Multicultural Arts Project Surpasses $225K in Grants

In December 2020, we distributed $55,000 in grants as part of ArtsFund’s Multicultural Arts Project, supporting arts and cultural groups throughout Central Puget Sound Region. Now in its fifth year, the purpose of the Multicultural Arts Project is to generate support for racially, ethnically, and culturally diverse arts organizations in support of the broader community. Eleven arts and cultural nonprofits each received a $5,000 unrestricted grant. Over the past five years, $227,500 in grants have been awarded across 17 organizations through the Multicultural Arts Project.

Three new grant recipients join the fund this year: El Centro De La Raza, an organization grounded in and supporting the Latino community of Washington State that hosts an art and mural gallery that sheds light on the artwork and the voices from Latino movements; Tacoma Urban Performing Arts Center, an organization that brings high quality dance instruction to racially and socioeconomically diverse youth; and Wa Na Wari, a space for Black ownership, possibility, and belonging through art, historic preservation, and connection.

Through the Multicultural Arts Project, ArtsFund aims to reduce barriers to arts engagement, increase access and opportunity, and engage new donors, while increasing its support for diverse cultural organizations throughout the region. Previous grant recipients have utilized funds to stage performances, enable platforms for cross cultural dialogue, bring non-local artists to Seattle, support heritage events, provide teaching artists for youth, and more. During a challenging year for many nonprofits, 2021 grant recipients will use funds to support their programming and/or sustain general operations. Grant recipients cited technology upgrades, digital programming, scholarships for low-income students, and direct payments for artists who may have lost income due to the COVID-19 pandemic as planned uses for the funds.

Recipients of the 2021 Multicultural Arts Project grants include:

–American Asian Performing Arts Theatre
–Asia Pacific Cultural Center
–Chinese Arts and Music Association
–El Centro De La Raza
–Japan Arts Connection Lab
–Pratidhwani
–Red Eagle Soaring
–Seattle Asian American Film Festival
–Tacoma Urban Performing Arts Center
–Tasveer
–Wa Na Wari

ArtsFund thanks Amazon and the Greater China Hong Kong Business Association of Washington for their generous support of ArtsFund’s 2020-2021 Multicultural Arts Project.

All grant recipients join ArtsFund’s network of over 130 cultural partners. For more information about ArtsFund’s cultural partners, visit: https://www.artsfund.org/culturalpartners

Header image: Courtesy of American Asian Performing Arts Theatre, Song of the Ocean 2, photo by Gary Gao.