Grants Listing: The Arts

Fiscal Sponsor: Alameda County Office of Education
The Alliance for Arts Learning Leadership, based out of the Alameda County Office of Education, provides a thoughtful, comprehensive effort to infuse arts learning into every county school. It emphasizes training classroom teachers to integrate the arts into lessons regardless of subject. It develops "anchor" schools and districts to serve as models for others, implements an evaluation system, and works closely with parents. The Fund's grant to the Alliance supports its professional development program for teachers and its work with parents as advocates for arts education.
Grant Amount: $60,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 04/04/2011 through 04/04/2012
Project Web Site: www.artiseducation.org

Blue Bear School of Music teaches rock 'n' roll and blues music classes to adults and children. Its leadership prioritizes increasing student diversity, expanding its middle school programs, and serving low-income children. This grant from the Fund helps the organization reach its goals by supporting a model program at James Lick Middle School—where Blue Bear Music works with all grade levels—and by expanding offerings at the Bayview Hunters Point YMCA.
Grant Amount: $15,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 12/09/2011 through 12/09/2012
Project Web Site: www.bluebearmusic.org

The California Alliance for Arts Education is the only statewide organization advocating for quality arts learning opportunities for all California public school students. The Alliance continually monitors education legislation in Sacramento and unites stakeholders to discuss the role of the arts in education. It also works to develop grassroots leadership in communities throughout California.
Grant Amount: $40,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 07/13/2011 through 07/13/2012
Project Web Site: www.artsed411.org

The Community Student Fellows at the Center for Art and Public Life at California College of the Arts contribute their time, skills, and expertise in a variety of settings and roles; many lead art lessons in classrooms and youth programs. The Center requires students and their placement site contacts to participate in trainings in art practice, project management, and art instruction strategy. This strengthens relationships between the Center, student fellows, and site contacts. The program is free for community sites and demand for student fellows has grown. In response, the Center seeks to increase its capacity to 40 placements.
Grant Amount: $35,000 [2011] $15,000 conditional
Project Dates: 11/18/2011 through 11/18/2012
Project Web Site: www.center.cca.edu

California Shakespeare Theater provides low-income students in eight Oakland public schools with ongoing theater arts education. Visiting artists work with teachers to develop classroom theater activities to aid learning across a range of subject areas. Professional development and curricular resources for teachers extend the content and techniques made available through these artists’ presentations. With support from the Fund, the Theater enhances its programming with additional student contact hours, events to engage family members, and revised curricula and assessment tools.
Grant Amount: $15,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 05/17/2011 through 05/17/2012
Project Web Site: www.calshakes.org

The Center for Music National Service's MusicianCorps trains musicians to serve full-time as teachers and mentors, and then places them in low-performing public schools, youth centers, and in other high-need settings. The program emphasizes service and volunteering. In 2012, Bay Area MusicianCorps will place four musicians in three San Francisco and Oakland public schools and in one hospital. There, they will provide ongoing music instruction or music therapy to 1,200 youth and patients. Short-term service projects will bring music education to an additional 2,000 community members.
Grant Amount: $35,000 [2011] $5,000 conditional
Project Dates: 12/09/2011 through 12/09/2012
Project Web Site: www.musicnationalservice.org

For 90 years, the Community Music Center has made music study available to the public without regard to age, ethnicity, or financial status. It operates from a main campus in the Mission District, a branch in the Richmond District, and from outreach sites. In addition to music lessons, the Center, in conjunction with partner groups, presents free and affordable concerts and recitals. The Center seeks to remain accessible, maintain quality instruction, and further diversify both the musical styles taught and the types of students it serves.
Grant Amount: $50,000 [2011] , $50,000 [2012]
Project Dates: 11/18/2011 through 11/18/2013
Project Web Site: www.sfcmc.org

Fiscal Sponsor: Council of Chief State School Officers
The Arts Education Partnership is a national coalition of more than 100 education, arts, cultural, business, government, and philanthropic organizations. The Partnership analyzes and disseminates research and policy information, fosters dialogue about what works in arts education, and supports advocacy for improved education policy and practice. Its fall 2011 forum, held in San Francisco, was supported by a grant from the Fund in order to help keep participation fees reasonable for local groups.
Grant Amount: $5,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 08/05/2011 through 08/05/2012
Project Web Site: www.aep-arts.org

