Community Foundation announces recipients of $1 million in arts grants

The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta announced its final round of grants for 2021 this week, giving $1 million to 29 small and mid-sized arts organizations. The total funding for the year was $2.06 million.

The grants are through the foundation’s Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund.

The foundation received strong pushback in 2020 when it handed out $580,000 in emergency grants to arts groups, but none of the initial 11 grants went to Black-led organizations. Arts groups pointed out that since the fund was established in 1993, just 10 percent of the Arts Fund grant monies have gone to Black-led organizations.

Since then, the Foundation has changed its process and tried to make amends through targeting Black-led organizations with funding. In its second round of emergency Covid grants in August 2020, the Foundation gave more than 90 percent of its $1.15 million to arts organizations founded or led by people of color.

In this latest round, the Foundation received 48 applications for funding, with 18 applicants either led by people of color or serving those communities. Of those, 13 received funding. In total, 45 percent of funding from this round went to those organizations.

“As we continue to struggle with impacts of the Covid pandemic, we aim to lift up those organizations that bring the light of the arts to our region and provide access to much-needed creative expression of the time at hand,” Frank Fernandez, president and CEO of the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, said in a press release. “Our ongoing interaction with the arts community has brought our attention to organizations that haven’t been on our radar before. These artists are producing and performing in new and thought-provoking ways and with a wider array of performers, producers and audiences than we previously experienced. The arts can create indelible moments in time as well as bring together communities around a common story. Our arts sector is strong and holds promise for a bright future ahead.”

The Foundation has also launched TogetherATL, a five-year strategic plan that embraces equity as the Foundation’s top priority.

The arts organizations that received funding in this cycle are:

7 Stages, $35,000

The Actor’s Express, $35,000

Amario’s Art Academy for the Gifted and Talented, $56,000

ATL Collective, $10,000

BronzeLens Atlanta Film Festival, $50,000

Burnaway, Inc. $20,000

ChopArt, $32,000

Dad’s Garage, $35,000

Dance Canvas, $60,000

Flux Projects, $30,000

Found Stages, $15,000

Friends of Atlanta Black Theatre Festival, $15,000

Hammonds House Galleries, $90,000

Horizon Theatre Company, $35,000

Impact Theatre Atlanta, $26,000

Independent Media Artists of Georgia (Atlanta Film Society), $50,000

Manga African Dance, $25,000

Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia, $25,000

Museum of Design Atlanta, $25,000

PushPush Arts, $15,000

REMERGE, $35,000

The Rialto Center for the Arts at Georgia State University, $35,000

SHOWAbilitiy, $36,000

Soul Food Cypher, $10,000

Synchronicity Theatre, $50,000

T. Lang Dance, $15,000

TADA Foundation, $10,000

The Theatrical Outfit, $35,000

True Colors Theatre Company, $90,000