Criteria & eligibility
PROJECT & PRESENTATION GRANTS
These $7,500 grants support ongoing or new projects that embrace unconventional or D.I.Y. values and will be presented publicly in the DC-area during the grant period (January–December 2024). Project & Presentation grants are intended to directly support artists presenting work in spaces beyond commercial galleries, museums, or established non-profit art spaces.
Eligibility and Requirements:
- Applicants must live within the greater Washington area either in DC, Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax, Montgomery, or Prince George’s counties.
- Applicants must be artists with a history of presenting their work in visual arts contexts/venues.
- Projects must have a public presentation during the grant period. These public presentations can take a variety of forms, including but not limited to: in-person or virtual events, exhibitions, performances, publications, interventions, screenings, readings, round-table discussions, installations, lecture series, curated dinners, festivals, and walking tours.
- Projects must take place in DC or in the eligible surrounding counties (Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax, Montgomery, or Prince George’s counties), or take place virtually.
- Grantees are responsible for organizing and managing their projects as well as finding sites and venues.
- For each Grant Cycle, artists can choose to apply for either a Research Grant or Project & Presentation Grant (not both) depending on which best supports your practice at this time.
- If you are applying as a collective, one person must serve as the Lead Applicant/point person of the project and be responsible for the receipt, management, and distribution of the funds, handle all communications with WPA, and complete grant reporting.
- This $7,500 grant can be used to pay for your time and that of your collaborators, production, space rental, material costs, etc. It can entirely fund a small-scale project or event, or contribute to the funding of a larger project with multiple sources of funding.
- Grantees are required to submit a final report on outcomes and reflections at the end of the grant period.
Ineligible:
- Full-time undergraduate or graduate students
- 501(c)(3) organizations and for-profit organizations (LLC, corporations, partnerships, etc.)
Evaluative Criteria:
Successful applicants will excel in one or more of the following:
- Artistic Impact: The project has a core idea/inquiry/theme and its presentation is experimental, imaginative, innovative, and/or unconventional, and furthers the applicant's practice in meaningful ways
- Context & Audience: The project ideas are considerate of their context and the project engages artists/thinkers and audiences in relevant discourses and meaningful ways; and the project supports inclusivity at all stages of its development
- Collaboration: The project engages multiple artists and thinkers in the development and presentation processes
- Feasibility: The applicant demonstrates the ability to carry out the proposed research within the grant period
- Accessibility: The applicant has a plan to ensure the project is accessible to all audiences (please consider ADA accessibility and COVID safety. You may also want to consider providing greater access through online and/or live-streamed options)
- Budget: The budget is reflective of the scope of the proposed project
RESEARCH GRANTS
These $5,000 grants are for DC-area artists to further their practices through ideation, research, and experimentation. Grant funds compensate you for your intellectual labor, support payment for other artists and thinkers for their time and contributions, and other research-related expenses.
Eligibility and Requirements:
- Applicants must live within the greater Washington area either in DC, Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax, Montgomery, or Prince George’s counties.
- Applicants must be artists with a history of presenting their work in visual arts contexts/venues.
- Artists can choose to apply for either a Research Grant or Project & Presentation Grant (not both) depending on which best supports your practice at this time.
- If you are applying as a collective, one person must serve as the Lead Applicant/point person and be responsible for the receipt, management, and distribution of the funds, handle all communications with WPA, and be responsible for grant reporting.
- A minimum of $3,500 of the grant should be set aside as compensation for the time you will spend on research and development.
- The remaining $1,500 can be used to pay other artists and thinkers for their time and contributions, and support other research-related expenses (travel, book, or journal purchases, workshops and classes, photocopying from archives, subscriptions, etc.).
- Grants can be used to support new or ongoing research.
- WPA asks that grantees prepare a 15 minute public-facing presentation of their in-process research to be given in September 2024, more information will be provided upon award.
Ineligible:
- Full-time undergraduate or graduate student
- 501(c)(3) organizations and for-profit organizations (LLC, corporations, partnerships, etc.)
Evaluative Criteria:
Successful applicants will excel in one or more of the following:
- Artistic Impact: The inquiry is experimental, imaginative, innovative, or unconventional, and furthers the applicant's practice in meaningful ways
- Context & Collaboration: The research is considerate of its context; it engages with other artists/thinkers in relevant discourses; and reflects values of collaboration, experimentation, and inclusivity
- Feasibility: The applicant demonstrates the ability to carry out the proposed research within the grant period
Key dates and contact
2024 GRANT CYCLE
Applications Open: Monday, September 25 | Apply Here
Virtual Information Session: Wednesday, October 11 from 6:30–7:15pm | Watch the Recording Here
Office Hours: Tuesday, October 17–Wednesday, November 8 | Sign-up Here
Application Deadline: Tuesday, November 14, 2023 at 11:59 pm EST
Independent panel convenes: early December 2023
Notifications: mid-December 2023
Grant Period: January–December 2024
Research Grant In-Process Presentations: September 2024
QUESTIONS?
