“The latest round of NEA grants for Access to Artistic Excellence, American Masterpieces, Arts on Radio and Television, Learning in the Arts for Children & Youth and Partnerships is out, and Texas visual arts orgs have got their share.”

..among the recipients are the following Houston Area organizations:

The Galveston Historical Foundation got $12,000 to support a symposium on the preservation of cast-iron storefronts.
The Houston Arts Alliance got $50,000 to identify, document, and present the varied folklife found in Houston.
Rice University, Houston, got $15,000 to support Explosion: East Asia Architecture Today.
Houston’s Spacetaker got $10,000 for its Artist Resource Center

Congratulations to everyone!
full article here

Here is a grant opportunity that Texas artists might like to know about:

Calling All Artists - Deadline October 30, 2009

The Idea Fund provides cash awards to Texas-based, artist-generated or artist-centered projects that exemplify the unconventional, interventionist, conceptual, entrepreneurial, participatory, or guerrilla artistic practices that occur outside of the traditional frameworks of support. The Idea Fund will accept proposals from artists/curators focusing on the visual arts, performance, film, video, new media, social practice, and interdisciplinary projects. Grants are awarded for up to $4000. The 2010 deadline is October 30, 2009. For guidelines/applications and more information, visit www.theideafund.org.

(many thanks to Aura Picture Show for sharing this information!)

Here is a quick and dirty, short list of grants available through the Texas Commission on the Arts. There are a variety of grants available and most are due on the same quarterly deadline (see our calendar page for details).

Which grant you qualify for will depend on how you/your organization is catergorized. But, fret not, they make it easy for you to figure out using their TCA Type Wizard, “The Wizard is a series of questions that profiles your organization and then presents a customized list of TCA programs for which your organization is eligible.”

Now for the good stuff, here’s the list:
Arts Respond Project
Cultural Connections- Performance Support
Arts Create-5
Arts Create Subgranting

January 31, 2010 marks the next deadline for organizations to be included on the approved Touring Roster of Texas-based touring companies and artists. More info here and here.

For a complete list, the TCA Guide to Programs & Services is listed here.

Happy Grant Writing,
Agent Smith

labotanica maps intersections of creative and social transformation. labotanica uses flexible, open-ended formats to engage the community to examine progressive cultural and social practices.

- labotanica announces grants program for creative projects [DUE July 15]

- low lives call for artists [DUE June 30]

- labotanica seeks home in houston, texas

- labotanica magazine #1: classifieds, call for entries [DUE July 15]”

complete details at BS Houston blog, linked below

via B.S. Houston Art Blog: Diana-Sofia’s Got the Scoop.

DUE Monday, May 4

Applications for Grants From the Engaging Dance Audiences Program, administered by Dance/USA with support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Grants ranging from $25,000 to $150,000 will be awarded to projects that analyze current attendance patterns, and explore methods of engaging dance audiences. Visit www.danceusa.org or Suzanne Callahan at 202/955-8325.

(via Dance Source Houston)

“The Lawndale Artist Studio Program is part of Lawndale’s ongoing commitment to support the creation of contemporary art by Gulf Coast area artists. With an emphasis on emerging practices, the program will provide three artists with studio space on the third floor of the Lawndale Art Center at 4912 Main Street in the heart of Houston’s Museum District.

Artists have full access to their studios 24 hours a day, seven days a week; access to visiting artists, writers and curators; and will receive a $500 monthly stipend for the duration of the program together with an initial $1500 materials budget. If accepted, artists are expected to present a workshop or presentation to the general public and the local arts community to share their practice or explore a related topic.

Works produced during the program will be exhibited at Lawndale Art Center during May 2010. Lawndale Art Center will work with resident artists to create additional exhibition opportunities during the residency.”

download application form

The deadline for this year has passed, but keep it in mind for next year.

“The DeGolyer Fund hands out up to $1500 to artists between 15 and 25, who live in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, or Colorado. The Kimbrough Fund up to $3500 to Texas artists under 30. Older Texas artists, 30+, can apply for the Dozier Travel Grant.”

via Glasstire: Texas visual art online - It’s a transparent bit of plastic . . ..

“In the spirit of the rent party, the benefit concert, a new social event, “Sunday Soup” is a community meal that functions as a grant funding process. On April 5 at Houston’s SKYDIVE, you pay $5, eat some soup, and vote for your favorite proposal; the winning art idea takes all. Organized by Nancy Zastudil, will incude the Chicago-based collective InCUBATE and guest chef Randall Szott, “the only cook in the merchant marine with an MA in Interdisciplinary Art”. One-page proposals from Houston artists are due April 2.”

via Glasstire: Texas visual art online - The inverse soup kitchen theory.

This article is a little dated, but I still felt it was relevant reading.

Houston Arts - Wayne Dolcefino, Art Critic - page 1.