From its Mission District studios, Dance Brigade offers three levels of dance classes to girls aged 6 to 18 years old. This Grrrl Brigade program improves girls’ self-esteem and body-awareness. It develops skills in salsa, hip hop, samba, ballet, modern dance, jazz dance, and Taiko drumming. Tuition is kept affordable with 30% of participants receiving full or partial scholarships. Dance Brigade aspires to continue increasing its enrollment to reach 270 students in 2011-2012.
Grant Amount: $20,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 08/29/2011 through 08/29/2012
Project Web Site: www.dancebrigade.org

Oakland's Destiny Arts Center presents a bold curriculum that combines dance, theater, and martial arts with personal safety and conflict resolution training. It serves 200 children and youth through its intensive after-school program held at its facility in North Oakland. Programs at school assemblies reach an additional 4,000 children and youth. Advanced students may join Destiny's performing companies, which create and present original productions. The Fund supports Destiny Arts Center's efforts to bring arts programs to low- and moderate-income children and youth.
Grant Amount: $30,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 12/06/2011 through 12/06/2012
Project Web Site: www.destinyarts.org

Acceptance into a youth orchestra can change the life of a young musician, but competition for seats can be intense. Students whose families cannot afford private teachers are unlikely to be selected. Oakland Youth Orchestra seeks to diversify its membership culturally and socio-economically through projects: an outreach music education effort led by Mexican American composer Hector Armienta and a bridge program through which it identifies talented, motivated middle school students, matches them with private teachers, pays for their instruction, and continues to provide private coaching if they are admitted to the Orchestra.
Grant Amount: $10,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 02/11/2011 through 02/11/2012
Project Web Site: www.oyo.org

Aerial dance company Flyaway Productions offers a summer dance and activism program for girls in the South of Market district. The group, using a grant from the Fund, seeks to add consistency to its programming and to increase opportunities for participation among interested girls. In 2011, it will pilot master classes at three or more youth organizations and public schools, present quarterly dance workshops at CounterPULSE, and lead a summer program.
Grant Amount: $10,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 04/29/2011 through 04/29/2012
Project Web Site: www.flyawayproductions.com

In 2011, Intersection for the Arts moved from its long-time home in the Mission District to the San Francisco Chronicle building. Now, it is working to develop programs that address the needs of its new neighborhood. One such program is its Youth Arts Workshop, created in partnership with other South of Market non-profits to provide hands-on art classes led by professional artists. Intersection for the Arts also is forming a Youth Advisory Council composed of advanced workshop participants. Council members will assume leadership roles as planners, mentors, evaluators, and teaching assistants. The Fund supports the organization's youth-centered and youth-led approach to arts education.
Grant Amount: $30,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 11/08/2011 through 11/08/2012
Project Web Site: www.theintersection.org

Kala Art Institute manages an artists-in-schools program that provides 2,500 students with visual arts or East Indian dance lessons at 12 Berkeley, Emeryville, and Oakland public schools. At each site, Kala artists plan lessons with classroom teachers and lead students through weekly art-making activities. Kala, with help from the Fund, plans to expand its consistent, quality programming to a 13th school during 2011.
Grant Amount: $10,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 02/02/2011 through 02/02/2012

Fiscal Sponsor: Community Initiatives
Media Enterprise Alliance provides underserved public high school students in Oakland with the opportunity to study media arts. Many participants are recent immigrants attending Oakland International High School. The Alliance’s curriculum reflects state and district arts education standards, and its teachers are working professionals. In the coming year the Alliance will enrich the lives of 50 youth with access to media arts education.
Grant Amount: $15,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 12/05/2011 through 12/05/2012
Project Web Site: www.meaoakland.org

The Museum of Children's Art (MOCHA) develops and leads hands-on arts learning experiences for children and their families and provides professional development workshops for educators. MOCHA's programs include field trips to and drop-in classes at its Oakland studios; arts classes presented in Oakland public schools and libraries; and a Little Studios programs for preschoolers. Of the Fund's grant, the final $5,000 requires matching support from new or lapsed individual donors.
Grant Amount: $25,000 [2011] $5,000 conditional
Project Dates: 02/10/2011 through 02/10/2012
Project Web Site: www.mocha.org

New Conservatory manages a theater-training program for children and youth. To facilitate attendance by children whose parents cannot drive them to activities, it developed an eight-week theater education class to be held on elementary school grounds. In 2011, the organization redoubles its efforts to work with after-school programs at those public schools that serve significant numbers of low-income children. It intends to expand from 13 to 20 sites.
Grant Amount: $15,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 02/10/2011 through 02/10/2012
Project Web Site: www.nctcsf.org

