will excel in the following:

Still have questions? Visit our FAQ page.

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