Contact Regrants Manager Nathalie von Veh at nvonveh@wpadc.org or follow @wherewithalgrants on Instagram
Apply now
2024 Grant Cycle
Applications for the 2024 funding cycle are now open! Apply Here.
PROJECT & PRESENTATION GRANTS
These $7,500 grants support projects presented by DC-area artists and collectives. Grant funds support ongoing or new projects that embrace unconventional or D.I.Y. values and will be presented publicly in the DC-area during the grant period (January–December 2024). Project & Presentation grants are intended to directly support artists presenting work in spaces beyond commercial galleries, museums, or established non-profit art spaces.
RESEARCH GRANTS
These $5,000 grants are for DC-area artists to further their practices through ideation, research, and experimentation. Grant funds compensate you for your intellectual labor, support payment for other artists and thinkers for their time and contributions, and other research-related expenses.
QUESTIONS?
Please email Regrants Manager Nathalie von Veh at nvonveh@wpadc.org.
For updates, follow @wherewithalgrants on Instagram and sign up for WPA's newsletter here.
Wherewithal Grants
Wherewithal Grants are a funding source for artists in the DC-area. Generously funded by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts as part of its Regional Regranting Program and managed by Washington Project for the Arts, these grants are intended to support a wide range of experimental and multidisciplinary practices, particularly those that emphasize collaboration and discourse. Since launching in 2019, Wherewithal Grants has supported 136 visual artists with a total of $280,000 in grants.
2024 Grant Cycle
Applications for the 2024 funding cycle are now open! Apply Here.
2023 Grant Cycle
On February 16, 2023, we announced the 12 grant recipients for the 2023 funding cycle. Each artist or artist collective will receive $5,000 for either a project or research.
The recipients of Research Grants are: Ama BE, Alina Collins Maldonado, Andy Johnson, Cecilia Kim, Stephanie Mercedes, Athena Naylor, and Anisa Olufemi & Jada-Amina.
The recipients of Project Grants are: Niki Afsar, Safiyah Cheatam & Hope Willis, Neha Misra & Fid Thompson, Mojdeh Rezaeipour, and The Shmutzik Shmates.
Over the next year, these artists will organize projects and conduct research around fascinating and timely topics such as Black gospel tradition in DC and Chicago, practices of care, futurity, invisible transnational labor, eco-art, and the women-led Iranian revolution.
An independent panel of four artists and curators reviewed 124 applications and recommended the final twelve for funding. The panelists were Fabiola R. Delgado, Experience Developer, Anacostia Community Museum (Washington, DC); Curry Hackett, Artist & Educator (Washington, DC); Thomas F. James, Executive Director, The Last Resort Artist Retreat (Baltimore, MD); and Taylor Roberts, Special Projects & Research Manager, 3Arts (Chicago, IL).
For updates, follow @wherewithalgrants on Instagram and sign up for WPA's newsletter here.
Washington Project for the Arts (WPA)
Washington Project for the Arts (WPA) is a platform for collaborative research and project development, organized by artists. All WPA projects are anchored by a central question that guides ongoing collaboration and experimentation through residencies organized across three stages of development, collectively referred to as Project as Practice. The three stages of Project as Practice include: Research & Development (R&D); Presentation & Publication (P&P); Iteration & Expansion (I&E).
The Andy Warhol Foundation
Established in 1987 in accordance with Andy Warhol’s will, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts’ mission is the advancement of the visual arts. The primary focus of its grant making activity is to support the creation, presentation, and documentation of contemporary visual art, particularly work that is experimental, under-recognized, or challenging in nature.
The Regional Regranting Program partners with local arts organizations around the country to make grants to artists and collectives for projects that chart new creative territory in their communities; participation is by invitation only. Each partner in the network creates its own program tailored to the specific needs and artistic identity of its region. Established in 2007, the network is currently active in 34 cities and regions, supporting artists whose work falls outside the scope of traditional presenting organizations and/or funding opportunities. Projects supported by these grants have included queer zines, living room galleries, radical seafaring events, and virtual reality film screenings among other public-facing experimental activities.