The Oakland Youth Chorus is known for its distinctive, culturally diverse repertoire and for its broad reach into both schools and after-school programs in Oakland. An interim executive director recently designed a new business plan with assistance from the board of directors. In order to increase sustainability, this plan increases the Chorus' still modest tuition and fees and adjusts organizational staff levels. Despite this belt tightening, the Chorus will provide after-school choral programs in multiple elementary schools and manage two citywide choruses for beginning and advanced students.
Grant Amount: $25,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 12/09/2011 through 12/09/2012
Project Web Site: www.oaklandyouthchorus.org/

Performing Arts Workshop provides arts education to 9,000 pre-K through high school participants each year. Its classes in creative movement, theater arts, creative writing, world dance, and music—available at over 100 locations—emphasize strengthening students’ creative problem-solving skills. It rigorously evaluates its programs and partners with other organizations. A three-year independent evaluation of the Workshop’s after-school programs showed that all sites saw a positive change in student learning and leadership skills.
Grant Amount: $45,000 [2011] , $45,000 [2012] , $45,000 [2013]
Project Dates: 11/18/2011 through 11/18/2014
Project Web Site: www.performingartsworkshop.org

San Francisco Camerawork pairs professional photographers with low-income, high-need youth for yearlong individual mentorships. Participating students receive in-depth, hands-on training in photography through weekly classes, digital technology workshops, and access to laptops and cameras. Students also have the opportunity to exhibit their artwork in community and professional settings. In 2011-12, 60 students will participate in classes held at Camerawork and at Rayko Photo Center, and another 150 will participate through classes held at community centers across the city.
Grant Amount: $15,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 09/07/2011 through 09/07/2012
Project Web Site: www.sfcamerawork.org

San Francisco Film Society recently evaluated the state of media arts education in San Francisco public schools. As a next step toward creating adaptable, appropriate media education programs, the Society will hire a curriculum specialist to review the current offerings, create and test curricula in school and after-school settings, and publish media arts curricula on its website.
Grant Amount: $20,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 07/12/2011 through 07/12/2012
Project Web Site: www.sffs.org

Over the last 16 years, the San Francisco Mime Troupe has continually developed an annual Youth Theatre Project that offers free, intensive after-school theater arts training to Bay Area youth. Thirty students participate in twice-weekly acting and playwriting classes that culminate in productions of their original works. Participants come from public and charter schools in San Francisco and Oakland, and 90% or more of participating students are Latino, African American, or Asian American.
Grant Amount: $10,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 09/15/2011 through 09/15/2012
Project Web Site: www.sfmt.org

San Francisco Performances brings renowned performers from across the world to the Bay Area. In 2011-12, four of these artists will spend several weeks as artists-in-residence in Bay Area public school classrooms. There, they will integrate music education into history, English, and social studies curricula and work with music classes. San Francisco Performances also offers weekly guitar coaching and other programs that reach 10 Bay Area public schools.
Grant Amount: $50,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 07/06/2011 through 07/06/2012
Project Web Site: www.sfperformances.org

The San Francisco Symphony continues its long relationship with San Francisco public schools, serving band and orchestra programs in middle and high schools. In 2011-12, the Symphony aims to reach all 23 San Francisco Unified School District schools that offer instrumental music programs, adapting its efforts to the specific needs of music teachers and students. The Symphony’s programming includes coaching, instrument repair and replacement, and specialized professional development.
Grant Amount: $80,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 07/06/2011 through 07/06/2012
Project Web Site: www.sfsymphony.org

Stagebridge trains older adults as storytellers, then places them in classrooms where they perform stories and teach students to collect, write, and perform stories of their own. Under new leadership, Stagebridge is experimenting with a curriculum that integrates music and movement with storytelling. This grant from the Fund matches an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. It allows Stagebridge to pilot the new program for 18 weeks in three Oakland public schools, adding to area arts education opportunities.
Grant Amount: $25,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 11/14/2011 through 11/14/2012
Project Web Site: www.stagebridge.org

Streetside Stories offers eight different arts and storytelling programs to K-12 students. In 2012, it anticipates serving 2,600 students and 30 teachers at more than 50 public schools, community centers, and low-income housing sites in San Francisco and Alameda counties. A third of the students the program serves are English Language Learners. Participants are taught to collect and create stories and to perform or present them through the use of digital media. In response to a program review, Streetside is revising its curriculum and delivery model for 2012. Of this grant awarded by the Fund, $10,000 is intended for a collaborative planning project with Performing Arts Workshop.
Grant Amount: $45,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 08/12/2011 through 08/12/2012
Project Web Site: www.streetside.org

