Application

The Ignite Fund application portal is now open! Click here to apply. The application deadline is June 30, 2025 at 11:59PM (CT).

Application Process

Applications for Ignite Fund grants will include:

• Contact information for Lead Applicant
• Applicant and collaborator biographies
• Project information
• Project details
• Budget
• Visual Support Materials

Helpful Documents

• APPLICATION QUESTIONS

• BUDGET TEMPLATE

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

• Application Opens: June 6, 2025
• Info Session #1: June 13, 2025, 4–5PM (CT) Register HERE!
• Info Session #2: June 26, 2025, 12–1PM (CT) Register HERE!
• Application Deadline: June 30, 2025, 11:59PM (CT)
• Applicants Notified: September 2025
• Grantee Announcement: October 2025
• Grantee Cycle Ends: November 2026

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:

• Visual artists or artists with a history of presenting their work in visual art contexts. Performance, film, text, and sound artists are eligible if their proposed projects include a core element that centers the visual arts.
• Visual artists with an active artistic practice that can demonstrate recent work.
• Current residents of the Chicago metropolitan area (Cook, DuPage, Kane, McHenry, Lake, and Will counties).
• 18 years or older.
• Must legally be able to receive taxable income in the United States. Citizens, permanent residents, or anyone who can provide a W9 and a Social Security Number (SSN) or an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) are eligible.
• Not currently enrolled in a full-time degree-granting program.

(*) 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?

• Projects must center contemporary visual arts practice as the primary root and impulse. Interdisciplinary or multimedia arts are eligible if the overall core element of the project is visual arts.
• Projects that can be completed within a one-year grant term.
• Projects that have clear public-facing and robust community engagement components.

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

• A locally touring public installation
• Experimental film and community screening
• A community specific visual arts skill-sharing program
• A series of archival publications and radio conversations
• Socially engaged public installations
• A gathering that showcases public visual art
• A series of art making workshops
• An exhibition, event, and zine
• A visual arts-based fashion show
• A community memorial project
• A visual-arts centered dinner series

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

What type of projects will NOT be funded?

• Projects that are not based in the Chicago metropolitan area.
• Projects led by incorporated entities (LLCs, B Corps, 501(C)(3) and 501(c)(4) organizations), universities and schools (private, public, charter), and religious entities.
• Projects led by full-time students currently enrolled in high school, college, or university.
• Projects with Lead Applicants who are younger than 18 years old. (Projects can include collaborators who are under the age of 18, but the Lead Applicant and collective members must be at least 18 years old.)
• Projects seeking support retroactively or seeking reimbursement for a past project.
• Projects to fund a solo exhibition and/or an individual artist's ongoing work.
• Projects that do not have a substantial public component.

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.

• Info Session 1: June 13, 2025, 4–5PM (CT) on Zoom, Register HERE!
• Info Session 2: June 26, 2025, 12–1PM (CT) on Zoom, Register HERE!

Office Hours:

Artists interested in applying for The Ignite Fund can meet individually with The Ignite Fund staff (on Zoom) to discuss any specific questions they have about the application. Artists are encouraged to review the application thoroughly and check out the FAQ page before scheduling a meeting. Office hours will take place on Monday June 9, 16, 23, and 30 from 11AM–1PM (CT). Register HERE! to reserve a fifteen-minute time slot. Registration is first come, first served.

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:

• Artistic Vision & Creative Strength: The application demonstrates a compelling artistic vision and a creative approach to both process and presentation. The applicant describes with clarity how the project represents an experimental, imaginative, innovative, and/or unconventional shift in their work, and how it may advance their practice in meaningful ways.
• Collaboration: The project engages multiple artists, thinkers, or community members in the development and presentation processes. If the project references any necessary partners or external stakeholders, the applicant has also indicated how they will create or deepen relationships with those groups to ensure success.
• Community Engagement: The project will be designed for audiences in the Chicago metro area. The applicant clearly describes with specificity the local audience or community for whom the project is intended and why/how the project may be relevant to that intended audience. The applicant considers the lasting impacts of the project on its intended communities.
• Accessibility: The project includes at least one presentation open to the general public. The applicant has thoughtfully considered accessibility, including Deaf and/or disabled audience members, as well as any barriers that may prevent audiences from having access to their work. We encourage you to review our Accessibility page, which includes examples, resources, and providers.
• Feasibility: The applicant demonstrates that they have the readiness and experience needed to complete the proposed project within the one-year grant period. The budget and timeline are appropriate to the scope of work proposed.

Still have questions? Visit our FAQ page.