November/December Member Spotlight on Creative Capital
Throughout November and December, our website photo banner will feature artists supported by GIA member Creative Capital. Founded in 1999, Creative Capital provides integrated financial and advisory support to artists pursuing adventurous projects in five disciplines: Emerging Fields, Film/Video, Literature, Performing Arts and Visual Arts. Working in long-term partnership with artists, Creative Capital’s pioneering approach to support combines funding, counsel, and career development services to enable a project’s success and foster sustainable practices for its grantees.
Below, in their own words, Creative Capital staff forecast the evolution of their artist services (and the work of the artists they serve) in the new year:
We are currently in the panel review stage of our grant selection process for artists in Emerging Fields, Literature, and Performing Arts. In January, we will announce the 46 projects in our 2013 class of grantees, bringing the number of projects we’ve funded to 418, representing over 500 artists. One of the things we’ve seen in our last grant application round is that, more than ever, artists are breaking the boundaries of artistic disciplines in their work and stretching the definition of what would even be considered art. This is very exciting and reminds us that artists are innovators in the truest sense of the word. They cross disciplines and move our society forward, just like innovators in the sciences and the tech sector. We at Creative Capital feel strongly that it is our job to invest in artists who take risks with their work and provide critical cultural capital.
Much like the innovative artists we support, we are constantly evolving our approach to artist services, always staying in “beta.” Over the past year, we’ve completely overhauled our program to include a more structured, individualized system of support for each artist. In addition to up to $50,000 in direct financial support, our artists now receive even more individualized and intensive career development training and benefit from an expanded suite of advisory services. We’ve also developed a new Artist Advisor program to engage previously funded “alumni” artists in advising new grantees. This artist-to-artist mentorship is a wonderful way for our alumni artists to remain active as members of our generous community.
Next year is our Professional Development Program’s (PDP) 10th anniversary, and we are so excited that this program has now reached more than 5,000 artists! Throughout 2013, we’ll be celebrating the more than one hundred creative communities that our PDP workshops have impacted nationwide. We’re also entering PDP’s 10th year with a new commitment to online learning, following a pilot phase of our new suite of live, interactive webinars for artists in all disciplines. 2013 promises to be quite a year for Creative Capital!
Creative Capital on Facebook
Creative Capital on Twitter
Photo: Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman (Creative Capital Grantees, 2008 Film/Video), still from If a Tree Falls, 2011. Courtesy Creative Capital.