Women’s Audio Mission, a nonprofit recording studio for women, sponsors a tuition-free program to bring girls into the recording industry. Working in partnership with local Boys and Girls Clubs, schools, and cultural organizations, this "Girls on the Mic" program provides 400 8 to 18 year-old girls with hands-on workshops in digital media technology, music recording, and music making. Classes are led by award-winning professionals and educators. In 2011, 89% of participants came from low-income families and 77% had never had the opportunity to play a musical instrument. All participants in the program complete at least one music media project through a process that mirrors professional activities.
Grant Amount: $12,500 [2011]
Project Dates: 09/30/2011 through 09/30/2012
Project Web Site: www.womensaudiomission.org

Young Audiences of Northern California has managed one of the largest and best-regarded arts education programs in local public schools. As schools shifted away from assemblies to in-class teaching, the organization's programs required adjustment. Planning funds allowed Young Audiences to identify its weaknesses, which included inadequate fundraising infrastructure. This grant from the Fund provides a partial match to a William and Flora Hewlett Foundation grant. Together, these grants help the organization to hire a part-time development assistant. Young Audiences will use development funds to continue to bring its exceptional arts education programs to students in-class.
Grant Amount: $22,500 [2011]
Project Dates: 12/09/2011 through 12/09/2012
Project Web Site: www.ya-nc.org

Fiscal Sponsor: Regents of the University of California
Young Musicians Program stands out for its intensive commitment to low-income youth, its programmatic excellence, and for the accomplishments its students achieve. It provides no-cost pre-professional musical training to 80 to 90 disadvantaged young people aged 9 to 18, most of them from Alameda County. The Program presents weekly, afterschool private and group music lessons as well as a seven-week summer conservatory. It addresses its students' needs comprehensively, offering BART tickets, college counseling, instruments, parent resources, tutoring, and other services. It now strives to develop the nation's first choral orchestra that trains students in both vocal and orchestral performance.
Grant Amount: $50,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 07/06/2011 through 07/06/2012
Project Web Site: ymp.berkeley.edu

A leader in the field of spoken word poetry, Youth Speaks offers in school and after school workshops for youth aged 13 to 19. The Fund's grant focuses on its after-school workshops, which are organized in trimesters, meeting twice per week for 10 weeks at a dozen different locations. Approximately 800 youth will develop their creative writing and performance skills through these workshops in 2011. Youth Speaks also hosts poetry slam competitions and develops and tours performances that feature young and adult writers.
Grant Amount: $35,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 04/28/2011 through 04/28/2012
Project Web Site: www.youthspeaks.org

Capital improvements and landscaping completed by the Luggage Store transformed a derelict alley into a beautiful garden usable for community gatherings, public art projects, and art classes. In the coming year, artists-in-residence will work in this space—called the Tenderloin National Forest—and in the adjacent gallery to create projects that involve neighborhood residents. This project unites Tenderloin residents and visitors across educational, socio-economic, and cultural strata. Also in development is an environmental education program for children and youth.
Grant Amount: $25,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 12/08/2011 through 12/08/2012
Project Web Site: www.luggagestoregallery.org

The nonprofit Alliance for California Traditional Arts awards grants and contracts and provides folk and traditional artists with professional development opportunities. The broad cultural experience possessed the Alliance’s multilingual staff helps serve organizations and artists who have little grantmaking or nonprofit management experience. The Fund supports the Alliance in offering: Living Cultures grants of up to $7,500 to presenting groups; $3,000 stipends to apprentices studying with master artists; and professional development consultancies to organizations and artists.
Grant Amount: $120,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 07/06/2011 through 07/06/2012
Project Web Site: www.actaonline.org

Fiscal Sponsor: Regents of the University of California
Major UC Berkeley performing arts organization, Cal Performances, has been bringing celebrated artists to the Bay Area for more than 100 years. Its 2010 Fall Free for All presented a daylong festival of performances in venues, plazas, and tents across the University campus. In 2011, Cal Performances will again present the successful festival, expanded to accommodate larger crowds and offering more family-oriented programming.
Grant Amount: $50,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 04/04/2011 through 04/04/2012
Project Web Site: www.calperformances.org

