OVERVIEW: MAP Fund supports diverse performing artists who challenge long-standing social and cultural hierarchies in the United States.
IP TAKE: MAP Fund is “one of the nation’s longest-running private grantmakers for new performance pieces.” It typically makes a few hundred grants in a grant cycle. Grant seekers should expect a good deal of competition here, especially since this funder offers unrestricted funding. The MAP Fund likes to take grantmaking risks in the arts and “values radical inclusion,” evidenced both by its land acknowledgement and willingness to fund artists of any age or background. It also has an open-submission process, making it pretty accessible given its size. It is transparent and accessible, but has a small staff, so it will take some patience to make contact.
Despite providing millions in grants in 2024, the Map Fund announced that it will be no longer making grants. Instead of having an endowment, the Map Fund had been able to make grants until now with backing from the Duke and Mellon Foundations, which have both ended their regranting support. While the Map Fund also had support from other foundations, such as Jerome, the Fund will not be able to meet future theater and dance needs in light of this new reality. As a result, the Fund made its final grants via previous programs in August 2024 with its “largest grant cycle ever.” However, the Fund still offers grant support through other opportunities. Note that grant opportunities are shifting quickly here and will develop further in 2025 as the Fund works on securing news sources of funding.
PROFILE: Founded in 1989, the MAP Fund — which was originally known as the Multi-Arts Production Fund and established by the Rockefeller Foundation — seeks to invest “in performing artists and their work as the critical foundation of imagining and co-creating a more equitable and vibrant society.” From 2001 to 2016, Creative Capital administered the fund. In 2008, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation became its primary funder. In 2010 the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation would also become a major financial backer. Finally, in 2016, the MAP Fund officially became an independent nonprofit, partnering with ArtsPool for administrative support. The MAP Fund’s grantmaking prioritizes “artists that question, disrupt, complicate, and challenge inherited notions of social and cultural hierarchy across the current American landscape.”
Grants for Theater and Dance
While the MAP Fund invests in performing artists and their work via “transformational” seed grants — of about $30,000, which included $5,000 in unrestricted funds, and $25,000 for specific projects — that work has since ended. That said, the Map Fund still conducts grantmaking for the performing arts through its Scaffolding for Practicing Artists (SPA) program. In this light, the Map Fund is working to expand SPA’s services, partnering with “arts organizations to provide SPA as a resource for fellows, residents, and grantees in their respective programs.” The SPA program offers:
Recipients of this intimate couching primarily focuses on artists who don’t have “ongoing institutional relationships, leading them to primarily self-produce their work.”
SPA’s year-long coaching program culminates in two-day, facilitated, online gatherings of five to six artists each.
Participants receive a $1,000 stipend to use toward childcare or other costs associated with attending the SPA gathering, where participants are invited to speak about their work.
To learn more about the theater projects and productions backed by MAP grants, explore its Recent Grantees page and full Grantee Archive database.
Important Grant Details:
MAP grants typically range from $5,000 to $45,000. It gave out more than $2.8 million in a recent year.
- Given the recent transformations at the fund, stay tuned regarding future developments for grant opportunities and grant ranges, as well as what unrestricted fund might be available.
- Many grantees receive personalized coaching through MAP’s Scaffolding for Practicing Artists (SPA) program. Jerome Hill Fellowship artists are automatically invited to be part of the coaching program.
- The fund has an open submission policy. Deadline dates are subject to change, but they often fall toward the end of September for grants disbursed the following year.
- Contact the fund via email at info@mapfund.org or call (586) 925-5546.
PEOPLE:
Search for staff contact info and bios in PeopleFinder (paid subscribers only).
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