These students rarely if ever get to participate in arts and culture experiences. This was only possible because of arts funding the Symphony received from the state.”
– Bremerton Symphony Association
ArtsWA grants help communities nurture and grow the arts. These communities are located in rural and urban areas throughout the state. Our grants focus on cultural equity and the creative economy. Our goal is to serve diverse populations. State and federal funds support our grants.
Grant Programs
- Arts In Education grants invest in community-based partnerships in early learning and K-12 learning communities. Our grants strengthen arts education as part of PreK-12 basic education.
- Grants to Organizations expand arts participation in Washington communities. We seek to ensure that all people have access to the arts.
Grants Spotlight
Jack Straw Cultural Center
Students from Erin Chen’s three Washington State history classes created Immigration Portraits, a series of audio stories based on interviews the students conducted with each other about leaving their home countries to come to America. They talked about why they came to the US, what they had left behind, and how their lives had changed. Jack Straw’s artist team trained the students to conduct interviews and helped them write questions that would bring out the students’ individual stories. Our engineers and media producer worked with the students to record their interviews.
More information on Jack Straw Cultural Center’s website. http://www.jackstraw.org/programs/ed/sws2019.shtml
Centerstage Theatre Arts Conservatory, Inc.
On behalf of all at Centerstage, we extend our appreciation for the state’s investment in our work.”
– Centerstage Theatre Arts Conservatory, Inc.
Davenport Theatrical
Rural audiences deserve the same access to the arts as those in big cities, and public arts funding is essential in working towards that goal.”
– Wheatland Theatre Company (formerly Davenport Theatre)
Project Support Grantee
Earshot Jazz Festival
It is because of your funding support that we are able to focus on issues of accessibility, diversity, and community in our programs.”
– Earshot Jazz Festival
Gallery One
Their stories and work translate into conversations that try to bridge the gap between military and civilian cultures. This dialog hopes to bring understanding of how war and trauma not only affect members of the military, but our society as a whole. Their mission is not to promote a particular belief but to pose questions about the many difficult and genuine concerns the American community possesses about current and past military engagements.”
– Gallery One
Key City Players Theater
ArtsWA funding has a great impact on the Olympic Peninsula, where there is no comparable theater to Key City Players Theater that serves a region of 60,000 people.”
– Key City Players Theater
Reel Grrls
This funding really makes a difference in our community because we are working to build a pipeline to diversify the creative industries…we must teach young people that empathy through storytelling is the most powerful tool they have to combat hate.”
– Reel Grrls
FY18 Project Support Grantee
Tacoma Concert Band
WSAC grants are a wonderful investment in people, helping to make the South Sound a vibrant, culturally dynamic community where people will want to live and raise a family.”
– Tacoma Concert Band
The Merc Playhouse Society
Part of the beauty and strength of community comes from celebrating all of its uniqueness that helps to create a meaningful world in which to live. Mid-Columbia Mastersingers feels it has a responsibility to represent our whole community and support celebration of diversity in the Tri-Cities…
Because of this grant, we were able to pay our musicians for their rehearsal time and performances…”
– The Merc Playhouse Society
Upper Valley Connection
…through this program individuals with special needs are able to experience theatre and learn to express themselves through performing and visual arts – an opportunity that does not exist elsewhere in eastern Washington…”
– Upper Valley Connection