As arts organizations cut their budgets during the economic downturn, funding for professional development of staff often gets slashed. In response, a group of California funders designed the Creative Capacity Fund. Monthly, participating funders review Quick Grant requests of up to $1,000. Awards cover costs for conference and training registrations, coaches, travel, and related expenses. The Fund’s contribution is limited to representatives of arts organizations operating in San Francisco or Alameda counties.
Grant Amount: $20,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 08/05/2011 through 08/05/2012
Project Web Site: www.cciarts.org

Since 1980, City Arts & Lectures has presented events featuring leading writers, critics, scientists, artists, actors, and more. Each season offers more than 50 lectures and onstage conversations that provide the local public with diverse perspectives. In partnership with KQED 88.5 FM, City Arts & Lectures co-produces broadcasts of its programs, supplying free access to thousands of radio listeners. It also offers 2,000 free tickets each year to high school students. City Arts contributes at least $40,000 each year from ticket sales to benefit nonprofit causes.
Grant Amount: $25,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 09/30/2011 through 09/30/2012
Project Web Site: www.cityarts.net

Creative Growth offers creative opportunities and financial support to artists with developmental disabilities. Artists at Creative Growth produce remarkable artwork, and this project seeks to increase connections between the artists it supports and the broader public. It intends to draw 12,000 people to its gallery in 2012 and to contribute to breaking down stereotypes about those with developmental disabilities. Creative Growth collaborates on projects with other galleries, operates exchanges with self-taught artists, holds public events, and maintains partnerships with nearby colleges and universities.
Grant Amount: $7,500 [2011]
Project Dates: 08/12/2011 through 08/12/2012
Project Web Site: www.creativegrowth.org

Some of the oldest forms of music use the human body as a percussive instrument. This "body music" is practiced around the world—from Arctic throat singing to African American hambone. In 2008, leading Bay Area body music artist, Keith Terry of Crosspulse, launched an international body music festival. In 2011, the fourth annual festival will take place in San Francisco and Oakland, featuring artists from Spain, Turkey, Indonesia, the Arctic, and the United States. The festival's many free programs should reach an audience diverse in age and cultural background. The Fund supports these efforts to give local audiences an opportunity to experiment with time-honored musical forms.
Grant Amount: $15,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 02/28/2011 through 02/28/2012
Project Web Site: www.crosspulse.com

Dancers' Group produces an expanding and well-regarded array of dance performances designed to introduce and build new audiences for dance. Their productions include monthly free performances in the City Hall rotunda and ONSITE—new works commissioned from local dance artists, created specifically for non-traditional sites. In 2011, the Group seeks to expand its family-friendly programs and to diversify its offerings through collaboration with World Arts West.
Grant Amount: $10,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 02/02/2011 through 02/02/2012
Project Web Site: www.dancersgroup.org

Frameline is the producer of San Francisco’s acclaimed International LGBT Film Festival. Recognizing the need for cross-generational understanding in the LGBT community, it created the Generations Film Project. This project unites from 15 to 18 LGBT elders with a similar number of at-risk LGBT youth. Together, participants attend classes in media literacy and practical filmmaking. Ultimately, cross-generational teams will create short films to be screened at the International LGBT Film Festival. These films share the often-overlooked perspectives and stories of LGBT elders and youth.
Grant Amount: $20,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 12/12/2011 through 12/12/2012
Project Web Site: www.frameline.org

Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse presents a wide-ranging program of traditional roots music in its family-friendly venue. Its efforts serve a broad cross-section of East Bay residents and encourage hands-on participation in music. In 2012, Freight & Salvage will present at least 40 concerts and 24 related workshops and master classes in its World Music Treasures series. Workshops will be open to adults and children at all levels of playing ability. Four free open houses will feature jams, sing-a-longs, and workshops for 4,000 attendees. Programs such as these preserve traditions from diverse cultures and help draw connections between musical traditions and communities.
Grant Amount: $15,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 11/10/2011 through 11/10/2012
Project Web Site: www.freightandsalvage.org

San Francisco is known for being hospitable to lesbians and gay men, but its transgender community feels a lack of acceptance and understanding. One of the transgender community's leaders is choreographer Sean Dorsey of Fresh Meat Productions. Sean creates original dance-theater works about transgender lives and produces the annual Trans March Celebration, which features an array of transgender performers in Dolores Park. Fresh Meat Productions strives to foster the evolution of transgender art and culture and to authentically reflect transgender experience. Its work builds a greater understanding of an important segment of the local population.
Grant Amount: $10,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 12/09/2011 through 12/09/2012
Project Web Site: www.freshmeatproductions.org

