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Grants to Oregon Artists to Support Existing and New Visual Art Projects

Precipice Fund Grant


Agency
Foundation

GrantWatch ID#
146846

Funding Source
PORTLAND INSTITUTE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART
Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts’ Regional Regranting Program
Array ( )

Geographic Focus
USA: Oregon: Portland area

Important Dates
Deadline: 09/29/23 11:59 PM PDT Save

Grant Description
Grants of up to $5,000 to Oregon artists in eligible regions to support existing and new visual art projects. The purpose of the program is to help independent art groups overcome barriers to funding. Funding is intended for projects based in and around the City of Portland. Eligible applicants must reside in the Portland area.

Administered by Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA) as part of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts’ Regional Regranting Program, the Precipice Fund awards grants to unincorporated visual art collectives, alternative spaces, and collaborative projects. Recognizing the barriers to funding faced by independent art initiatives, the Precipice Fund seeks to support new and existing projects emblematic of the region’s independent, on-the-ground art scene. 

The funding source encourages applications from first-time grant writers, artists from underrepresented communities, and projects that reflect the region’s diversity of cultures, aesthetics, and creative practices.

Precipice Fund awards grants to visual art projects. Interdisciplinary projects in performance or other media are only eligible if visual art is clearly central to the project, and/or the project engages visual art discourse or reflects an expanded definition of visual art practice. Film projects may be eligible in their creation phase (not for post-production or distribution), and only if they clearly demonstrate a connection to visual art practices and communities. Projects in sound art are generally eligible if it is clear the project is situated within an expanded visual art context. The funding source is open to innovation, experimentation, and risk-taking in the field and support diverse approaches to visual art making.

The Precipice Fund prioritizes projects that: 

  • Are innovative and experimental, as defined and expressed by the artists/applicants 
  • Are artist-run, artist-centric, or artist-driven
  • Generate opportunities and platforms for other local artists
  • Challenge or break from traditional or established notions, models, and forms of practice, presentation, and organization
  • Are accessible to or engage public(s) via process, presentation, production, or publication
  • Are presented in unconventional or nontraditional sites, spaces, and contexts
  • Are considering audience diversity and public access 
  • Contribute to the critical depth and creative vibrancy of art communities in Portland and its surrounding areas
  • Are led by and/or center underrepresented artists or communities, including Black, Indigenous, Brown, people of color, Disabled, Deaf, neurodivergent, queer, trans, non-binary, immigrant, refugee, and other communities historically marginalized by dominant cultures and mainstream art worlds. Note: If a project is proposing to center or serve a particular population or community, then it must be evident that the artists/collaborators proposing the project are representative of that community.


Recipient

Additional Eligibility Criteria
- Projects must be produced by independent, unincorporated entities.
- Projects must be collaborative (minimum of two (2) and maximum of six (6) applicants, with one person serving as the Primary Contact).
- The Primary Contact must reside in the Portland, Oregon area.

Ineligible
The Precipice Fund does not support:
- Work that is not visual art
- The work of an individual artist
- Projects proposed, fiscally sponsored, or presented by a 501(c)(3) nonprofit or for-profit LLC.*
- Proposals with a Primary Contact who does not reside in the greater Portland, Oregon area.
- Project proposals that lack a public component (though applicants may define for themselves their project’s intended audience/public).

*Exceptions: State-level (Oregon) registered nonprofits as well as licensed LLC’s established strictly for non-commercial purposes are eligible. Proposed projects cannot be part of a 501(c)(3) nonprofit art organization’s core program, nor publicized as such. Such a space could serve strictly as a project site/venue, but only with compelling reason.

Pre-Proposal Conference
- Two free, virtual information sessions will be offered on Wednesday, August 23, 2023 from 12:00 - 1:30pm PDT and Wednesday, September 6, 2023 from 6:00 - 7:30 PM PDT via Zoom.

- Session one zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87510158219?pwd=R1QxRXdrM1RoVGZjTi9adkhCQWw4Zz09
- Session two zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85624896547?pwd=TnBNNXhmUUZMQzc2NXZXdERJMG02Zz09

Recordings of the virtual information session and a copy of the presentation slideshow will be posted on PICA’s YouTube and linked on PICA's website as soon as possible following the session.

Pre-Application Information
Important Dates and Deadlines
- Monday, August 21, 9:00 AM PDT: Applications Open
- Wednesday, August 23, 12:00 PM PDT: First virtual information session, held on Zoom
- Wednesday, September 6, 6:00 PM PDT: Second virtual information session, held on Zoom
- Friday, September 29, 11:59 PM PDT: Applications Close
- Late November: Applicants notified of decisions
- December 2023: Grantees Publicly Announced
- By January 31, 2024: Grant monies distributed
- December 31, 2024: Round 12 funded projects must be completed/reported on

For more information:
https://www.pica.org/precipice-fund/application

Video Recording on Info Session #1:
https://youtu.be/m4lecjZsFl8

Additional Funding Information

Estimated Total Program Funding:

$60,000

Estimated Size of Grant
$500–$5,000

Term of Contract
Grant cycles are for one year. Funded projects in Round 12 must be completed, and final reports submitted by December 31, 2024.

Contact Information
Apply online: https://pica.submittable.com/submit

Contact Precipice Fund staff at precipice@pica.org for questions.

Email madison@pica.org in advance of the information session to share any access needs or concerns regarding the live virtual session.

Portland Institute for Contemporary Art
15 NE Hancock St.
Portland, OR, 97212
503-242-1419
pica@pica.org

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