Grantmakers in the Arts, the national affinity group serving the arts and culture field, produces an annual conference each October. Using the host city as a backdrop, more than 350 arts grantmakers gather to discuss innovative programs, new research findings, and best practices. The conference content is shared through a publication and website. The group's 2011 San Francisco-based conference will focus on the rapid changes in grantmaking brought about by developing technology and shifting demographics.
Grant Amount: $25,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 05/04/2011 through 05/04/2012
Project Web Site: www.giarts.org

Choreographer Joe Goode synthesizes dance and theater in acclaimed works that are staged in theaters or performed as walk-through pieces in an array of locations. In late 2010, the Joe Goode Performance Group acquired its first permanent studio, in the Northeast Mission. Using its new base, the group will develop a new piece in conjunction with the public. “The Human Kind Series” will include works-in-progress presentations, a social networking component, and panels with the Group’s neighbors, experts in aging, and other artists. All project activities are designed to invite audience engagement with the two-year process of creating the piece.
Grant Amount: $10,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 09/12/2011 through 09/12/2012
Project Web Site: www.joegoode.org

Founded in 1972 in San Francisco's Chinatown, Kearny Street Workshop has evolved to become a small but highly productive arts institution that presents exhibits, performances, and workshops to diverse Asian, South Asian, and Pacific Islander communities. Recognizing changes in the social and political climate—as well as in funding—the Workshop is engaging an experienced consultant to gather extensive feedback from its constituents in order to determine how it can remain relevant and sustainable.
Grant Amount: $10,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 02/28/2011 through 02/28/2012
Project Web Site: www.kearnystreet.org

Founded in the 1970s in response to the military coup in Chile, La Pena Cultural Center has developed into a nationally recognized presenter of traditional music from around the world, a forum for cross-cultural and cross-generational exchange, and a site for community members to take classes in music, dance, and theater. It fosters an array of grassroots arts efforts, from community choruses to teen hip-hop groups. La Pena's mission of contributing to positive social change by creating understanding among people of different cultures is closely aligned with the Fund's Arts goals. A core support grant helps with implementation of a strategic plan, leadership and succession planning, and piloting of arts education programming in East Bay public schools.
Grant Amount: $40,000 [2007] , $40,000 [2008] , $40,000 [2009] , $40,000 [2010] , $40,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 11/27/2007 through 11/27/2011
Project Web Site: www.lapena.org

The Lorraine Hansberry Theatre struggled to survive both the deaths of its co-founders in 2010 and an eviction due to a building sale. To save this African American theatre, the board recruited acclaimed American Conservatory Theater actor Steven Anthony Jones as artistic director and hired a dynamic executive director. While honoring the company’s history, Jones believes that African American theater needs to change with the times (and Bay Area demographics) to include more works about cross-cultural and biracial experiences. This grant from the Fund assists the new leadership team and helps sustains the theatre’s vision.
Grant Amount: $30,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 09/07/2011 through 09/07/2012
Project Web Site: www.lhtsf.org

San Francisco’s Museum of Craft and Folk Art offers exhibits in traditional arts and contemporary craft along with educational programs for children and adults. For example, a major exhibition coming to MOCFA in 2011 highlights a particular Korean fabric tradition, revealing how contemporary artists revive and re-imagine this old technique. The Fund supplies MOCFA with general operating support.
Grant Amount: $15,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 04/28/2011 through 04/28/2012
Project Web Site: www.mocfa.org

Among other programs, Northern California Grantmakers manages the Arts Loan Fund. This fund provides quick turnaround, cash flow, and opportunity loans to local nonprofit arts organizations. Annually, it awards approximately $450,000. The Walter & Elise Haas Fund and other participants in the Arts Loan Fund contribute to sustain this valuable community resource.
Grant Amount: $8,710 [2011]
Project Dates: 12/15/2011 through 12/15/2012
Project Web Site: www.ncg.org

RADAR Productions offers a well-regarded, free series of monthly literary readings at San Francisco's Main Library and at the Luggage Store Gallery. Seventy or more writers participate each year, representing a diverse cross-section of San Francisco’s LGBT community. Formats and writer pairings are designed to foster cross-generational and cross-cultural conversations. RADAR strives to challenge stereotypes about age, race, culture, and sexual orientation.
Grant Amount: $10,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 12/20/2011 through 12/20/2012
Project Web Site: www.radarproductions.org

Fiscal Sponsor: Intersection for the Arts
San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery is commissioning new works from three Bay Area artists on the subject of race in America. The resulting exhibit will be presented at three highly visible sites—the Gallery itself, San Francisco City Hall, and in the windows of 155 Grove Street. The selected artists bring distinctive perspectives to the topic and their art is intended to foster a conversation about African American history, the legacy of racism, and contemporary African American identity. The exhibition will be accompanied by public symposia, an online presentation, and a catalogue.
Grant Amount: $10,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 04/29/2011 through 04/29/2012
Project Web Site: www.sfartscommission.org

San Francisco Chamber Orchestra offers free concerts in venues across the region. These include Main Stage events, Family Concerts, and Very First Concerts for families with young children. The Orchestra adopted an admission-free policy in 2005 because of its deep commitment to breaking down barriers to participation in live music experiences. As audience surveys illustrate, they have been successful in their goals; more than 40% of participants are people of color, over half have small children, and 84.3% said that free admission was a deciding factor. The Fund supports the Orchestra’s free programs in San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley.
Grant Amount: $10,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 09/07/2011 through 09/07/2012
Project Web Site: www.sfchamberorchestra.org

San Francisco Theater Festival presents an annual, one-day event featuring 100 brief performances. The Festival attracts culturally and socio-economically diverse audiences and earns their positive feedback. In 2011, the event moved to Fort Mason Center where it is working in partnership with several community cultural centers to produce pre-festival events, such as Spanish-language performances at the Mission Cultural Center. With these efforts and support from the Fund, the Festival seeks to introduce new audiences to theater—including audience members who find ticket costs prohibitive.
Grant Amount: $5,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 07/13/2011 through 07/13/2012
Project Web Site: www.sftheaterfestival.org

Fiscal Sponsor: Tenants and Owners Development Corporation
Sixth Street Photography Workshop shares the art and skills of photography with people living in poverty. The Fund’s grant supports its photography workshops that specifically serve military veterans, with an emphasis on making new beginnings. Participants will be part of community forums and exhibitions at the new Veterans Resource Center at City College of San Francisco, at the San Francisco VA Medical Center at Fort Miley, and in Veterans Association community-based clinics. The project strives to deepen the broader community’s understanding of veterans and the value of creative arts to their recovery.
Grant Amount: $15,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 08/15/2011 through 08/15/2012
Project Web Site: www.sixthstreetphoto.net

Few small, independent publishers have sufficient resources to warehouse, market, and distribute their books efficiently to libraries, bookstores, and individual buyers. Small Press Distribution provides these essential services to 421 independent publishers. It also produces programs that connect writers to the public and that build awareness of small press literature. Recently, Small Press Distribution has targeted teenage and college-age readers through events in classrooms and community settings, and older adults through reading groups and author events at senior living facilities. In spite of turbulence in the book industry, Small Press Distribution’s book sales increased by 11% last year. It is launching an eBook service for a number of its publishers in 2012.
Grant Amount: $25,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 09/07/2011 through 09/07/2012
Project Web Site: www.spdbooks.org

Fiscal Sponsor: The Playwrights Foundation
Strange Angels, an emerging theater company, is producing an award-winning new play, Hunter's Point, dealing with issues of mental health and homelessness. St. Boniface Church in the Tenderloin, which is deeply committed to providing services for homeless people, will donate the use of its 250-seat theater for performances. Admission will be free. Strange Angels also will lead visual arts and writing workshops for Tenderloin residents in the months before opening so that participants' creations can be presented as spoken-word prefaces to the play or as exhibits at St. Boniface. This production's location and outreach make it likely to connect traditional and low-income audiences.
Grant Amount: $10,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 05/04/2011 through 05/04/2012
Project Web Site: www.playwrightsfoundation.org

The Arab Cultural and Community Center offers services to Arab immigrants, focusing on programs for low-income women and children. It also provides a cultural outlet for Arab arts, letters, music, and performances. Support from the Fund helps the Center to enhance its cultural offerings—six on-site performances, workshops, and art exhibits, plus three large-scale, off-site productions. The Center's mission is to boost the pride Arab immigrants have in their cultural heritage and to increase the general public's appreciation of Arab arts and culture.
Grant Amount: $10,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 03/14/2011 through 03/14/2012
Project Web Site: www.arabculturalcenter.org

Chhandam Chitresh Das Dance Company and its founder, Chitresh Das, are recognized internationally for kathak—a complex solo dance form from India. The Fund supported the Company's strategic planning efforts in 2010. That work suggested some practical changes be made to operations in order to both streamline admissions and redefine administrative roles. This year's support from the Fund helps to implement those changes and create a marketing plan.
Grant Amount: $35,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 02/28/2011 through 02/28/2012
Project Web Site: www.kathak.org

The Croatian American Cultural Center produces three annual culturally specific festivals, multiple cross-cultural programs, concerts featuring recent immigrant artists, and an annual children’s fair and children’s dance celebration. It constituents range from third- and fourth- generation Croatian Americans to Bosnian immigrants who arrived in the United States in the late 1990s. Of the 20,000 people the Center serves annually, 80% represent the ethnic communities of the Balkans. Its programming serves as a valuable cultural resource for Croatian Americans.
Grant Amount: $25,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 11/01/2011 through 11/01/2012
Project Web Site: www.slavonicweb.org

Heyday Institute publishes books and magazines about the history, cultures, and environment of California. As publisher of News from Native California, the Institute provides critical services to the state's diverse native population. The Fund's support helps Heyday to continue to keep its constituency informed and involved—reaching constituents who reflect the state’s diversity.
Grant Amount: $30,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 09/01/2011 through 09/01/2012

An estimated 1,800 Tibetans live in the greater Bay Area. Each week, 120 children and youth from this community gather at the Berkeley Adult School campus for classes in Tibetan language, calligraphy, and performing arts. School enrollment is growing, classes in music and dance are expanding, and new Tibetan arts and cultural values programs are planned. The Fund’s grant provides general support to this school and its work with other North American Tibetan centers to create a standardized curriculum for teaching the Tibetan language to children who do not speak it regularly in the home. The Fund’s grant also allows the Association to hire more music instructors and to plan an intensive summer program.
Grant Amount: $25,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 09/27/2011 through 09/27/2012
Project Web Site: www.tanc.org

As producer of the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival, World Arts West is critical to the Bay Area's large field of culturally specific dance. Its recently completed strategic plan proposes splitting the Festival from a single, uniformly produced show into smaller events and education programs that will present varied opportunities to participate. Formats will include salons, demonstrations, cabaret-style events, and classes in addition to large-scale productions. The Fund provides World Arts West with general operating support for the Festival and its auditions.
Grant Amount: $50,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 04/04/2011 through 04/04/2012
Project Web Site: www.worldartswest.org

Luna Kids Dance provides its thoughtful dance education program in a cluster of Oakland Public schools. Recently, Luna had an extraordinary opportunity to move its office and dance studios to a corporate facility in Emeryville, rent-free. Luna created a modest capital campaign to cover moving, building a sprung dance floor, rewiring the space, and other related costs. It used the campaign as an opportunity to challenge its board to set and meet a fundraising goal. The Fund's grant matches the money the board raised and provides the balance Luna needed to complete the project.
Grant Amount: $3,500 [2011]
Project Dates: 02/10/2011 through 02/10/2012
Project Web Site: www.lunadanceinstitute.org

In 1999, responding to booming real estate costs and a shared need to relocate, four of the Bay Area's leading nonprofit media arts organizations banded together to purchase a building, share back-office equipment and staff, and create affordable rental space for other nonprofits. The nonprofit Ninth Street Independent Media Consortium was formed to manage the building. When one partner faced bankruptcy in 2008, it jeopardized the other partners' shared assets in the building. The Consortium launched a $350,000 campaign to buy out the threatened partner's equity share and the Walter & Elise Haas Fund made a three-year $100,000 program related investment. In 2011, the Fund transforms this PRI into a grant rather than extend the loan period.
Grant Amount: $100,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 07/06/2011 through 07/06/2012
Project Web Site: www.ninthstreet.org

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is co-producing The Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian Avant-Garde, a major touring exhibition about the collections and influence of author Gertrude Stein, her brothers Leo and Michael Stein, and Michael's wife Sarah Stein. The exhibit will include paintings owned by Elise Haas, who was a friend of Sarah and Michael Stein. Elise Haas established a Sarah and Michael Stein Memorial Collection at SFMOMA in 1953. This grant is split $60,000/$40,000 between the Arts and the Other Grantmaking Interests programs. The listing has been duplicated in both areas.
Grant Amount: $100,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 04/04/2011 through 04/04/2012
Project Web Site: www.sfmoma.org